So you’re telling me that the Jedi and the whole Force-based religion thing has been around for thousands of years, in a galaxy with a huge population and immense diversity of culture, and there’s never once been a schism or a splinter group or another group of light side-aligned sentients who aren’t in some way affiliated with the Jedi? That it’s Jedi vs. Sith right down through history?
Come on. You can do better than that.
Somewhere in the galaxy there’s a culture that regards Force ghosts as the most important part of the whole business and has developed a kind of ancestor veneration, one where your Force-using ancestors occasionally pop up and give advice and watch your progress. People regard them with a mix of reverence and fondness because they’re old (some of them are very old indeed) and wise and so on, but also they’re family.
Somewhere in the galaxy there’s a planet whose sun burns so hot that few living things can survive on the surface during the day, where the people live in houses dug out and swept like burrows and live their lives after nightfall, when the harsh sun sets and a warm wind blows off the nearest large body of water and fills the air with moisture again so they can breathe without masks–and what they call the Light or Day Side is blinding, burning, impetuous, controlled by the passions, fierce and unforgiving, and it consumes its users like a pool of water at noon, and what they call the Dark or Night Side is calm, warm, perceptive, not easily understood, but nurtures life–not just survival–and encourages the search for truth.
Somewhere in the galaxy there’s a culture with a pantheon, like we think of the Greek and Roman pantheons, only these gods sometimes bless ordinary people or families with gifts beyond mortal ken, gifts that connect them to the world and the life around them but also make them powerful and perilous.
Somewhere in the galaxy there’s a culture that focuses on the the “energy field created by all living things” part, that teaches respect for all living things, that speaks of the Force as our essential connection to the rest of the world, that honors the life/soul/spirit in everything the Force touches, a little like we think of animism or nature spirit based religions.
As it stands, religion in the Star Wars universe seems to be a large helping of pop-Buddhist philosophy ladeled into a… kinda medieval Catholic structure (holy orders of knights, monastic robes, material poverty as a discipline for individuals but the order having lots of power and influence anyway, self-discipline to celibacy, the Temple being basically Space Vatican)? Plus some Space Atheists, both the condescending kind (”your sad devotion to that ancient religion…”) and the skeptical/free-will/rebellious kind (”there’s no mystical energy field that controls my destiny!”).
That’s great–it’s an interesting combination. But there could be so much more variety and richness. (Definitely more than I’ve come up with here.)
Well, there are always the Witches of Dathomir. (Or, were, I guess. Since the EU has been scrapped.)
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Witches_of_Dathomir
‘That is not how the Force works.’ a drabble
Leia has, for various reasons, a very dubious outlook on classic Jedi training methods. This is not just because of various circumstances surrounding her son, she’s had this opinion for many years before his birth. But Luke was insistent when Ben proved Force sensitive and there was nothing Leia could say otherwise that had any documentation, any records, any proof.
(she’s concerned that her use of the Force might be considered Other, or Grey, or Dark)
It’s like this: the Jedi are unsubtle.
It’s like this: Moving a blaster’s nose a half centimeter causes the shot to miss by a feet. It’s much easier to make 5 blasters miss than to throw 5 Stormtroopers backwards.
It’s like this: when Leia speaks, she is Forceful. When she speaks to a room, she starts with nudges to make everyone listen, she slides in quiet elation at her words, she ends with encouraging a feeling of being able to do absolutely anything in the Universe.
And she lets her speech carry out the rest of the details, rather than her Force, she lets her people decide how to act, she lets choice finish their decisions and these decisions and choices lasts longer when she leaves the room than if she simply Forced someone to say, “I will do as you command.”
(she takes after her mother, she hears)
Leia wonders if that was how Palpatine caused her father to go Dark, and remains quiet when Luke trains her son.
And when Ben turns, she feels the reverberations, and can’t find it in her to blame Luke for it entirely.
(she wonders if she should have Spoken, or if it would have made things worse)
[[[because lol]]]
The base is collapsing around their ears, their TIE fighters are falling from the sky, and That Girl has come back with That Lightsaber and more training and for the life of him Kylo cannot hold his ground against her so he’s running but those are things he’s not examining too closely. Instead:
“HIGHLY TRAINED FIGHTERS, he says,” Kylo swears under his breath and dodges around more Stormtroopers, hoping they’d stall his pursuit. The Force tells him they don’t do a damn thing. “PICKED from a YOUNG AGE, he says, BETTER than CLONES, he says, THEN WHY CAN’T YOUR STORMTROOPERS HIT THE BROADSIDE OF A DEATHST–”
Hux suddenly skids to a stop. “She’s here.”
“WHO’S HERE?!”
“I don’t know what she has, the scientists can’t figure it out but when she’s around,” Hux staggers, panting, “at this point, no one can aim straight if she’s even on the same planet, let alone the same room and–”
“WHO?!” Kylo reaches out and grabs Hux by the throat, pulling him to his toes. “GIVE ME A NAME.”
A throat clears behind him.
“Ben,” His mother says.
Kylo freezes.
“Put that back where you found it. We need to talk.”
THIS EXPLAINS SO MUCH. How else HOW ELSE I ASK YOU could a whole pack of storm troopers fire down a narrow hallway and hit nobody?
This is EXACTLY how I picture LEIA’S abilities holy shit good shit wow A+++ I want to write this a million times and have everyone write Leia like this.
Hello yes this is canon now. Because it’s too good not to be.