Does the fact that Yuuzhan Vong are not linked to the force contradict our knowledge of the connection of Force to life?

Question

It recently occurred to me that, in The Phantom Menace it was essentially stated midi-chlorians were required for life to exist, but there is a major conflict in regard to the Yuuzhan Vong. (No pun intended.)

"Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force. They continually speak to us, telling us the will of the Force." ― Qui-Gon Jinn, to Anakin Skywalker

So from this quote, we learn midi-chlorians are pretty much a sentient being's connection to the Force (and, without them, life could not exist), however, it was revealed in the Extended Universe that the Yuuzhan Vong had no link to the Force (so they would have had no midi-chlorians), but they were very much alive. Also, Jedi could sense a sort of void in the Force where the Yuuzhan Vong were.

How was it possible that the Yuuzhan Vong were even alive? Was it just a lack of understanding of midi-chlorians and the existence of life on The Jedi Order's (and Qui-Gon's) part? Or is there no in-universe explanation (perhaps something only resolved by canon standards)?

Answer 1

Midi-chlorians aren't required for life. Qui-Gon was explaining it wrong. He left out the 'our way of' that should have preceeded 'life could not exist'. It's understandable, he was talking to a child.

By the way, the Vong

don't lack the Force, they've had it removed.

You'll find out more in the later NJO books.

As for sensing a void in the Force, the Jedi can always feel the Force. It's in everything. The trees, the rocks, everything...except the Vong. They look for things they can't see, like looking for something in the sky by seeing where there are no stars.

Answer 2

Common misconception. The Yuuzhan Vong had midi-chlorians. Two of them were even Force-sensitive-Vongarella and Onimi. However, Yuuzhan Vong'tar or its sister world Zonama Sekot stripped the Vong of the force centuries earlier as punishment for their genocidal actions. Therefore, any Vong born afterward would have midi-chlorians, perhaps even a large enough count to weild the force, but their midis were blocked acess to using the force, thanks to Sekot's actions.

Answer 3

Thing is you have an established notion of what life is, but look here: How was the Kaiburr crystal(natural thing) able to augument one's Force sensitivity power if it has no connection to the Force(midi-chlorians)? If these things don't exist in the Force in the first place as some claim of course. Whether you like it or not; everything is connected to the Force in the first place in the Star Wars universe. And there's no fallacy that rocks and other rocky things do have midi-chlorians.

Ask yourself first? If Rocks are non-living things, and Earth is a rock.. Does that mean?

First of all you should define what ''life'' is or ''living thing'' to your own definition? The rock is made of the same carbon,hydrogen, oxygen etc that we all ''living things'' are.

The condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death.

If I can prove all of these things, then rocks must be living.

1) A capacity to grow

Over time, as minerals are deposited onto the rock, the rock becomes larger and larger. It may also shrink as a result of wind and water. This is quite an obvious point.

2) Reproduction

One rock can eventually split into two rocks due to outside elements. Once split, they are completely independent of themselves, like every other living thing.

3) Functional activity

Let's first look at the definition of these words, as I had to in making this argument.

A task or act that allows one to meet the demands of the environment and daily life. Now, we can see that rocks are very durable 'creatures', and there really isn't much they need to do to survive in their environment. They just sit there. However, they do respond to outside forces. For example, when another solid body touches a rock, local stress in the rock rises. When light hits the rock, heat is added, another physical process.

4) Undergo metabolism, thus continual change

Metabolism is defined as the chemical processes by which a plant or an animal (a rock in this case) uses food, water, etc., to grow and heal and to make energy. This also happens in the rock, over a long time. Minerals in the rock eventually succumb to internal pressure, creating new structures and compounds to be formed. Due to this chemical process, energy is produced, and the rock is also seen to physically change in size.

As you can see here, rocks are clearly living and I do not see why everyone has to treat them like they don't exist in the Force. And even the spaceships(are made of prime materials, like iron or god knows what other metals) Even the buildings are made of stones, rocks, iron, or stuff like that.

But even if you think all of these make no sense to you? Then ask yourself why the Sacred spire on which the foundation of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant rested was a Force nexus? Yes. There's natural Force nexuses just there's 'artifically' Force nexuses. So until you don't bring an explanation as why natural crystals could augument one's connection to the Force; I win the argument battle.

But Obi-Wan says it:

"Now the Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's a sort of energy field...it surrounds us and penetrates us and binds the galaxy together." - Star Wars IV Obi-Wan says nothing that midi-chlorians(Force) exist only in 'living things'. He plainly says that the Force makes up everything(which includes the non-''living'' things as well)

Once again it depends only of your defition of what is 'living thing' and what is 'non-living thing'.

I know that many people, especially on this thread think the whole idea is crazy. But the greatest minds were deemed crazy. Look at Bohm, who is a founder of quantum mechanics. You can t deny his reputation, and or his work. Disagree? Well if you don t have a degree/experience in grad level calculus, then what do you know. Sorry.

If you want to disagree with me, then think of this, what Bohm said in his case--

Similarly, he believes that dividing the universe up into living and non-living things also has no meaning. Animate and inanimate matter are inseparably interwoven, and life, too, is enfolded throughout the totality of the universe. Even a rock is in some way alive, says Bohm, for life and intelligence are present not only in all of matter, but in "energy, " "space, " "time, " "the fabric of the entire universe, " and everything else we abstract out of the holomovement and mistakenly view as separate things.

It is too much to go into where you people will actually understand. You need the proper education and experiences. So I will say this: the first poster-you are defining a very narrow definition, where definitions, like life are always evolving, and changing. Science, quantum mechanics has introduced more facts, where many people in western society aren't aware of. Many physicists believe it to be true "rocks are alive" because they are smart enough, and they study the very foundation of the universe/energy, which is what nature is composed of. You got to look at behavior, characteristics, process, rather than mere narrow definitions. And yes. In the end the Force(midi-chlorians) exist in every ''living thing'', though just as Jinn, Obi-Wan and Yoda had said.

You could say rocks are just dirt/minerals melted together to form a hard mass. But when you look at the human body and see how much minerals and metals, plus water, its made of, you can see that we are basically a living and breathing mass of dirt (mud). In some way, miraculously with the breath of life, we are living human beings.