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Taking aside whether connecting a mystical energy to a biological basis is a good idea or not, how is it supposed to work? I know that generally the more midichlorians, the more Force potential. It it explained in one of the expanded universe books?

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They're supposed to be whibbly, whobbly forcy worcy stuff. What you expect something from the prequels to make sense? – Daniel Bingham Jan 18 '11 at 23:41
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Quick, we need the Doctor! – Nick Bedford Apr 20 '11 at 0:06
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4 Answers

up vote 14 down vote accepted

They are magic. It is all just magic. Star Wars is fantasy. I'm not sure what you are looking for? A fantasy explanation?

Midichlorians are the explanation for the force. It doesn't really do deeper than that. I'm sorry.

If you really want to travel down this dead-end of illogical paradoxes, I will refer you to the wookieepedia

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Ugh wow. Thanks for the link, at least. Darth Plagueis?? – John Jan 18 '11 at 23:54
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@John It gets so. Much. Worse. I've pretty much decononized everything Star Wars post Prequels. Including the New Jedi order books and everything that shows up in the EU. It's all pretty ugly. – Daniel Bingham Jan 19 '11 at 0:13
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There's certainly no need to disrespect the question, though. – neilfein Jan 19 '11 at 3:43
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I don't get it. Nothing in this Wookieepedia entry is any worse than the nonsense explanations about the Kessel Run. And while it's true that Star Wars is definitely Sci-Fi-Fantasy rather than Sci-Fi, there are plenty of in-universe explanations for even questions about pure-fantasy franchises. There's nothing wrong with the question or even the answer offered in Wookieepedia. Personally, I find the concept of midochlorians really fascinating. It makes the Force seem a lot less new-agey and more sci-fi. – Lèse majesté Nov 21 '11 at 4:36
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@Lèsemajesté It even helps draw you into the world, once you realize that with the complete replacement of the Republic with the Empire, some technology is bound to be lost. Like the midichlorian scanners. And without them as proof, attempting to explain midichlorians to Luke would've just been confusing to him.. – Izkata Dec 10 '11 at 22:10
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up vote 10 down vote

Let's think about this for a second. Let's say we have a microorganism that happens to have a natural electromagnetic property that allows them to be influenced in a very very tiny way by electromagnetic fields.

Now let's say that a person becomes infested with a lot of these microorganisms but they just happen to be non-harmful to us...

Now every time there is a electromagnetic field (the earth, a magnet, a piece of machinery, a ball of plasma)... the microorganism moves in response thereby moving our body or even causing some kind of reaction.

This is not unreasonable, and certain on the road to describing realistically a kind of force sensitivity.

So really, as much as I prefer a Zen like explanation to the force and Jedi... this could be plausible in a theoretical sense.

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If by "plausible in a theoretical sense" you mean "physically completely absurd, but might sound reasonable enough to convince someone who doesn't know much about electromagnetism", I agree. Otherwise, no, pretty absurd. Someone covered with iron filings is very susceptible to being influenced by magnetic fields, and yet pretty much nothing interesting or even measurable happens (aside from injury caused by inhaling the filings or getting them in the eye, etc.). – Rex Kerr Apr 7 '11 at 22:36
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I respectfully disagree. All life produces bio-electromagnetic fields at the cellular level. So it's not as absurd as you claim. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioelectromagnetism – Adam Apr 8 '11 at 15:31
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If you don't know much about electromagnetism or the use of membrane potential in biological systems, then you won't notice that skin is a good insulator, or that the relevant length scales for EM fields tend to measure in tens of microns (see, e.g., detection ranges for extracellular electrodes), or that all these little local changes look at best like dipoles which means their impacts decrease as distance cubed, or any of a number of other things, or that the conductivity of air is very low (so that fish, for instance, have useful electroreceptors, but we do not), etc.. Absurdity abounds. – Rex Kerr Apr 8 '11 at 16:29
Coupled with the fact that "electromagnetic organisms" producing an electromagnetic field strong enough to aid a 90 kilogram 6" man in jumping five times higher than he normally can is impossible. – Nick Bedford Apr 20 '11 at 0:09
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@Lèsemajesté - If you drop the "electro" part, yes, magnetism can be detected at longer ranges. But you still can't do anything useful aside from use it as a compass. – Rex Kerr Nov 22 '11 at 11:55
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up vote 3 down vote

Midichlorians are the bacteria or organisms in the body that provide the connect to the "force". These bacteria often would tell how much control over the surrounding world one has. Take for example this:

Anakin Skywalker had no father. Darth Plagueis created him using Midichlorians. This is why he was so prone to falling to both the light and dark side. The Midichlorians tipped him off balance.

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up vote 1 down vote

Midichlorians are a type of organism that have a closer link to the most fundamental elements in the universe. All living creatures have a certain amount of these organisms in them. A being that has a larger amount of midichlorians has a closer link to the universe and so is better equipped to manipulate the universe. The ability to defy gravity and to see a certain distance into the future are typical.

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