The Force - Blog Posts

I can’t get over the continued thematic follow-through of this idea that Jedi aren’t truly Jedi unless they’re standing up in defense of the innocent and helpless, they have to be active in the galaxy, they have to spread kindness and compassion wherever they go, it’s an uncontrollable urge, it’s an itch, “They cannot help it.“

And also the idea that it’s FORCE ITSELF that is whispering to them, calling them back, calling them home, telling them to take up their swords again, reach out in faith and find that the Light never left you, it’s still inside you and it needs you because the galaxy is so so dark and bleak and hopeless and there’s so much evil everywhere and the galaxy needs them to stand up and step out of the shadows and into the light so that they can reignite people’s hope.

It’s the pauses of awe and wonder in even the most miserable and selfish of underworld denizens because that’s a Jedi, the Jedi are back, the Jedi are here, everything will be okay now.

It’s F knighting herself, cutting her own padawan braid and proudly declaring she is a Jedi to save a frightened exploited village bride.

It’s Kanan igniting his saber for the first time in years to protect his future padawan and a clutch of Wookie slaves and the rattled composure in the Imperials when they realize, “Holy shit that’s a Jedi.“

It’s Cal and Cere deciding they were done hiding, done running from the Empire, they were going to fight back, and Saw gleefully pointing to them to inspire his band of Rebels.

It’s Obi-Wan unburying his lightsaber even after being so hopeless and broken and full of guilt and self-blame because people still need him, he’s the only one they can trust.

The whole Dark Times as a sloooooowly turning eucatastrophe, tiny lights of hope struggling to hold back the darkness long enough.  Holding out.  Buying time until the twin suns can rise.  Until Luke and Leia and the destruction of the Death Star and the death of the Emperor and the glorious return of light to the galaxy.

I love it.

Force Translator Cody au

Hes still as force sensitive as a brick but hes been around so many jedi, Specifically Obi-wan "i have a bad feeling" Kenobi that he just, figures out what the Force is tryin to say with his cool collected strategic slut mind on his own

In short, Cody voice: the Force works in misterious ways to YOU, i get it tho

now here i am, thinking about the force talking to cody's cool collected strategic slut mind like it's the australien sea turtle in finding nemo

cody's not force-sensitive. like NOT AT ALL, not even one (1) midichlorian per million. zip nada nothing

he just meditates with obi-wan on a regular basis and ends up absorbing some force radiation that basically makes him a radio station that can tune into the force's daily commentary

it all starts on a mission where cody and obi-wan enter a really creepy cave and it's just really creepy and dark and suddenly there's this off-voice telling cody that the vibes are rancid

obi-wan then proceeds to say that the vibes feel rancid

and cody just looks at obi-wan like ??? uhm hello what the fuck and obi-wan doesn't have a single idea why his commander suddenly looks like a confused pineapple

meanwhile the force is going feral because this funky little commander apparently has the right receiving frequency to hear its ramblings while all the jedi in fact do NOT

everyone only feels the force. no one ever talks to the force. the force is bored. so of course it doesn't intend to leave cody alone e v e r

obi-wan, to cody, smiling: remember, the force will be with you. always

cody, who already listened to the force rambling about the tragedy of darth plagueis the wise for the past two hours, eye twitching:

anakin looks all mysterious and knowing while saying that there's a disturbance in the force and cody just stands right next to him, hearing the high-pitched fire siren-like screaming of the force in the background while trying to look like his eardrum didn't just get perforated

whenever cody notices that obi-wan and the other jedi aren't sleeping well because of some weird force shit, cody asks the force to keep it down for a while so that they can at least rest for a couple of hours. obi-wan is confused about the amount of sleep he gets all of the sudden

anakin wakes up and says he just had a vision. cody asks the force if anakin, in fact, just had a vision. the force says no

ahsoka, after something very weird happened: the force works in mysterious ways

the force, to cody, very disturbed: that wasn't me

everyone basically talks about the force as this ancient powerful energy field in a very earnest and serious way while cody passes the senate building and hears the force calling palpatine a nasty little apricot

“On occasion, the Force allows us to connect with another living being and communicate with them across great distances, seeing what they see and feeling what they feel.  Though this may seem like a harmless–and perhaps even valuable–ability, it is easily manipulated by those on the dark side.  Some powerful Force users have been able to create secret bonds with others who are unaware of their connection.  They then use those bonds to corrupt their target and steer their actions.  Even if the unwanted bond is detected, it can still be extremely difficult to break.”  –Luke Skywalker, Secrets of the Jedi Hey, do you want some creepy Force horror?  Apparently dark siders can create a bond with someone without them even knowing and use it to corrupt their target and steer their actions, and even if you detect the bond, it can still be difficult to break. THANKS, STAR WARS, THAT’S TERRIFYING, I LOVE IT. It’s interesting, because the prequels Jedi didn’t really seem to have a problem with it, there are multiple examples of bonds and potential bonds, where they seem to have their shit under control and can deal with it when it might become dangerous, but Luke’s point of view on them seems much more wary, which makes sense when you consider what happened with Ben and Snoke. But just that it’s at all possible is terrifying!  It’s probably moreso for people who aren’t Force-sensitive, rather than those who are trained and have a solid mental foundation in the Force, but the idea of, say, being able to manipulate someone without them even knowing you’re in their head, being able to steer their actions without them knowing it, that even once they’re aware of you, it’s hard as hell to get you out of their head, THAT’S THE PSYCHIC FORCE HORROR STUFF I’M TALKING ABOUT. I mean, just think how hard it would have been for Anakin to get Palpatine’s connection out of his head, that of course Palpatine would have quietly and sneakily put little suggestions here and there.  Never too much, because Anakin was so strong in the Force and he had the help of all the Jedi if Sidious was ever detected, but how easy would it have been for Palpatine to hide in amongst Anakin’s already terrified thoughts?  That the source of those unexamined fears was still Anakin himself, it has always been Anakin that’s the source, but that Palpatine would sneak a bond onto him, that Anakin would be too afraid to examine his own mind and his own fears, so it’s just that little extra push that makes it all the worse? THE FORCE IS TERRIFYING, OKAY.

I headcanon that all of Yoda's finest teacups were made by younglings

In fact most masters of the order's finest teacups were made during crèche crafting time when the kids were learning pottery.

you know i was thinking about it and since both the force and the inner workings of the human mind are arguably non-observable phenomena i think force-based academia should look a lot like psychology. current arguments and achievements of note include:

are the living and universal force actually different???

are the living and universal force actually connected at all???

those two factions of academics who hate each other's guts and theories and methodology (feat. pragmatists who figured out that the theories work together really effectively when practiced??? just saying)

FIGURING OUT WHY IT WORKS IS SECONDARY TO THE FACT THAT IT DOES WORK, JOCASTA

YOU CANNOT JUST DO THINGS WITH THIS METHOD WHEN YOU CAN'T ESTABLISH ITS SCIENTIFIC VALIDITY, YODA

that one researcher who accidentally won the space nobel prize in physics while trying to figure out how it is Physically Possible for the Jedi to do That One Thing

we have no empirical evidence that "the force" exists and therefore we can ONLY make conclusions based on observable events--- (loud angry yelling)

incredible amounts of popular misinformation and pseudoscience being distributed to the public still somehow

psychometric abilities: discrete or dimensional?

look. this experiment was completely unethical and we would never do anything like it today BUT---

this used to be true but then we told people about it and it changed as a result of that awareness. no we're not lying to you----

everything can be 100% traced back to a biomedical source

nothing can be 100% traced back to a biomedical source

force abilities are actually linked to overarching social factors like socioeconomic status of parents and--- *yelling from the back* OKAY BUT WHAT DO WE DO WITH THAT

look. listen. 60% applicability is golden in this field. you're a hard science researcher you wouldn't understand how hard it is to study an invisible energy field with a mind of its own

and, of course, the interdisciplinary argument staple

that isn't actually a real science :/