The other night I arrived from a gig quite late and feeling on a high – I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned before heading to turn the TV on. Thinking I’d find something Star Wars to watch, I instead watched The Muppet Christmas Carol. Why am I telling you this? Well, watching this festive favourite involving spirits and ghosts got me to thinking about Star Wars Force ghosts, the mystery of them and how in new media the return of some Force ghosts have changed our perception of them. Take a look below to see where we stand in terms of being haunted by some of our favourite Jedi.
To begin with, let’s examine Force ghosts on a practical level and how they came out from a storytelling stand point. The screenplay for Star Wars went through draft after draft and until very late in the process, Ben Kenobi wasn’t going to die. Lucas eventually realised that once Ben was on Yavin IV and our young heroes were off to the Death Star, there wasn’t much for the wise Jedi to do, and so Bens fate was sealed. Of course, he not only died but he sacrificed himself. Shortly after his ‘death’ we recall that Luke hears Ben in his head. He was only a voice, but back in 1977 it was never fully explained whether this was Ben from beyond the grave or simply Luke hearing a memory of a loved on.
Flash-forward to 1980 and The Empire Strikes Back. Luke is in need of more Jedi training but there’s no Ben. No problem – enter the Grand Master himself – Yoda. However, Luke needs to be told to seek out Yoda. Without Kenobi around, how is he going to know how to do this? The answer – Ben’s Force ghost, which arrives on Hoth to instruct him to go to Dagobah. It seems obvious that Lucas would turn to this storytelling function and may have probably borrowed it from his religious influences as angels appear constantly throughout the Bible to guide people in times of need or to signal important news from God. Sir Alec Guinness himself famously said that he had no problem returning as a ghostly version of his character as he was paid more for a day’s work than he had been for most of his career. All this makes sense from a film-making perspective, and Lucas achieved a great deal for his story from having Sir Alec return for a few scenes. Job done.
Now, let’s take a look at Force ghosts as they currently stand in the lore and canon. For the sake of this, we’ll go in the story continuity timeline rather than release order.
The Jedi had always considered death to be a natural part of life. This was always their philosophy with having no attachments. There is content in Legends about Jedi from millennia before about appearing to Padawans, but alas that remains a legend.
All remains as it is until the appearance of probably the single most important Jedi to influence events in Star Wars history – Qui-Gon Jinn. Known to have studied and embraced The Living Force more than most, he was also a believer in the prophecy of The Chosen One. His unconventional ways made him a maverick among the Jedi but he never held arrogance like the rest and was always searching for something greater than himself.
At some point in the timeline, Qui-Gon studied with the Force Priestesses, also known as the Shaman of the Whills. (This can also be seen with Yoda in the final episodes of season 6 of The Clone Wars) There, Jinn underwent trials – however, due to his tragic and untimely death his training was incomplete. This is why we first hear Jinn return in Attack of the Clones as Yoda is mediating and in Revenge of the Sith, Jinn was actually due to be heard again communicating with Yoda on Pollis Masa. (This can still be read in the amazing novelisation by Matthew Stover) So, Jinn has retained his consciousness but not his physical form. He is in the netherworld of the Force but yet still able to transcend to the physical realm. It’s here than Yoda become Jinn’s Padawan and agrees to learn under him. Yoda instructs Obi-Wan that their friend has returned and Obi-Wan will receive the same training.
Moving onto Obi-Wan Kenobi and for six episodes of that show, Ben is unable to commune with his old Master. There’s not much given away in terms of details as to why this is happening but in the few lines of dialogue exchanged between the reunited pair at the end of the series we can take a lot. Now, Qui-Gon appearing in visible form throws up some questions but we can only assume that over time Qui-Gon has continued his own training and grown stronger in the intervening decade in order to this. Ben says that he was beginning to think his Master would never show up. Jinn replied; “I was always here, Obi-Wan. You were…just not ready to see.” This implies that Jinn was always there to guide his Padawan but because Ben was so devasted and closed off from hope that he wasn’t open to the possibility of seeing his Master. Only when Ben was at peace and found his Nirvana with Anakin could Ben finally see what had always been before him. Now, it’s also safe to assume that Qui-Gon had been training with Yoda on Dagobah for some time and now that his training is complete, it’s time to be with his old friend and student. It’s assumed in the closing moments of the show that Qui-Gon will walk along side Ben to his new home and begin his training.
The next time we see a Force Ghost it’s in Empire and that is when Ben appears to Luke on Hoth and again on Dagobah. It’s safe to establish that one has to be Force-sensitive to see the vision of the being. We make this conclusion as at the end of Return of the Jedi, Luke is the only one able to see the three spirits of Anakin, Yoda and Ben. There’s been much controversy around the 2004 addition of Hayden Christensen replacing Sebastian Shaw for the final shots and while we won’t be getting into that here – there is a canonical explanation. The Force chose to make Anakin appear as the form he had when he was last in the light side of the Force. It’s now known that Ben helped Anakin make the jump in the netherworld and guided him to his tranquil state.
We move forward to The Last Jedi and a few problems arose. Well, one in particular caused a few heads to scratch. When Yoda appeared to Luke before he’s about to set fire to the tree, it was Yoda himself that brought down lightening to erupt the flames and later on Yoda hits Luke on the head with his stick. All this meant that Force Ghosts could seemingly interact with the physical world despite Ben saying to Luke decades earlier that he couldn’t interfere with Luke’s confrontation against Vader and The Emperor. This was probably nothing more than a storytelling device and was later used in The Rise of Skywalker as Luke appeared to Rey, caught her lightsaber, and later rose his old X-Wing from the depths.
Things got really interesting this year with Ahsoka. The speculating has begun with the ‘World between Worlds‘ and whether Ahsoka was really dead or if it was a dream and so many other theories. We saw Anakin return in spectacular fashion for the fifth episode and while we deliberately don’t know the details, there’s hints that Anakin is choosing to appear to Ahsoka in this form. In episode 5, Anakin appears to be a whole physical being with no blue glow. Is this place where Force ghosts hang out and look into the future or check on their friends and events in time? I don’t think we’ll ever know the true picture and sometimes life must have its mysteries.
Anakin appeared one more time for us in the finale and right at the closing moments. This time he is a Force Ghost and appears to finally be at peace himself. He’s watching over Ahsoka. He knows she’s exactly where she’s supposed to be. Does Anakin sense what’s to come? Has he seen a glimpse of the future? I think the smile is something more personal. It shows that Anakin can have some comfort. Despite all the hate, pain and suffering that he caused – despite the hatred for himself – Ahsoka is the one thing that Anakin did not fail. She’s okay. She’s going to be okay.
Anakin has now become a guardian angel, a far cry from the agent of the devil he once was, and while we don’t know for certain where the story will take us, it’s greatly comforting to know that out there – somewhere – our protector is among the shadows in the starlight.
- Hardcover Book
- Richau, Amy (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 200 Pages - 12/05/2023 (Publication Date) - DK Children (Publisher)
