I enjoyed episode 2 of the #Mandalorian but I do have one little gripe about a trend I’ve noticed (spoiler’s follow).
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Has anyone else noticed that in the current Star Wars trilogy, and now here in the Mandalorian, that the force has been Harry Potterized?
I mean, both Luke and Anakin were extremely strong in the force, but both had to engage in serious training and effort before their considerable power could be used extensively, or even purposely.
Anakin especially had his “midi-chlorians off the chart” and yet nothing he did went terribly far beyond unusually efficient reflexes. Beyond being the “only human who can pod race”, he wasn’t bursting with force manifestations. And he was the chosen one, supposedly with more potential for the use of the force than even Yoda.
As originally presented, it seems force potential meant very little until a wielder was trained to develop that potential. We can presume a force user could go their whole life unaware of the power they have if they aren’t found and trained. If this weren’t the case, wouldn’t there be many more prominent factions of force users in the galaxy then just the Sith and the Jedi? Wouldn’t there be numerous religions and cultures built around the use of the force? Wouldn’t it have been impossible for Darth Vader to become “all that’s left of your religion” if innately born force users could “discover” their powers and enlarge them through experimentation?
And yet, this Harry Potter-like manifestation of ability seems to be exactly how the newer Star Wars franchise iterations are treating the force, like it’s just randomly bursting out of adept individuals with little need for mentorship or training before it manifests itself.
From Rey’s “leave the door open” moment, to the broomstick kid, and now to baby yoda lifting up a rhino, the whole nature of the force as we know it seems to have shifted.
The force was introduced to us as the fabric of existence in the Star Wars galaxy, an energy field that, through study and discipline, certain adept individuals could learn to manipulate. Manipulating the force was presented as a complicated endeavor involving “reaching out with your feelings” in what seemed to be a process requiring proper concentration and specific awareness of what was being attempted. Both the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy even allude to the strong necessity to begin training as young as possible, and that at certain ages the training proved too difficult, even for the most adept.
Now, it’s starting to feel more like randomly manifested magic, like the force can be accidentally or inadvertently manipulated based on innate ability even if untrained. Like the power is in the individual, and not an energy field the entire universe is composed of. Even more inconsistent, like reaching out to the force somehow allows for self-instruction, like the force is alive and will teach you how to wield it, or that certain wielders somehow instinctively know just exactly how to reach out and use the force, with no instruction at all.
Frankly, based on how the force has been traditionally portrayed, it shouldn’t matter how force adept baby yoda is. Wielding the force cognizantly was never originally demonstrated to be intuitive. The force simply exists, a wielder must be taught to use it beyond subtle instances. While it makes for great cinema, and fan service, baby yoda should probably not have been able to do what he did in this second episode.
What I don’t like is that it lessens what it means to be a master in the ways of the force. It lessens figures like Yoda, Qui Gon, Obi Wan, and even Sith like Maul and Sidious, because now its just about how powerful you are naturally instead of who had the wisdom and desire to develop their powers.
It’s fun seeing baby yoda do these kinds of things, but having him so effortlessly powerful essentially makes Yoda as powerful as he was only by token of his race instead of by his wisdom and discipline as a Jedi Master. And that’s kinda sad.