Wound in the Force

"I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened."

- Obi-Wan Kenobi (referring to the destruction of Alderaan)

A Wound in the Force (also known as a Disturbance or Hole in the Force) was a weakness in the very fabric of the Force caused by a traumatic event. The Force existed in all life, and when many lives were extinguished in a short period of time, or a life untouched by the Force was created, a wound was created.

Overview
"How could you ever hope to understand the threat you faced when you have never walked in the dark places of the galaxy? Faced war and death on such a scale? If you had traveled far enough, rather than waiting for the echo to reach you, perhaps you would have seen it for what it was. There is a place in the galaxy where the dark side of the Force runs strong. It is something of the Sith, but it was fueled by war. It corrupts all that walks on its surface, drowns them in the power of the dark side – it corrupts all life. And it feeds on death."

- Kreia (speaking of Malachor V).

Wounds in the Force were created whenever a massive loss of life occurred. All life in the galaxy was interconnected. When a significant number of lives, say the population of an entire planet, suddenly disappeared, the Force sustained a localized injury in that area much like a sentient who had lost a limb. The epicenter of the wound became a dark place filled with the reverberating echoes of the pain, terror, and suffering of those life forms who had lost their lives there.

Echoes
"This echo travels in the places where death has walked, where planets have died. Massacres fuel its power, the death of life fuels it."

- Zez-Kai Ell

Wounds in the Force cast echoes throughout space much like the ripples in a pool of water. They coursed through the Force like a scream that only Force-adepts could hear. When a great tragedy took place, such as the destruction of Alderaan, a Jedi could feel the reverberations of the disaster from half-way across the galaxy. The echoes caused distortion in the Force itself much like white noise. Any Force user who was within close proximity to a wound was shielded and could not be easily sensed from without due to the interference.

The Dark Side
"The dark side clouds everything. Impossible to see, the future is."

- Jedi Master Yoda

Historians have theorized that the life-destroying effects of the dark side could cause a breach in the Force – especially when wielded by one as powerful as a Sith Lord. Such a hypothesis never gained universal acceptance, but it did help to explain how such potent dark side users such as Darth Sidious were able to long hide their corruption from the Jedi Council. It also explained why the dwellings and tombs of the Sith such as those on Dxun, Onderon, Korriban, and Yavin IV, remained dark and corruptive locations for millennia after they were abandoned.

Mandalorian Wars
"When you returned to us, we saw what had happened. You carry all those deaths at Malachor within you, and it has left a hole, a hunger that cannot be filled."

- Zez-Kai Ell

In 3,960 BBY, a "hole" in the Force was created at Malachor V during the final battle of the Mandalorian Wars when the Mass Shadow Generator was triggered by a Jedi General later known as the Exile. The Jedi watched as the superweapon drew both the Republic and Mandalorian fleets from orbit into a vast gravity vortex powerful enough to crush the countless ships into the planet's crust and fracture the world to its very core. Fearing that she would be destroyed by the overwhelming waves of pain and terror reverberating through space, she sealed herself away from the dying screams of friend and foe, and thereby effectively lost her connection to the Force. Thereafter, she was deafened to its call; incapable of sensing it through the interference caused by the echoes of the suffering she had inflicted.

Jedi Civil War
"Revan knew the power of such places... and the power in making them. They can be used to break the will of others... of Jedi, promising them power, and turning them to the dark side."

- Kreia

During the Jedi Civil War circa 3,959–3,956 BBY, Darth Revan made use of several locations that were believed to be the epicenters of large wounds in the Force. The Trayus Academy on Malachor V, Freedon Nadd's tomb on Dxun, the Sith Academy on Korriban, and the Rakatan Temple of the Ancients on Rakata Prime all served as secret Sith bases. Throughout the war, Jedi were captured and brought to those locations where the ravenous, corruptive disturbances in the Force weakened their will so that Revan and his loyal servants could easily lure them to the dark side. In such places, he converted hosts of Jedi into loyal dark Jedi and Sith Assassins for his Sith Empire.

Post-Jedi Civil War conflicts
"It is the teaching of these new Sith, to feed on others, on other Force sensitives. They are symptomatic of the wound in the Force."

- Vrook

During the years following the Jedi Civil War circa 3,956–3,951 BBY, the dark Jedi who were trained by Darth Traya, began to make use of a technique that they had learned from the Jedi Exile's experiences at Malachor V. Darth Traya, Darth Sion, and Darth Nihilus, the leaders of the remnant of Revan's Sith Empire, studied the Exile and discovered the source of her unique gift and curse. Through her, the Sith learned how to create and make use of wounds in the Force in order to hide their presence, leech power from the destruction of other lifeforms, and to hunt down the remaining Jedi through the Force. Like the Exile, they grew stronger with every kill they made, but they also shared her weaknesses. In order to retain the power that they had acquired, they had to continually feed on the life forms around them.

When the Jedi Council faced the Exile once more, years after they had exiled her from the Jedi Order following the Mandalorian Wars, Master Vrook told him, "You are a breach that must be closed. You transmit your pain, your suffering thought the Force. Within you we see something worse than the teachings of the Sith. What you carry may mean the death of the Force ... and the death of the Jedi." At that point in time, they could see that if she allowed herself to fall to the dark side, she could have become a predator of life like Darth Nihilus; one who continually created wounds in the Force as he endeavored to consume all life in her eternal quest to acquire greater power and satisfy his ever-present hunger.

Galactic Civil War
"That place...is strong with the dark side of the Force."

- Yoda (speaking of the Dark Side Cave).

It is likely that Yoda was incapable of defeating Darth Sidious during their duel in 19 BBY because he was overpowered by the disturbance in the Force caused by the Jedi massacre conducted by Darth Vader during the sack of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. After the rise of Palpatine, Yoda fled to the planet Dagobah where he hid in the shadow of a Dark Side Cave. He chose to live in that place because it provided some concealment against those who were hunting for him. In 0 ABY, Moff Tarkin created a new hole in the Force when he used the Death Star I to destroy the planet Alderaan. The Rebel Alliance birthed yet another over Endor when they destroyed the Death Star II in 4 ABY.

New Republic Era
In 11 ABY, Kyp Durron destroyed the Caridan system with the Sun Crusher and the echoes of the disturbance were felt by the students of the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin IV.

Another was the slaughter of the Eol Sha colonists, on the planet Dantooine. This was felt by Jedi trainee, Gantoris.

Yet another disturbance felt by the students on Yavin IV was the massacre on Pydyr by Kueller in 17 ABY.

Yuuzhan Vong War
During the Mission to Myrkr, Anakin Solo was killed and his death sent ripples through the Force. This was felt by his mother, Leia Organa Solo as well as many other Jedi.