Jedi mind trick
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2008) |
In the fictional universe of Star Wars, a Jedi mind trick is a Force power. Jedi who know the power can, by using the Force, influence the actions of other "weak-minded" sentient beings.
Jedi typically perform this ability with a wave of the hand and a verbal suggestion. If the trick is successful, the victim will reply by restating the suggestion and will immediately think or do whatever the Jedi suggested. The hand wave may not be required to use the power, but in the films Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn both perform the wave when using the trick, as does Luke Skywalker.
Some residents of the Star Wars galaxy can resist the ability. Species who can resist include Hutts and Toydarians, as demonstrated in Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace, respectively. However, while Qui-Gon Jinn states this is because "greed is a strong enemy against the Force," the precise reason is unknown. Especially strong-willed individuals are also able to resist the ability. Anakin Skywalker confirms this in a conversation with Padmé Amidala during Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, after she jokingly asks him if he will use the trick on her. Droids are also immune to mind tricks, because these tricks only affect beings with organic brains.
In the novel Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader the ability is referred to as "Force persuasion". While the power is never called a "mind trick" by Jedi — or even named by any Jedi, the term "mind trick" is often used, often disparagingly, to refer to it by those who are aware of its existence. The first use of the term was in Return of the Jedi, when Jabba the Hutt criticizes an underling for his susceptibility to "an old Jedi mind trick." The term is used in many of the Star Wars-related games in which the ability appears. When Obi-Wan Kenobi famously demonstrates the ability for the first time in the films, he states afterwards only that, "The Force can have a strong influence on the weak-minded. You will find it a powerful ally."
In the novel I, Jedi it was revealed that Corran Horn and all of his Jedi relatives were extremely proficient in this, though he referred to it as "alter mind".
The Jedi mind trick has been compared to similar real-world tricks performed using Mentalism. This is a broad term used for creating illusions in the mind.
Contents |
[edit] Terminology confusion
There has arisen some confusion regarding the use of the term "Jedi Mind Trick" in the LucasArts line of Star Wars video games. In A New Hope, one scene depicts Obi-Wan Kenobi evading pursuit on board the Death Star by using the Force to make a noise to distract a pair of stormtroopers. This is never referred to as a "Jedi mind trick" in the films, and it is not clear whether this action involved telepathically altering the perceptions of the guards or simply making a real noise by physically moving an object with the Force. (This exact issue is raised and debated in Jeanne Cavelos' The Science of Star Wars).
However, over time the term "Jedi mind trick" has come to be used in LucasArts games specifically for the ability to divert the attention of a sentry from oneself using the Force without the sentry even becoming aware of one's presence, a notable difference from the "Jedi mind trick" referred to in the film, which involved direct conversation with the sentry.
This may be because the first video game to address Force powers with any degree of complexity, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, included both abilities as implied components of the power "Force Persuasion", a passive ability that simply kept opponents from targeting the player at all while active. Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast renamed this ability "Jedi Mind Trick", allowing it to both allow one to move undetected past opponents and, at higher levels, briefly turn opponents against each other.
This tradition has persisted in later games, including Star Wars Galaxies, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy and Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. Notably, the latter game contains both a Force power called "Mind Trick" that allows one to walk past hostile enemies without initiating combat and a power called "Affect Mind" that allows one to perform the standard in-conversation persuasion known as a "Jedi mind trick" in the films.
[edit] Appearances in Star Wars films
- Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace - Qui-Gon Jinn uses it to persuade Boss Nass, head of the Gungans, to help him and Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi to "speed through" Naboo's planet core. He also attempts to influence Watto to accept Republic credits as a means of purchasing a new hyperdrive, but as Watto is a Toydarian, he successfully resists the trick.
- Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones - Elan Sleazebaggano attempts to sell Obi-Wan Kenobi a death stick. Obi-Wan replies with the suggestion, "You don't want to sell me death sticks. (I don't want to sell you death sticks) You want to go home and rethink your life (I want to go home and rethink my life)." Sleazebaggano leaves at that point in the film and is assumed to have followed up on this suggestion - a testament to the power of the mind trick.
- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith - Obi-Wan Kenobi convinces a dragonmount seller to lend him one of his beasts. He repeats the trick later when he and Yoda are noticed by Senate Guards. Both of these appearances were in the novelization of the film, and not the film itself.
- Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope - In the first, and most famous, appearance of the trick, Obi-Wan Kenobi persuades a squad of Imperial stormtroopers to let himself and Luke Skywalker pass a checkpoint despite carrying C-3PO and R2-D2, then targets of an Imperial search, as passengers on their speeder. He also uses a variant of the trick to distract Stormtroopers aboard the Death Star while on his mission to disable the tractor beam.
- Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi - Luke Skywalker persuades Bib Fortuna to grant him entry to the palace of, and an audience with, Jabba the Hutt. Luke then attempts to persuade Jabba to free Han Solo and Chewbacca from captivity, but fails, since Jabba is a Hutt. It is Jabba who first refers to the technique as "an old Jedi mind trick".
[edit] Appearances in Star Wars games
- Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, and Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith - "Force Persuasion" appears as a Light Side power that prevents enemies from targeting the player while active. In multiplayer, this ability causes the player to appear invisible to other players, although in the game documentation and the ability's name the ability is described as simply diverting the enemies' attention or making them believe the player isn't there.
- Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast and Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy rename "Force Persuasion" as "Jedi Mind Trick", which now must be actively cast on an area. At low levels it simply causes all enemies near the area targeted to fail to target the player and turn to face it, allowing the player to approach and attack at leisure. (This appears to be obviously based on Obi-Wan's use of the Force to distract the stormtroopers on board the Death Star.) At higher levels it can cause enemies to target and begin fighting each other.
- Star Wars Galaxies allows characters with access to the Jedi skill tree to use an ability called "Mind Trick" with an effect similar to the one in the Jedi Knight games (causing hostile creatures to lose their targeting against the player) while additionally acting as a debuff that "clouds the mind" by lowering one's Precision and Strength attributes. A character with the "Cloud Minds" Expertise can use this ability on several creatures within a 5-meter radius at once.
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic does not formally title any ability "Mind Trick". However, the main character can learn and use the Force powers Affect Mind and Dominate Mind, which allow him to use the Force to persuade others through conversation options in dialog trees. NPCs, especially Mission Vao, openly refer to this as the "Jedi mind trick". Affect Mind seems on par with the degree of power the mind trick has in the films, while Dominate Mind is much more powerful, allowing the player to persuade NPCs to perform obviously suicidal or insane actions (like rushing headlong toward an armed guard) and to affect species normally invulnerable to "mind tricks" (including many Hutts).
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords has both the Affect Mind/Dominate Mind series of powers and powers called Mind Trick and Force Confusion, seemingly based on the Jedi Knight games' Mind Trick powers, allowing one to distract an opponent or get him to fight for you, respectively. In this game, Mind Trick only functions on sentient, biological NPCs; another set of powers, Beast Trick and Beast Confusion, can be used on animals, while the droid NPC G0-T0 has two non-Force abilities, Droid Trick and Scramble Droid, that let him accomplish similar tasks on droids by jamming their programming.
[edit] Popular culture
 |
Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
In the second season episode Simon Said of the television series Supernatural a character named Andy has mind control powers similar to Jedi. He uses them on the main character Dean Winchester, after which he tells his brother Sam Winchester "He full-on Obi-Waned me," in a reference to Obi-Wan Kenobi's Jedi mind trick. The gag is further extended with the Andy character's tongue-in-cheek remark, "These aren't the droids you're looking for."[citation needed]
In the fourth episode of the short-lived animated series Undergrads, "New Friends", a flashback shows Justin "Gimpy" Taylor winning over the students at Tekerson Tech and converting them to Star Wars fandom after ousting their Trekkie leader Spud, by simply claiming to Spud that telling his followers to obey the Prime Directive is tantamount to forcing his beliefs on them and interfering with their sovereignty. Spud abandoned his minions with chagrin, and Gimpy attributed his power-seize to an "old Jedi mind trick".
The famous "These aren't the droids you're looking for" scene from A New Hope has been extensively parodied in popular culture, often featuring a character who either can mysteriously persuade hostile authority figures to do what he wants with no explanation or a character who humorously attempts to do so in imitation of the film only to fail. Examples include The Boondocks,[citation needed] FoxTrot,[citation needed] Mallrats,[citation needed] Team America: World Police,[citation needed] Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place,[citation needed] International Man Of Mystery,[citation needed] Wizards of Waverly Place,[citation needed] and The Simpsons.[citation needed]
The Jedi Mind Trick is sometimes confused with the Vulcan mind meld from Star Trek, most frequently by those unfamiliar with the differences between the two franchises. They may incorrectly swap terms, referring to a "Jedi Mind Meld" or such.[citation needed]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Mind trick in Wookieepedia contains a list of uses of the mind trick within the Star Wars universe.
