Death

Death was the permanent cessation of all vital signs and functions of a living thing. When a life form died, their energy, their life passed from the Living Force to the Cosmic Force and became one with it, thus, the dead were part of the Force, usually losing their individuality. Death was a cause of dread and despair for most living beings, with some even vowing to defeat it and to keep people from dying, whereas others saw it as passing to the Force, a natural part of life. Some, like the Nightsisters of Dathomir, were able to delay their spirit to be reversed into the Cosmic Force by shackling their spirit to the physical realm through magick, while others, like the Sith Lords, dreamed of immortality. Darth Sidious was able to use the dark side of the Force to preserve his essence in a clone body. However, this technique couldn't grant him true deathlessness, as opposed to those beings who were able to maintain their consciousness after death by becoming manifestations of the Force.
==Causes of death==
Death was an inevitability and a natural part of life - although some species experienced longer lifespans than others, as was the case for Yoda's species,The High Republic: Convergence all life forms lived only for a finite period of time, before they died and became one with the Cosmic Force, the wellspring from which the Living Force was generated.The High Republic Adventures (2021) 7 As they grew old, beings gradually grew weaker and more vulnerable for sickness, until their bodies eventually surrender to change, resulting in natural death. It was also possible to physically damage a living thing so severely that, when injuries were untreated or untreatable their body was no longer able to function and it shut down, causing them to die. Living beings could be killed by each other in wars and other conflicts,Battlefront: Twilight Company and by themselves as well by committing suicide, which was the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Torture could also result in death. Living things could succumb to radiation,Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know diseases, starvation,Rey's Survival Guide dehydration, or exposure to certain chemical substances. However, in some cases, there was no medical explanation for death: the GH-7 series medical assistance droid at Polis Massa was unable to explain the reasons why Padmé Amidala was dying during childbirth, stating, "She's lost the will to live."
==Views on Death==
===Jedi Order===
The Jedi Code stated that "there was no death," only the Force. The Jedi taught that life did not cease at death, but merely changes form in the Force. As such, the Jedi understood that life and death formed a cycle that ensured the continuation of the Force itself. Knowing that one day, all things that ever lived, must be transformed into the Cosmic Force, the wellspring from which the Living Force emanated, becoming one with it, the Jedi saw death as a natural part of life, a return to the Cosmic Force. A Jedi Knight had to learn to let go of everything they fear to lose - the fear of losing the living to inevitable death was attachment, the shadow of greed, a dangerous path to the dark side of the Force. Despite being saddened by it, they were advised to remember that one day they would all pass on, and rejoice and celebrate those around them who passed away and become one with the Force, instead of grieving and missing them.
Although everything that the Jedi knew about the Force told them that an individual retaining their identity after passing to the Cosmic Force was impossible, with the Jedi indeed not believing in the concepts of ghosts or reincarnation, there were actually ways to manifest one's consciousness after death as a Force spirit. Qui-Gon Jinn began discovering the secrets to manifesting his consciousness. He traveled to a planet strong with the Force, a world that was the birthplace of life and the origin of midi-chlorians. He learned from five Force Priestesses who had retained their consciousness after death. That knowledge was passed down to a select few: at the time when the Clone Wars was nearing to its end, knowing that was Grand Master Yoda's destiny to complete the training he himself did not, Jinn was able to reach out to the old Jedi Master. Yoda completed the trials and was deemed worthy of learning the secret of eternal consciousness.
After the end of the Clone Wars and the fall of the Jedi Order, Yoda revealed Obi-Wan Kenobi that Jinn had returned from the netherworld of the Force and could guide his former Padawan in learning the secret. Although Anakin Skywalker— a fallen Jedi Knight and the Chosen One of the Force—never received the training that allowed his mentors to become Force spirits, his redemption and sacrifice made it possible for his consciousness to be preserved after death by Kenobi and Yoda, much like how his grandson became a spirit in 35 ABY. In 34 ABY and 35 ABY respectively, Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa—Anakin's biological children—attained immortality like their father.
===Sith Order===
Although the Sith shared the Jedi's knowledge that life merely changes form in the Force, they viewed mortality as one of the limitations of the physical realm, and feared it, unable to see themselves as parts of a continuum, asserting that to die is to become nothing. For this reason, they sought to prevent their life from passing from the Living Force to the Cosmic Force, wishing to live forever and to hold on to the people they cared about through stopping them from dying. Thus, the Sith Order's devotion to the dark side was motivated by their desire for immortality.
Sidious described the dark side of the Force as a pathway to abilities that others considered unnatural, in particular the power to "cheat death." According to a "Sith legend", the Sith Lord Darth Plagueis acquired unique abilities such as the power to create life through the manipulation of midi-chlorians, managing to keep those who cared about from dying. In his efforts to convert Anakin Skywalker to the dark side, Sidious offered to reveal this secrets of immortality to Skywalker, knowing that the Jedi Knight was fearful of losing his secret wife, Padmé Amidala. Unsettled by premonitions of the future concerning the nearing death of his pregnant wife, Skywalker came to believe through Sidious' influence that the dark side could ensure the survival of Amidala.
Although Sidious claimed to Skywalker that only one Sith had achieved such power, he stated, if they work together, they can unlock the secret. Skywalker ultimately joined the Sith, gaining new powers through the dark side as Darth Vader, but Amidala died nevertheless. However, despite claiming to be able to save her, Sidious later informed Vader that the dark side could not be used to restore Amidala to life. Through his master's teachings, Sidious managed to transfer his essence to an imperfect clone vessel that had been modeled on his original body. However His lifelong dream of eternal rule was finally quashed when his granddaughter, Rey called upon the strength of past Jedi to vanquish him by turning his own power against him, destroying Sidious and his Sith Eternal cultists.
The Sith honed their powers by undergoing trials designed to enhance their connection to the dark side of the Force. One such trial required the sacrificial death of a loved one. This tradition was not limited to members of the Sith Order;Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary Kylo Ren was not a Sith, but was trained to be just as powerful nonetheless. During the Battle of Starkiller Base, unbeknowst to him, Ren completed his Sith trial of ascendancy when he killed his father, Han Solo. Committing patricide, however, did not lead to greater strength with the dark side, as Ren had believed. The death of his father contributed to his internal conflict, leaving Ren in a weakened state.
===Knights of Ren===
According to legend, the Knights of Ren were a nomadic group of dark side practitioners that originated in the Unknown Regions. In addition to Force-sensitivity,The Rise of Kylo Ren 1 prospective recruits had to willingly kill a person in order to join the Knights' ranks.The Rise of Kylo Ren 3 Darth Sidious described the Knights' initiation process as selecting a "worthy target" and giving them "a good death." It was a requirement that applied to all potential initiates, regardless of whether they already had killed.
At one point, the Knights attempted to recruit Karrst who was hunted by Sector Security for killing at least a hundred people. He was killed by his younger brother, Filin, when Ren—leader of the Knights—instructed Karrst to commit fratricide in order to join the group. However, Filin lacked his brother's connection to the Force and was consequently executed by Ren.
While the Knights' connection to the dark side was hindered by their lack of training, their philosophy as a group appealed to the Jedi apprentice Ben SoloThe Star Wars Book who, despite his initial devotion to the Jedi way, struggled to fulfill his expectations as a scion of the legendary Skywalker family. Following his role in the destruction of the Jedi Temple of Luke Skywalker, Solo left the Jedi Order and tracked the Knights to Varnak. On his journey, however, he was confronted by the Jedi apprentices Hennix, Tai, and Voe in an abandoned Jedi outpost on Elphrona. Although Hennix was killed by Solo, the Knights' deemed his death insufficient and suspected that Solo had not wanted his former ally to die.
After the death of Hennix, the Jedi tracked Solo and the Knights while they were on a mission to the Minemoon. Tai was killed by Ren, who was killed in turn by Solo.The Rise of Kylo Ren 4 The death of Ren secured not only Solo's place among the Knights' ranks, but also his status as Ren's successor. In addition to adopting the name name Kylo Ren, the former Jedi assumed the title of master of the Knights of Ren.
===Kran===
The Kran were monks whose religion centered on the veneration of death, which the Kran practiced by causing destruction at night. During the Clone Wars, Jedi Master Mace Windu had the Kran resettled on a hospitable planet that never experienced night due to its location in a binary star system.
==Death and culture==
===Disposal of remains===
====Funerary customs====
When a person died, it was common for people affected by the loss to shed tears. Ceremonies to mark the end of the person's life were also common.War of the Bounty Hunters – IG-88 1 Burial and cremation were examples of funeral customs. On Ferrix, it was customary to create funerary stones out of the remains of prominent Ferrixians, such as members of the Daughters of Ferrix. A funerary stone was made by mixing the ashes of the deceased with mortar and local dust, creating a solid brick with the citizen's name as well as their birth and death—dated according to the Coruscant reckoning calendar—inscribed on it. Another custom of Ferrix's death ritual was for the deceased to create a prerecorded holographic speech to be played at their funeral. Maarva Carassi Andor, a former president of the Daughters of Ferrix, used her funeral to instigate a local uprising against the Imperial occupation of Ferrix.
On the planet E'ronoh, the dead were not buried nor cremated, but instead were placed within the tombs of the Rook to showcase all were equal through death. Even members of the E'ronoh royal family were placed in the Rook upon death. The family or friends of the deceased wrote a byline for the coffin, although visitor Axel Greylark pondered who would get to write the line if no friends or family could be found. A robed priest gave a final blessing before the coffin was inserted into its resting place. Welcoming a crowd of mourners, a grand funeral was held for Captain Jerrod Segaru to honor the man as a war hero. However, another dead soldier, Braxen, did not receive the same level of honor. At Segaru's funeral, Axel Greylark asked Jedi Knight Gella Nattai if she found the display morbid, to which she answered that death was morbid for most people. Nattai also shocked at how glib Greylark was about the funeral before him.
Burial and cremation were practiced on the desert planet Tatooine. Shmi Skywalker Lars was buried in a grave on the homestead of the Lars family. Her funeral was attended by her son, Jedi Padawan Anakin Skywalker, her husband, Cliegg Lars, and her stepson, Owen Lars, as well as Amidala and Beru Whitesun. During the Imperial Era, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and the droid C-3PO used a pyre to dispose the bodies of Jawa scavengers who were killed by Imperial stormtroopers.
A state funeral was held for Senator Padmé Amidala, a former monarch of Naboo, on her homeworld of Naboo in 19 BBY.Star Wars: Galactic Atlas Regarded as a "beloved representative" by her people, thousands of Naboo citizens—humans and Gungans alike—attended the ceremony to honor the late senator. After her death on Polis Massa, Amidala's funeral procession included family members and other significant people, such as Queen Apailana, Rugor Nass, and Junior Representative Jar Jar Binks. The Tomb of Padmé Amidala served as her final resting place.Darth Vader (2020) 4 During the Imperial Era, Amidala's remains were nearly exhumed by her widower, Darth Vader,Darth Vader (2020) 5 despite the Amidalans' efforts to prevent what they saw as the desecration of her grave. While he nearly opened her casket, Vader found himself unable to carry through with the act, with his droid companion ZED-6-7 assuming he did not want to damage any evidence. Despite only slightly opening her casket, Zed-6-7 was able to trace a med implant present on her body to Polis Massa.
====Jedi funerary practices====
The Jedi Order practiced cremation in its funerary rituals for all Jedi. During the Republic Era, in which the Order reached the zenith of its power, the remains of dead Jedi—either placed in a sarcophagus or on an altar and covered by a burial shroud—were lowered into a chamber beneath the consecrated ground of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. After being lowered, a beam of light arose from the ground, and the Jedi was cremated. Upon death, a Jedi's Kyber crystal was also taken from their lightsaber and placed within the Kyber Arch.
Although the Jedi Order usually retrieved the remains of their fallen brethren for funeral services to be held in the Coruscant temple, as they did with the body of Jedi Master Katri who was killed on Raxus Secundus, sometimes the ceremony was conducted off-world. In 32 BBY, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn was cremated in Theed, the capital city of Naboo, following his death during the battle that ended the Trade Federation's Invasion of Naboo. The body of Jedi General Even Piell, who was killed during the Battle of Lola Sayu, was wrapped in a shroud, and, with insufficient time and a priority to leave from Lola Sayu, was lowered into a river of lava by Jedi Generals Kenobi and Skywalker.
Jedi funeral ceremonies were open to those who were not members of the Jedi Order. Government officials of the Galactic Republic, such as the Supreme Chancellor and members of the Galactic Senate, and during the Clone Wars, high-ranking officers of the Republic Military might attend to pay their respects to the fallen Jedi. The attendees of Jinn's funeral included his former apprentice, Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan, Anakin Skywalker, the Jedi High Council, the newly elected Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine, Queen Padmé Amidala and Governor Sio Bibble of the Royal House of Naboo, and Boss Rugor Nass of the Gungan High Council. When Obi-Wan Kenobi faked his death so he could uncover a looming Separatist plot to kidnap Chancellor Palpatine, his funeral service was observed by various members of the Order, including the Jedi High Council, Senator Amidala and Duchess Satine.
Carried out by Skywalker and Kenobi, Even Piell's cremation was observed by Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano, Captain Wilhuff Tarkin, the astromech droid R2-D2, and their clone troopers, including Clone Captain Rex, the Advanced Recon Commando Fives, and Clone Commander Cody. Later in the war, one of the Jedi Temple's starship hangars was bombed in a terrorist attack on the Jedi Order, killing several Jedi as well as clone troopers and Temple workers. A service was held for the Jedi victims who were killed in the attack, with Yoda delivering their eulogy before an assembly of Jedi and Republic officials. The Funeral of Tu-Anh was held on the planet Utapau, where she was found deceased. The funeral was witnessed by Skywalker, Kenobi, and several Pau'ans.
Anakin Skywalker was given a Jedi funeral by his son, Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker, in the aftermath of the Battle of Endor, during the Galactic Civil War, in 4 ABY. The ceremony occurred on the forested moon of Endor with Luke as the only attendee. The newly anointed Jedi Knight had built a funeral pyre to burn the armor of Darth Vader, which his father had worn during his time as a Sith. In spite of Anakin's actions as Vader,Bloodline including his role in the near-extinction of the Jedi Order, Luke chose to remember his father for the Jedi he once was, and the Chosen One who restored balance to the Force.Star Wars: The Secrets of the Jedi
====Sith burial====
Deceased Sith Lords were buried on their ancient homeworld of Moraband, in the Valley of the Dark Lords that contained monuments and crypts dedicated to the ancient Sith "of millennia past." The largest structure in the Valley contained the tomb of Darth Bane, an ancient Sith Lord who founded the modern Sith Order through the Rule of Two. The stone sarcophagus that held his remains was located at the base of a large statue of Bane. He was the last Dark Lord of the Sith to be buried on Moraband prior to its abandonment by the Sith.
The spirits of the Sith who were entombed on Moraband remained connected to their Order's homeworld. They lived eternally after their death, according to their successor, Darth Sidious, whom they communed with. In his book, The Secrets of the Sith, Sidious stated his intention to visit Moraband and discover the "dark secrets" of his Sith predecessors.Star Wars: The Secrets of the Sith
===Remembrance of the deceased===
Although it was harder to maintain the tradition with the Forever War taking up so much, the E'roni of the planet E'ronoh practiced the concept of a remembrance for the recently deceased, where the deceased individual's family would gather together to celebrate their fallen loved one. In rural areas, such Remembrances were held by the entire town. Stories of the deceased were spread as their favorite songs and meals filled the celebration. On E'ronoh's rival world of Eiram, the Eirami had a similiar celebration centered on one day of the year, where the entire planet came together in remembrance of the deceased. The Eirami also believed in reincarnation.
===Presumption of death===
A presumption of death occured when an individual was presumed to be deceased, even in the absence of direct evidence confirming the person's demise. In the High Republic Era, the Galactic Republic maintained a longstanding automated protocol that stipulated individuals who were missing and presumed dead would be officially declared deceased. Consequently, Jedi Padawan Lula Talisola was officially declared dead one year after the Destruction of Starlight Beacon.The High Republic Adventures (2023) 1 
Sevran Tarkin was on Starlight Beacon when it fell and subsequently went missing, which led to her being legally pronounced dead. Her uncle, Tragkul Tarkin, exploited her demise to advance his anti-Republic agenda. After Sevran turned up alive and well, she found that establishing her status as alive was considerably more intricate than one might assume. The bureaucratic hurdles became a significant obstacle, leaving her still regarded as "technically dead." She fell out of favor with her uncle, who held the belief that dying in battle was not a noble death, as it signified their defeat.
===Death-related names and phrases===
Death sticks were an illegal and extremely addictive substance. Nevertheless, they were popular with addicts and thrill-seekers in the underworld of Coruscant and throughout the galaxy.
The Galactic Empire's first and second moon-sized battle stations were dubbed "Death Stars." High-ranking officials and members of the Imperial Security Bureau were protected by elite soldiers known as death troopers, a name inspired by the Undead Troopers of Project Blackwing.Star Wars: Commander
The clone trooper Fives bade farewell to AZI-345211896246498721347 by saying that they would meet again "on the other side." However, the droid did not understand the meaning of this phrase. Han Solo told deck officer Tigran Jamiro that he would "see him in Hell" when the officer warned him about the hazardous conditions of the planet Hoth.
==Death and the Force==
The Force was a mystical energy field generated by all life-forms. It consisted of two aspects, the Living Force and the Cosmic Force that co-existed in a state of symbiosis and balance. The Living Force was generated by life-forms, according to Qui-Gon Jinn, which powered the wellspring, the Cosmic Force in turn. Once a life ended, its spirit would ascend to a different plane of existence and become one with the Cosmic Force.
Mass death created disturbances in the Force, perceivable galaxy-wide by Force-sensitives. During the last days of the Clone Wars, Yoda sensed the deaths of Jedi throughout the galaxy, a result of the Jedi Order's systematic extermination under Order 66. When Kenobi sensed the planet Alderaan's destruction, he described it as a terrible feeling in which "millions of voices cried out in terror and were then silenced."
==Extinction==
Extinction was the mass death of an entire species. Despite their technological advancement, the Zeffonians became an endangered species as a result of the dark side's increasing influence over the Zeffo Sages. With their race on the brink of extinction, the surviving Zeffo retreated toward unknown space, abandoning their homeworld and its system.Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order The deadly Blue Shadow Virus was purposely driven to extinction, though it was reintroduced to the galaxy by Separatist Doctor Nuvo Vindi. The Lasat species was driven to near-extinction by the forces of the Galactic Empire. The Empire drove the Geonosian species to extinction.Doctor Aphra: An Audiobook Original
Genocide was the intentional mass-killing of a species or culture that led to that group's extinction. The Separatist attack on the planet MahraneeDark Disciple of 19 BBYStar Wars: Galactic Atlas places the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode "A Death on Utapau" and Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith in 19 BBY. As Dark Disciple takes place between these two pieces of media according to , the events of the novel, which include the attack on Mahranee, must also take place in 19 BBY. was considered a genocide of the indigenous Mahran species.Star Wars: The Dark Side
==Attempts to cheat death==
===Eternal life===
According to the legend of the ancient Sith Lord Darth Noctyss, there was a long-forgotten Sith ritual, throughly recorded in an abandoned citadel at the heart of Exegol, that could make one immortal. The ritual required three days of incantations and slaying a willing sacrifice, so its essence could be absorbed and used to remold its performer's soul. However, even though the ritual gave everlasting life, it left the one who performed it as a twisted, grotesque version of their former self, cursed to vegetate as a feral creature, so broken that it barely cling to existence: to live a life undying and yet unable to truly live.
Oblivious to the price, the Sith Darth Sanguis, yearning for eternal life, researched and completed the ritual. After ages, Darth Noctyss, searching for a way to make herself immortal, traveled to Exegol and discovered the laboratory and research of Sanguis and her forebear himself, although she believed, the miserable creature was a slave of the Sith. Sanguis helped Noctyss to recreate the ritual, allowing himself to be sacrificially killed by her, so he could be freed from his tortured existence. The ritual ultimately caused Noctyss to become a deformed, broken creature, like Sanguis before her, haunting the bowels of Exegol.
===Possessed masks===
Sith masks were designed to induce fear in their wearers' opponents, but could also serve as vessels for the spirits of the Sith Lords who created them. One such Sith mask was the Mask of Lord Momin, an ancient Sith artifact created by the unorthodox Sith Lord Darth Momin. After his death, Momin's spirit transferred to his mask and was trapped within it. As a result, however, he had the ability to control any living being who wore it. The Jedi stored Momin's mask in the vaults of the Temple on Coruscant; it was reclaimed by the Sith following the siege of the Jedi Temple and Sidious' ascent to power as Galactic Emperor.Darth Vader (2017) 12
Momin initially tried to possess Sidious' Sith apprentice, Darth Vader, before agreeing to serve as the architect of Fortress Vader on Mustafar. Throughout its time in Vader's possession, the mask possessed several hosts in turn,Darth Vader (2017) 22 beginning with Lieutenant Roggo who killed Colonel Alva Brenne while under Momin's influence.Darth Vader (2017) 21 Upon the Fortress' completion, Momin opened a portal through which he regained his original body.Darth Vader (2017) 23 His resurrection was short-lived, as he was killed by Vader during the Battle of Fortress Vader.Darth Vader (2017) 24
The mask of Viceroy Exim Panshard was a Sith artifact composed of meteoritic metal and strongly attuned to the dark side of the Force. The screams of a hundred people were imprinted on the mask after they had been killed for the pleasure of Viceroy Exim Panshard, a Sith Lord who ruled over a forgotten planet. Panshard's spirit survived through the mask and its connection to the dark side. The mask was given to Kiza, a member of the Sith cult known as the Acolytes of the Beyond, by the Emperor's adviser Yupe Tashu.Aftermath: Empire's End Possessing the mask enabled Kiza to hear the voice of Panshard in her mind, which, in turn, caused the Pantoran acolyte to succumb to the dark side's influence. The dark side enhanced Kiza's bloodlust to the point where she killed her fellow acolyte, Remi, in a fit of rage when he tried to take Kiza's lightsaber during their attack on the New Republic's Devaron outpost.Aftermath: Empire's End
Through the mask, Kiza continued to commune with the spirit of Panshard who promised her greater power if they could locate the Sith world of Exegol. At Panshard's direction, Kiza established her domain on a large asteroid near the Red Honeycomb Zone and formed an army of battle droids that she acquired from an old Separatist core ship. The mask was destroyedShadow of the Sith in 21 ABYThe events of Shadow of the Sith, which include the destruction of the mask of Viceroy Exim Panshard on Taw Provode's solitary moon, takes place in 21 ABY per Star Wars: Timelines. when Kiza fought against Jedi Master Luke Skywalker on Taw Provode's solitary moon. Without the mask, Panshard lost his connection to the physical plane.
===Transference===
According to a "Sith legend", the Sith Lord Darth Plagueis acquired unique abilities such as the power to create life through the manipulation of midi-chlorians. Having trained as Plagueis' Sith apprentice, Darth Sidious attested to the achievements of his Sith Master, the first in their Order's history to discover the Force's ability to prevent the deaths of living beings. Sidious credited the discovery of this power—a technique known as transference—to his mentor's extensive knowledge of the dark side of the Force, despite which he failed to survive his apprentice's betrayal.
After the death of Plagueis, Sidious studied the methods of his late Master until he learned to transfer his essence to a new body. As a result, Sidious was resurrected within a clone of his original body after his first demise. However, not only was the process imperfect,Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: Expanded Edition the cloning methods of the Sith Eternal cultists failed to produce a viable specimen from his genetic template. The resulting clone was genetically unstable and vulnerable to the effects of the dark side, consequently preventing Sidious from leaving the Sith Citadel on Exegol due to the deformities of his cloned body.
The transference ability allowed the Force-user to send their consciousness "from one mortal vessel to another," according to Sidious, who was at risk of dying again because his new vessel was compromised at the genetic level. As such, the immortality he coveted remained elusive.
===Witchcraft===
The Nightsisters of Dathomir kept their dead close by, suspended in pods near their village, so that no sister ever truly left the clan. They believed that the dead could share in the emotions of the living, and with a magical chant could temporarily be reanimated in the form of undead warriors. The Nightsisters resurrected their dead to fight the Battle of Dathomir, but they were ultimately destroyed by General Grievous and the Separatist Droid Army.
When the body of the Nightsister Asajj Ventress was laid to rest in the pools of the village, a green mist arose as the voices of her sisters welcomed her home.Dark Disciple After death, the spirits of the Nightsisters were tethered to the altar in the Nightsister lair. Several years later during the Rise of the Empire, the Nightsister Merrin, the sole survivor of Grievous's attack, used the undead Nightsisters to attack the Jedi Cal Kestis. She believed that the Jedi had orchestrated the attack because of the lies of the former Jedi Master Taron Malicos.
The Nightsisters' spirits were awoken by Ezra Bridger and Maul. Two Nightsister spirits possessed two of Bridger's friends, Sabine Wren and Kanan Jarrus, in an effort to return to the physical world and rebuild their clan and as price for their aid to Maul and Bridger. However, Bridger destroyed the altar, and consequently, the spirits dissipated.
===Experimentation===
Project Blackwing was an experiment conducted by Sith scientists working for the Imperial Military Department of Advanced Weapons Research. The project's ultimate goal was to achieve immortality through science and Sith alchemy. In their efforts to revive necrotic tissue,Star Wars: Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide the scientists inadvertently created a virus capable of reanimating infected hosts. In addition to reanimation, other side effects of the virus included aggression and cannibalism. An outbreak in the Blackwing research facility on Dandoran resulted in the infection of multiple stormtroopers who succumbed to a painful death before reanimating as "Undead Troopers."
==Transcending death==
===Immortality===
Through special training, it was possible to preserve their conscious individuality beyond death. The Jedi who preserved their consciousness became manifestations of the Force, allowing them to achieve a state of immortality as Force spirits after their physical bodies disappeared upon death.
Qui-Gon Jinn was the first to learn the ability to retain his consciousness after death, but was incapable of appearing to the living in consequence of his incomplete training. As a result, he could only commune with Yoda as a disembodied spirit. In time, however, Jinn could appear as a spirit which he did once his former Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi was "ready" to see him. Jinn shared his knowledge with both Yoda and Kenobi. After his death in 0 BBY, Kenobi continued to offer guidance to Luke Skywalker during his Jedi training. Skywalker and his twin sister, Leia Skywalker Organa Solo, became Force spirits after their deaths as well.
Anakin Skywalker achieved the state of a Force spirit as a result of his redemption; by sacrificing his life to save his son, Luke Skywalker, the spirits of Yoda and Kenobi were able to preserve Anakin's consciousness after his death. The physical body of Ben Solo, Anakin's grandson and the last of the Skywalker bloodline, disappeared following his conversion to the light and subsequent death on Exegol.
===Resurrection===
Some Jedi discovered the ability to revive a being from death. During the mission on Mortis, Anakin Skywalker resuscitated his Padawan Ahsoka Tano by transferring the life energy of the Daughter to Tano after the Force wielder was fatally injured by the Son. After Rey sacrificed her life in the destruction of Darth Sidious, Ben Solo healed her by transferring his energy through their bond as a Force dyad. This resulted in Rey's resurrection at the cost of Solo's life.
==Scientific ways to sustain life==
A dying person could be kept alive with the use of life support machinery.Star Wars (2015) 48 Darth Vader was forced to survive on life support after his near immolation on the volcanic world of Mustafar, where he was defeated by Obi-Wan Kenobi. In addition to the dismemberment of his limbs, Vader's body was severely burned and his lungs irreparably damaged. Darth Sidious' Imperial shock troopers used a medical capsule to safely deliver the Emperor's injured apprentice to the Grand Republic Medical Facility on Coruscant. The facility's medical droids surgically reconstructed Vader as an armored cyborg.
Cybernetics not only compensated the loss of his organic arms and legs, but also assisted his breathing of oxygen through mechanical lungs. A suit of armor was specially designed for the Dark Lord by Doctor Cylo and other Imperial scientists.Darth Vader (2015) 20 The suit included a masked helmet that functioned in conjunction with the rest of the armor to regulate Vader's artificial respiratory system. Because of the armor's fear-inducing visage, only a few beings in the galaxy were aware of its actual function and the fact that Vader was unable to breathe without his mask.Age of Resistance - General Hux 1
The King of Mon Cala Lee-Char was placed on life support sometime after the Galactic Empire invaded and occupied the planet Mon Cala. During the Galactic Civil War, the imprisoned king was discovered in an Imperial base on Strokill Prime by Princess Leia Organa of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Organa noted the king's condition, stating that machines were all that prevented him from dying.
==Appearances==
===Non-canon appearances===
*LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens
*Rogue One: Recon A Star Wars 360 Experience
*
*
*
*
* 
*
*LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
*
*
* 
 
==Sources==
==Notes and references==
==External links==
*
Category:Biological phenomena
Category:The Force