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- "The secret of the Ancient Order of the Whills, he studied."
- ―Yoda to Obi-Wan Kenobi on Qui-Gon Jinn
The Ancient Order of the Whills was a higher order of beings deeply connected with the Force. They consisted of holy people known as Shamans.
Contents
History[edit | edit source]
- "The ability to defy oblivion can be achieved, but only for oneself. It was accomplished by a Shaman of the Whills. It is a state acquired through compassion, not greed."
- ―Qui-Gon Jinn to Yoda
One of their Shamans was known to have discovered the secret of eternal consciousness and later Qui-Gon Jinn learned the secret, allowing him to interact with the living after his death.[1][2]
The Whills kept a collection of stories, called the Journal of the Whills, that chronicled the history of the galaxy.[3] A Keeper of the Whills was responsible for adding new information into it. One such Keeper was told the story of the Skywalker family's exploits during the Clone Wars and the Galactic Civil War, by the astromech droid R2-D2 one hundred years after the Battle of Endor.[4]
Behind the scenes[edit | edit source]
In early drafts of A New Hope, the name 'Whills' is equivalent to the Force.
- "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 species of Yoda. George Lucas has firmly denied this. Because their form is totally unknown, and since the Whills were an early concept of the Force, some fans have speculated that the Whills are of spiritual substance more or less like Wisties and probably immortal. However, this is unlikely to be true, as Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith: Illustrated Screenplay and The Art of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith both have Qui-Gon Jinn stating that he knew of only one Shaman who had achieved immortality. However, Qui-Gon also states in the Revenge of the Sith novelization that immortality is a possible end-result for working with the Whills' teachings.
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.
The idea of Jinn learning the secrets of immortality from a Shaman of the Whills was later contradicted by "Voices" from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which indicated that he had learned from the Force Priestesses, but his training was incomplete.
George Lucas originally planned a sequel trilogy focusing on the Whills as microscopic beings that controlled the destiny of the galaxy. By selling Lucasfilm Ltd. to The Walt Disney Company, these plans for the sequel trilogy were dropped by Disney CEO Bob Iger.[5]
Appearances[edit | edit source]
"The Tenebrous Way"—Star Wars Insider 130 (Mentioned only)
- Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith (Mentioned in script, not in final film)
- Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith novelization (Mentioned only)
- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith comic adaptation (Mentioned only)
- The Last One Standing (Mentioned only)
- The Last of the Jedi: The Desperate Mission (Mentioned only)
- The Last of the Jedi: Dark Warning (Mentioned only)
- Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope novelization (First appearance)
Sources[edit | edit source]
- Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays
- Star Wars: Chronicles
- Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith: Illustrated Screenplay
- The Making of Star Wars Revenge of the Sith
- The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film
"Ask the Master"—Star Wars Insider 79
"Ask the Master"—Star Wars Insider 89
"Unknown Origins"—Star Wars Insider 92
- Star Wars Insider 93
- The Art of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
- The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force
"Bookshelf"—Star Wars Insider 130
- Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side
Qui-Gon Jinn in the Encyclopedia (content now obsolete; backup link)
The Imperial Warlords: Despoilers of an Empire, Part 1 on StarWars.com (article) (backup link)
Notes and references[edit | edit source]
External links[edit | edit source]
Bantha Tracks #18: Interview: Mark Hamill at Elstree: Part 1 on Hyperspace (content removed from StarWars.com and unavailable)