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“I just transferred a bit of life. Force energy, from me to him.” - Rey Skywalker
The Force healing ability is certainly front and center when it comes to recent Star Wars lore. From Rey and Kylo in The Rise of Skywalker to “The Child” in The Mandalorian, this extension of the Force’s mythos has been met with its fair share of critics. Many question why it wasn’t used in the Saga previously, but what you may not realise is that healing was likely the first Force ability we ever witnessed in Star Wars.
Let’s rewind all the way back to 1977, to the original Star Wars. When Luke is attacked by Tusken Raiders and left unconscious in the Jundland Wastes, he’s found by Obi-Wan Kenobi, who swiftly wakes the farmboy. But before Luke regains consciousness, we see Kenobi place his hand on Luke’s head. This has led some to believe Obi-Wan was using a lesser form of Force healing to awaken Luke, a theory confirmed in the Legends continuity but still ambiguous in Canon.
This begs the question “Why didn’t Obi-Wan use Force healing to save others?” Well, over the course of the Saga, we actually see Obi-Wan place his hand on the heads of many wounded allies. In The Phantom Menace he does this to Qui-Gon, to fallen Jedi during the Battle of Geonosis and to Padme after she passes out in Revenge of the Sith. We can assume Kenobi is assessing the condition of his targets in every case, possibly checking for lifesigns. However, I propose that Obi-Wan has a natural talent for very minor Force healing and is capable of revitalising others if they aren’t too severely injured and still possess the will to live. This would explain why he couldn’t save Qui-Gon or Padme, as both were past the point of saviour and wished to pass on. Padme had lost everything and did not hold the will to live any longer and Qui-Gon was mortally injured and believed his death to be the will of the force. Luke, on the other hand, had simply been knocked unconscious and was therefore able to be healed by Kenobi using this limited, unrefined and untrained natural skill.
“The Child” also seems to be naturally gifted in the use of Force healing. We see him attempt to heal Din Djarin in Chapter 2 of the first season of The Mandalorian, as well as successfully heal Greef Karga in Chapter 7. Needless to say, his healing ability far surpasses that of Obi-Wan, but we know that The Child is a particularly exceptional Force user who seems to be the focus of much attention throughout the Galaxy.
It’s not unusual for some Force sensitives to be more naturally gifted in certain abilities than others. A great example of this is Psychometry or Sense Echo. Quinlan Vos, Cal Kestis and Rey Skywalker were all able to use this rare ability with next to no training, yet other Jedi were completely incapable of utilising it.
Now, where many fans seem to take exception to Force healing is when Rey and Kylo use it in The Rise of Skywalker. We can say with relative certainty that when called upon in this movie, Force healing is at the most powerful we’ve seen yet. I know many will angrily insist that this is only because Rey is apparently a “Mary Sue”, but dig a little deeper and there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why we see Force healing better than ever in Episode 9.
In The Last Jedi, we saw Rey retrieve the Sacred Jedi Texts before the Force spirit of Yoda destroyed the ancient uneti tree containing them. Learning from the texts, specifically the Chronicles of Brus-bu, Rey was able to rediscover the ancient secrets of Force healing. Her adeptness in this ability was only enhanced by the dyad in the Force, allowing her to transfer enough of her own Force energy to the other half of the bond, Ben Solo, to save his life. This also meant that despite his limited knowledge of the ability, Ben was later able to do the same for Rey. We also know from the novelization of The Rise of Skywalker that Rey couldn’t just Force heal whenever and wherever she wanted as it drained her own lifeforce. Healing Ben took a toll on Rey, afterwards she became weak and had to spend quite a while on Ahch-To recovering.
I have no doubt in my mind that Obi-Wan could have been as skilled as Rey in Force healing had he been encouraged to develop his skill. Unfortunately, it appears knowledge regarding this ability was fairly limited or even completely lost by the time of The Phantom Menace. I personally believe that the Jedi of this era may have had some knowledge of Force healing, but actively discouraged its use. They believed that emotional attachment was wrong and likely saw Force healing as a way of acting on the desire to save the ones you love. Furthermore, if all Jedi possessed the ability to Force heal, the citizens of the Galaxy would be constantly asking them for help. The Jedi couldn’t justify using the ability to their own advantage whilst ignoring the pleas of innocent people, so perhaps they thought it best to leave Force healing in the past.
This would certainly add to Anakin’s anger and resentment towards the Jedi way. If he somehow discovered the existence of Force healing but could not use it because the Jedi refused to teach him, he would understandably be more inclined to dabble in the dark side, especially after Sidious told him it could be used to save the ones he loved.
The ability to learn Force healing could also stem from the Force user’s personal beliefs and alignment. We know that only certain abilities are accessible to those on the dark and light sides of the Force, so perhaps the Jedi of old’s beliefs restricted their ability to Force heal. Maybe they were so emotionally detached from others that they could not harness the power to save them, in the same way dark side users cannot Force heal because they have a selfish and greedy mindset. Both Rey and Obi-Wan held more alternative views on the Force and emotion, so perhaps this allowed them to more easily harness this power, in the same way Qui-Gon’s more neutral and unorthodox beliefs on the Force allowed him to be the first Jedi in generations to manifest his conscience as a Force spirit after death.
What do you guys think of Force healing? Do you agree with my points? Let me know in the comments below and as always let’s try to get some good discussions going. I’d also like to give a special thanks to @Revival Stories2020 for nominating Force for Thought to be a Community Project! Needless to say we got enough votes, so thanks to everyone who showed their support.
Anyway, thanks for reading and don’t be afraid to leave suggestions for future posts in the comments. Be sure to follow the Force for Thought archive to stay up to date on the latest posts as well as find any you might have missed. I hope you all have a great week and that you’ll be back again for the next Force for Thought, but until then may the force be with you!
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Sources
A New Hope
A New Hope novelization
The Phantom Menace
Attack of the Clones
Revenge of the Sith
The Mandalorian - “Chapter 2: The Child”
The Mandalorian - “Chapter 7: The Reckoning”
The Clone Wars - “Hunt for Ziro”
Dark Disciple
Jedi: Fallen Order
The Force Awakens
The Last Jedi
The Rise of Skywalker
The Rise of Skywalker: Expanded Edition
