Force healing/Legends

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"Bacta can heal the body, but the Force can heal the soul."
―A Jedi healer[3]

Force healing, Force heal, or Cure was a power that used the Force to accelerate the natural healing process rapidly, and could be used to heal the most fatal of wounds and injuries.

Effects

"Must relax… reach out with my mind… reach inside… through the pain… to touch the Force! Knit bones… mend flesh… renew!"
―Ki-Adi-Mundi[4]
File:Force Healing.jpg
Meetra Surik using Force Heal.

Initial levels required meditation, but greater aptitude usually granted faster regeneration, without need of meditation. Greater levels of attainment were also able to mend far more severe injuries, even major damage to flesh and bone and even going as far as to mend internal damage, such as damage to the heart, lungs, and so forth; even to the point of sustaining functions of lost organs and on rare occasions resurrecting dead tissue or even persons.[5][6] This was shown in a more perverse form by Darth Vader, but was properly utilized by the most skilled of Jedi.

Jedi healers used this power to diagnose and treat the ailments of their patients. A notable case of this use of Force healing was Cilghal using the Force to cure Mon Mothma of a molecular poison that was incurable by conventional means, although, strictly speaking, the method of healing involved Cilghal's Force-powered detection and removal of the nanomachines afflicting Mon Mothma rather than a direct application of Force energy against the damaged cells themselves.[7] A variation of this power was Force Purification, as well as Force Assist which was a Force technique that enabled the user to heal people other than themselves, and with enough concentration, the user was able to heal others' bodies and minds, simultaneously.

Practitioners were many, as were examples of its utilization: The least version of this power merely undid fatigue and was expected to be used by all Jedi after the New Sith Wars until Order 66.[8] Ki-Adi-Mundi used this Force power to heal a broken collar bone almost completely by meditation after the ambush of Jabba the Hutt's minions, during Mundi's mission to find Sharad Hett. During the clone wars Anakin Skywalker tried and failed to use this ability, much to his frustration.[9] He later was able to revive Ahsoka Tano, but only by using the dying body of the Daughter for more power.[10] At least some members of a species native to Brodo Asogi possessed this technique, while the Jedi of the New Jedi Order used this ability in the form of a healing trance. Mara Jade was known to be able to fight through the pain she suffered by using a variant of the power that caused her to glow golden.[11] After a lengthy and debilitating meditation, Luke Skywalker partly recovered from this trance by nearly immediately, resurrecting his own dead cells in preparation for combat.[12]

Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious, also known as Palpatine, was capable of using the light side for Force healing, as was Lord Wyyrlok.[13][14]

Alternate, darker applications

Although it was believed that malevolent Force-users could not employ Force healing, this was a wrong assumption. The dark side could in fact be used to heal, but, conjured from the dark side, such power often came at a terrible price. Additionally, some who primarily relied on the Dark Side were willing to use the Light to heal, at least on occasion.[15]

Mara Jade using Force healing on a stormtrooper.

The most "benign", to the user at least, of these side effects was the healing being temporary, and requiring renewed applications or constant concentration to remain active. Among the dark side practitioners despite this discouraging result was Darth Bane. By focusing on the pain and anguish of others, he fueled the dark side and could sustain or invigorate himself. After being poisoned by the Brotherhood of Darkness, he resorted to using this form of Force Healing to keep himself alive long enough to reach Caleb, a true Force healer. This survival he accomplished by murdering a farmer's children before the man's eyes—the pain of the children's death coupled with their father's agony prior to his own death was enough to sustain Bane for hours. The Sith Lord would use this power periodically over his career despite his Orbalisk armor fulfilling a regenerative function.

Darth Vader also experimented with Force healing fueled by the dark side, in which meditation on anger and frustration at his life and circumstances allowed his lungs to function without the aid of his hyperbaric chamber or his life support suit. He, too, quickly discovered that the dark side offered only a perversion of true healing, as the damaged alveoli of his lungs did not heal permanently, but rather remained functional as long as the intensity of his anger was kept focused. He only managed to maintain this power for a brief time, the pleasure he received from the healing process eventually breaking his concentration. Nevertheless, he was slowly able to expand the duration of his lungs' functionality, starting at a few seconds and gradually managing up to a few minutes. Vader's conclusion was that joy and happiness poisoned the dark side's power, and as such, they sabotaged the healing the technique afforded. However, he theorized that, with much practice and enormous willpower, he would eventually master the process and no longer be constricted by his life support system.

File:Force heal SWGTCG.jpg
A Jedi, healing her own abdominal wound.

Perhaps the most curious example of the dark side's cost of living is the case of the ancient Sith Lord Darth Sion, the Lord of Pain. Sion could focus on his own pain and agony, using it to fuel the dark side and recover from grievous wounds nearly instantly. Sion's capability with this technique appeared almost perfect, but over time, his injuries accumulated to such a degree that he was in constant agony. This, however, he welcomed, as it fueled his power. To accomplish this task, he channeled the Force constantly to literally hold his shattered body together. Fortunately for Sion, it was very much a circular power: more pain beget more power, more power beget more capacity, more capacity beget more pain. Medical staff examining his body concluded that it should be pulling itself apart, so damaged was his physical shell. Sion died only when Meetra Surik sowed doubt in Sion's mind, convincing him that his Force-dependent "life" was not worth existing.

Decades before Sion, Exar Kun was subject to somewhat similar healing when his shattered body was restored to wholeness after being crushed in the tomb of Freedon Nadd. It was unknown, though, whether this was the work of Kun himself or the spirit of Freedon Nadd himself working Sith magic. This is made less clear due to the fact that some Sith magic could provide true healing, though often not as easily as a Jedi technique might.[16]

Darth Plagueis, the master of Palpatine, also experimented with a dark side variant that would grant him the ability to create, maintain, or save life by manipulating midi-chlorians to a certain degree. Plagueis stated that a child born of this power would be the embodiment of the Force. Although Sidious stated to Anakin that Plagueis had complete control over this ability, it is unknown whether he was in actuality successful in developing this. Regardless, Plagueis was able to over the course of years slowly impart true and lasting healing to many of his wounds and also had the power to resurrect the dead.[5]

A limit to some lasting Dark Side healing was the need to steal vitality from others, often these powers were known as Force Drain or Death Field.[17] Darth Caedus was known to have a version of healing that worked much as the Jedi version of simply causing his body to mend without needing to be constantly refreshed or stealing health from others, much like how Darish Vol could use the dark to heal himself enough to stay active in his old age.[18][19] Also, Darksiders could use healing trances.[6]

Dark Transfer

Main article: Dark transfer
File:CadeHealingLightning-LECG.jpg
Cade Skywalker uses his unique form of Force healing.

There existed a rare variant of this Force power possessed by a descendant of Darth Vader named Cade Skywalker.[14] This power had the ability to bring others back from the brink of death, healing mortal wounds. His usage coincided with times of intense emotional distress. Cade believed he had to call upon the dark side in order to access the talent, but his former Jedi Master Wolf Sazen disputed this, believing that with proper training, the light side could accomplish such a feat as well, a position later proven correct.[20] The Sith Lord Darth Krayt also learned this ability and mastered it after combining knowledge from fellow user(s) Karness Muur/Celeste Morne,[21] Darth Andeddu, and Cade Skywalker, to the extent he was able to even heal himself from death, and when combined with the lightning he summoned, slay with a touch… or return a corpse he laid hands upon to life.[22]

Behind the scenes

In games such as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series, the player can give this power to the protagonists, to cure themselves and their party members of injuries or even poison. In the games, the usage of the power is often accompanied with some effects, like glowing swirls and sounds. These are believed to be more visual aids to the player, rather than an actual depiction of the power's behavior. However at least on occasion, in the wider Star Wars Media some versions of the power are known to have obvious visual effects,[22] (beyond possibly closing the wounds of the user) such as causing the user to glow with golden light.[11][23]

Appearances

Sources

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Notes and references

  1. ↑ The Jedi Path: A Manuel for Students of the Force
  2. ↑ The Jedi Path: A Manuel for Students of the Force
  3. ↑ File:SWGTCGsmall.jpg Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game – Threat of the Conqueror (Card: Jedi Healer) (backup link not verified!)
  4. ↑ Star Wars: Republic: Outlander
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Darth Plagueis
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Fate of the Jedi: Vortex
  7. ↑ Champions of the Force
  8. ↑ The Jedi Path: A Manuel for Students of the Force
  9. ↑ The Clone Wars: Wild Space
  10. ↑ Star Wars: The Clone Wars Altar of Mortis
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Dark Nest I: The Joiner King
  12. ↑ Fate of the Jedi: Abyss
  13. ↑ Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga Edition Core Rulebook
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Legacy Era Campaign Guide
  15. ↑ Jango Fett: Open Seasons 4
  16. ↑ Tales of the Jedi Companion
  17. ↑ Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
  18. ↑ Legacy of the Force: Revelation
  19. ↑ Fate of the Jedi: Ascension
  20. ↑ Legacy (2006) 46
  21. ↑ Legacy (2006) 30
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Legacy—War 6
  23. ↑ Star Wars (1998) 31

External links

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