The premise of the entire Star Wars franchise revolves around the Force. It links all living entities across the galaxy together, giving those with the ability to access it a range of powers to draw on. But there was a time that the mystical nature of the Force was lost from the Star Wars franchise, due in a large part to The Phantom Menace. The Clone Wars brought the mysticism back to the Force, then Star Wars: Rebels doubled down on it.

When audiences first sat down in theaters in 1977 for A New Hope, a bearded old man named Obi-Wan Kenobi gave them a vague and philosophical breakdown of the Force. Specifics weren't necessary in the least, and the only information given was that there was a Light and Dark Side of the Force and these astral samurai called Jedi used it. However, as the Star Wars universe expanded over the years, the producers of Star Wars started diving possibly a little too deep into the Force, and ultimately, this removed its mystery and magic.

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Qui-Gon Jinn and Anakin in The Phantom Menace

The Phantom Menace made a lot of mistakes but arguably one of the worst were the addition of the midi-chlorians. These microscopic lifeforms were intelligent and inhabited all life. The amount of midi-chlorians in one's cells played a defining role in how strong their connection to the Force was. Qui-Gon Jinn was blown away by young Anakin Skywalker's midi-chlorian count, which was the highest ever recorded.

But this created a problem as it stripped the mysticism from the Force, instead making in a biological issue. It was also kind of odd that the role midi-chlorians played had never come up in any of the books, comics or movies that were released prior to The Phantom Menace hitting theaters. Fans were put off and annoyed by the whole idea, which is probably why it has almost never been mentioned since then.

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Ezra Bridger holds a green lightsaber while standing in front of a loth-wolf in Star Wars Rebels

The Clone Wars helped bring the mystic aspects of the Force back, first though the Mortis Arc. It saw Obi-Wan, Anakin and Ahsoka drawn to a place called Mortis where three powerful Force wielders lived. The second was the Yoda Arc. Qui-Gon reached out from beyond the grave, sending his old friend on a quest that took him to the Wellspring of Life where midi-chlorians originated from. His meeting there with the Force Priestesses was beginning of learning how to communicate after death.

Then Rebels came along. As Kanan trained Ezra to be a Jedi, their exploration of Lothal and the Force led them to a secret Jedi Temple. This special Temple was the source of several nearly unexplainable occurrences that not even the Force could really explain. Through this Temple, Ezra entered a place that seemed to be the nexus of all reality. He used it to essentially resurrect Ahsoka Tano, saving her from her death at the hands of Darth Vader.

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If that wasn't odd enough, the Spectres gained some interesting allies in the final season. Loth-wolves, animals much larger than horses, fought by their sides. They seemed to be intelligent and deeply connected to the Force. On more than one occasion, the Loth-wolves demonstrated the ability to travel using unknown mystical means, covering great distances in a matter of seconds. It was the unexplained absurdity of the Force on full display.

It was never really explained how any of this weirdness on Rebels or The Clone Wars was happening other than that the Force was involved. That's the kind of vague mysticism that first made the concept so intriguing when Obi-Wan Kenobi tried to explain it to Luke back in A New Hope. What Rebels did successfully was bring back that mysticism without throwing midi-chlorians or The Phantom Menace under the bus. Instead, it incorporated this somewhat newer piece of Star Wars canon in a way that still honored the originals. It was a creative and pure representation of the Force.

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