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Force spirit

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Force spirit

Technical information

Alignment

Light side of the Force^[1]

Purpose

Eternal consciousness^[2]

Historical information

Affiliation

Jedi Order^[3]

"You will learn to preserve your life force, and so, manifest a consciousness which will allow you to commune with the living after death."

―The spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn, communing with Yoda^[4]

Force spirits, also known asForce ghosts,^[5] werebeings who gainedimmortality through the preservation of their consciousness afterdeath. When lifeforms died, they became one withthe Force. Through special training, however, deceasedForce-sensitives could retain their identity and, therefore, communicate with the living. By achieving spiritual immortality, a person's physical form would vanish upon their death. This knowledge could be learned only by those who fully embraced thelight side of the Force, such as theJedi who lived by theJedi Code, a code of selflessness and sacrifice. The followers of thedark side of the Force, such as theSith, were incapable of learning this power, though there were many techniques open to them that offered similar benefits.

Before theFall of the Republic,Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn learned the ability to become a Force spirit from theShaman of the Whills, but was killed byDarth Maul before he could complete his training. As a result, for a time he could only commune with the living as a disembodied voice. Near theend of theClone Wars, a conflict in which theGalactic Republic andJedi Order were at war with theSeparatists,Grand Master Yoda embarked on a spiritual journey that brought him to theplanets Dagobah andMoraband—as well as thebirthplace of themidi-chlorians—and ultimately learned how to retain his identity after death. This ability was also learned by Jedi MasterObi-Wan Kenobi during therise of theGalactic Empire. Qui-Gon subsequently mastered the ability to manifest in an almost solid form. AlthoughAnakin Skywalker—a fallenJedi Knight and theChosen One of the Force—never received the training that allowed his mentors to become Force spirits, hisredemption and sacrifice made it possible for his consciousness to be preserved after death by Kenobi and Yoda, much like how his grandson became a spirit in35 ABY. In34 ABY and 35 ABY respectively,Luke Skywalker andLeia Organa—Anakin's biological children—attained immortality like theirfather.

Description[]

"No longer certain that one ever does win a war, I am. For in fighting the battles, the bloodshed, already lost we have. Yet open to us a path remains, that unknown to the Sith is. Through this path, victory we may yet find. Not victory in the Clone Wars, but victory for all time."

―Yoda^[1]

Yoda appeared to Luke Skywalker as a Force spirit over 30 years after his death.

Throughthe light side ofthe Force, certain beings with special training were able to allow their consciousness to persist after death and appear as Force spirits,^[6] made possible by energy from theLiving Force flowing into theCosmic Force.^[4]

The knowledge was open only to those who followed the light side,^[1] so sometimes^[7] only certain individuals, such asJedi and theForce Priestesses, beings who dwelled within theWellspring of Life, a location said to be the origin of themidi-chlorians, were able to learn the ability to manifest after death. The dangerous level to become a Force spirit was low, but only possible for a rare few Jedi.^[8]

Qui-Gon Jinn appears to Kenobi for the first time as a Force spirit.

The first known Jedi to learn the secret wasQui-Gon Jinn, who learned it from aShaman of the Whills.^[9] His training remained incomplete at the time of his death, so he could only manifest as a disembodied voice.^[4] Nevertheless, Jinn's spirit appeared in a vision to Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mortis, an incident they wrongly recognized as a true manifestation.^[9] Qui-Gon was later able to complete his training even in death. He became especially determined after Anakin's fall, pushing himself to emerge fully, a feat that took him almost a decade to complete. This later allowed him to appear toObi-Wan Kenobi onTatooine in an almost corporeal form twenty years afterOrder 66.^[10] This secret was later passed on to Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, andAnakin Skywalker.^[11]

Force spirits were not only able to appear anywhere in the galaxy with a strong presence in the Force, and some were able to even manipulate the Force to similar extents as they could in life. This was demonstrated by Yoda's capability of manipulating weather to createlightning strikes. Additionally, he was also shown to be capable of striking Luke Skywalker with his walking stick, demonstrating an ability to physically interact with the living world despite both Yoda and the stick being ostensibly non-corporeal.^[12] This kind of power was also shown by the Force spirit of Luke Skywalker himself, who preventedhis father's lightsaber from being burned in the crashedTIE whisper by Rey, and usedtelekinesis to raiseRed Five from thewaters ofAhch-To.^[7] Anakin and Yoda were seen conjuring objects to aid them, as Yoda, despite dying without it, had hisGimer stick, and Anakin was able to use his oldlightsaber, despite the fact that he died without one and it was still lost at the time, to fight off the Sith wraiths before teleporting Luke back toTython.^[13]

Obi-Wan Kenobi spoke to Luke Skywalker on Dagobah as a spirit.

Upon becoming one with the Force, the physical body of a Jedi vanished from existence either immediately^[14] or after a short period of time, leaving theirclothes behind.^[11] After death, the Jedi's spirit would go to theNetherworld of the Force, another realm of existence.^[15] Despite not being physically part of a Jedi's body,cybernetics could also vanish if attached to a physical body, as was the case with Luke Skywalker, whose cybernetic hand disappeared alongside his body when he died.^[12]

Like his Jedi masters before him, Luke Skywalker was also able to retain his consciousness as a Force spirit.

Anakin Skywalker appeared on the planetMustafar, home to thecastle he had used asDarth Vader, to help leadLina Graf's crew outside of the fortress. Skywalker made a lightsaber appear in his hands, ensuing its light could be seen by the crew to get them away from thelava fumes. Even though she was inside the starshipRabbit's Foot when she made the comment, he was also aware ofLina Graf's comment that she was sure ghosts did not exist, laughing at the statement as he stood on Mustafar.^[16] Skywalker was able to appear as a spirit onPeridea.^[17] Preserving one's consciousness was not technically reserved for members of the Jedi order, as users of the light side not affiliated with the Order could accomplish this feat. One year following her brother's death,Leia Organa became the only known individual to retain their self-awareness via the light side without technically being a Jedi, and her body did not vanish until the subsequent death ofher son and the simultaneous disappearance of his body. The clothes worn by Leia during her death were no longer sported by her spirit, supplanted by white garments.^[7]

Luke and Leia appeared to Rey on Tatooine, giving their blessing on her adopting the Skywalker name.

In contrast to individuals committed to the light, theSith were unable to manifest themselves after death in the way of the Jedi, causing them to concentrate on gaining carnal power only.^[1] However, several possibilities were open to darksiders who wished to endure the demise of their flesh: One Sith, thePresence, was able to preserve part of her conscious essence so long as it was bound to an object like aSith holocron in theSith temple ofMalachor.^[18]Darth Momin had part of his consciousness preserved in hismask^[19] until he was crushed to death byDarth Vader after betraying him.^[20] Via their mystical power combined with the dark side, theNightsisters could speak when dead,^[21] and in addition to manifesting themselves in the character of greenish figures under certain circumstances, they were occasionally able to haunt and possess a person invading their rest in peace.^[22]Darth Sidious, in turn, transferred his soul into aclone body shortly prior to the destruction of his original one. In the search of a new vessel to host his consciousness, he futilely endeavored to persuade his granddaughter Rey to slay him, in order for his spirit to pass on to her alongside all the Sith living in him.^[7]

Albeit unable to manifest themselves as Force spirits, some Jedi could directly address Force-sensitive individuals as voices in their postmortem existence. Having undergone the training overseen by Leia Organa,Rey was able to hear the voices of such Jedi who did not use this technique (like Mace Windu) in35 ABY, just before she slew the Emperor.^[7]

Known Force spirits[]

Behind the scenes[]

"In the rough draft... Ben explains that... if Vader becomes one with the dark side of the Force, he will lose all identity. If he turns to the good side, he will pass through the Netherworld and in the revised rough draft, Yoda "will rescue him before he becomes one with the Force"."

―Description about preserving identity after death in Episode VI's rough draft^[24]

In the rough draft of the1983 filmStar Wars: Episode VIReturn of the Jedi, it was revealed by a resurrected Obi-Wan Kenobi that if Darth Vader became one with the dark side of the Force, he would not be able to retain his identity after death.^[24] InGeorge Lucas's draft script for the movie, Kenobi and Yoda would have emerged as Force spirits when Palpatine attacked Luke Skywalker with Force lightning to deflect it away from the young Jedi. Later, Anakin, Kenobi, and Yoda would have returned to physical life instead of simply being Force ghosts.^[25]

In discussing what influence Force spirits can have on the galaxy of the living, twoStar Wars fans on Twitter theorized that Force spirits were akin to "spirit guides" who are bound to the whims of the Cosmic Force; if the Force did not wish to see individuals like Luke Skywalker learn of Exegol's existence, for example, the Force spirits would not be able to warn the living about it. The latter fan used Anakin Skywalker's appearance in the novelShadow of the Sith and the apparent "Force Ghost interference" he experienced as proof.^[26]Shadow of the Sith authorAdam Christopher agreed with this interpretation, noting how Anakin needed to use all his energy to simply rescue his son and then could do no more because "something" did not wish to see any further contact between them at that time.^[27] He further noted how Exegol was a receptacle of dark side power that complicated matters with Force spirits.^[28]