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Basically, I'm curious if there are any known characters in Star Wars EU that were able to learn how to use the Force through hard work. No high midichlorians count or natural talent, just someone with the same affinity as most lifeforms learning to manipulate it.
Just based on how often it's brought up that the Force flows through everything, it seems like, if some people are born with the ability to use it, some people must be able to learn to use it.
No characters that made it to canon (either pre or post disney). By which I mean, there may have been some concept-character where this was the case, but Lucas shifted to the "innate force sensitivity" thing that became midi-chlorians fairly soon after Episode 4 was released.
It’s interesting to see, however, that in 1977 Lucas was already talking about creatures with a more natural capacity to interact with the Force; perhaps he was already thinking of a creature such as Yoda. Perhaps, in a way, that idea morphed into Anakin.
starwars.com
While every living being has some midi-chlorians, there has to be a critical mass of them for the being to be able to sense the force.
"Midi-chlorians are like a single entity: meaning each one doesn’t think individually and have a life to itself; they think as a unit because there’s so many of them and they’re everywhere. They’re in every single cell. And sometimes there’s more than one in a cell. Sometimes there’s a whole bunch in a cell. But there has to be at least one in a cell, otherwise the cell can’t reproduce. All cells. Plant cells. Every life form has a midi-chlorian living inside of them."
George Lucas
It would be impossible to train a being with a single midi-chlorian to sense or channel The Force. That would be like training a normal human eye to see 100 million colors. We all have cones in our eyes, but unless you have 4, it is simply impossible to see more than a million colors (the normal eye has 3 cones, btw). In the same way, every being in The Galaxy has midi-chlorians in their cells, but without a certain concentration, it is simply impossible to attune with the force.
All that said, even those with force sensitivity had to train to use it. The most you would get without training is better reflexes than usual.
In "Trials of the Darksaber" (Star Wars Rebels 3x15; 2017), Sabine Wren receives lightsaber training from the Jedi Kanan Jarrus. Sabine is puzzled by her lightsaber's apparent weight, which Kanan explains in language similar to how Jedi explain the Force:
"Your thoughts, your actions, they become energy. They flow through the crystal as well, and become a part of the blade....The blade feels lighter. You're connecting with it. It's becoming a part of you."
(Source: episode transcript)
Before this episode, Sabine had not been shown or described as having any particular Force-sensitivity(*), yet Kanan does not seem surprised by her ability to connect to the darksaber. Perhaps every living creature has some ability to interact with the Force, regardless of natural talent for using it consciously, as Obi-Wan Kenobi suggested in Episode IV (1977):
"Well, 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."
(*) Although Star Wars Rebels has always shown Sabine to be extraordinarily athletic, like Jedi in the live-action movies, this is likely only due to the show's animation style.
