A Theory on Force Ghosts: They can’t appear just anywhere.

“All energy from the Living Force, from all things that have ever lived, feeds into the Cosmic Force, binding everything and communicating to us through the midi-chlorians. Because of this, I can speak to you now.” – Qui Gon Jinn

Force ghosts are one of the biggest mysteries of the Star Wars galaxy, and with great mysteries come many questions.

I’m putting this article together to put to words some of my ideas concerning the nature of Force ghosts.

Don’t worry, this theory is actually serious and I’ve put a lot of thought into it, unlike my last theory…

Some have speculated that Luke’s ability to communicate with Ben after he died was tied with Luke’s ever growing connection with the Force.

When Luke barely had any knowledge of the force, during the trench run, Ben could only communicate using his voice.

Later, on Hoth, Ben could appear just barely to Luke, and then after Luke’s training on Dabobah, Ben could appear fully, and without difficulty.

While there is evidence for this theory, I have come to a different conclusion.

I had always wondered why Ghost-Ben didn’t act as a spy for the Rebel Alliance. He could ghost into the empire’s meetings, learn their secrets and then relay that info to Luke or Rebel High command.

Or why didn’t he try and communicate with Vader? Though I suppose he had completely given up on his old padawan.

But he doesn’t do any of those things. Do ghosts have limits to where they can and cannot appear?

I believe this is the case.

I believe that the ability of a Force ghost to appear has everything to do with the strength of the Force in the location in which they appear. This seems to be alluded to in Qui Gon’s quote at the top of the page.

Ben only appears as a voice to Luke during the attack on the Death Star.

During that attack, they were in space, around a mechanical menace that I presume would have close zero strength in the force.

Then on Hoth, Ben is barely visible, which could be evident that Hoth doesn’t not have a strong presence in the Force.

Mortis, arguably the strongest source of the Force in the galaxy, saw Qui Gon take on a very solid appearance, rather than just a voice.

During Season 6, Ep. 11 of The Clone Wars; “Voices,” Yoda goes to Dagobah to communicate with Qui Gon, who had previously only been able to barely reach out to Yoda (and Anakin).

Yoda and Qui Gon both make note of how strong Dagobah is in the Force:

“Strong this planet is with the Force.”
“It is one of the purest places in the galaxy.“

Previously Qui Gon had only been able to get little snippets through: shouting to Anakin as he slaughtered the Tuskens, and speaking a few words here and there to Yoda in the Jedi Temple. But on Dagobah Qui Gon is able to freely communicate with Yoda with no difficulty.

Next look at how Ben appears on Dagobah when he talks to Luke in The Empire Strikes Back and in Return of the Jedi. He looks almost corporeal, with a blue shininess around him.

You can hardly even see through him at all. He is so bright on Dagobah.

Though when we see the Force ghosts on Endor after the Emperor is defeated, they appear more blue and see through than Ben did on Endor. If their appearance was tied to Luke’s strength in the Force, they would appear most visibly here but they don’t.

It’s clear that they’re not quite as visible on Endor as Ben was on Dagobah.

A Force ghost’s ability to manifest being tied to a location’s strength in the Force  seems to make sense given the evidence we see.

If true, what could this mean for the future of Star Wars storytelling?

This could work as a good explanation for why we don’t see Force ghosts show up just anywhere, as well as a possible explanation if we don’t see any Force ghosts in The Force Awakens.

Is having a limit on something that’s “more powerful than you can possibly imagine” a good thing?

What do you think? Is this theory solid? Are there too many holes? Let us know how you feel about Force ghosts in the comments below!