The Star Wars franchise is as much fantasy as it is science fiction. Fans can delve into specific chunks of the lore to experience extremes on either side. Some spaceships offer full technological diagrams and repair manuals that make the future feel magical. On the other hand, the Force keeps mysticism front and center in the franchise. Devotees of the Force understand that it divides into two special forms: the Cosmic Force and the Living Force.
The original Star Wars trilogy made an art of suggesting impressive narrative details while providing no details. No one quite knew what Obi-Wan meant when he said he fought alongside Luke’s father in the Clone Wars, but later creators would answer those questions. These early films featured only a couple of Jedi, leaving future installments to explore the concept. Explanations for esoteric elements emerged gradually, consistently adding details.
What is the Cosmic Force?
In April 1977, Marvel Comics released the first comic book adaptation of George Lucas’ Star Wars. The first issue hit shelves a month before the film hit theaters. Writer Roy Thomas slightly modified a classic line by adding a single word. In the boardroom scene, where Darth Vader uses his Force Choke for the first time, he states, “The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.” Thomas added the word “Cosmic.”
The Cosmic Force went unacknowledged for 32 years. Michael Reaves’ 2009 novel Coruscant Nights III: Patterns of Force reintroduced the Cosmic Force as a dominant energy that briefly seized Darth Vader’s mind. Five years later, Star Wars: The Clone Wars properly canonized the Cosmic Force. “Voices” depicted Qui-Gon Jinn explaining how Force-sensitive beings can remain spiritually connected to the material world after death.
The Cosmic aspect of the Force is vague and tough to define. It might be best described as the background of the Force. It predates all living things, like the quintessential primordial ooze that provides space for life to germinate. It represents the fundamental boundaries that confine reality. Beyond time and space, the Cosmic Force crafts destiny. Trained Jedi could deaden their minds and follow the will of the Cosmic Force by trusting their instincts. All living things enter the Cosmic Force when they die, though Jedi could delay that process and remain ghosts.
What is the Living Force?
The Living Force is more straightforward in explanation and its behind-the-scenes inspiration. It first appeared in The Phantom Menace, described by Qui-Gon Jinn. The concept emerges in endless scenes across the franchise, but Qui-Gon identified it first. Due to its all-encompassing nature, every Star Wars project deals with the Living Force. Its finer points remain the purview of dialogue between Jedi Masters.
The Living Force is the inherent vitality that animates and represents all things. Every plant, animal, and sentient being in the Galaxy possesses a life essence within the Living Force. The energy that makes up the Living Force emanates from the theoretically infinite organisms that occupy the Galaxy. It sprung into existence when life reached the empty galaxy. Unlike the Cosmic Force, the Living Force announces itself to anyone paying attention and thus holds greater influence.
Force-sensitive beings like Jedi can see the Living Force. It looks different to every viewer, but those who can’t see it can still feel it. Few Ewoks or Gungans are Force-sensitive, but their cultures innately find comfort in the Living Force through harmony with their environment. The Living Force can generate beings through a process called a vergence. The Living Force spawned Anakin Skywalker. Force-sensitive Jedi manipulate the Living Force through their study and practice.
How did the Force form?
The Force is an energy field that connects all things in the galaxy throughout time and space and beyond the veil of death. It exists through the collaboration of the Living and Cosmic Force. Before time, the Cosmic Force exerted absolute will over an empty galaxy. It spawned a planet called the Wellspring of Life, which birthed intelligent microorganisms called midi-chlorians. As the first living things, the midi-chlorians contributed life energy that spawned the Living Force. Midi-chlorians are the link between the Cosmic Force and the Living Force. They exist within the cells of every living thing, communicating the otherwise incomprehensible will of the Cosmic Force. Qui-Gon Jinn put it like this:
Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force. They continually speak to us, telling us the will of the Force. When you learn to quiet your mind, you’ll hear them speaking to you.
The Cosmic Force is the innate primordial context through which life was spawned. The Living Force is the energy that emanates from every spirit under its command. Midi-chlorians communicate the will of the Cosmic Force to beings within the Living Force. When a living thing dies, its energy feeds the Cosmic Force, creating the eternal cycle. The Force is a complex creation of a self-correcting universe. Through its delicate balance, every event in the Star Wars universe started when the first midi-chlorian emerged.
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