Luke and Leia's midichlorian count

[Galvatron]

What do you think? Was it diluted by Padme or is it possible that any offspring of the chosen one would still be off the charts? I personally lean towards the latter.

[Eleas]

I think the Emperor's reaction pretty much says it all, really: "What? Your kid has had no formal Jedi training whatsoever and we're among the two most powerful Sith in history? He could destroy us."

[Zixinus]

What do you think? Was it diluted by Padme or is it possible that any offspring of the chosen one would still be off the charts? I personally lean towards the latter.

Unless the new movie mentions it, we simply don't know. We also don't know how the mechanics of how Force-affinity is hereditary (if it is usually that at all).

It is likely high (probably on-part with their father's) considering Luke's supposed to be the most powerful Jedi that ever lived and that Leia was considered a viable alternative to him.

[Sea Skimmer]

Since Lucas used the end of the Clone Wars to make it explicit that midichlorians are how you use the force, and not merely a symptom of force presence, this strongly implies to nme that the midichlorian directly caused Anakin to be born. Which I think is logical enough, nothing says an advanced enough parasite couldn't fertilize an egg if it had the ability to produce relevant genetic material. This would also then mean that dillution could be completely irrelevant, and indeed that the human side of genetic might never have anything to do with force powers. Anakin's offspring being powerful could merely be part of the rebound against the dark side, something perhaps buried inside whatever the midichlorian have for DNA ect... that will become inactive when no longer needed.

[Joun_Lord]

The thing about the midichrorians creating Ani actually bring up something I've long thought, Anakin wasn't actually a virgin birth. When his mom is talking to Qui-Gon about her baby daddy she says there is no father, she had him and raised him. That honestly always to me sounds like something a proud single mom would say. There is no father because Anakin's dad (Palpatine, Plaguis, maybe Dooku, just someone who was strong in the force and unlikely to stick around to raise a kid, Shmi needed to go on Space Maury) did a one night stand, so technically there was no father, just a sperm donor. Certainly is more plausible then the Jesus allegory "da Swartz created him!!!! !! !! !".

Could have been some random dude screwing her, she was a slave so its not like she could say no, or a master before Watto (we are relatively positive Watto is not the father) or another slave. If it was before she was a slave, still more or less the same deal, some random dude who may or may not have had a thing for black cloaks who did the nasty and bounced. Any way it goes she was the one having Anakin, she raised him and all that, no father involved except for the initial pumping and humping to create the kid.

Qui-Gon heard wanted he wanted to hear. He is a man so caught up with prophecies that he will see a powerful young kid with no dad around and twist it to where he had no father at all, thus fulfilling the prophecy.

It would be kinda ironic if Anakin was the kid of a Jedi. Where the Jedi are supposed to have the "no attachments" thing but are probably allowed to bang okay so Jedi passing through could have slept with Shmi creating Anakin and would have been uncaring about the life he created. This bastard of the Jedi the breaks the no attachment rule and then breaks the Jedi who were no longer under warranty. The Jedi's own callous nature creates their downfall. That would be kinda funny.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Where the Jedi are supposed to have the "no attachments" thing but are probably allowed to bang okay so Jedi passing through could have slept with Shmi creating Anakin and would have been uncaring about the life he created. This bastard of the Jedi the breaks the no attachment rule and then breaks the Jedi who were no longer under warranty. The Jedi's own callous nature creates their downfall. That would be kinda funny.

They are not callous. Jesus Fucking Christ. Stagnated sure, but not callous. They have no attachments because attachments are a wedge for the dark side. Think of it this way, they can love, but it has to be a selfless love. Not unconditional, not healthy. Selfless. Any love they feel has to be 100% about the other person, and they have to be willing to sever or lose the relationship, because if they are not it creates conflict. Resentment, fear, grief etc that can easily draw them into a dark-side death spiral.

[Havok]

I've always played with and liked the theory that Padme herself was Jedi material with her own high midichlorian count.

[Adam Reynolds]

I've always played with and liked the theory that Padme herself was Jedi material with her own high midichlorian count.

Interesting. Given that Palpatine was also apparently from Naboo and also failed to be picked up by the Jedi it is actually possible.

[The Romulan Republic]

That, and Padme has some pretty impressive combat abilities for a young politician with, so far as I know, no military or law enforcement training. Unless its standard for Naboo to train its politicians in combat (which seems unlikely) or Padme went out of her way to learn that stuff in between running a planet/being a senator, that suggests an inherent talent beyond what most people possess.

[Elheru Aran]

That, and Padme has some pretty impressive combat abilities for a young politician with, so far as I know, no military or law enforcement training. Unless its standard for Naboo to train its politicians in combat (which seems unlikely) or Padme went out of her way to learn that stuff in between running a planet/being a senator, that suggests an inherent talent beyond what most people possess.

Not impossible, though. Even today we frequently have young royals serving in a military capacity before they take office. For all we know, candidates for election to the Naboo throne might have to go through a form of basic training.

[Galvatron]

That, and Padme has some pretty impressive combat abilities for a young politician with, so far as I know, no military or law enforcement training. Unless its standard for Naboo to train its politicians in combat (which seems unlikely) or Padme went out of her way to learn that stuff in between running a planet/being a senator, that suggests an inherent talent beyond what most people possess.

Fuck it. Let's just say Han and Wedge were Jedi material then. I guess the muggles of the GFFA aren't allowed any shining moments after all.

[Borgholio]

Unless its standard for Naboo to train its politicians in combat

Actually it is. She kept those pistols hidden in her throne for a reason. It would be useless to have them there if not trained to use them.

[Zixinus]

I think it would be over-analysing to think that anyone who demonstrated unusual competence or ability would have to have Force-sensitivity. Star Wars is a very action-oriented film franchise and thus necessarily would have characters who would be highly skilled just to do various impressive things on-screen.

[The Romulan Republic]

That, and Padme has some pretty impressive combat abilities for a young politician with, so far as I know, no military or law enforcement training. Unless its standard for Naboo to train its politicians in combat (which seems unlikely) or Padme went out of her way to learn that stuff in between running a planet/being a senator, that suggests an inherent talent beyond what most people possess.

Fuck it. Let's just say Han and Wedge were Jedi material then. I guess the muggles of the GFFA aren't allowed any shining moments after all.

The difference between Han and Wedge and Padme is that Han and Wedge both had military training (at least in the old EU) and are both from backgrounds/careers where you would expect combat ability.

[Gandalf]

But since we're not looking at the fanfic archive that is the old EU, I don't see why can't we make the same "they were naturally skilled/trained offscreen" assumption with both Padme and Han. Maybe the Naboo Young Legislators (or whatever) also has something akin to a cadet corps program?

[The Romulan Republic]

Possibly. Unless its mentioned in some canon source there's no way to know for sure. But Naboo doesn't seem like a very militaristic society and this is during the peaceful days of the Old Republic, so it seems implausible to me that combat training would have been standard for Naboo politicians.

[Gandalf]

You don't have to be particularly militaristic to have something like a cadet corps. My high school had one, and it was mainly a way for people to pad their resumes, like the Scouts.

[The Romulan Republic]

Fair enough.

There's really no way to say with Naboo unless its mentioned in canon. Same with Padme being a potential Force user. Its an interesting idea though.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Given that Jedi can sense Force potential in others, wouldn't Qui-Gon, or Obi-Wan, or Yoda or anyone else who worked with Padme take notice? Wouldn't Anakin, her husband? Surely he would have felt something.

Hell, even Palpatine should have taken notice. The idea that she received some form of cadet training (basic or otherwise) seems far more reasonable than "she has latent Force powers that no-one noticed, despite her working with some of the most powerful Force-users of the era."

[Purple]

Hell, even Palpatine should have taken notice. The idea that she received some form of cadet training (basic or otherwise) seems far more reasonable than "she has latent Force powers that no-one noticed, despite her working with some of the most powerful Force-users of the era."

Maybe they did not notice because they were being overshadowed by the other massively more powerful and potent force using sith lord that was also working with them? For all we've seen in cannon the jedi don't seem to have a knack for sensing force users once they grow of age.

[Elheru Aran]

Given that Jedi can sense Force potential in others, wouldn't Qui-Gon, or Obi-Wan, or Yoda or anyone else who worked with Padme take notice? Wouldn't Anakin, her husband? Surely he would have felt something.

Hell, even Palpatine should have taken notice. The idea that she received some form of cadet training (basic or otherwise) seems far more reasonable than "she has latent Force powers that no-one noticed, despite her working with some of the most powerful Force-users of the era."

This. The Jedi are, in this time period, essentially running an industrialized operation to analyze children for Force potential. It doesn't catch everybody-- see Anakin-- but it catches a lot of them. Not entirely sure how Palpatine avoided it, but he was born to a noble family, they likely had enough pull to avoid letting the Jedi scan him. The Amidala family may have been in the same situation, but it's less likely because they are explicitly described as middle-class IIRC.

It's fairly unlikely that on a prominent planet like Naboo, the Jedi would have missed many candidates (Palpatine being an obvious exception), so the parsimonious option is just that Padme probably went through some kind of basic training at some point, even if all it was was just a few guards showing her how to shoot and run.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Hell, even Palpatine should have taken notice. The idea that she received some form of cadet training (basic or otherwise) seems far more reasonable than "she has latent Force powers that no-one noticed, despite her working with some of the most powerful Force-users of the era."

Maybe they did not notice because they were being overshadowed by the other massively more powerful and potent force using sith lord that was also working with them? For all we've seen in cannon the jedi don't seem to have a knack for sensing force users once they grow of age.

That doesn't explain Palpatine, or indeed Anakin, not noticing anything.

Besides, in the prequels we have no indication whatever that she was any Force abilities, latent or otherwise. Her having some basic training is far more reasonable than yet another Force user being involved.

[Borgholio]

I always assumed that Palpatine was just so skilled at manipulating people and the Force, that he could cloak his talent better than anybody else in history. I mean he was frequently in close contact with several Jedi including the most powerful ones who ever lived at the same time (Yoda and Windu) and even THEY never picked up on it.

[Alyrium Denryle]

I always assumed that Palpatine was just so skilled at manipulating people and the Force, that he could cloak his talent better than anybody else in history. I mean he was frequently in close contact with several Jedi including the most powerful ones who ever lived at the same time (Yoda and Windu) and even THEY never picked up on it.

This.

With the Rule of Two, they had to hide, so they figured out a way to do it. There are techniques mentioned in The Clone Wars, both the new and old cartoon series, for hiding ones force potential that Dooku taught Ventress.

Possibly. Unless its mentioned in some canon source there's no way to know for sure. But Naboo doesn't seem like a very militaristic society and this is during the peaceful days of the Old Republic, so it seems implausible to me that combat training would have been standard for Naboo politicians.

Padme had look-alike decoys and hidden compartments in her chairs with a brace of really angry holdout blasters inside.

They might not be militaristic, but they do take their internal security seriously, and have obvious institutional experience dealing with and preventing assassination attempts.

She got weapons training.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Indeed. In fact, I would surmise she decided to get more advanced training between TPM and AOTC, probably as a result of her experiences in the first film. It would explain how she manages to perform so well in the arena on Geonosis.