Ten days ago Pablo Hidalgo from the Lucasfilm story group unleashed a series of tweets about the nature of the force. Its been going over in my mind ever since. To me it reveals so much about the Prequels, Orginal trilogy and the Sequels and what role the Jedi played. I’m going to get into it here.
First if you missed the tweets I have quoted them here as one paragraph.
Head’s up. Incoming tweetflood full of unsolicited views about the Force. About 14 or 15 tweets. Bear with me. A colleague of mine recently stated that everyone has and uses the Force. Which raised questions in some, but it’s nonetheless true. The Force is life. If you’ve ever felt a moment of connection with another or your world, you’re using it. That’s the idea. You can disbelieve in it, but still have it. I’m sure Ol Ben would attribute Han’s amazing piloting & “luck” to the Force. Han wouldn’t. For gamers, note that I think every incarnation of the RPG gave Force Points to everyone, regardless of “Force-sensitivity” Eg. we would cite is Bruce Lee. In our world, he would be someone more attuned to the Force than most, hence his remarkable abilities. It’s not just physical abilities. Those who can sway large numbers of people for good or for bad are tapping into a connectivity. I can see the case made that exceptional minds of all kinds – Einstein, Hawking, Newton – are tapping into a world most can’t see. I think people understandably got caught up in the whole midi-chlorian thing. They thought you must have X no. of midis to use the Force. No, the midi-prereq was to enter the prequel-era Jedi Order. It’s a rather soulless way to look at potential, by narrative design. The prequel Jedi have systemized their methods at the expense of spirituality and intuition. They are more ‘Order’ than ‘Jedi.’ Characters like Jocasta Nu and Ki-Adi-Mundi embody that. Others like Dooku, Qui-Gon and Anakin don’t. But there’s more to the Force than just Jedi/Sith. There’s more to potential than midis. Just like there’s more to genius than grades.- Pablo Hidalgo Twitter Sept 11, 2016
Prequels
This information gives a much better understanding of what was really going on with the Jedi in the Prequels. For many it was assumed that the Jedi we saw in the Prequels were the ideal Jedi but these tweets call that into question. In a follow up tweet two days later Pablo said this:
"So, wait, the Jedi were meant to be aloof and unapproachable? I don't buy it."
They.
Are.
In,
A.
Literal.
Ivory.
Tower.— Pablo Hidalgo (@pablohidalgo) September 12, 2016
This leaves us with only one conclusion, the Prequel Jedi were far from ideal. They had lost sight of what they should be and what they were originally. The set themselves up as different and special by the nature of their birth, which is why it is so easy for the Sith(the Emperor) to discredit them. The Jedi had done the heavy lifting already The examples of Dooku and Qui-Gon as Jedi that understood the spiritual side and highlights the dangers of it as it lead Dooku to the darkside. It also gives us insight into the two that we know survived, Obi-wan and Yoda. I think these two balanced the spiritual belief of a Qui-gon and the conformity of a Ki-Adi-Mundi perfectly. It also leads us to the decisions they made at the end of RotS. They needed to regroup and go back to the roots of the Jedi.
The Original Trilogy
There are two Jedi in the Original trilogy(Luke isn’t a Jedi until the very end of RotJ) and they have drastically changed how they speak about the force compared to the PT. Obi-wan’s description is spiritual where in the PT the force was described in a clinical way. While both Obi-wan and Yoda have separated themselves from the galaxy they did so in a way completely opposite as was done by the Jedi of the PT. They isolated themselves and lived as humble a lifestyle as any in the galaxy, shrugging off the aloofness by living in the world.
The Sequel Trilogy
What does this mean for the new Jedi in the new trilogy. As we’ve discussed before there has been a theme in the new Lucas-free Star Wars which focuses on history, specifically of the Jedi. So while there has been much talk of Padawans and training like we saw in the Prequels its unlikely this method is how Luke trained his future Jedi. Luke’s search for ancient jedi secrets tells me Luke is trying to avoid the mistakes that previous Jedi made. So Luke is more likely to be a Qui-gon type Jedi than Obi-wan.
Follow me on twitter and stay tuned to spoiledbluemilk.com for updates MWF