The Nature of the Force
Star Wars has always been rooted in cosmic horror — that element is only starting to poke through the seams now, 49 years after A New Hope. The catalyst for underlying dread is one of the franchise’s most popular narrative devices: the Force. Mystical and all-encompassing, it’s often framed as a metaphysical current running through the universe, or a natural energy that binds all things, balancing light and dark as part of a larger cosmic order.
For decades, the Force was framed through a spiritual system governing the rules and teachings of the Jedi Order. Essentially quasi-monks, the Jedi stood as protectors of the galaxy and embodiments of the Light Side. Opposing them were the Sith, who act as a perversion of that same philosophy, treating the Force as a means to attain power through fear, anger, and hate.
Complexities of the Force
The original films put that duality front and center, with Luke Skywalker ultimately triumphing over Darth Vader and the Emperor’s evil. Years later, the prequel movie trilogy complicated that idea, exposing the rigid, institutional nature of the Jedi Order and the cracks that led to its collapse. For all the Jedi’s ideals, they never stood a chance against Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader. These characters were early signs that something far more unsettling and sinister was at play in the Force, just out of view.
The collapse of the Jedi Order raises a larger question about Star Wars morality and the Force, which isn’t inherently good or evil, but unseen energy made manifest. Variances in that understanding begin to show later in the timeline, particularly in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Rian Johnson’s controversial movie has an older Luke Skywalker rejecting the idea that the Force ever belonged to the Jedi at all, noting instead that it’s far beyond doctrine or control.
Expanding the Force's Mythos
Where different approaches to Force use were once shaped by beliefs around light and dark power, the Force itself now reads as something far less knowable. Creatures introduced in Star Wars: Rebels and The Clone Wars exist entirely outside that binary, like the ancient Bendu of Atollon, who describes himself as representing the center of the Force. Other examples include the hyperspace-tunneling wolves of Lothal, which are directly linked to the World Between Worlds, or the starfaring whales known as the purrgil, which instinctively leverage the Force as a way to navigate hyperspace.