Rassdyt

8th Jan 2020

Star Wars (1977)

Question: Why is Han so skeptical of the Force? I get that he himself has never witnessed anyone use it, but he would have been alive during the Jedi purge, and surely he knows that Chewbacca fought alongside the Jedi on Kashyyyk. Additionally, is there any reason Obi-Wan wouldn't have demonstrated Force powers to Han on the way to Alderaan other than he didn't feel the need to prove it?

Phaneron

Answer: Han describes force powers as "simple tricks and nonsense." He has never seen any Jedi doing anything particularly super-powered. Even if Chewy did and told Han it is still reasonable for him to be skeptical and to think his friend is exaggerating. Han simply thinks the stories about Jedi are overblown. A good way to think about it would be to examine how ninja are presented in popular culture versus how they were in reality. The stories surrounding ninja are greatly exaggerated to the point of absurdity, applying immense fighting ability and oftentimes magical powers to normal men. The difference is jedi actually had magical abilities while ninja did not.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: To answer the second part of your question, Obi-Wan has Luke demonstrate the Force in front of Han by putting a blinder on and fighting the remote. Believing he has made his point, Obi-Wan comments "You see!", to which Han replies that Luke's success was against a remote, and that fighting a living person was completely different. So even after being shown something that is completely impossible without the use of the force, Han still chooses not to believe.

BaconIsMyBFF

Well Han also dismissed Luke's success with the remote as luck. If Obi-Wan used the Force to steal Han's blaster right from its holster, would Han just dismiss it as magic? Is there such thing as magical powers in the Star Wars universe independent from the Force?

Phaneron

Oh, I absolutely agree with your point. But I always took this scene to mean that Obi-Wan isn't trying to win an argument with Han or prove anything to him. He's trying to teach Luke about the force. He doesn't really care what Han believes and is dismissive of his comments. Luke believes he felt the force using the remote and that's what is important.

BaconIsMyBFF

Jedi are implied to be humble. It would be out of character for a Jedi such as Obi-Wan to attempt convincing Han in such a drastic way.

Rassdyt

There actually is, or so I believe. The nightsisters, also called the witches of Dathomir, that appear in The Clone Wars-series. They used dark magic.

Rassdyt

17th Dec 2007

Star Wars (1977)

Question: After Luke discovers R2-D2 in the desert on Tatoine, he says "Sandpeople, or worse." What is "or worse"?

Answer: Krayt Dragons. They're what Obi-Wan mimicks to scare the Sand People away. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krayt_dragon.

Twotall

I want to add that Obi-Wan's scream had been replaced twice in special editions. The original audio sounds like it could've been from a dragon for sure, but not the updated ones.

Rassdyt

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