I think that midi-chlorians are probably one of the most hated aspects of Star Wars. People hate them so much even Jar Jar gets to pick on them. Midi-chlorians are criticized for demystifying the force and for turning the energy that surrounds us and binds us into nothing more than an infection. Even more surprising, while most Star Wars controversies are bemoaned by a few disgruntled fans, midi-chlorians are hated by everyone.
That’s why I am going to attempt to explain why they might not be so bad after all. See, as a Star Wars fan, I want to be able to love everything about that Galaxy Far, Far Away and I really enjoy opportunities to justify and retcon until things make sense. Am I an apologist? Maybe. But what it really comes down to is that if we accept (which I have) that canon is canon… I would rather do some mental gymnastics and find a way to like midi-chlorians than just sit around and let them spoil the stories for me. I hope that by sharing my interpretation of midi-chlorians, maybe you will also be able to see them in a different light.
Here’s what we know about midi-chlorians from the movie:
Anakin Skywalker: Master, sir, I heard Yoda talking about midi-chlorians. I’ve been wondering…what are midi-chlorians?
Qui-Gon Jinn: Midi-chlorians are a microscopic lifeform that reside within all living cells and communicates with the Force.
Anakin Skywalker: They live inside of me?
Qui-Gon Jinn: In your cells, yes. We are symbionts with them-
Anakin Skywalker: Symbionts?
Qui-Gon Jinn: Life forms living together for mutual advantage. Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force. They continually speak to you, telling you the will of the Force. When you learn to quiet your mind, you will hear them speaking to you
I want to start by saying that nowhere in Qui-Gon’s explanation (see above) does he say that the midi-chlorians create the Force or that they even create a being’s connection to the Force. As a matter of fact, all he really says is that they are a symbiotic life form. I think that everyone misunderstood this scene by interpreting the midi-chlorians to be much more important than they actually are. Through my interpretation, midi-chlorians are only important for one purpose: they are the way that the Jedi are able to measure force ability. We will get to that later, but let’s start by imagining a midi-chlorian as simply a tiny little cellular life form, but forget everything you think you know about its relationship with the Force. Let’s just start with it as a normal living thing, similar to an amoeba.
What we DO know about midi-chlorians is that the Jedi council measures a midi-chlorian count to see how strong a being’s connection to the Force is. This is what throws most people off as there seems to be an implication that the midi-chlorians CAUSE the person to be more closely attuned to the Force. However, if the Jedi were simply using midi-chlorians as a measuring tool, there would only need to be a CORRELATION present. There needs only be a connection saying that with greater force ability, you will find a higher midi-chlorian count and nothing needs to exist stating that one causes the other.
You have to imagine that the Jedi needed ways to measure Force sensitivity. Sure, part of it was just the masters sitting around during Lunch trying to find a way to prove who was best… but they also needed ways to seek out and recruit more Force-sensitives to their cause. I would imagine that (until midi-chlorians were considered) the Jedi probably spent lots of time, effort and credits researching ways to detect force-sensitivity. Like most of us would, they probably started by trying spiritual or Force-based tests. They probably studied and meditated for millennia looking for a way to precisely measure Force sensitivity. Eventually, they probably expanded their scope and tried approaching the problem scientifically. At that point, they noticed a correlation (not even needing causation) between Force sensitivity and midi-chlorian count and from then on, that became the standard test… not because the midi-chlorians create the connection to the Force, but simply because a being with a close connection will end up having more midi-chlorians in their blood.
Why would there be a correlation, then?
We know from the Expanded Universe that different creatures can interact with the Force in different ways (The best example would be the ysalamiri). So it’s not too difficult to imagine that midi-chlorians could be creatures who actually feed off of the Force. If the idea of them “eating” or gaining nourishment from the Force is too biological for you, imagine that the little amoeba-like organisms are specialized in Force-healing and so the more they are surrounded by the Force, the healthier they are.
If this were the case, wouldn’t it make sense that a person who has a greater connection to the Force would be able to attract and sustain a larger population of midi-chlorians? Think of it like lampreys attached to sharks. A lamprey is a fish that survives by attaching itself to a shark and eating all of the food that falls out of the shark’s mouth. Therefore, if a shark is an excellent hunter, killing hundreds of fish per day, more lampreys would be able to stick with it and still have plenty of food. You could probably, in that case, look at a shark with 5 healthy lampreys attached to it and conclude that it is a better hunter than a shark with one hungry lamprey. I think the Jedi noticed that a similar relationship existed between Force-users and midi-chlorians and they realized that it was just an easy way for them to see how strong a person’s force connection was.
Obi Wan tells us in A New Hope that the Force is an energy field created by all living things. It makes sense that more life yields more Force and there are many implications that places in the Galaxy that are teeming with life seem to have stronger connections to the Force, especially the light side. In this way, it is probable that, to some degree, having a large number of midi-chlorians in your body at all times might, in fact, make the Force more accessible to you, even though the midi-chlorians themselves are not actively creating or facilitating this connection. Considering Qui Gon Jinn’s strong adherence to his view of the Living Force, it makes sense that he would really focus on the interconnectedness and the relationship between the midi-chlorian and the being serving as its host. That is why Qui Gon emphasizes this connection to Anakin when explaining the symbiotic relationship.
This only leaves two small points to address.
First, there is the comment that without midi-chlorians, “life could not exist”. To explain this, we can simply look at our own existence and the mitochondria that exist in our cells. Mitochondria are tiny organisms that exist within our cells and without them we could not live Most biologists, however, believe that mitochondria were actually bacteria that integrated themselves into our cellular structures and were not part of our original cellular makeup. So I can accept this as precedent for the idea that there can be a cellular organism without which life could not exist.
Second, there is the comment that without midi-chlorians, “we would have no knowledge of the Force”. As I mentioned above, you have to imagine that Jedi and non-Jedi alike must always spend time researching and learning about the Force. Could you imagine a world where we didn’t study how electricity or gravity works? Well, even though the Force is more mystical than those real-world forces, I would imagine it would be studied all the same. Once the midi-chlorians were discovered, it could have harbored a new scientific approach to studying the Force and given non-force-users a way to indirectly measure and interact with the Force. Just as Gravity existed and impacted us before it was “discovered”, so the Force was around and used, but the Galaxy’s knowledge of the Force could have expanded dramatically as a result of the scientific approach to Force-study and the ability for everyone to measure it.
So that is a window to how midi-chlorians exist in my mind. With this understanding, the Force itself is still the mystical and spiritual force it was before 1999 and nothing has really changed about my understanding of how it works. However, knowing that midi-chlorians exist, I can now accept them as a simple measuring tool that the Jedi found to help them determine different levels of Force ability.
I know that many fans have created their own personal canon and chosen to completely write off the prequels and the midi-chlorians, but hopefully this new interpretation can help you allow them back into your Star Wars fandom by allowing midi-chlorians and a mystical Force to coexist.
Let me know what you think in the comments below!
-Mitchell
Author: admin
The Star Wars Report: A Star Wars Podcasting Network and Website.
“For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter, You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship.”
I feel frustrated sometimes when this topic comes up. As a child I saw the Force as… one large lifeform. I guess the image in my head was a giant Jell-O square. And everything in the universe was in this Jell-O square. It was the medium in which life happened. It filled the space between our molecules. It was perpetuated by the life inside it, and similarly the life inside it needed it to live. And the Will of the Jell-O was to grow itself and those that lived inside it.
And those of us who lived inside the loving embrace of the Jell-O found that if they thought like the Jell-O then the Jell-O would work with them to influence the course of events, like keepers and wardens of its cause. But there were those few who could sense the undertoes of the Jell-O’s movements. These people used their anger and frustration to bully the Jell-O into doing what they wanted. The Jell-O didn’t want these bad things to happen, but what chance does Jell-O have against a bully?
Then the Prequels. So now some people are more approachable by the Force. Not that the Force is in everything, but when each of us were made (when our stats were rolled to see how smart or handsome or strong we could be) our Force stat was rolled too. Some of us have really hi Force but all of us, just for being alive have some Force (no 0s on a d20). And in-game the GM will tell you about the NPCs and PCs by telling your PC what the target’s “Midi-chlorian count” is. It’s not a force of nature, it’s now a predisposition to congeal nature around you.
I know it’s a small difference in it’s own way, but the allure of the Force for me when i was a-play was that if I thought the right way and worked at it, like Luke finally did in movie 6, I could unlock that part of me. I would learn to “Search my feelings” to know what to do. It was anyone’s gift if they simply learned to receive it and spent the discipline to use it. But now I know my midi-chlorian count is just too low to learn Force Throw (lvl 3, requires Force stat of 4), so I should stick to weapons I can use, like a gaffi stick, which any old sand person can equip.
I’ve always understood them to be a ramification of a connection with the force. Nothing more, nothing less. Little Anakin was connected to the force naturally, that’s why he could pod race and do things humans weren’t supposed to do. Midi-chlorians are more of a ramification than a causality.
If truly anyone can learn the way of The Force without difference then why in the hell in 20 years, Obi-Wan or Yoda didn’t take an apprentice or more? Why was Luke (or Leia) the only one who can learn it? The midi-chlorians are the answer to: What the hell does it means “The Force is strong with him” ? Why is he strong with The Force and I am not? Because you have not enough midi-chlorians therefore you are no Force-sensitive. That’s why.
Ah but dear friend, it is not too late! The midi-chlorians are not fixed in level, it is never said they are! Young Anakin just had more to start with, but if you keep to search your feelings you can get more of the midichlorians, and at last you can unlock Force Throw!
That is really what Ive thought for a long time now. Qui-gon never said they were the force, only that they provided a link in a fashion. Thanks for the article, a good read and a solid viewpoint.
I guess my issue with the MCs is that they don’t tie well at all with the “Nub” in the brain that Luke discovers that helped him determine Force Sensitivity. Sure it’s easy to say its just the EU stepping out of bounds, but I’d like to see a way that the Nub makes sense in conjunction with the MCs.
His brain could have evolved in a way that allowed him to detect force sensitivity without the need to measure an MC count. Which is useful since it seems that knowledge of MCs was lost after the rise of the Empire and neither Obi-Wan nor Yoda found it necessary to pass on that knowledge to Luke as they didn’t have anything they could use to measure it.
Perhaps because the Force was so strong with him, he was just more aware of the power of the Force inside people? All the Jedi perhaps could sense it, but just not as well as Luke or Anakin?
This makes a good point. However, the Force, as it’s defined, is an energy field created by all living things, and if all living things are present only because of midi-chlorians…well, then I would deduce that the Force exists because of midi-chlorians. Because without midi-chlorians there’d be no life and without life there is no Force. Also, since midichlorians are in all life forms, then it would only make since that they create the Force (not they are the Force) and thus they can detect the Force.
Of course, this is all null if “Life” is humans only and “living things” is all living things. It does say that it’s in all cells of living things so my gut say to go with my initial hypothesis.
The truly ironic part about the whole thing is that people reacted the same way to this as they react when someone threatens their religion or superstition. And that’s all it is. Why do people need a mystical source? What’s wrong with science?
Midi-Chlorians: Physiology, Physics, and the Force
http://www.theforce.net/midichlorians/
Something I feel could add to all this
It may be that Midi-Chlorians are a byproduct of the force or perhaps they are the first life generated then similar to chemicals they began to interact with new materials and began to mutate into various forms of life and over millions of years became a main building block in all living things. Nowhere is it said that they are responsible for the existence of the force only the perception and knowledge of the force. That being said we might see this type of research in science all the time. Luminescent organisms in the deep sea emit light but they are not light itself and nor are they responsible for the existence of light. Neither are fireflies. It is also not said that the force exists only because of life it is rather implied that life is a result of the force and exists within the force and the force permeates all things not just living things. That being said the force is a generic term much like energy and the word energy could be applied wherever you see the word force. E=MC2 could be rewritten F=MC2. Force = Matter x the speed of light squared. Life and matter itself are a byproduct / result of energy condensing into matter.
Like Jedi where based on monk and samurai, so was the force inspired on ki (or chi or prana). Make of it what you will.
[“Life forms living together for mutual advantage. Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force.”]
What many other fans fail to realize is that the idea of midi-chlorians serve as a theme for one of the main plots for “THE PHANTOM MENACE” – life forms living together for mutual advantage. This theme certainly seemed to be the case for the Nabooans and the Gungans, who share a planet. This is what both groups had to learn before the end of the film.
The midi-chlorians never negate the mysticism of the Force. They serve only as an explanation of why some individual are more skilled in The Force than others. Which explain why Luke was the only hope at the time of the original trilogy: if truly anyone can learn the way of The Force without difference then why in the hell in 20 years, Obi-Wan or Yoda didn’t take an apprentice or more? Why was Luke (or Leia) the only one who can learn it? The midi-chlorians are the answer to: What the hell does it means “The Force is strong with him” ? Why is he strong with The Force and I am not? Because you have not enough midi-chlorians therefore you are no Force-sensitive. That’s why.
n human genetics, Mitochondrial Eve is thematrilineal most recent common ancestor(MRCA) of all currently living humans. This is the most recent woman from whom all living humans today descend, in an unbroken line, on their mother’s side, and through the mothers of those mothers, and so on, back until all lines converge on one woman, who is estimated to have lived approximately 100,000–200,000 years ago. Because allmitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) generally (but see paternal mtDNA transmission) is passed from mother to offspring withoutrecombination, all mtDNA in every living person is directly descended from hers by definition, differing only by the mutations that over generations have occurred in the germ cell mtDNA since the conception of the original “Mitochondrial Eve”.
Mitochondrial Eve is named aftermitochondria and the biblical Eve.[2] Unlike her biblical namesake, she was not the only living human female of her time. However, her female contemporaries, excluding her mother, failed to produce a direct unbroken female line to any living person in the present day.
Mitochondrial Eve is estimated to have lived between 99,000 and 200,000 years ago,[3][4][5]most likely in East Africa,[6] when Homo sapiens sapiens (anatomically modern humans) were developing as a population distinct from other human sub-species.
Mitochondrial Eve lived later than Homo heidelbergensis and the emergence of Homo neanderthalensis, but earlier than the out of Africa migration.[7] The dating for “Eve” was a blow to the multiregional hypothesis and a boost to the theory of the origin and dispersion of modern humans from Africa, replacing more “archaic” human populationssuch as Neanderthals. As a result, a consensus emerged among anthropologiststhat the latter theory was more plausible.
Analogous to the Mitochondrial Eve is the Y-chromosomal Adam, the member of Homo sapiens sapiens from whom all living humans are descended patrilineally. The inherited DNA in the male case is his nuclear Y chromosome rather than the mtDNA. Mitochondrial Eve and Y-chromosomal Adam need not have lived at the same time.[8] For example, Y-chromosomal Adam has been estimated to have lived during a wide range of times from 180,000 to 581,000 years ago,[9][10][11] while a 2013 paper concluded that he lived between 120,000 and 156,000 years ago[5][12] (however, this paper did not include some Cameroonians and one African American, who did not inherit their Y from that “Adam”[10]).
King James Bible genesis 2:22
And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man
Bro I Solved it.. midi-chorines= mitchondrial DNA…
It all points to Qui-Gon Jinn’s philosophical divide with the rest of the Jedi–if the Force is really qi (life energy), then it -is- exclusively generated by midi-chlorians (free-living and endosymbiontic prokaryotes that carry out all photosynthesis and almost all cellular respiration) and therefore it -cannot- have a “dark side.”
The underlying theme of all Star Wars, just like Harry Potter or the Old Testament, is that the “good guys” really aren’t so good because they condone and enable slavery. That’s why Yoda refers to Sith Lore as the “Dark Side of the Force” instead of “a more extreme yet more transparent use of directed life energy to manipulate and oppress sentient beings.”
Qui Gon’s credibility is in the results of his actions. As Harry Potter did for Dobby the House Elf with his sock trick, Qui Gon actually manages to free another major character from slavery, and he does so at great risk to the more urgent–yet arguably far less important–cause of the Jedi.
I like the idea of midi-chlorians, of course I wish it was part of the original 3 filmed. I like to think there is something much more significant than all of us, it seems like midi/chlorians are somewhat close to that idea. “Big things have small beginnings.”
Just one persons opinion
In occult teachings, everything is alive, even atoms and subatomic particles… So this midi-chlorians theory falls flat. It’s probably a disinformation campaign to fool the uninitiated. *waves hand* You don’t need to see my midi-chlorian count.