Mind trick A mind trick was an ability of the Force that allowed the practitioner to influence the thoughts of the affected , generally to the user ' s advantage . Description . When using the mind trick , the practitioner generally adopted a suggestive tone of voice and used a distinctive gesture , waving their hand in front of the target ' s face . The mind trick was said to work only on the weak - minded , and there were certain species , including Toydarian s , that were either highly resistant or immune to it . However , the mind trick could be used by a group of Jedi simultaneously to exert a greater collective influence on those who would normally be able to resist a single Jedi ' s attempt alone , as demonstrated by Obi - Wan Kenobi , Mace Windu , and Anakin Skywalker upon the bounty hunter Cad Bane . The Inquisitorius were able to pry into the minds of others and force information from prisoners , though Force - sensitive s and other mentally - strong and willful individuals could potentially resist it . History . Qui - Gon Jinn used a mind trick to convince Boss Nass to give him a bongo for transport to Theed , though it was unclear to what degree it was necessary , as Nass knew that the route to the surface was littered with sea creatures and he was happy to be rid of the accident - prone Jar Jar Binks . Later , when Jinn was stranded on Tatooine , he attempted to use a mind trick on Watto in order to get him accept Republic credits for the purchase of a T - 14 hyperdrive , but Watto told him that he was a Toydarian and that mind tricks didn ' t work on him , only money . While on a mission to Carnelion IV some years later , Obi - Wan Kenobi used a mind trick to persuade a hostile local woman named Pran that there was no need for weapons in their conversation . The mind trick succeeded , but they were interrupted by an attack by a third party before she could carry out the suggestion . Years later when Kenobi was on Coruscant seeking an assassin that had targeted Padmé Amidala , he was approached by an individual in a bar that sought to sell him death stick s . Kenobi used the mind trick both to convince him that he didn ' t want to sell him death sticks and that he wanted to go home and rethink his life . Not long after this , when Anakin Skywalker and Amidala were on Naboo , Amidala suggested that Skywalker might use the mind trick on her after he had trouble getting her to open up about her past , but Skywalker replied that they only work on the weak - minded . During the Clone Wars , when Kenobi and Anakin were captured by the Ohnaka Gang , Kenobi used a mind trick to convince a guard to let them out and go out drinking , though he and Skywalker were ultimately re - captured anyway . The Mandalorian Security Forces were trained to resist mind tricks by playing along . Ahsoka Tano thought she could use a mind trick on one of the guards to see Duchess Satine Kryze , who was being held hostage , but learned that he was acting and that the guards were trained to resist what Prime Minister Almec called " archaic magic " . Later , during the Senate hostage crisis , Anakin used a mind trick to convince the bounty hunter Shahan Alama to check another floor , so as to remain unnoticed because he was unarmed . Jedi Master Mace Windu attempted a mind trick on a Dagoyan to allow him access to the Queen ' s chambers on Bardotta , but was told " " That will not work on a Dagoyan . " " During the Age of the Empire , the Inquisitorius ' s Grand Inquisitor used mind tricks during his and Governor Wilhuff Tarkin ' s interrogation of Jedi survivor Kanan Jarrus to learn more about his fellow Spectres , and a potential wider rebellion . However , Jarrus was able to resist the Inquisitor ' s mind tricks , impressing him . While rescuing the pirate Hondo Ohnaka from an Imperial prison on Naraka , Ezra Bridger , who had over the past six months been influenced by the Presence of the Malachor Sith holocron , used a Dark Side - fuelled version on the driver of an All Terrain Defense Pod , taking over his mind and forcing him to fire on stormtrooper s , and then pilot the walker over the edge of a platform . Ezra ' s fellow rebels Sabine Wren and Garazeb Orrelios , as well as Ohnaka himself , were all rather disturbed by this , not knowing of Ezra ' s use of the Sith holocron . When Kenobi and Luke Skywalker traveled to Mos Eisley to seek passage to Alderaan , Kenobi used a mind trick to convince a suspicious stormtrooper both that he did not need to see Skywalker ' s identification and that the droids ( R2 - D2 and C - 3PO ) that were accompanying them weren ' t the droids that they were searching for . After he and Skywalker were clear of the checkpoint , Luke expressed surprise at how easily they had escaped and Kenobi explained that " The Force can have a strong influence on the weak - minded . " When Luke was on Rodia to acquire weapons for the Rebel Alliance , he encountered an obnoxious Rodian who refused to take him to his contact , Taneetch Soonta . He attempted a mind trick to get the Rodian to be more cooperative , but to no effect . He tried again , adding the hand gesture that Kenobi had used , but the attempt again failed . He then gave up the attempt as pointless , realizing he didn ' t have enough knowledge for the trick to work , but the problem was resolved when the Rodian received a comm message instructing him to cooperate . When Luke visited Jabba ' s Palace to rescue Han Solo , Leia Organa and Lando Calrissian , he used a mind trick on Bib Fortuna to convince him to bring him before Jabba the Hutt . Jabba criticized Fortuna as a " weak - minded fool " , and Luke attempted to use a mind trick on Jabba to get him to release the hostages , but the trick did not work . Despite having no formal training in the use of the Force , the scavenger Rey attempted a mind trick on a First Order stormtrooper guard when she was imprisoned in a cell in Starkiller Base . She attempted to convince the guard to remove her restraints and leave the cell open so that she could escape . Her first attempt at the mind trick was unsuccessful , only provoking the guard to approach her with the threat of tightening the restraints . When she repeated her instructions , however , the stormtrooper acquiesced and as he left , she convinced him to drop his blaster as well . Having been shackled at the time , Rey accomplished the feat without the use of any distracting gesture . Rey was inspired to use the mind trick following her successful resistance of Kylo Ren ' s mind probe , in which she turned his own power against him , briefly experiencing his own memories . Following this , she intuited that if she had the ability to resist the mental powers of someone powerful like Ren , then it might be easy to influence to the mind of someone like a stormtrooper who had no training or power in resisting such influences . She then reached out with both her words and thoughts . Behind the scenes . The Jedi mind trick first appeared in , but was not identified by name at the time and was first described as a " Jedi mind trick " in . The mind trick was widely featured in the Expanded Universe , later re - branded as " Star Wars " Legends , in which it had a number of useful variants , such as the ability to project illusions , but these cannot be considered canon . Kenobi ' s original usage of the mind trick , " " These aren ' t the droids you ' re looking for " , " became a phrase in popular culture and has served as the inspiration for at least two songs .