What does a high Midi-chlorian count actually mean?

Question

This question is related to a few others here like Who is the most powerful user of the Force? and When Jedi lose parts of their body, does their midi-chlorian count and strength in the Force diminish?.

But my question is, what does a high midi-chlorian count actually mean? if you look at these facts, Anakin/Luke Skywalker have the highest midi-chlorian count in the universe, however Jedi masters such as Obi-Wan and Yoda, even Sith like Count Dooku and Darth Sidious have shown that they could easily wipe the floor with Anakin and Luke, because of their knowledge and experience.

So it comes back to this question, what does a high midi-chlorian count actually mean if wisdom/experience makes a master of the Force more powerful than a person imbued with the Force itself?

For example; in the battle of heroes Obi-Wan vs Anakin Skywalker, Anakin Force Pushes into Obi-Wan's hand and because of the skill/knowledge level between them (even though Obi-Wan is a "master" and Anakin is a "knight"), neither of them could overcome each others Force Push and created a Force explosion.

Picture example:

So does a high midi-chlorian count only mean that they have the ability to someday surpass the skill level of say someone like Yoda? Is it like for instance having a higher IQ than someone else, but having to learn what the former has been doing for much longer period of time and being able to one day do the job better?

Answer 1

Generally with many things such as the force, there are two components. The first is a person's innate power, their natural talent. The real strength comes from taking a person's raw talent, and learning to use it.

For instance, two people could be racing cars, one with a more experienced driver and less powerful car than their opponent. The more experienced driver might win, even if he has less power in his car than his opponent. The same thing might happen with better gear in general (Running shoes, camera, bicycle, etc). While in the hands of an experienced person, better gear will increase their overall capacity to do good, in the wrong hands, it won't do a thing.

The midi-clorian count is then a person's raw power, ie, better car. But if a person doesn't know how to use their raw power, then it means nothing.

Answer 2

Power is nothing without control and potential is nothing without work to reach it. You have a talent at painting? Well good for you, but if you are not able to learn or are ignorant about at least the basics of how to hold a pencil or draw people or the use of colorschemes, then all you talent is useless, because you can't even color a circle without smudging the lines. Learning, theoretical and practical experience goes a great deal when it comes to the use of power. It's called proficency. And yes, Anakin has/had the potential to become more apt than Yoda. Because of his higher MC count, with the right teacher he would learn things regarding the force faster. What took Yoda 20 years might take him only 2. However, experience isn't the only thing that should be taken into count. Having the right mindset plays a vital part to. Having a great potential and a good teacher doesn't mean anything, when you don't care about it or are lazy about it. Diligency, patience and persistance do a great deal to help someone reach their potential.

Answer 3

MIDI Chlorian count is really how much midi chlorians a force sensitive user can use at their peak. In the Star Wars universe every living thing has midi chlorians in their cells millions if not billions, the term "count" basically refers to the amount that a force sensitive person can use at his or her peak.

Answer 4

Huh...These are all really good arguments, however I always thought of it being like someones IQ. For instance someone with an IQ of 300 vs. someone with an IQ of 100 is going to be able to learn faster and understand more at an accelerated pace compared to the person with 100 IQ. However the person with 100 IQ will eventually catch up to the one with 300 IQ it's just a matter of time. So essentially what I'm saying is Anakin had around 27,000 MC count while Yoda had 19,000 MC count (these numbers are not from a source and are purely for arguments sake) which means Anakin could learn faster and fight harder using the force if he reached his full potential, but Yoda or the Emperor would still be able to defeat him because Midi-clorians are only the ability to learn quickly, not a measure of ones raw power, but how fast one can learn how to use the force.

Answer 5

To answer the question of if they would lose talent if they lost a limb, I see it as a steady amount in each of their blood cells. So someone with a high midi-chlorian percentage in their blood would be more powerful, than someone with a lower percentage, but if they lost a limb that wouldn't lower their percentage, so 20k midi-chlorians in Anakin doesn't mean twenty thousand in his body as a whole, but in each of his red blood cells. Or something like that.

Answer 6

It's obviously a measure of experience and potential and having all your body parts. Anakin, as Darth Vader, became lots more powerful in the force as he grew older, but it's been stated in lots of SW books that had he had all his body, he would have surpassed his master Lord Sidious. Sidious even said as much to Yoda before their fight in Episode 3.

Just like the previous analogy above about, you won't win a race if you have the best car but you will if you have the ability to drive that car.