In the Star Wars d20 game, this can be done by any Jedi with the "Block" skill, which allows them to block things like blaster bolts so long as they have some form of protective gauntlet or shield or anything other than bare hands. The same thing applies for attacks by Force Lightning, though they do seem to allow you to block it barehanded provided you spend a Force Point (which allows you to do somewhat extreme stunts for a very brief period of time).
Are there any images of Darth Vader using Force Deflection?
I would like to note that in the book I, Jedi it is noted that this is how Vader absorbed the shots, (ie no mechanical hand damage).
New occurance[]
I found that this is used in The Force Unleashed.
Watch at 21 seconds, he is clearly deflecting blaster bolts with his hand. (- -) 08:16, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
Purely Speculative[]
Go pick anyone off the street who watched Episodes 2 and 3 and ask, "Did Yoda use Force Lightning?"
There simply is nothing in the movies that indicates a "redirect" in any of the scenes involving force lightning. Nor is there anything in the movies to indicate a "stun only" variant of Force Lightning. Nor would any such ridiculous assertions explain away Yoda's direct telekinetic attack vs Palpatine, which also cannot be explained as a "redirect," because Yoda was knocked down smoking.
Certainly, nobody in the audience went away thinking, "Wow...Yoda/Windu absorbed force lightning and redirected it..."
No. Everyone I know of went away thinking, "Wow. Yoda uses Force Lightning. I thought he wasn't supposed to do that..."
Even when Windu allegedy "defeats" Palpatine, the dialogue suggests Palpatine has been sandbagging in order to further tempt Anakin.
Palpatine does claim Windu is "Killing Me."
However, after Anakin cuts off Windu's hand, Palpatine starts laughing and says, "Now, behold my true power..." Which clearly indicates that he was previously "holding back."
The "Sandbagging" theory is further supported by the fact that Palpatine "wins" the 1v4 situation just a few moments before from a disadvantaged lower ground position.Craftmatic 05:20, 25 December 2008 (UTC)
- Not sure what you're trying to refute, but there are many sources that state that Yoda was simply deflecting the Force lightning, not just using his own Force lightning to counteract Palpatine and Tyranus. For one, the Star Wars Databank, Yoda's entry: "First, their powers in the Force were put to test, as Dooku attempted to crush the tiny Jedi Master with hurled debris. Yoda easily deflected such assaults, and even repulsed Dooku's Force lightning attacks." Cull Tremayne 06:19, 25 December 2008 (UTC)
No way for audience to know that[]
Second paragraph under "Notable Uses".
Grand Master Yoda used deflection to block barrages of Force lightning hurled at him while dueling Darth Tyranus,[2]. and again when dueling Darth Sidious. It is possible that Yoda combined Force Deflection with Force Absorb when protecting himself against Force lightning.
It is 100% impossible for anyone watching the movies to know that, certainly without outside sources. There is no dialogue in any of the movies that in any way mentions "redirecting" Force Lightning, nor anything distinguishing any such ability from Force Lightning itself.
The Lightning in Episode 2 disappears for several seconds while Yoda speaks.
Then Lightning is generated by Yoda and absorbed by Dooku.
There is no possible evidence in the movies for any viewer to conclue, "Oh, I get it, Yoda didn't uses Force Lighting, this is the same Lightning Dooku made".
He was unsuccessful against Sidious because he was trying to gather the lightning's energy into an orb to fire back at Sidious, but it overloaded and exploded, throwing the combatants apart.[3]
Again, there is absolutely no way an audience could know that, and there is nothing that I personally know of to suggest Yoda is doing anything other than casting Force Lightning of his own.
When I watched the movie two times with my friend, we (along with everyone else we talked to,) assumed what happened is they were both casting lightning and it cancelled.
Then, a few moments later, Yoda uses the force to stop one of the booths that Palpatine is throwing around, and throws it back at him. This also cannot be reasonably called a "redirect," but can only be interpreted as a direct telekinetic attack.
"Dissipate," "Deflect," "Absorb," and "Force Lightning" are 4 different things.
The Word "Deflect" implies a bending or turning aside, though it is also more loosely used in the sense of "parrying". Nevertheless this certainly does not describe anything we actually "see" in the movies as it regards defending Force Lightning bare handed.
The word "Absorb" implies "containment." In the case of sound and electric shock, "absorb" specificly implies without reflection or echo...This is what we actually see Yoda do on screen.
The word "Dissipate" means to scatter in various directions. Which certainly did not happen.
Yoda neither "dissipated" nor "Deflected" the Force lightning from Dooku, as the definition of those words does not describe what happened on screen. The only word that meets the requirements is "Absorb," and is specificly the best word to use among these 3 in the case of Dooku's lightning in episode 2; in which case Yoda MUST have used Force Lightning of his own. Any other interpretation of the events requires re-defining words in the English language to mean something specificly contrary to their standard definitions and usage.
The Force Lightning that follows several seconds later cannot have been a "deflection". Concepts such as "Deflection," "bend," "redirect," etc, would all require the lightning to immediately bounce/bend/reflect/echo off Yoda and back to Dooku without a pause, which definitely did not happen on film.Craftmatic 06:08, 25 December 2008 (UTC)
- The problem is that outside sources do indicate that Yoda was simply deflecting and absorbing the lightning. I can see your problem, as the film is basically up to any yahoo's interpretation, but outside sources, including descriptions from the script indicate that Yoda is simply blocking/deflecting the Force Lightning, not creating his own. Cull Tremayne 06:19, 25 December 2008 (UTC)
- Might as well give a quote from the script, to clarify that there is no real issue here. It has been known for quite some time that Yoda just deflects the lightning and doesn't create any of his own. When you say, "there is nothing that I personally know of to suggest Yoda is doing anything other than casting Force Lightning of his own", this makes little sense. There is no outside source that I can think of that states that Yoda creates his own, every outside source states that Yoda deflects the lightning. The only person speculating is yourself. From the Episode III script, "The Dark Lord drops his lightsaber but recovers with a blast of energy from his hands that surrounds Yoda. Yoda is deflecting the Sith Lord's lightning bolts. The energy bolts begin to arc back on the Emperor." Cull Tremayne 06:31, 25 December 2008 (UTC)
Telekinesis & Tutaminis[]
Are we certain that this isn't another application of telekinesis? Of course sources on Force powers always differ wildly :(. I was always under the impression that Obi-Wan's use of Force deflection against Durge involved Force pushing the shrapnel away while other instances such as Yoda deflecting Force lightning involved a form of tutaminis. In fact, a better question might be: are we sure that Obi-Wan's use of Force deflection isn't actually Force push, and are we sure that Force deflection, if not an application of telekinesis, isn't actually an application of tutaminis (aka Force absorb according to the Wookieepedia article). I do not remember where, but when I was little, around the years that Episode II and Episode III came out, I could have sworn that most sources I read at the time described Yoda's use of Force deflection as "Force absorption" albeit with the added technique of pushing the energy back once it had been absorbed and channeled. Sol Pacificus (talk) 03:23, November 15, 2013 (UTC)
- To add to the confusion, I also considered the possibility that "Force Deflection" is merely an umbrella term for any instance of using the Force to deflect an attack, regardless of what Force technique is employed, and that it does not constitute a specific Force power but rather describes a specific way that a Force power, whether it is Force push or tutaminis is used. Again, sources differ wildly. Sol Pacificus (talk) 03:26, November 15, 2013 (UTC)