Ancient Order of the Whills

The Ancient Order of the Whills were a higher order of beings, possibly extra-galactic. They were known to have had Shamans.

History
The Whills kept a collection of stories, called the Journal of the Whills, that chronicled the history of the Galaxy. It is believed that R2-D2, who narrated his stories to a Keeper of the Whills sometime around 104 ABY for their Journal, was the source of some of the chapters that encompassed the Clone Wars, the Galactic Civil War and the New Republic.

One of their Shamans was known to have discovered the secret of eternal consciousness and taught Qui-Gon Jinn the secret, allowing him to interact with the living after his death.

Behind the scenes
In early drafts of A New Hope, the name 'Whills' is equivalent to the Force. It is probably an early incarnation of the concept of midichlorians.

"Originally, I was trying to have the story be told by somebody else (an immortal being known as a Whill); there was somebody watching this whole story and recording it, somebody probably wiser than the mortal players in the actual events. I eventually dropped this idea, and the concepts behind the Whills turned into the Force. But the Whills became part of this massive amount of notes, quotes, background information that I used for the scripts; the stories were actually taken from the Journal of the Whills."

- George Lucas

It is a common misconception that "Whill" is the name of the unknown race of Yoda, but George Lucas has firmly denied this. Their form is totally unknown, so since the Whills were an early concept of the Force, some fans speculate that the Whills are of spiritual substance more or less like Wisties and probably immortal. However, this is unlikely to be true, as Jinn stated in the Revenge of the Sith novelization that he knew of only one Shaman who had achieved immortality.

Since the journal was composed in 104 ABY, it's possible that the events explored in the Star Wars: Legacy were not part of the narration. In fact, it is unclear to what extent the narration covered the history of the Galaxy as we know it.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith novelization
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith comic adaptation
 * The Last One Standing
 * The Last of the Jedi: The Desperate Mission
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope novelization