On Anakin, Force Powers, and Midichlorian Transfusions

[Phyrebrat]

I was watching Rogue 1 last week and it got me wondering about Vader's signature move: the force choke. When he is beaten on Mustafar, he has no hands left. One arm is cybernetic, and the other is sliced off by Obi Wan when Anakin jumps. So, how does that finger choke gesture work? Why si it necessary.

Then I was thinking about Midichlorians and them being in the blood. Anakin would have lost so much blood in the fight and in surgery (as per the book The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader), does that mean a large proportion of them leaked out and if so, do they magically make their own way back to the body, or what?

I've never been a fan of the Midichlorians, nor a hater of them, but this seems like a huge oversight. Blood transfusions are crucial regardless of technology, and if something is intrinsically tied to the blood, what happens to it during severe blood loss?

pH

 

[Venusian Broon]

I looked up Midi-Chlorian on Wookiepedia. So apparently they are supposed to exist in all cells, not just blood cells. I assume a blood test is a bit easier to administer when looking for them (?). Also they are intelligent life forms, so I guess they can repopulate themselves via reproduction if a number are lost. (??)

It does make you wonder though, why can't you get a little blood transfusion from Anakin and get a boost to your Midi-Chlorian count?

As for the force choke, I guess if he didn't do it, we viewers might be mildly perplexed However perhaps he still needs to fire up the neurons in his mind as if he is actually physically choking someone. So he will still fire up his robotic appendage in a similar way. (???)

 

[picklematrix]

Maybe the technique for a force choke involves mental visualisation, or a phantom limb of some description, and the hand motion helps Vader focus.
Overall, the midichlorian issue is one of the many incongruities that George Lucas inadvertently inserted into the universe.

 

[Culhwch]

Maybe it just looks cool and intimidating. Like the cape. He doesn't really need that, either, does he? But it swishes about so menacingly!

And midichlorians suck and rarely make sense.

 

[Dave]

I liked it better when the Force was simply magic.

 

[Phyrebrat]

liked it better when the Force was simply magic.

I think we all did.

 

[Graymalkin]

Aren't midichlorians Lucas' version of mitochondria, the 'powerhouses' in each human cell, through which the Force becomes embodied?
According to endosymbiont theory the mitochondria were a seperate organism, probably bacteria, which formed a symbiotic doodaa with others to produce the majority of non plant life as we know it.
If Annakin had been a rhubarb plant he would have had chloroplasts instead.

 

[BAYLOR]

I wish Lucas had ditched the whole Midichloriann silliness .

 

[Star-child]

"In his blood" is also a way of saying a trait is inherited, so there is more than one way to interpret all that.

But all midichloriann discussion in the films is due to unreliable narrators (I've decided).



Choke move: Ever notice how different Sith's each have their signature move? Perhaps their specific gimmicks vary, rather than every Force user being a Swiss Army Knife of paranormality.

Ray, for instance, may be a specialist in the acquisition of Force abilities, while she'll never sling an X-wing.

Also, did Vader stop Han's blaster shot with the Force, his armor or a bit of both? Everybody else makes do with the lightsaber shield thing.

 

[Venusian Broon]

"In his blood" is also a way of saying a trait is inherited, so there is more than one way to interpret all that.

But all midichloriann discussion in the films is due to unreliable narrators (I've decided).

What about the medical device that is used to measure Anakin's midichloriann count in Star Wars I? A bit like a pair of rods for water-divining - i.e. mumbo jumbo?

Unfortunately I think it must be canon.

Also, did Vader stop Han's blaster shot with the Force, his armor or a bit of both? Everybody else makes do with the lightsaber shield thing.

Clearly Han shot first. He wasn't allowed to hurt anyone with such an ungentlemany move. Or perhaps the Force is like magic in Harry Potter. I mean all the students have to say a spell to make their wands work there, but the old timers can just wave it about and it works.

 

[Ursa major]

I mean all the students have to say a spell to make their wands work there, but the old timers can just wave it about and it works.

Perhaps there's a progression, as one sometimes gets with reading in our world:

1. saying the words/spells out loud
2. just mouthing the words/spells (i.e. remembering not to vocalise);
3. saying nothing (i.e. remembering not to use one's mouth at all).

Note that the students speaking the words would help the teachers to see what may be going wrong with students' spells that either don't work at all or have unexpected results (like a physical version of "show your working").

 

[Overread]

Whenever you see Force users using the force they often use hand and body gestures to aid them. This suggests that the way they interact with the force is tied to a projection of themselves into the world around them at a distance. We see this in the extreme in the last film when Luke projects himself across space and manifests himself during the final battle.

We also know that the Force itself is even more powerful than that. Tricks like lightining; super fast reflexes and choking grips are nothing compared to the Force's true power. However its also apparent that even masters of the Force and Sith lords have trouble manifesting extreme levels of power and cannot tap into its full potential. In fact in the films their Force use is actually quite moderate. We see more extreme uses in games such as Knights of the Old Republic 2 (where one Force user is flying a totally dead star destroyer around in space purely by their own power); or in another game (I forget its name) where a force user pulls a start destroyer out of space and crashes it into a planet. Though even they are small uses compared to the full extent of power.

We also see that the body has limits - Luke's projection ability basically kills him. So its clear that using the force has a feedback reaction to the person using it, which limits what is potentially possible.


The blood angle is interesting, but whilst there's clearly a feedback going on I don't thikn a creatures amount of blood affects the force. Otherwise Sith Lords would be harvesting and storing it up in vast vats to then tap into when needed (like super-vampires)

 

[Phyrebrat]

Vader’s hands are not flesh.

 

[Lumens]

"In his blood" is also a way of saying a trait is inherited, so there is more than one way to interpret all that.

Anakin was the result of a virgin birth, if I remember correctly, so there is that to interpret as well.

Thinking too deeply about Star Wars makes it fall apart, in my opinion. But then again the same happens with almost all scifi movies.

 

[Star-child]

Thinking too deeply about Star Wars makes it fall apart, in my opinion. But then again the same happens with almost all scifi movies.

I think the original 3 held together rather well. Most action blockbusters have the kind of plot holes that the OT seems to lack, for instance.

 

[Pemry Janes]

Vader’s hands are not flesh.

If we go by Yoda's lessons to Luke, the Force connects everything. Not simply that which is alive, but rocks, starfighters, and artificial limbs as well.

 

[Phyrebrat]

If we go by Yoda's lessons to Luke, the Force connects everything. Not simply that which is alive, but rocks, starfighters, and artificial limbs as well.

I was referring to the comment upthread about Han firing at his hand on Bespin.

Re your point though, I wonder if Vader could’ve used force lightning.

 

[Star-child]

I was referring to the comment upthread about Han firing at his hand on Bespin.

And that would work equally well flesh or artificial if the Force permeates both.


But my read on that event was that Vader has certain advantages in wearing armor, and that the Force allowed him to use his armored hand to do something beyond its design specs, as well as the control to intercept the blaster bolt like Luke can with lightsaber. In other words, it is a special cyborg/Force move.


(BTW, I love that scene. Han shoots almost without thinking. Vader controls what would normally be completely lethal violence and moments later is sealed in with his captors. So much impact in a tiny scene, and so much revealed about the skills of those two. Han is a formidable killer that would have won out against nearly anyone but Vader.)