Was Qui-Gon wrong about MidiChlorians on purpose?

Was Qui-Gon wrong about MidiChlorians on purpose?

Posted by jeditricks on June 22, 2002 at 7:55 AM

I have a theory or two…

You’ll have to pardon me while I borrow from my post in another thread: http://www.sirstevesguide.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=108324#post108324

That theory breaks down like so:

Midichlorians do not exist in my view of the Star Wars universe, PERIOD. Until Lucas makes them solid as a rock in Ep 3, they can just be explained away in my mind as “Qui-Gon was wrong”. In fact, a large number of the things in Ep 1 can be explained that way.

But this midichlorian thing works better and even has some back up on the official site, so pardon me while I build a theory on why Obi-Wan wouldn’t mention Qui-Gon or Midichlorians to Luke (beyond the facts that neither existed until 20 years after the first Star Wars film was born).

My belief is that midis are not symbionts that help one communicate with the Force, rather their numbers are a byproduct of having the Force, like a high white bloodcell count is a byproduct of having an infection.

Qui-Gon Jinn was wrong about that, and he may have been wrong about “The Living Force”, this is where the official site comes in: http://www.starwars.com/databank/character/countdooku/index.html
“A strong-minded man, Dooku’s ideas were often out of step with those of the Jedi Council… His challenging views were often echoed by his former Padawan, Qui-Gon Jinn…”

http://www.starwars.com/databank/character/countdooku/eu.html
“Dooku had studied the ways of the Force for almost eight decades, becoming one of its most powerful practitioners, though his ultimate loyalty was not to the structured protocols of the Jedi order, but rather to his own intuitions and ideals.”

http://www.starwars.com/databank/character/quigonjinn/
“Qui-Gon Jinn is a student of the living Force. Unlike other Jedi Masters, who often lose themself in the meditation of the unifying Force, Qui-Gon Jinn lived for the moment, espousing a philosophy of “feel, don’t think — use your instincts.” Were it not for Qui-Gon’s unruly views, he would have undoubtedly been on the Jedi Council.”

If Qui-Gon is proven to be wrong about the Living Force -and- about Midichlorians in the eyes of Obi-Wan, then perhaps he would cast off the teachings that Qui-Gon gave him as his padawan master. This would leave only one true Jedi teacher in his life, Yoda.

Sure it’s a bit thin right now, but when the prequels are done, this is how I will see it. It’s a huge juggling act all to clean up what I perceive as mistakes that Lucas made, but it’ll be my way of plodding through the least-necessary film in the saga.

END

That was my theory a week ago, and today on the official Star Wars site is a big addition on the Jedi order, stemming from updates concerning AOTC. One piece of it seems to support my statements above:

http://www.starwars.com/databank/organization/thejediorder/index.html
“Jedi candidates are detected, identified and taken into the order as infants. One method of detection is through blood sampling — those with great Force potential often have high midi-chlorian counts in their bloodstream.”

This is a statement that is not very committal about the midis. It allows for the possibility that not all Jedi candidates have high midichlorian counts in their blood, and it also allows for ALTERNATE methods of Jedi candidate detection altogether. This suggests that there is a LOT of room for Qui-Gon’s beliefs in Ep 1 to be absolutely off the mark while still maintaining a sense of continuity within the prequels. Not only that, but it appears as if there is a quiet movement from LFL to distance the teachings of Qui-Gon Jinn from “the Force” – could this have been Lucas’ intention all along, to throw us such a big curveball with midis that we wouldn’t see that he was using them as a red herring, a smokescreen?

jeditricks replied 22 years, 5 months ago 0 Member · 25 Replies
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