I still don’t like the idea of midichlorians. From the OT we knew there was a likelihood of Force wielding abilities being inherited, but it was never so explicitly made scientific. There was a mysteriousness about it all.
The closest I can think of right now is Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. If you’re worthy, you can lift it. It implies that even if you’re not worthy now, you can work to improve yourself and eventually become worthy. If they made some sort of biological explanation to it, well it says you’re just plain not worthy and never will be, no matter how much you try.
Not saying everyone should be able to use the Force, but at least don’t make it come down to a blood test. Either leave it mysterious or let it be something very difficult to attain. Worthy traits are often inherited, but are not the be all end all.
Like several of the posts in this thread - well said, mate. As said by someone else on the site elsewhere, yet can’t quite remember by who…
‘Capability in the force had nothing to do with midichlorians before they were introduced in TPM.’
As previously mentioned, you have to wonder why introducing midichlorians to the Star Wars universe in 1999 was done in such an underwhelming / ham-fisted way. That’s without even getting on to the Whills - as later explained by George offscreen.
It is a shame George had three whole films to introduce his new idea of midichlorians (circa mid-1990’s) at the time, yet neglected to even include the Whills, or introduce his notion of there now being a ‘cosmic force’ and a ‘personal force’ etc - and instead… we got MidichlorianXP blood tests. It would have been somewhat intriguing to see George attempt to put that in place in these films aimed at 10 year olds - and also somehow pull it off.
Actually we do.
The Cosmic Force was first mentioned in A New Hope, albeit taken out:
“Don’t be too proud of this technological terror you’ve created. The ability to destroy a planet, indeed, a whole system, is insignificant compared with the Cosmic Force.”
The Cosmic Force was first identified in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, albeit in a scene that was deleted from the film by the time of its release in 1977. The term was mentioned by Darth Vader, voiced by David Prowse, as part of the first mention of the Force in one revised 1976 fourth draft of the film. The final cut of the Star Wars film reduces the mention of the Cosmic Force to the Force, and the scene of Vader, who is dubbed by James Earl Jones, is instead placed after the scene on Tatooine where Obi-Wan Kenobi defines the Force to Luke Skywalker.
Qui-Gon talks about the Living Force in The Phantom Menace:
He pulled back from going further into these things in the subsequent two Prequels because of the hostility he got from some fans. He was going to gradually reveal more with each subsequent film in the trilogy.
The Whills are actually mentioned in some context in the Revenge of the Sith script and junior novel:
There was also an additional moment with Yoda on the bridge in Revenge of the Sith when he’s mediating before he’s interrupted by Bail. He’s communing with Qui-Gon:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs4i1r
Midi-Chlorians and the Force are two seperate things. Midi-Chlorians are still fantasy. It doesn’t take away from the mystery of the Force. It only adds to the mystery. It’s never once said x and y can’t use the Force because of your Midi-Chlorians count. It’s just not true. The Force will always surround every living thing but the issue of who is more intune than someone else with the Force has been an issue since the very beginning as shown through Luke and Han’s relationship. It’s about symbiont and concentric circles. Both of which have also been part of Star Wars from the very beginning. It’s also so much bigger.
The Whills were also mentioned in the very first Star Wars novelisation. They’re some of the oldest and least known or talked about lore.
Qui-Gon also explains things to Yoda in The Clone Wars: