Force - sensitive / Legends A Force - sensitive , also known as a Forceful , was a being who was highly attuned to the flow of the Force . Force - sensitives could , with training , learn to sense and manipulate the Force . Force sensitives who gained powers and abilities through the Force became Force Adept s . The Jedi Order took Force - sensitive children at a very young age ( typically until the age of three , but preferably earlier ) to start training them to become Jedi . A notable exception to this was Anakin Skywalker , who was accepted for Jedi training when he was just under 10 years old , which would ultimately prove to be the downfall of the Jedi . A midi - chlorian count through special testing could determine how strong one was in the Force . Trained Jedi could " sense " high levels of the Force in individuals . The presence of Force - sensitives in a " vicinity " could also be sensed . On rare occasion , such Force - sensitivity could be detected emanating from a powerful " vergence in the Force " . If , however , one who was powerfully Force - sensitive ― such as Palpatine , Darth Zannah , or Anakin Skywalker ― willed it , even subconsciously , they ( or perhaps even the Force itself ) could hide or " shroud " them from detection in the Force . While Darth Plagueis had wondered how such a powerful Force " presence " as was centered in a youthful Palpatine might possibly have eluded him , so did Palpatine himself later wonder how he ' d sensed absolutely " nothing " of young Anakin Skywalker ' s presence in the Force when the boy had been a guest in his Coruscant apartments . Jedi Master Ki - Adi - Mundi , also , was left to marvel ( the year following a mission to Tatooine in 33 BBY ) how he possibly could have failed to detect the presence of young Skywalker ― a being who , " absolutely teeming with midi - chlorians . . . may very well be the Chosen One " ― for Skywalker remained for him " " a beacon of power " . . . " : " " How could I have not sensed the presence of one so strong with the Force ? " " he continued to wonder ― a case of undetected ( shrouded ) identity that disturbed the venerable Cerean so profoundly as to cause Mundi to question his own " perceptive abilities . . . Tatooine cannot be a coincidence . I do not believe in coincidences . . . but could [ Skywalker ] really have been conceived by the midi - chlorians , as Qui - Gon suggested ? And if he is the Chosen One , destined to bring balance to the Force , why do I sense some danger about this boy ? " That powerful Force - sensitives " could go undetected " was certainly known to the Jedi High Council . Obi - Wan Kenobi , as a young Jedi Master , once reflected that the Council , in fact , " had long suspected that the Sith knew how to disguise themselves and pass undetected by Jedi . " Though he was not a Sith , this rare ability to go undetected in the Force was also held by the son of Dark Jedi Xanatos , Granta Omega , who moreover possessed the rare power to appear to some Force - sensitives as a Void in the Force , a " Force blank . " To achieve higher levels of accuracy in Force - sensitive detection for Jedi candidacy , trained Jedi performed special tests to measure midi - chlorian counts in cells ( such as Obi - Wan Kenobi , at the behest of Qui - Gon Jinn , did for Anakin Skywalker ) . There were also other testing technologies developed to hunt Force - sensitives during the Great Jedi Purge . Species and objects . Species with high number of Force - sensitives included Humans , Kel Dors , Ithorians , Twi ' leks , Zabraks , Nautolans , and even the rare and mysterious Duinuogwuin s . Species producing low numbers of Force - sensitives included the Wookiees , Jawas , Hutts and Caamasi . The Neti , Anzat , Korun nai ( a Human tribe ) , Vahla , Red Sith , Miraluka , were entirely composed of Force - sensitives . Gotals may all have possessed the ability to sense the Force , although they had little practical use for it . Jungle Felucian s , as a species , were all Force - sensitive , but none were known to have become Jedi . A creature or object did not necessarily need to be sentient to be able to possess Force sensitivity . Jedi Master Qui - Gon Jinn once gave Obi - Wan Kenobi a stone from his homeworld ' s " River of Light " which by unknown means appeared to be Force - sensitive in Kenobi ' s opinion . Creatures such as the vornskr and ysalamir i of the planet Myrkr were other examples of non - sentient creatures who were considered Force - sensitive . An ancient mynock species was even rumored to have established a Force - sensitive run civilization relying on dark side energy . The Qom Jha and Qom Qae are slightly Force - sensitive and could communicate through telepathy with any being who is Force - sensitive . Certain species , such as Khommite s and the Humans of Jabiim , openly feared or detested those who could be touched by the Force . This was especially true of the Yuuzhan Vong , who not only could not feel the Force , but were entirely unaffected by it . The Rakata had lost their sensitivity since the days of the Infinite Empire but held experiments to rekindle it in subsequent generations . One offshoot of the Rakata , the primitive , mutated Flesh Raider s , had one known member during the Cold War that was Force - sensitive . Origins . People achieved Force - sensitivity by three known means . They either inherited it from a Force - sensitive progenitor ( which was most often the case ) , acquired the sensitivity through random mutation or evolution , or , in rare cases , one was artificially imbued with sensitivity to the Force , such as was the case of the Reborn and Sith Cultist s . Darth Plagueis , a master of midi - chlorian manipulation , lived during the century leading up to the Battle of Naboo . Obsessed with eternal life , Plagueis experimented with ways to cheat death and create new life from the Force - sensitive - determining midi - chlorians . Plagueis ' experiments in creating life may have , in a sense , succeeded . For , according to the Sith Lords , it was Plagueis ― having conceived and initiated his plans well before succumbing to death ― who influenced the midi - chlorians to " conceive " Anakin Skywalker . In reality , however , Plagueis ' influence in that miraculous conception had only been an indirect one , as it proved to be the Force " itself " " striking back " for the Sith Lord ' s blasphemous meddling in the processes of life and creation that caused the fatherless conception of the Chosen One . Latent Force - sensitivity could also be artificially activated or magnified ; some members of Palpatine ' s Dark Side Elite benefited from this process . Abilities of Force - sensitives . The Force , being far more powerful than any machine in the galaxy , had the ability to be used as a weapon by the Sith , or as a tool by the Jedi . In either case , the Force gave Force - sensitives the ability to perform actions that would have otherwise been considered impossible . For instance , Jedi Master Yoda had the ability , even at over 800 years old , to use the lightsaber combat form of Ataru , demanding incredible acrobatics and speed . This was in no small part due to his amazing power in the Force . Some Force powers included healing , psychokinesis , increased physical abilities , foresight , and various offensive techniques , such as the notorious Force lightning . Force - sensitives were considered to have an unusual amount of luck , lucky guesses , and correct decisions ; this was how droids could recognize Force - sensitives and enlist them for the New Jedi Order . Most untrained Force - sensitives still had raw Force associated talents , such as improved reaction time , physical strength , an affinity to animals , weather or certain other aspects of the Force . For example , due to his raw Force abilities , Anakin Skywalker was an accomplished pilot at the age of ten , despite a complete lack of formal training . Another example was Galen Marek who , at an even younger age , was able to pull Darth Vader ' s lightsaber out of his hand with telekinesis , without any Force training . Asajj Ventress was also able to Force Push a Weequay raider away from herself with no training as a child . It was commonly considered near impossible to wield a lightsaber without a sense of the Force , This was , however , an exaggeration , as non - sensitives had successfully utilized lightsabers on numerous occasions . It did , however , require Force sensitivity and , except in rare cases such as Jaden Korr , some degree of training to successfully build one , and a Force - user generally would have been a more accomplished combatant . Some Force - sensitives such as Streen were known to have drastic side effects for possessing Force sensitivity , although not having the knowledge to properly control it . Force - sensitives throughout history . In the Old Republic era , Force - sensitives were typically discovered by the Jedi at a young age and enlisted for training as Jedi . Individuals discovered late enough to have developed family ties and friendships with others were not generally trained ; an example of this was Alexi Garyn . This rule originated after the Exar Kun War but was not strictly enforced until after the Ruusan Reformation . Meetra Surik had a gift of attracting Force Sensitives towards her , such as Atton Rand , Mical , Brianna , and Mira . Beyond relaying to the Jedi High Council the prodigious test results of a theretofore unsurpassed midi - chlorian count , Qui - Gon Jinn discovered Anakin Skywalker through the boy ' s prowess at Podracing . Anakin himself once believed as a boy that he had a " string of lucky guesses , " when actually these guesses were early indicators of the Force . His mother Shmi Skywalker noticed these anomalies in her son as well , and described Anakin Skywalker as " special . " Indeed he was , for Skywalker had no biological father . Other potential Jedi had been discovered in roughly the same way - when there seemed to be an unusual amount of luck associated with an individual ; in fact , when Luke Skywalker was looking for candidates for his Jedi Academy ( later Jedi Praxeum ) he told the droids R2 - D2 and C - 3PO to search for people with an unnatural amount of luck . During the time of the Galactic Empire , Force - sensitives were known to be taken in to be trained as Inquisitors , Emperor ' s Hand s , or otherwise . Most Force - sensitives discovered by the Empire however , were killed due to three possible factors : the threat of other powerful Force wielders was a fear of Palpatine ' s and as such most were simply eliminated on sight , discovered alien Force - sensitives were likely killed upon discovery as Human High Culture would suggest , or some were eliminated due to lack of sufficient power during vigorous " tests " performed by Imperials . Although untrained , Imperial Colonel Dyer was Force attuned . In some cases , such as those of Fionah Ti , Vaner Shan and Theron Shan , children of Jedi and other Force - sensitives were incapable of using the Force , a rare and unexplained phenomenon that occurred in random generations . Force - user . The terms Force - user and Force - sensitive were distinct in meaning . Force - sensitive denoted anyone with Force power , latent or active , while being called a Force - user implied that the individual had at least some understanding and control of their abilities and was able to use them to accomplish specific tasks . The latter was also used in a more specific sense as a general term for Force - trained individuals who did not belong to either of the two major Force traditions , the Jedi and the Sith . Another term for Force - user was Force Adept , for dark - siders sometimes Dark Side Adept ( not to be confused with the Imperial title and organization proper ) . Detecting the Force . The main form of detecting the Force through midi - chlorian count was lost to the Jedi because of the Empire ' s destruction of documents and the Great Jedi Purge . The head of the New Jedi Order , Luke Skywalker , discovered a different way to reveal Force - sensitivity . In Leia ' s quarters in the abandoned Emperor Palpatine ' s Imperial Palace on Coruscant , Luke and his twin sister Leia Organa Solo were doing some tests on the inner defenses of her brain . Luke was using the Force to access certain areas of the brain ; as he accessed an area in the very back of the brain , he was rebuffed . They confirmed this to be a natural reflex of the Force - sensitive . During the rebuilding of Coruscant after it was claimed by the New Republic , Wedge Antilles and the team he was leading discovered a chamber of Jedi - related artifacts possibly concealed by Emperor Palpatine . Items found there included a type of scanning device that could detect an aura of the Force around a person . R2 - D2 was equipped with this scanner to aid Lando Calrissian in searching for Force - sensitives to join Luke ' s new Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4 . At some point in the future , the New Jedi Order would rediscover midi - chlorians and begin using blood tests to better find Force - sensitives . Sometimes Jedi went into a trance and found a Force - sensitive by detecting the child through the Force itself . This technique was hard to master and spread the Jedi ' s Force abilities thin as the Jedi cannot fight or concentrate on anything else combined with concentrating on a large number of beings . The technique also requires time to use effectively , which may not be a good idea when things must be done as quickly as possible . Independent Force - users . Besides Sith and Jedi traditions and Imperial dark side cadres , there were other organizations devoted to the Force . These often originated in another earlier tradition , but had left it after a schism or similar event . These could belong to either the light or dark side , or simply exist somewhere in between . Some of the better known examples of independent Force - user groups included the Ysanna , the Witches of Dathomir , the Aing - Tii Monks , the Baran Do , the Fallanassi , the Jensaarai , the Krath , the Sorcerers of Tund as well as many other Force - based organizations . Also , some Force - users did not adhere to any code or creed , but were self - taught or raised and trained by independent masters . There was also a family of Force - wielders known as " The Ones " on the planet Mortis . Behind the scenes . The non - canon April Fools Day Databank entries for the film " Willow " implied that the individuals who use magic in the film are Force - sensitives .