Star Wars: 8 Insane Force Powers That Literally Make No Sense

WhatCulture

Even if the Force is always with you, it doesn't mean that's always a good thing...

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00:00In his hood on Tatooine, Obi-Wan Kenobi describes the force to a starry-eyed Luke Skywalker as

00:05quote, an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us,

00:10it binds the galaxy together, end quote. Since then though, things have become a lot more

00:15complicated, with new force powers introduced all the time that are awesome, but are more

00:20than a little confusing. With that in mind then, I'm Josh from WhatCulture.com and this is Star

00:25Wars, 8 insane force powers that literally make no sense. Number 8, Force Bellow. Perhaps one of

00:31the strangest force powers Star Wars has to offer is Force Bellow. The ability is strangely specific

00:37and offers no real tangible use, other than allowing the user to significantly amplify their voice.

00:43Force Bellow has only been seen in legends, such as the 2003 micro-series Star Wars Clone Wars,

00:49where the power is used to crush walls onto General Grievous during the Separatist invasion

00:54of Coruscant. The power was also used during a eulogy at Mara Jade Skywalker's funeral.

00:59Basically, the ability is the Force's equivalent of a microphone, even though microphones themselves

01:04have been seen frequently in Star Wars, making Force Bellow even more useless than it initially

01:10seems to be. Since this bafflingly pointless ability found its way into the Star Wars expanded

01:15universe, George Lucas did make it very clear that, to him, Star Wars canon actually didn't consider

01:21the EU at all. Number 7, Battle Meditation. Battle Meditation increased morale and support,

01:26and so it became heavily used across the space opera. Introduced in 2003's Knights of the Old

01:32Republic, Battle Meditation was utilized by Bastila Shan, first during the Jedi Civil War,

01:37then again during the Battle of Rakata Prime, ultimately allowing the Republic to destroy the

01:42Starforge. The power has also managed to make its way into canon, with it briefly appearing in the Clone Wars

01:47TV series, though it has been used far less than it was in Legends. Battle Meditation seems to be a

01:53little bit more complex than simply being a morale boosting ability though. According to Grand

01:58Admiral Thrawn in Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire, the Rebellion was able to emerge victorious at the

02:03Battle of Endor because Palpatine overused Battle Meditation, making Imperial forces mindless

02:09puppets who then could not make the independent tactical decisions once the Emperor stopped using the

02:13power. So not only does Battle Meditation seem to be a morale boosting ability, it can also act as a

02:19light form of mind trick, in which you can spread across as many people as possible I guess. Speaking of

02:25which though, number 6, the Mind Trick. Probably one of the most popular force abilities in Star Wars,

02:30the Mind Trick allows the user to influence their victim's mind, persuading them to do something they

02:35otherwise would not want to do. Mind Tricks were first seen of course in the eponymous 1977 film,

02:41in which Obi-Wan Kenobi used it to bypass his squad of stormtroopers in order to reach Mos Eisley.

02:46Despite Mind Tricks being used frequently in Star Wars, its actual workings are kind of poorly

02:51explained. Upon its use by Kenobi on Tatooine, he explains to Luke that quote,

02:56the force can have a strong influence on the weak-minded end quote. Logically, the strong-minded

03:01should remain unaffected by a Mind Trick then, as Luke later experiences in Return of the Jedi when he

03:06attempts and fails to use the power on Jabba the Hutt. What doesn't make sense about the

03:11Mind Trick though is what a weak mind actually is, and who and why someone is weak-minded. In The

03:17Phantom Menace for instance, Watto resists a Mind Trick from Qui-Gon Jinn, though the film does

03:22nothing to suggest that Watto is particularly intelligent. There is also no reason why the

03:27Mind Trick Jinn used on the Gungan leader boss, Nas, should have worked, since Nas is later seen

03:32to be tactically and strategically quite competent during the planning of the Battle of Naboo.

03:36Overall, Mind Tricks and Star Wars are not wholly consistent and need a little bit more explaining

03:41for them to make total sense.

03:43Number 5, Force Drain. Potentially one of the most sinister powers Star Wars has to offer is

03:48Force Drain. Force Drain is a power closely linked to dark side users, simply because the ability

03:53grants the user to remove all life from an organism until the organism is completely dead. The most famous

04:00practitioner of Force Drain was the ancient Sith Lord Darth Nihilus, who constantly hungered for

04:05Force Energy. This owlglad became so skillful in the ability and worked up such an appetite that he

04:11was even able to drain whole planets of life in an instant. With how exceptionally strong Force

04:17Drain can be then, this power likely falls under the same category of other abilities like Force

04:22Plague, of being moves that are fun to mess around with in Star Wars games, but are too powerful for

04:27them to exist in the mainline Star Wars continuity at large, at least in their Legends form.

04:32Still, a version of Force Drain does exist in Star Wars canon, as Palpatine used the ability on Rey and

04:37Ben Solo to restore his strength in the Rise of Skywalker, and the Dathmorion witch Mother Talzin

04:43was able to utilize a form of Force Drain on Count Dooku during the Clone Wars. Even so, the ability

04:49in canon is a shell of its capabilities in Legends, luckily for our heroes.

04:53Number 4, Essence Transfer. Arguably the most controversial Force power in Star Wars,

04:58Essence Transfer permits the user to transfer their spirit or essence, hence the title,

05:03into another body, essentially giving the user a form of invincibility. The power was famously

05:08used by Palpatine in the Legends comic book line Dark Empire, and was heavily implied to have been

05:13what the late Emperor used to preserve his life in the Rise of Skywalker. Like Force Heal,

05:19Essence Transfer has massive consequences for Star Wars, and the workings of the Force.

05:23With Palpatine using the power in Episode IX, there is now precedent for him to just continue

05:29living, even after Rey defeated him in the film's climax, since only his body was destroyed,

05:34and not his spirit. So, thanks to Essence Transfer and the way it was handled in the Rise of Skywalker,

05:39there's still a sense that anything could happen, and that this ending isn't quite as definitive or

05:43as impactful as it could have been. If Palpatine can use Essence Transfer, then who else in this

05:48franchise could use this power? Number 3, Force Speed. First seen in The Phantom Menace,

05:53Force Speed allowed a Force user to travel at dramatically fast pace. The power has appeared

05:58in both Legends and Canon, with the Force Unleashed and Jedi Fallen Order using the power frequently

06:03throughout the games' stories. Even though this power has been used countless times in Star Wars,

06:08its existence in the Star Wars universe has quite a lot of implications that George Lucas likely

06:13didn't plan for. For instance, since Obi-Wan was clearly seen to use the power in the opening of

06:18The Phantom Menace, it is virtually unexplainable as to why he didn't later use the power on Naboo

06:24to catch up to his master during their duel with Darth Maul, which then could have prevented Jin's death.

06:30There is also no reason as to why Kenobi did not use it to catch Jango Fett on Kamino,

06:34which could have potentially prevented the outbreak of the Clone Wars, had Fett revealed Count Dooku hired

06:39him to be the donor of the Republic's clone army. Number 2, Force Dyad. Introduced in The Rise of

06:45Skywalker, a Force Dyad was an exceptionally rare power that was shared amongst a pair of Force

06:50users. The Dyad ties into other powers like Force Bond and Force Heal, essentially joining the two

06:56together across space and time. In canon, the only time a Force Dyad has been seen on screen is between

07:02Rey and Kylo Ren. Whilst in concept a Force Dyad sounds interesting and even somewhat logical in Star Wars,

07:09when extra thought is given to the power and its workings, many questions do begin to seep through.

07:14What is possibly the most confusing aspect of a Force Dyad is how and why this ability comes to

07:19fruition. According to the Rise of Skywalker visual dictionary, a Force Dyad can only be formed with

07:24a light and dark side Force user, as the power requires total balance. Since Rey and Kylo Ren perfectly

07:30balance out in the Force, a Dyad between the two could make sense. Even so, Rey and Kylo Ren having the

07:36only Force Dyad known in Star Wars is a little bit questionable, especially when looking at other

07:41candidates who are more deserving of the link, like Luke and Anakin Skywalker. Ultimately, the Force

07:46itself chooses who will share a Dyad, making the choice of Kylo Ren and Rey even more perplexing,

07:52as other Force users have a much bigger stake in the Skywalker saga than them.

07:56Number 1. Force Heal

07:58This power has been seen several times in Star Wars now, both in canon and legends. The Rise of Skywalker

08:04liberally used Force Heal throughout the film's runtime, but Force Healing was not a Disney edition

08:09and had actually been used somewhat frequently under Star Wars Legends, such as in the Knights

08:13of the Old Republic games. Even so, the power was used differently in legends than in canon. In

08:18legends, the power was mostly used to cure yourself and others, with a far lesser focus on being able

08:23to fully resurrect the dead. In canon, the power seems to be only used to prevent death or to outright

08:29revive the dead, as seen in the Mandalorian, where Grogu uses this power. Not only does this power

08:34merely get a vague explanation of transferring Force energy from one person to another in the

08:39Rise of Skywalker, but it kind of just breaks Star Wars in a lot of ways. With the introduction of this

08:45power into canon, suddenly a myriad of questions present themselves to keen-eyed Star Wars fans,

08:49such as just how rare is it and why haven't we seen any of the major characters use it before

08:54if they were so powerful. Now that Force Healing has made its way into canon, suddenly

08:59dead is almost meaningless, as if someone can wield this power then, anyone can be fully resurrected

09:04as long as they're on hand. So that's our list, I want to know what you guys think down in the

09:08comments below. What do you think about these Force powers, and are there any explanations for

09:12them that I've missed off here? While you're down there as well, could you please give us a like,

09:15share, subscribe, and head over to whatculture.com for more lists and news like this every single day.

09:20Even if you don't though, I've been Josh, thanks so much for watching, and I'll see you soon.

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