Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Is Poe Dameron Force-Sensitive?

Star Wars: The Force Awakens introduced a lot into the Star Wars galaxy. We got new characters, [...]

poe-dameron-x-wing-pilot
(Photo: Lucasfilm)

Star Wars: The Force Awakens introduced a lot into the Star Wars galaxy. We got new characters, new stories, a new definitive future, and a whole lot of new questions. SPOILERS Ahead for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

While many will focus on the mysteries of the three clear main characters: Rey, Kylo Ren, and Finn, there's a fourth character with his own questions - and with some major potential thanks to a certain comic book that hasn't yet been addressed. We're talking, of course, of Poe Dameron, the ace pilot of the Resistance.

In the film, Poe shows an uncanny ability to fly starships. As he tells Finn, "I can fly anything," and he means it. He pilots a TIE fighter for the first time, but flies it as if he'd been brought up inside one. When he's in the cockpit of his X-Wing, things are even crazier, as Poe puts on a show, taking out forces on the ground and in the air with a seamless ease.

Of course, the natural question in the Star Wars universe is, then, could Poe Dameron have some Force-sensitive nature, or even the ability to tap into the Force? The answer, for now, is a strong maybe.

force-trees-shattered-empire
(Photo: Marvel Comics)

The comic book Star Wars: Shattered Empire told the story of Poe's parents, mostly focusing on his mother Shara Bey. A pilot with the Rebel Alliance, Shara, too, took to cockpits easily, showing where Poe got some of his talent. Having flown in the Battle of Endor, she, in the comic, flew a mission for Luke Skywalker a few weeks later. On that mission, they go to the Imperial base on Vetine to recover something very important to Luke, now a full Jedi Knight. He recovers two saplings that grew from the tree at the heart of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, itself converted into the Imperial Palace during Palpatine's reign as Emperor. "The Force is with them," Luke blatantly states.

And here's where Poe comes in. As actor Oscar Isaac excitedly mentioned at the global press day for The Force Awakens, the end of the comic book reveals that Poe and his family settled on Yavin IV, the planet from the end of A New Hope. When Luke found the two saplings, he had only been expecting one. He gave the other to Shara Bey and her husband to plant - outside their home on Yavin.

poe-dameron-yavin-home-shattered-empire
(Photo: Marvel Comics)

Yes, that means that Poe Dameron grew up within spitting distance of a tree that embodied the Force, and originally came from what was for generations the focal point of the light side in the Coruscant Jedi Temple.

There's nothing to explicitly indicate that the tree would imbue power upon people near it, but his talents do seem uncanny. While there are certainly incredible pilots in the Star Wars universe (Han Solo comes to mind, surely) that aren't Force-sensitive, there's enough here to make us wonder - and anxious to see more of Poe in the future.

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