The Force works in mysterious ways—one we don’t always understand, or even need to understand. sometimes new Star Wars Materials puts it to uses we’ve never seen before; sometimes it borrows elements from Star Wars Years of history from current continuity and expanded universe content. acolyte The latter gave us a lot of ideas, characters, and material, but its season finale culminated in a final twist that had connections to one of the most beloved stories of the old EU… and some other interesting connections, too. Star Wars history.
During the climax of The Acolyte , the eponymous season finale acolyteTwin sisters Osha and May, along with a dark force known as the Strangers, find themselves trying to escape a group of rapidly invading Jedi. May chose to use herself as a distraction to buy her sister and the stranger time to escape, but she stayed to be scolded by Jedi detention. But before she could be captured, in a tearful farewell, the Stranger offered to use the Force to erase all memories of Osha and himself from May’s mind so the Jedi couldn’t use her to find them. However, it is eventually revealed to May and the audience that she has lost more than just selective memories of Osha and the Stranger: she has lost all Her memories of her life after the age of 8, specifically the night her coven was burned and killed in an encounter with four Jedi.
Such widespread mind erasure is rare in the biological world. Star Wars Previously (more on the “biology” side). But using the Force to erase someone’s memory actually does have precedent in the series – both in the current continuity and in its connection to one of the series’ most iconic stories Star Wars Expanded Universe Classics, knights of the old republic.
The most famous memory wipe Star Wars history
The concept of memory erasure or “memory friction”, as it is sometimes called, is a specific Force technology with roots that go back to the original technology Star Wars. After all, what is a Jedi mind trick if not temporarily altering a target’s memory to convince them of a particular belief? But examples of long-term but short-term memory erasure occur across the EU, such as Luke’s The Courtship of Princess LeiaOr Jacen Solo in legacy of the force novel.
But arguably the most famous of all memory wipes Star WarsEven now, part of the big twist for the beloved Bioware CRPG knights of the old republic. As the events of the game unfold, the player character sets out on a path to attempt to find the powerful weapons factory known as the Star Forge, previously controlled by the missing renegade Sith Lord Darth Revan during his campaign against the Jedi. . It turns out that Revan was severely injured during a surprise attack by a Jedi team on his flagship before the game began. However, Revan was rescued by the sole survivor of the attack, a Jedi named Bastila Shan, and brought back to the Jedi Council on Dantooine.
The Council decided to cure Revan, but in the process, altered their memories so that they no longer remembered their previous lives as Jedi Knights or Sith, giving them false memories of being soldiers in the Republic’s armed forces. Using Bastila’s connection to Revan in the Force, established the moment she saved his life during a starship attack, the Council hopes to slowly pull out and restore Revan’s memory, leading the Republic to him former base of operations and use it to defeat Raven’s army.
Current memory wipe Star Wars Canon
forward acolytesave for one specific example connecting the former EU and the rebooted EU, memory wipes remain relatively uncommon as in previous continuity. Star Wars Canon. During the activity Clone Wars Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano meet three in the third season trilogy Overlord, The Altar of Mortis and The Ghost of Mortis Ancient beings who claim to embody countless aspects of the Force: Light, represented by a being known as the Daughter; Darkness, represented by the Brothers; and the balance of both, represented by their Father. As events unfold on Mortis, the brothers try to lure Anakin to their side by showing him his future destiny as Darth Vader, but these memories are blocked by their father for violating the laws of time. Wipe it from his mind.
Of course, we have more evidence that different types of memory erasure exist Star Wars: The technical process of erasing a robot’s memory bank. Most notably we saw this after the events of C-3PO revenge of the sithBail Organa’s memory bank was wiped to prevent the secret of Anakin’s fall to the dark side from being revealed, but elsewhere Star Wars It has been documented that the regular erasure of droids’ memories is common across the galaxy, whether for resale or to maintain operational security during wartime (this became a plot point in “Galaxy”) Clone Wars Anakin’s refusal to erase R2-D2’s memory would result in sensitive information falling into enemy hands), or simply as part of routine maintenance. the fact is Star Wars This process has a much longer history with non-organic life than with organic life, and its troublesome history is told with the idea of robot sentience—changing a human mind is a horrific violation, changing a robot’s mind is just a given – but it yes Still, it’s an interesting parallel.
How to do acolyteDoes memory erasure work?
Interestingly, our two main descriptions of Force memory erasure Star Wars——Raven’s restoration knights of the old republicand Anakin’s Wipe Clone Wars—acolyteThe examples seem more like the latter than the former. exist knights of the old republic, Revan’s memories were not completely erased, but were largely replaced by memories of their new identities, and this process occurred while they were unconscious after their flagship was attacked. Revan was not consciously involved in this process, which required the abilities of the Jedi Council itself to work together over an extended period of time. Even with this process being so deep and complex, Raven still experiences resurfaced visions of their past before Malak re-reveals the truth of their identities to them.
Clone Wars‘ and acolyteInstead, its version is both faster and more forthright. Father was a powerful being unlike any other Force user encountered. Star Wars, although the stranger was a powerful fallen Jedi who was still far inferior to his father in terms of the scope of his abilities, both men performed the memory wipe relatively quickly: the father touched Anakin’s forehead, and he immediately Unconscious, May was still able to partially recall her sister’s memory when the stranger swabbed her, but it still ended quickly. Both are more like erasing a being’s entire time, and Raven’s erasure also involves replacing their real memories with false ones.
Anakin and May’s memory wipes also involved a level of consent that Raven did not have: May voluntarily offered to have her memory wiped by a stranger, and while Anakin did not explicitly consent to his father’s memory wipe, Anakin King at least agreed to express a desire to forget what he had learned before his Heavenly Father acted. Whenever the Force acts on someone else telepathically, there’s always an element involved and how willful the target’s will is, so if there’s a factor at play here that makes the process easier or more difficult , then it makes sense depending on whether the target is resistant or not.
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