Force empathy Force empathy was a Force power related to Force sense , but involved picking up impressions of an individual ' s feelings and general emotional state . Those Force - sensitives especially adept could pick up motivations , hidden feelings , and even deeply guarded secrets . History . In 24 BBY , while on a Jedi mission to Romin , 17 - year - old Anakin Skywalker detected within himself for the first time a new power , felt a sense of exultation in a new facet of the Force he ' d not experienced before . The Force allowed him to " see " into the most secret part of the Citizens ' Resistance leader ' s heart : beyond what Joylin wished or didn ' t care that others saw . Skywalker suddenly discovered that , beyond objects , he could manipulate being ' also , use their fears and secrets . This was a side of the Force he had not known before . Anakin abruptly told Joylin what the power - seizing leader already knew — that he had , in truth , " let " Romin ' s corrupt dictator Teda go freely . The other Jedi team members , completely surprised , turned to Skywalker . The guards were not taking Teda to Prison , Anakin revealed . In fact , Joylin had orchestrated a ruse of his own and was permitting Teda to escape offworld with the galactic criminal Jenna Zan Arbor in tow . Racing to circumvent the criminals ' escape from the landing platform , Master Mace Windu congratulated Anakin on his excellent Force - sensitive work in bringing that new information to light . Master Windu , shortly thereafter , as he assigned the Jedi a new mission at the Senate Building , recognized again Anakin ' s powerful Force - connection that had now gone beyond objects to the inner workings of beings . Skywalker ' s Master , Obi - Wan Kenobi , suddenly realized this truth ( had known it , in fact , without acknowledging it ) , but he " wondered " at Windu ' s recognition of it , for Mace had only been on Romin with them a short time at the conclusion of their mission there , when that quality or " capacity " in his Padawan seemed to have manifested itself for the first time . Windu was on the Jedi High Council " for a reason , " Obi - Wan concluded — it was why , except for Grand Master Yoda , that Kenobi thought him the most powerful Jedi he ' d ever known . Later , when Kenobi ' s apprentice witnessed first - hand Supreme Chancellor Palpatine ' s impressive political maneuvering of beings to his will , the Padawan was " struck " — for he suddenly realized that Palpatine had just done what Anakin himself did back on Romin , when he felt that surge of power and realized that the Force could allow him to see into motivations and consequences : Palpatine was not a Jedi , and yet he seemed to be able to think several steps ahead of his opponents and perceive motivations and outcomes — at the same time , Palpatine had ' not gloated over this power that he clearly possessed . He appeared simply to be rather satisfied . Anakin looked at Palpatine , admiring his sure , confident stride through the Senate Halls . The Chancellor did not exaggerate his power , but neither did he diminish it : he accepted it and accepted the ways in which he would have to use it . Shortly before this , after an encounter with Astri Oddo , Kenobi found himself amazed that Anakin , so often now , it seemed , knew what secrets were inside others , what drove them to do the puzzling things they did . It was a capacity in the Force that Kenobi would see surface again and again in his Padawan — such as on a critical mission to the planet Null after the start of the Clone Wars . Anakin ' s sensitivity to others was growing and surpassing Obi - Wan ' s in some cases . Even so , Anakin ' s gift of seeing inside beings , as Ferus Olin had suggested to Kenobi back on Romin , could turn dangerous if Skywalker tried to control the feelings he found instead of just observing them . Indeed , in 23 BBY , on his very next mission to Korriban , an 18 - year - old Skywalker painfully faced the reality ( though pride blinded him from truly understanding why ) that selfish feelings of jealousy , needing to win , unwarranted suspicion , and hat ' could cloud one ' s heart and mind , effectively not only numbing and even nullifying a neophyte ' s capacity for Force empathy , but , worse , potentially result — as those passions did — in the destruction of lives ( Darra Thel - Tanis , who died , and Ferus Olin , who resigned from the Order , his dream of Knighthood destroyed ) and cherished relationships ( Tru Veld , whose friendship and comradery Anakin lost forever ) . It was Force empathy that allowed Anakin , the following year , to locate his mother Shmi on Tatooine , for he poignantly felt her pain after racing across its desert wastes on a borrowed speeder bike as he scaled the crest of a high - dune ridge and looked down into the Tusken camp where she had been tortured to death . Master Yoda exhibited Force empathy during the First Battle of Geonosis while sensing the tension between Obi - Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker during their pursuit of Count Dooku . The argument between the two resulted from Padmé Amidala ' s fall from an LAAT gunship . After experiencing the situation from afar , Master Yoda decided to intervene . Jedi Knight Etain Tur - Mukan also proved herself adept at Force empathy during the Clone Wars . Padawan Jaesa Willsaam was renowned throughout the Order at the time for her innate skill in Force empathy , which could extend into predicting an individual ' s actions . Years later , Luke ' s infant son , Ben Skywalker , possessed an increasing capacity for Force empathy and , as a result , shied away from the Force .