“It is an energy field made of all living things. It surrounds us, penetrates us, binds the galaxy together.” —Obi-wan Kenobi, A New Hope

That’s why I think this is more of a reversion of the lore than a change or expansion. In the OT, there’s never any suggestion that only Force sensitive people can use the Force. People, including Luke and Anakin, are described as being “strong with the Force,” but that implies that others are weak with the Force.

It was the Legends EU which really created the idea that only certain people born with an innate connection had the ability to use the Force at all. Within this framing, the vast majority of people in the galaxy are simply not Force-sensitive and will never have the ability to use the Force. Among those who are Force-sensitive, the degree to which one can use the Force depends on your innately born connection to it. So someone like Luke or Anakin had very little (if any) upper limit to what they could do with the Force because they had a very strong connection. While others (like Tionne, one of Luke’s earliest students in Legends) had a very weak connection to the Force, but were still Force-sensitive in a way someone like Han Solo or Lando Calrissian never could be.

I don’t believe this is the lore that Lucas ever intended for the Force. I believe his intention was what I described above: anyone can use it with proper training, but some have a better natural inclination.

I think this is more getting at the expansion (reversion?) of the lore we saw in Ahsoka with regards to Sabine Wren. Its not that there only certain select people are capable of using the Force. Everyone is connected to the Force. Everyone has the potential to use it, but you have to have the right mindset/focus to do so. For some, those we call Force-sensitive, that just naturally comes more easily to them. For others, they have to train and work at it.

I think of it like making music or drawing. Everyone has the potential to make music, but some people are just naturally more inclined towards it. Some people can just pick up an instrument for the first time and play it well without practice or training. Others can still learn to make very good music, but they have to train and practice a lot. An elite music school could train anyone, but they’re going to seek out more naturally gifted people.

I’m guessing this Force healer (like Sabine) is in that latter camp. She doesn’t have a natural aptitude for the Force like Luke or Obi-Wan. But she learned how to tap into a certain aspect of it to help heal.

But it’s a side of the force we haven’t really seen much of.

I think we’ve seen hints of it. Chirrut Îmwe in Rogue One is in the same vein. Clearly force sensitive, but untrained. The lesbian cult in Acolyte has more training and focus, but clearly not Jedi or Sith. We also see the little kid at the end of TLJ who uses the Force to levitate something, but isn’t trained.

I think seeing Andor was rage and lashing out at the man who set him on the path to losing his religion, as it were.

It’s partially that, but it’s also a little spark of hope in Syril after having his whole world ripped away.

Remember, he believed he was sent to Ghorman to root out outside agitators. He thought his ISB believed people like Andor were active with the Ghorman Front, and that his mission was to hunt down and expose them. Then he had the realization that was a lie the whole time. That, really, he, Syril, was the outside agitator. That he had been played by both the ISB and his own girlfriend into astro-turfing the Ghorman Front into something militant enough to enable the genocide of Ghorman. He has his entire world shattered.

Then he saw Andor in the crowd. That was a sign that his whole mission hadn’t been a front. There really were outside Rebel agitators. Not only that, but it was the very guy Syril had been so dogmatically chasing and hunting for so long. Like you said, Andor was the man that set Syril on the path that inevitably let him to Ghorman. Now it turns out (as Syril is suddenly believing) that Andor was also the person he was hunting on Ghorman this whole time. In Syril’s mind, he’s now realizing that Andor has been at the center of everything important (in Syril’s mind) he’s ever done in his life. That’s why the “who are you?” line is such a gut-punch. He’s obsessing over Andor. He built his whole ideology and world-view around the myth of Andor (and people like Andor) Syril kept in his head. Only to learn this guy doesn’t even remember him?

I think Syril’s rage and attack on Andor was Syril trying to redeem himself in some way. Like, if I can just bring in proof that this outside Rebel agitator really was here, that the Ghorman Front really always was the militant force the Empire is now making them out to be, that Syril could convince at least himself that he wasn’t so directly responsible in their genocide.

Am I the only one for whom the Force healer bit didn’t really work well? I’m just rubbed the wrong way by some Force-connected character talking about Cassian having some pre-ordained purpose. I prefer Cassian to be some regular guy who stood up to fight than the Special Boy selected by Space Magic.

Otherwise, this was amazing. The Ghorman massacre was so well done. My adrenaline was pumping the entire in the lead up to, during, and the escape from Mon Mothma’s speech. The hotel clerk delivering the “Rebellions are built on hope line” was perfect, and Cassian giving that line to Jyn in Rogue One now has so much more impact. Also, the line in Rogue One about the Senate being told Jeddha was a mining disaster has so much more significance after seeing Ghorman.

Syril’s death was the most satisfying fascist death since Inglorious Bastards. He had EVERYTHING ripped away from him. He realized that he WAS the outside agitator he thought he was trying to hunt the whole time. He learned his girlfriend knew they were setting up a genocide the entire time and was just using him. He learned the Empire is exactly as evil as he had always denied it was. He was a True Believer in the Empire in every sense of the words and had that true belief ripped away from him. HE personally played one of the largest roles in making the genocide happen. Then he finally found Andor, who he had been obsessing about for YEARS. Then the “who are you?” gut punch right before that fascist fuck got got. Chef’s Kiss Couldn’t have happened to a worse fellow.

I hope we get more Saw in the final arc.

No, and based on reading your incredibly rude response to people trying to answer your question in an Ask community, you clearly don’t understand what “proto-” means.

This isn’t really abnormal. He’s accused of murder, and a pretty high profile one at that. It’s not uncommon in the slightest for people accused of high profile crimes and people accused of murder to be held in custody pending trial.

Get over yourself. You’re not better or smarter than everyone else. Yes, the PT both mirrored and predicted IRL events. That’s what good social commentary does. And, yes, you could learn the lessons taught in those movies through other media or history, but the same could be said about tons of stuff. You could say literally the exact same thing about Andor, which is deservedly getting a lot of praise right now.

Every generation needs fiction that speaks to them and meets them where they’re at. Maybe you could learn the same things taught in the PT by watching something else or reading about history. But that’s not as accessible and engaging to everyone, especially the children who the PT was geared towards. Get off your high horse and recognize that not everything needs to be perfect or groundbreaking to have a genuinely important contribution to society and culture.

You said the first scene, by which I assume you’re referencing when Rey hands him the lightsaber and he tosses it away, “basically took a shit on a beloved character by way of cheap slapstick,” which I thoroughly disagree with. I think him rejecting the lightsaber is perfectly in character with what we saw in the OT and the 30 years of character development since.

TLJ is legitimately one of the best Star Wars movies, and Luke’s characterization in it, right down to rejecting the lightsaber, is more in-line with his characterization in the OT than anything else he’s ever been in, including everything in Legends and the new expanded universe canon.

Nah. I do it all the time.

There’s problems with them, especially with dialogue and the existence of Jar Jar. But they were also incredibly prescient for the modern political climate. I think it’s an important story about how a scared and lonely child raised by people who told him to suppress and ignore his emotions can turn into a fascist while also telling the story of how a manufactured political crisis can get a populace to support the transition from a liberal representative democracy to a fascist dictatorship.

The Last Jedi is legitimately a very good movie.

The Force Awakens is fine, but dull and mostly forgettable.

The Rise of Skywalker is just bad.

Boy, you couldn’t be more wrong.

The wonderful people at BLEEEP. So long as you leave them and their child-hunting island alone they’ll never instigate an insurrection against anyone.

I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

I dunno. Vel is all about the mission. If Luthen sends her to Ghorman again, I think she’ll go.

Think of Luthen like a really stern coach on a sports team. He knows Cassian and Bix are potentially two of his best players, but he also knows they can play at a higher level than they have been recently. The coach yells at and pushes them harder and harder, to the point where the players think the coach doesn’t like them. But then, come game time, he puts them in.

It was an important mission. We heard Paratgaz tell Loni that he (Partagaz) was being forced to give up the interrogator to the wider Empire because he’s been so successful. The Empire was about to implement his torture regime as standard policy. Loni passed the intel on to Luthen because that guy needed to get got. Luthen chose to give the mission to Cassian and Bix because he knew they could get the job done right, but also because he knew that it would be a better salve for Bix’s trauma than the drugs she was using.

Nah. I think Vel will die in the Ghorman Massacre.

I think the next arc (tomorrow night) is going to heavily feature the Ghorman Massacre.

We know from Rebels and elsewhere that the Ghorman Massacre was a massive event that really kicked off the Rebellion as a public entity and force against the Empire. We know the Ghorman Massacre is what spurred Mon Mothma to out herself public as a leader of the Rebellion. After the Massacre she gives a big public speech that’s broadcast across the universe declaring the Rebellion to Restore the Republic and calling everyone to join. This is when she quits the Senate and goes Rebel full-time. We also know the Ghorman Massacre happens in 2 BBY, which is when the next arc takes place.

I believe both Vel and Luthen will die in the next arc. I think Vel’s death is what will spur Mon to quit the Senate and go public. It’ll be the thing that proves to Mon that trying to work behind the scenes and still play politics is a wasted effort. But I also think that Mon and Luthen will have a major split over how to deal with the Ghorman Massacre. I think somehow Luthen will die (not by Mon, maybe Syril will get some intelligence that leads Dedra to Luthen?) and Luthen’s death will demand someone step up to take his place at the head of the Rebellion. That’s when Mon will issue her speech.