The Jedi have shown many of their skills and powers in various media within the Star Wars franchise, but why can’t they use the Force to fly? The Star Wars universe has become one of the most popular, beloved, and profitable media franchises in entertainment, and it all began in 1977 with the movie now known as Star Wars: A New Hope. This movie, along with the sequels Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, forms what’s known as the “original trilogy”, and introduced the audience to the heroes and villains that would lead these movies.
Years later, a prequel trilogy was released, this time focusing on the backstory of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, and following the acquisition of Lucasfilm by Disney, a sequel trilogy arrived. Through all these movies, along with TV shows like The Clone Wars, the audience has witnessed the many skills and powers the Jedi and Sith have, with the former operating on the light side of the Force while the latter was all about the dark side. However, with all these abilities made possible through the Force, a big question has arisen: why can’t Jedi fly?
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The Jedi have an ability to harness the power of the Force, but they have to go through training in order to better use those abilities, always favoring the light side of the Force. Among the abilities the Jedi have through the use of the Force is telekinesis, which allows them to lift, move, and manipulate people and objects, and they can also use the Force to jump very high and survive long falls, as seen multiple times through the Star Wars saga, such as when Yoda lifted Luke’s X-Wing in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Obi-Wan Kenobi jumping high during battles. All this has made fans and casual viewers wonder why don’t Jedi fly, as they, theoretically, could.
There’s no exact reason why the Star Wars saga hasn’t seen any Jedi use the Force to fly, though many fans believe it was because George Lucas didn’t want his characters to be “too powerful”, and flying would have been a bit too much. Others have pointed out that it would take a big amount of power and concentration for a Jedi to fly, and in order to do so, they would need to focus their energy and attention on different points – from where they are going to their surroundings. While no Jedi has been seeing flying, per se, many fans have pointed out that various characters have used the Force to levitate, as did Mother Talzin in The Clone Wars and Darth Vader in the 2015 canon novel Lords of the Sith, where he did something similar to what Leia herself did in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, as he ejected himself into space and used the Force to propel himself towards a ship. All these, however, don’t count as “flying” and are seen more like “levitating”, which would take less energy and concentration from a Jedi than actually flying.
Whether the upcoming Star Wars TV shows will address this potential power or not remains to be seen, but as Disney has already introduced new concepts and powers through the sequel trilogy, it wouldn’t be entirely surprising if, in a near future, Jedi (and Sith) used the Force to fly, though that might not appeal to all Star Wars fans.
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