After reading comments about the new book about Darth Plagueis, as usual, after reading up on anything in the Star Wars Universe, I'm left with questions.

It's stated that when Plagueis attempted to use the Force to create life, the midichlorians rebelled and blocked his attempt - and that, in response, the midichlorians created Shmi Skywalker's pregnancy in an effort to create someone who would destroy the Sith.

If the midichlorians viewed the Sith as needing destruction, then why did the midichlorians still help the Sith manipulate the Force at all? Why not just ignore their commands and not let them interact with the Force? Or, instead, why not just "reflect" the Sith commands back on them to destroy the Sith on their own?

  • 3
    Something tells me that the answer to this question is closely related to the question "Why does God allow evil to exist?" – HNL Feb 12 '12 at 16:27
  • 2
    @HNL: Okay, shall I edit it to say, "Why do midichlorians allow Sith to exist?" ;) – Tango Feb 12 '12 at 16:31

Midichlorians are an intelligent lifeforms, but only globally. Locally, they act basically as ants.

While they globally understand the threat the Sith are, they cannot do anything else than obeying theirs commands when they cast it. They just don't have the backward step to see the big picture and to discern the intentions of a force user, or event assign a command to a specific being. They also probably think on an other layer of consciousness than we are used to deals with, so thing we deem obvious is not necessarily as clear for them.

If you burn the left hand, it will probably respond as expected, but the real aftershock will come from the right hand.

  • 1
    But if they can't react locally, how did they prevent Plageuis from creating life on his own, then? – Tango Feb 13 '12 at 4:06
  • 2
    So, they're cellular automata with emergent intelligence? Makes sense. But if they have limited local influence, how do they assert the "Will of the Force"? – HNL Feb 13 '12 at 4:24
  • @TangoOversway Creating life is not a simple, single step task like casting lighting. Also, they not only tried to create life, but tried to create a weapon. In this case Midichlorians did had time to notify what was going on there, time to feels the threats. That's why they block this attempt took a corrective action as a whole organism. – DavRob60 Feb 13 '12 at 15:01
  • 1
    @HNL "Will of the Force" is like a background noise, you must concentrate to listen to it, being receptive to theirs voice as a whole. – DavRob60 Feb 13 '12 at 15:04

Because the Force is not opposed to the existence of the Sith as the Sith are the yin to the Jedi's yang. I haven't read Plageuis so I don't know all the details but a general misconception is that the Force favors the Jedi over the Sith. Such is not the case. If the Force impregnated Shmi as an act against the Sith, I would think it was more to keep them in check as oppose to destroying them.

Response: In every story (that I've read, anyway) Jedi think the Force favors the light side and Sith think the Force favors the dark side, but no one can simply ask the Force which side it favors and settle the squabble once and for all. So it becomes a philosophical discussion as oppose to digging up passages from Star Wars canon. Now, since Star Wars philosophy is derived from east Asian religions, certain correlations can be made. The Force is much like Dao. In Doaism all things are of equal cosmological value and have a place in the universe. The labels of "good" and evil" (or "light" and "dark" in this case) are assigned by man and are subjective to his perspective in the universe. We can then apply this same idea to the Force. To the midichlorians, it is simply the Force; no light or dark sides. The sentient beings of the universe are the ones who divided it in to dark and light based on their own value systems. So while these sentient beings subscribe to one side and endeavor to eradicate the other, the Force wants only to maintain balance between all of it's facets.

  • 1
    "general misconception is that the Force favors the Jedi over the Sith. Such is not the case" do you ave anything to back this assertion? – DavRob60 Feb 13 '12 at 17:03
  • 1
    No particular quotes off the top of my head. It just seems that when people read any good-vs-evil story (not just Star Wars) they assume that good naturally favored over evil in a cosmological sense. This is simply the biased that come with rooting for the good guys. I posit that the Force is in fact neutral; half light and half dark. To destroy the dark side would be do destroy half of itself. Therefore, if the Force took direct action against the dark side, it would be to maintain cosmological balance, as oppose to the Jedi's light-side-biased notion of balance. – Raymond Saltrelli Feb 13 '12 at 17:32
  • But you stated it's "is not the case". How could you state something like that if it is no more than an assumption on your side? – DavRob60 Feb 13 '12 at 17:37
  • 1
    This remain assumption. So here a quote form Star-Wars's god : "In an interview, Lucas compared the difference between the light and dark sides as being like the difference between a symbiotic relationship and a cancer. A symbiotic relationship is one which benefits both parties and in which neither is harmed, whereas a cancer takes without giving back, eventually causing the death of both parties." from Chosen One, Behind the scenes section – DavRob60 Feb 13 '12 at 18:54
  • 1
    That's not a quote from Lucas. You can tell because it refers to Lucas in the third person. It's a quote from a totally random internet person, and it's wrong. The actual quote is about the Sith master-apprentice relationship and says nothing about the dark side. It can be found here: content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,23298,00.html – Ras Morthil Jun 13 '15 at 17:39

Your Answer

