Ancient Order of the Whills

"*A long time ago in a galaxy far far away...*"
―A Whill about to write about the galaxy far, far away
The **Ancient Order of the Whills**, known in antiquity as the **Order of the Whills** or as simply the **Whills**, was a mysterious religious order of ephemeral beings who lived within the Force. Their primary job appeared to be observing and recording events within the multiverse. They kept this record in the Journal of the Whills, which was a collection of stories, poems, and religious wisdom specific to the universe it was written about. Because of their roles as record keepers of all history, they were sometimes referred to as **Watchers**. Since the Order existed outside the flow of time, its members were not affected by multiversal divergences. As a result of the same conditions, they were also a constant in every version of the universe.

## Description

### Overview

The Whills were powerful Force-sensitives who lived within the Force. Their will was its will and they expressed their will by communicating with the midi-chlorians found in every living creature. All members of the Ancient Order of the Whills began as Force Priests who mastered the manipulation of the Force. Once their training was complete, they could receive a promotion to become a Keeper of the Whills, assigned their own universe within the multiverse. As Keepers, they were charged with recording history within their assigned universe and influencing the will of the Force in that universe.

## Behind the scenes

### George Lucas and the Whills

"*Originally, I was trying to have the story be told by somebody else (an immortal being known as a Whill); there was somebody watching this whole story and recording it, somebody probably wiser than the mortal players in the actual events. I eventually dropped this idea, and the concepts behind the Whills turned into the Force. But the Whills became part of this massive amount of notes, quotes, background information that I used for the scripts; the stories were actually taken from the Journal of the Whills.*"
―George Lucas
The Ancient Order of the Whills was created by George Lucas in his early drafts for the backstory of *Star Wars*. The Whills were meant to be the narrators for the entire *Star Wars* saga and were even mentioned in a deleted scene in *Star Wars* Episode III *Revenge of the Sith*. They were canonized in the *Star Wars: The Force Awakens* novelization, which begins with a verse taken from the Journal of the Whills. Lucas has confirmed that "Whill" is not the name of Jedi Grand Master Yoda's unnamed species.

### The Whills and Wookieeverse

The Force Priestesses that first appear in "Destiny," an episode of *Star Wars: The Clone Wars*, are highly implied to be related to the Whills. *Revenge of the Sith* claimed that Qui-Gon Jinn learned the secret of immortality from a Shaman of the Whills, while the show claimed that he learned this ability from one of the five Force Priestesses Yoda meets at the Wellspring of Life. To date, it has never been confirmed that the two entities are one in the same. However, for the purposes of our site, the two are indeed treated as the same thing until the source material clarifies.

The Whills are also given new inspiration. For instance, on Wookieeverse, they are sometimes referred to as the Watchers: a direct reference to the godlike beings of the same name in the Marvel universes. The Watchers of Marvel are tasked with watching and recording events happening throughout the multiverse; but they have also taken an oath never to intervene in the events they observe. The addition of having a Whill assigned to each universe in the multiverse was included to give each author a stand-in for themselves in their respective fictional universes.

## Notes and references

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 *Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays*
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 In a deleted scene from *Star Wars* Episode III *Revenge of the Sith*, the Force spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn referred to the one who taught him about eternal life as a "Shaman of the Whills."
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Destiny" — *Star Wars: The Clone Wars*
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Whills" — *From a Certain Point of View*
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 *Star Wars: The Force Awakens* novelization
6. ↑ *Star Wars* Episode IV *A New Hope* opening crawl
7. ↑ George Lucas' comments in *James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction*

## External links

* Ancient Order of the Whills at Wookieepedia