Roughly a million people died when the first Death Star was destroyed, did this cause a disturbance in the force like what happened at Alderaan? If not what figure would be needed to generate the reaction?
8
-
1According to Wookieepedia, the actual number of people aboard the first Death Star was roughly 2,379,000, of whom about 843,000 were merely passengers. These numbers do not include the 400,000 support droids. Your "roughly 1 million" figure is far too low.– Wad CheberCommented Oct 24, 2015 at 16:20
-
3Why was this question flagged as primarily opinion based? There is no opinion involved in saying "Yes, here's proof" or "We have no proof, as far as I can tell". Even if the answer doesn't exist, it is still objectively answerable.– Wad CheberCommented Oct 24, 2015 at 23:03
-
If over two million people died in an explosion, why would someone like Yoda not feel it? Because they're wearing Imperial uniforms?– ThruGogCommented Oct 25, 2015 at 21:24
-
2@ThruGog we see two Death Stars explode and the only force sensitive we see at those times is Luke, and neither time does he have a reaction.– user46509Commented Oct 26, 2015 at 7:36
-
2@WadCheber Unfortunately many people on SE use "Primarily opinion based" when they mean "I don't know". It's not just this site where a minority do this, but I've seen it most on this site.– user56reinstatemonica8Commented Oct 27, 2015 at 17:54
|
Show 3 more comments
4 Answers
I don't remember and can't find any reference to a disturbance in the force when the Death star is destroyed, I will try to speculate a bit. Quoting Obi-Wan Kenobi:
I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.
We can see that he refers to the death of millions of people, so probably the death of one million could trigger a disturbance. Although, we know that disturbances in the force don't always happen due to mass deaths, as is shown in this article. Indeed the force underlies all things in the universe, so the famous quote "I have a bad feeling about this" is in fact caused by a disturbance in the force. On the other hand, it is clear that a disturbance can be sensed by someone as particularly strong when the person who dies has some relation to who feels it. For example, when Yoda senses the death of his fellow Jedi carried out in accordance to Order 66, the feeling is so strong to get such a powerful master to his knees. So my point is: a disturbance in the force probably happens at the moment of anybody's death, beeing the force in everything, but is sensed, and sensed with different intensities, by different people. I will say, then, that the destruction of Death star caused indeed a disturbance, which wasn't acknowledged by no one of the Jedis due to their relatively low connection with the casualties.
-
1Interesting. Perhaps it is the nature of the deaths, Alderaan was destroyed in anger, Death Star in defence.– user46509Commented Oct 24, 2015 at 12:00
-
4@AncalagonTheBlack I don't think think that's true, though. The Force flows from all life, regardless of political allegiance. Commented Oct 24, 2015 at 17:07
-
@Antillies no I mean it could be a dark side thing, people being murdered has more of an effect than someone dying in an accident I mean– user46509Commented Oct 24, 2015 at 17:09
-
1I think the reason Obi Wan specifically reacted this way is that the disturbance was unexpected. It's like you hear a loud unexplained noise in the distance and say "Wow that was loud". Whereas if you actually make a loud noise you won't find it as remarkable. So maybe Luke (and even Leia?) felt a disturbance but didn't remark on it because, well, they had just caused that disturbance. Commented Oct 27, 2015 at 15:36
-
So basically, there's every reason to think there was one, but no reason to think a major character would have remarked on it, because they were expecting it (like how we don't expect someone who threw a grenade to say "I heard a loud bang" when it goes off)? Commented Oct 27, 2015 at 18:00
In addition to the loss of life. The death star laser was powered by huge Kyber cristals which 'resonate' with the force. The destruction of these would likely cause a 'disturbance' in the force.
Never occurred to me before that the death star was basically just a giant lightsaber
answered Oct 27, 2015 at 15:18
My answer is definitely yes, as the Force is created by living things and exists between different elements of the Star Wars galaxy, connecting them. Over two million sentient life forms were killed in a great explosion. The extinguishing of life on such a scale would certainly cause a disturbance, and we know that the Force binds the galaxy together.
Obi-Wan explained that, "The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together."
Yoda said, "Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us." All life creates it, regardless of whose side you're on or anything else.
He added, "You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship." This illustrates that the Force is everywhere and connected to all things, so a disturbance would travel.
Who actually felt this disturbance in the Force cannot be answered because it wasn't referenced, but I cannot think why one would not be caused.
"All energy from the Living Force, from all things that have ever lived, feeds into the Cosmic Force, binding everything..."
―The spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn, communing with Yoda (Clone Wars: "Voices")
The loss of life from the Death Star certainly caused a disturbance in the force, but the question becomes who would have felt it.
We see Obi Wan crippled by the destruction of Alderaan, but Luke barely reacts to it because he's so much less sensitive to the force than Obi Wan.
The only two force users we see actually see reacting to the Death Star destruction are Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.
Luke doesn't feel much, which is unsurprising, since he didn't feel the destruction of Alderaan. (Wouldn't Alderaan's population actually be in the billions, so even accounting for Luke's growth in the force between Alderaan and the Death Star destruction the Death Star disturbance would have less magnitude.)
Vader's reaction to the destruction of the Death Star is understandably one of anguish as he spins off into space in his TIE fighter, though perhaps Sith draw pleasure and power from destructive disturbances when it's not so personal.
Yoda and the Emperor aren't shown in the moments after the explosion, and don't directly comment on their experience of it, but it seems logical to assume they both feel it before news can reach them, since they're attuned to much smaller or more dispersed events throughout the universe (Palpatine's knowledge of Luke, Yoda's experience of Order 66.)
Maybe as this part of the new Star Wars canon is explored, we'll see other characters more attuned to the force reacting to the Death Star from afar - people like Ezra Bridger, Kanan Jarrus, or Ashoka Tano who may still be alive during the Death Star destruction - and have more concrete evidence.
