15 Detailed Fan Theories About The Force In 'Star Wars'

Following the release of The Rise of Skywalker, Redditors theorized over potential previous applications of Force Healing in this thread. One user, u/ExioKenway5 made this point:

I think Palpatine was lying in Revenge of the Sith. He wanted Anakin to turn, why would he tell him that the light side had a Force healing power that could bring people back to life? Both the dark and the light sides have a power to bring people back to life. The difference is that the light side requires the user to sacrifice themselves to save others, while the dark side uses other people['s lifeforce] to keep themselves alive.

This is supported by Redditor u/Robobiotic:

... [the] light side needs personal sacrifice and loss, which is not something the dark side readily endorses. The dark side equivalent is essentially Force draining (which Palpatine does) and involves taking from one to give to another (or oneself). Didn't Palpatine do this to Padme and spin it off as "you killed her" during the birth, so that Vader could live?

From Redditor u/mrswitters03:

...A Dark Side Nexus is more or less a giant energy filled with the Dark Side of the Force, usually caused by a major catastrophe or heinous act. For example, in the [Heir to The Empire] books, there is talk of large, dark energy from the Emperor's death above Endor that actually causes Leia to pass out (Mara Jade has reactions to it, too). In Rebels season 2, Malachor has a very dark energy to it that Ezra notices from the mass slaughter of everyone from the Sith superweapon. The cave on Dagobah is filled with the dark energy of a Dark Side user that died in there, and Yoda actually used it to mask his presence in the Force (in case Palpatine was looking for him). 

Anyway, there was a video recently talking about why Anakin "really" purged all the younglings in the Jedi temple, and I think a lot of the reasons in it are spot on, especially in that this act would solidify Anakin's turn to the Dark Side. I think that there's actually a goal (beyond the benefit of no more Jedi) - that the purge of children in what's essentially a house of worship and beacon of Light Side energy would create a Dark Side Nexus for Palpatine's benefit.

[In the Disney canon,] Palpatine actually takes over the temple and renovates it for the Emperor's new residence. Besides the irony of stealing it from his enemies as the icing on the cake to his trickery, always being surrounded by such dark energy would allow him to dip deeper into the Dark Side and may even work as a magnifier of his powers.

In Tarkin, [it is revealed the Jedi Temple was built on top of a Sith shrine], but considering how cunning Palpatine was, I don't see him just having Anakin slaughter the younglings to eliminate all threats and test Anakin's desire to embrace the Dark Side. Yeah, those are obviously great reasons, but Palpatine would want to reap the benefits as well - and what more than to have a nearby source of Dark Side energy to tap into?

From Redditor u/CL0aKe:

Maybe Mortis represents the Living Force while The World Between Worlds represents the Cosmic Force? The Ones [The Father, Son, and Daughter] each represent a different aspect of the Living Force: the dark side, the light, and the balance. Ahsoka says that The World Between Worlds could be related to the Cosmic Force, or be the physical representation of it.

Both Mortis and The World Between Worlds need to exist or else there would be massive repercussions, just like both sides of the Force.

When Jedi meditate, they become one with the Cosmic Force, and looking back on Rebels we see very similar stars when Ezra or Kanan are meditating to the ones we see within the World Between Worlds, so it's very possible that Jedi's minds or souls enter the The World Between Worlds when they meditate.

Another Redditor, u/Pixel_Porkchop supports this theory by bringing up Jedi: Fallen Order:

Cal Kestis is shown to enter a plane very similar to The World Between Worlds in Jedi: Fallen Order when meditating, though it is murky and different which could be related to his damaged connection to the force after his trauma and PTSD from Order 66. 

Considering the Jedi rely on the Cosmic Force to anticipate future events and utilize other precognitive techniques, a connection to The World Between Worlds (which features gates to different moments and places in time) seems incredibly plausible.

From Redditor u/tehmpus:

...I think that there is a bit of a misconception about the dark-side. The Jedi considered the dark-side to be evil, but in reality it's just the necessary part of the Force dealing in death, destruction, and decay. Those are natural forces that don't necessarily need to be controlled by an evil person. Thus a replacement for "The Son [one of the Mortis gods] need not necessarily be evil. The Sith were evil, but they twisted the dark-side by doing unnatural acts, and thus unbalanced the Force by staying alive instead of dying with their souls returning to the Cosmic Force.

In addition, it's possible to channel the Force with emotion as a dark-sider without having to tap into just three sources of emotion: hate, pain, and anger. Humans are complex creatures with way more emotions than just those.

From Redditor u/DoScienceToIt:

Jedi could use it if:

1) They had a tradition that taught it
2) It didn't run counter to their philosophy
3) It wasn't a manifestation of the dark side of the Force.

There is a sharp devastation between applications of the Force, which seem to both require and exact different efforts and effects on the user. While the Force is universal, HOW one taps into is makes a very large difference. Think of the Force like a torch: You can use the torch to create light to guide you, to signal people far away. to provide warmth. You can also use the torch to set a wildfire or as a weapon.

To stretch the analogy a bit beyond that, it's generally much easier to use it as a weapon. It comes naturally to you, because you can fool yourself into thinking it's your own will that is causing the change in reality. Dark side users always seem to be very powerful because tapping into the dark side seems to be easier for the nature of many sentient beings.

But that being said, specific applications still require a lot of practice to do with relative safety. A torch makes a good weapon, but you're just as much at risk of burning yourself. Maul probably never learned how to apply the Force in that way. Perhaps he just didn't have the talent or the temperament for it. There is lots of canon and legends evidence for Force users having "affinity" for specific applications of the Force.

Jedi don't use Force lightning or other powers like that because they know that if you use the torch that way you're always going to burn yourself eventually, and the more often to harm someone with it, the easier it is to justify it to yourself the next time.

From Redditor u/alterpsyche:

The biggest cause of dispute between Qui-Gon and The Council was that The Council made their decisions through looking into the future. That is why they initialy did not want Anakin to become Jedi, because they could not foresee all consequences.

Qui-Gon on the other hand made his decisions through Living Force, in other words he was living in the moment and not minding what might happen in the future. That is, btw, why he was not as good in lightsaber combat as his padawan for example, because you need to foresee opponents move to be able to deal with it. [This is furhter supported by this Redditor, who cites an exchange in The Phantom Menace].