The Mystery of the Force Ghost and the Training of Skywalkers
For years, we all wondered why Jedi Masters disappeared as they died and turn out as ghost later. It always bothered me that we didn't know if Lord Vader disappeared at the end. We just saw his armor being burned, I assumed there was enough flesh for the burning. Now we know better.
Returning from the Netherworld as a Ghost was not a whim. It is not a power a Jedi normally would have. We now know that this move by the Jedi Knights was in fact calculated, if the order and the galaxy was to survive. Why else, would Yoda direct Obi-Wan to train up on it?
Yoda knew in Attack of the Clones that Qui-Gon Jin could communicate with him. He felt it. Though the novel adaptation could tell us that he was not successful in conversing with that fallen master, Yoda was able to get some ideas. Yoda doesn't spend idle time meditating, he was contemplating the greater mysteries of the Force.
How and why was Qui-Gon able to do that? Was he that powerful? We can only speculate---- perhaps it is because of his link to Anakin. There must be a deeper connection between them and perhaps this was one reason why Qui-Gon was able to reach out from the netherworld.
It could be noted that Obi-Wan did not feel Anakin's pain, as he should have. We could argue, he was a bit busy at the time, being hunted down. But as Anakin's mentor, he should have had a deeper connection with the lad. We can say, he was not powerful enough.
It was Yoda, powerful as he was with a deeper understanding of the Force, who had felt Anakin's pain, even across the vast distance separating Tatooine and Coruscant. It was through his deep connection with the Force that he felt Anakin's pain and Qui-Gon's. Both instances had powerful repercussions on the fate of the Galaxy.
Obi-Wan admitted to Luke that he thought that he could be a teacher as great as Master Yoda and perhaps Vader would not have fallen to the darkside. In the gulf of time, eighteen years separating the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, Obi-Wan changed. He was no longer the confident general we saw fighting in the Clone Wars. He blamed himself for Anakin's fall. In his old age, Obi-Wan learned humility, took responsibility for Anakin's failures.
From a certain point of view, we must ask, why did he do that? Yes, he trained Anakin but Anakin was no longer his Padawan at the time of his fall. The actions of his former student was Anakin's own responsibility, not his. Perhaps it was both a Jedi and human failing to take responsibility for the actions of others. Perhaps it was because he was apologizing to Luke for the tasks and trials the younger man would face because of his, because of the Order's, because of his parents' failings and for the failure of the generation that sired him to keep the fires of democracy burning.
As equally powerful and important is the fact that Obi-Wan had grown in deeper understanding of the Force, just as Yoda did during the eighteen years of near solitude.
What does all this have to do with the Force Ghost? Obi-Wan and Yoda had to learn how to return from the dead, if the galaxy and the order was to survive this crucible. The fact is, being a Force ghost was a new kind of power that no Jedi except Qui-Gon had done before and not even to the extent as to what Obi-Wan was capable of doing years later.
Why do you think, Darth Vader was perplexed in A New Hope after cutting Obi-Wan down? And why Obi-Wan told Vader, he would become more powerful should he kill him right then and there. Vader did not know that particular trick.
The Force-Ghost technique was not a fall back position, should anything happen to them, although that was the obvious way--- the ability to move about as the living force. The more important aspect was: Obi-Wan and Yoda had graduated to the level that with a deeper understanding of the Force, came a power and a humility that crude matter, matters not. Yoda in Empire lectures Luke on this: The Force is not limited to the flesh. Both masters were more powerful than in Sith, more powerful than the Emperor and Vader.
During the years of exile, Obi-wan, Yoda and Bail Organa must have realized, a time would come when the children would be reunited and that someway, somehow they will be trained in the mysteries of the force. It was not just because they had to defeat the Emperor, but it was because it was their birthright.
You see, Obi-wan and Yoda at the time of Hope were powerful enough, Force-wise to defeat the Emperor. They could defeat death--- something the Palpatine and Vader sought after but was not able to accomplish. But as Yoda knew after battling the Emperor in Sith the Galaxy itself must want to be saved, must want for democracy so bad they would be willing to fight for it.
Enter Luke Skywalker's training in the Jedi Arts. It was not like any Jedi training.
It was neither an accelerated course nor an abridge one. It was what he needed, as Yoda put it. Another master like Obi-Wan would have taught him the lightsaber techniques, which he did to Luke. He had enticed the boy through Anakin's lightsaber. But Yoda, he taught Luke something far beyond that. Yoda taught Luke about the Force.
Master Yoda had more than eighteen years to prepare for the few weeks of training he had given Luke. It was one reason why Obi-Wan admitted the failing of his teaching to Luke. He had admitted the failure of the Jedi training. Obi-Wan taught Anakin at a time of war and showed him how to use the Force for combat, Yoda would have taught how to seek the higher mysteries of the Force, even during such times of darkness.
Notice in Sith as Yoda left for the Wookie homeworld, he counseled caution to Windu about their actions? Yoda had an irking of the danger. What Yoda and Obi-Wan learned during the gulf of years between Sith and Hope, Luke was given the benefit of all their teaching. In so doing, Anakin Skywalker was redeemed, fulfilled his destiny of destroying the Sith.
The Mystery of the Force Ghost was the expression of one's understanding of the Force and the understanding of the higher mysteries of the Force that led to a new kind of training that Luke Skywalker benefited from.
Returning from the Netherworld as a Ghost was not a whim. It is not a power a Jedi normally would have. We now know that this move by the Jedi Knights was in fact calculated, if the order and the galaxy was to survive. Why else, would Yoda direct Obi-Wan to train up on it?
Yoda knew in Attack of the Clones that Qui-Gon Jin could communicate with him. He felt it. Though the novel adaptation could tell us that he was not successful in conversing with that fallen master, Yoda was able to get some ideas. Yoda doesn't spend idle time meditating, he was contemplating the greater mysteries of the Force.
How and why was Qui-Gon able to do that? Was he that powerful? We can only speculate---- perhaps it is because of his link to Anakin. There must be a deeper connection between them and perhaps this was one reason why Qui-Gon was able to reach out from the netherworld.
It could be noted that Obi-Wan did not feel Anakin's pain, as he should have. We could argue, he was a bit busy at the time, being hunted down. But as Anakin's mentor, he should have had a deeper connection with the lad. We can say, he was not powerful enough.
It was Yoda, powerful as he was with a deeper understanding of the Force, who had felt Anakin's pain, even across the vast distance separating Tatooine and Coruscant. It was through his deep connection with the Force that he felt Anakin's pain and Qui-Gon's. Both instances had powerful repercussions on the fate of the Galaxy.
Obi-Wan admitted to Luke that he thought that he could be a teacher as great as Master Yoda and perhaps Vader would not have fallen to the darkside. In the gulf of time, eighteen years separating the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, Obi-Wan changed. He was no longer the confident general we saw fighting in the Clone Wars. He blamed himself for Anakin's fall. In his old age, Obi-Wan learned humility, took responsibility for Anakin's failures.
From a certain point of view, we must ask, why did he do that? Yes, he trained Anakin but Anakin was no longer his Padawan at the time of his fall. The actions of his former student was Anakin's own responsibility, not his. Perhaps it was both a Jedi and human failing to take responsibility for the actions of others. Perhaps it was because he was apologizing to Luke for the tasks and trials the younger man would face because of his, because of the Order's, because of his parents' failings and for the failure of the generation that sired him to keep the fires of democracy burning.
As equally powerful and important is the fact that Obi-Wan had grown in deeper understanding of the Force, just as Yoda did during the eighteen years of near solitude.
What does all this have to do with the Force Ghost? Obi-Wan and Yoda had to learn how to return from the dead, if the galaxy and the order was to survive this crucible. The fact is, being a Force ghost was a new kind of power that no Jedi except Qui-Gon had done before and not even to the extent as to what Obi-Wan was capable of doing years later.
Why do you think, Darth Vader was perplexed in A New Hope after cutting Obi-Wan down? And why Obi-Wan told Vader, he would become more powerful should he kill him right then and there. Vader did not know that particular trick.
The Force-Ghost technique was not a fall back position, should anything happen to them, although that was the obvious way--- the ability to move about as the living force. The more important aspect was: Obi-Wan and Yoda had graduated to the level that with a deeper understanding of the Force, came a power and a humility that crude matter, matters not. Yoda in Empire lectures Luke on this: The Force is not limited to the flesh. Both masters were more powerful than in Sith, more powerful than the Emperor and Vader.
During the years of exile, Obi-wan, Yoda and Bail Organa must have realized, a time would come when the children would be reunited and that someway, somehow they will be trained in the mysteries of the force. It was not just because they had to defeat the Emperor, but it was because it was their birthright.
You see, Obi-wan and Yoda at the time of Hope were powerful enough, Force-wise to defeat the Emperor. They could defeat death--- something the Palpatine and Vader sought after but was not able to accomplish. But as Yoda knew after battling the Emperor in Sith the Galaxy itself must want to be saved, must want for democracy so bad they would be willing to fight for it.
Enter Luke Skywalker's training in the Jedi Arts. It was not like any Jedi training.
It was neither an accelerated course nor an abridge one. It was what he needed, as Yoda put it. Another master like Obi-Wan would have taught him the lightsaber techniques, which he did to Luke. He had enticed the boy through Anakin's lightsaber. But Yoda, he taught Luke something far beyond that. Yoda taught Luke about the Force.
Master Yoda had more than eighteen years to prepare for the few weeks of training he had given Luke. It was one reason why Obi-Wan admitted the failing of his teaching to Luke. He had admitted the failure of the Jedi training. Obi-Wan taught Anakin at a time of war and showed him how to use the Force for combat, Yoda would have taught how to seek the higher mysteries of the Force, even during such times of darkness.
Notice in Sith as Yoda left for the Wookie homeworld, he counseled caution to Windu about their actions? Yoda had an irking of the danger. What Yoda and Obi-Wan learned during the gulf of years between Sith and Hope, Luke was given the benefit of all their teaching. In so doing, Anakin Skywalker was redeemed, fulfilled his destiny of destroying the Sith.
The Mystery of the Force Ghost was the expression of one's understanding of the Force and the understanding of the higher mysteries of the Force that led to a new kind of training that Luke Skywalker benefited from.
posted by Cocoy at
Thursday, June 02, 2005
1 Comments:
well according to star wars lore, "oneness" with the force means, you die. :) all things become "one" with the force.
but i think what you are driving at, is that obi-wan had greater connection with the force, a deeper understanding of it than qui-gon and anakin. which is true. he did. which was why he and yoda both were able to disappear when they died.
though it was qui-gon who paved the way for jedi like obi-wan and yoda to attain such mastery. anakin, as th ending of ROTJ told us appeared as a ghost. i do have two guesses for that one... obi-wan taught him when he "died" and second, luke was already of considerable power to "see".
i don't know if these two guesses even come close to it.
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Cocoy, at Friday, July 01, 2005 7:12:00 AM
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