Living Force/Legends

The Living Force was one of two complementary aspects of the Force—an all-encompassing and all-transcending energy field—present in and generated by all living beings, connecting all of life which fed into the Cosmic Force in death. Thus, the life created the Force, as the Force created life. Sentience—consciousness and thought—could be added on to life.Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side The existence of the living Force was accepted by a minority of JediJedi Academy Training Manual until the time of Qui-Gon Jinn, Yoda, and Obi-Wan Kenobi—whose teachings of the Force aspect were passed on to the new Jedi Order's founder, Luke SkywalkerThe New Jedi Order: The Unifying Force—a sentient mindful of the Living Force let go of their conscious self and relied on their instincts, living in the present and feeling instead of thinking, thus becoming attuned to life around them and enacting the will of the Cosmic Force. Life was sustained by the midi-chlorians, which served as the biological vector between living beings and the will of the Force, and the greater quantity of which allowed a lifeform to have a greater connection to the Force to the extent of actively using the energy as a power. The Living Force contained the duality of the light and the dark sides of the Force, the latter of which tempted Force-users, who must reject it by being mindful of their emotions. Prior to Luke Skywalker's confrontation with Galactic Emperor Palpatine, Obi-Wan Kenobi told Skywalker to bury his emotions, saying that they could be made to serve the Sith Lord. Skywalker nearly fell to the dark side upon being provoked by his father, the Emperor's apprentice, Darth Vader, threatening to turn his beloved sister to the dark side. However, Skywalker retook control of his dark side emotions, and let go of his lightsaber—his life—thus saving his father from the dark side of the Force through his selfless, light side act and allowing the redeemed Vader to save him in turn. As a result, the Sith were destroyed, thereby restoring balance to the Force. Through the Living Force, several Jedi, such as Qui-Gon Jinn, Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker, and the redeemed Vader, were able to retain their identities after death; becoming one with the Force whilst still capable of manifesting themselves as spirits to the living.Jedi Academy Training Manual
Darth Bane, a Dark Lord of the Sith who, as with Kreia, recognized that the Force was venom, taught that a school of Force power referred to as focus or Body encompassed abilities that were drawn from the living Force. Such abilities emanated from the Force user's cells and affected the physical bodies of others. As such, by the law of the living Force, any cybernetics installed on the user hindered their ability to conjure the effects of the Body. Using the dark side corrupted one's spirit and ravaged the flesh, slowly reducing the user to madness,Dark Empire 5 though it was possible to take life from another to bolster oneself, as well as to transfer one's consciousness to another living body by dominating its soul.Dark Empire 3 Force lightning, convection, and cryokinesis were abilities of the Body school of powers, as was Force drain; the Dark Reaper superweapon built by the Dark Lord Exar Kun was capable of ripping the life essence from an entire army. Conversely, Force healing was also an ability made possible by the living Force.
Kreia, an exiled Jedi Master and former Sith Lord who understood the Force as poison, and that the Force's cosmic will treated sentients without care, reprimanded her student, the Jedi Exile, for being distracted at the airlock of Harbinger and thus not being mindful of the present, allowing their enemies to gather while they wasted time. The Exile performed rare deed by severing herself from the Force, triggering a mass die-off of her midi-chlorians to the extent of curbing one's Force powers though leaving enough so that she did not die. Despite her loss of midi-chlorians, the Exile regained the ability to channel the power of the Force under Kreia's tutelage, and in turn, Exile trained her non–Force-sensitive followers—the true Jedi—to feel the echoes within the Force and grasp the ability to channel it.
While the Sith preferred the use of artificial lightsaber crystals, which carried the essence of its master's will, natural crystals such as those found on Ilum helped attune the lightsaber to the Living Force. As with Kreia, Darth Plagueis consciously sought the triumph of the will of individuals over that of the Force—whilst all users of the dark side did so at least subconsciously—and found that the will of the Force could not possibly know or care about the welfare of intelligent life. Referring to the Living Force as the anima, Plagueis found that the midi-chlorians, which all had a single unified will in the Force, were influenced by the host's mental state. In particular, negative emotions such as the loss of hope affected midi-chlorians to the extent of killing parts of the host's physical body. Plagueis also found that by imposing one's individual sentient will upon the collective will of the midi-chlorians that served as the conduit of the cosmic will of the Force, one could manipulate life. Through his findings, Plagueis could sustain a dying person's life, the basis of immortality, and instigated the fatherless birth of Anakin Skywalker—however, the catalyst behind the birth of Skywalker that Plagueis instigated was the will of the Force,Darth Plagueis which had the boy be the Chosen One who would restore balance to the symbiotic relationship between the living and the cosmic Force by destroying the Sith.
==Appearances==
==Sources==
*Star Wars Episode I: The Data File
*Living Force Campaign Guide
*The Dark Side Sourcebook
*The New Jedi Order Sourcebook
*Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith: Prima Official Game Guide
*Jedi Academy Training Manual
*The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force
*Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side
*Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Core Rulebook
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===Non-canon sources===
*LEGO Star Wars: The Dark Side
==Notes and references==
Category:Force aspects