Star Wars Is Still Defending One of the Sequels’ Most Controversial Aspects

The Force is a pathway to many abilities in Star Wars. In the original trilogy, the power allows users to influence actions, move objects, and, in rare instances, shoot lightning out of their hands. The prequels add a few more things to the arsenal, including the lightning-fast speed that Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui Gon Jinn show off in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. However, the movies aren’t the best place to seek out strange Force abilities, with the books and TV shows featuring their fair share of wild tricks. One of the most notable is Force healing, which makes its canon debut in an episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Anakin Skywalker uses Force healing on the planet Mortis to save his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano. Mortis is sort of a hotbed for the Force, though, so the new power doesn’t feel like something sticking around for the long haul. Well, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker proves that notion wrong by having Force healing be a major part of the plot. Unfortunately, the decision didn’t go over well, and Star Wars is still trying to defend it all these years later.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Doesn’t Earn Its Force Healing Reveal

The Rise of Skywalker‘s plot is all over the place. Following the negative reception to Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Lucasfilm switched things up by bringing back Palpatine and sending the trilogy’s main heroes on a mission to find a Sith wayfinder that will reveal the Sith Lord’s location. The gang ends up on the planet Pasaana, and in typical Star Wars fashion, things go off the rails when they find themselves face to face with a terrifying serpent creature known as the vexis. While Poe Dameron and Finn want to fight the monster, Rey decides to take a different approach and uses Force healing to take care of a wound. The vexis appreciates the help and leaves the group to continue its journey.

Force healing also comes in handy again later in the film when Rey battles Kylo Ren. He feels his mother, Leia Organa, pass away and isn’t up for a fight anymore, but she stabs him with her lightsaber before she realizes what’s going on. Before Kylo succumbs to his injuries, Rey heals him, which helps him realize that he’s done being a tool for evil. Not long after, Rey heads to face Palpatine, and while she defeats him, she loses her life in the process. Kylo, now going by Ben Solo, decides to return the favor and gives Rey his life force, allowing her to live on and restart the Jedi Order.

Going from virtually no Force healing in the Skywalker Saga to it being the deciding factor in whether the protagonist lives or dies in The Rise of Skywalker is a tough pill to swallow. However, the powers that be at Lucasfilm clearly saw that outcome coming because they started laying the seeds for it early and haven’t let up since.

[RELATED: Star Wars Should And Needs to Abandon Television After Andor]

Force Healing Is Becoming Much More Common in Star Wars

Two days before the release of The Rise of Skywalker, The Mandalorian released its seventh episode, “The Reckoning.” Din Djarin and the Child are attempting to avoid the Empire, but a call from Nevarro forces them right back into the action. They barely avoid a trap that Greef Karga sets, and during the scuffle, the scoundrel is hurt. Instead of giving up on him, the Child uses Force healing to get Karga back in fighting shape and gains a new ally in the process. The Child’s power doesn’t return in The Mandalorian after “The Reckoning,” making the moment feel like a desperate attempt to connect to something the movies are introducing. However, Force healing is back in an unlikely place.

Star Wars: Andor Season 2 focuses on the early days of the Rebellion, which includes building the base on Yavin 4. People from all over the galaxy come to the moon seeking refuge, and while everyone seems to get along for the most part, there’s one person Cassian Andor can’t stand: the base’s resident Force healer. The show makes it seem as if there are Force users all across the galaxy using their gifts to heal wounds and look into the minds of injured people. Some remain skeptical of the practice, though, with Cassian mentioning that his mother figure, Maarva Andor, had a bad run-in with a Force healer.

Andor‘s use of Force healing feels a lot more organic than what happens in The Mandalorian. There’s little to no pomp and circumstance, and the show left much about the spiritual nature of the Force and its shaping of destiny unstated, for the viewer to interpret how they will. It makes one wonder how Force healing would’ve been perceived if something like Andor Season 2 landed on Disney+ before The Rise of Skywalker hit theaters.

Andor Season 2 is streaming now on Disney+.

Did you catch the Force healer in Andor Season 2? Does its depiction in the Disney+ show help make up for its abrupt introduction in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker? Let us know in the comments below!