His hands and fingers were cold, and the twitching had not abated. Paresthesia, most likely, she decided. She pinched back an eyelid, saw that the pupil was contracted. His breathing was rapid and shallow-it seemed obvious that Phow Ji had been hit with a potent neurotoxin of some sort-Paraleptin, perhaps, or Titroxinate. The Separatists had been known to use such biochems, and worse. If something was not done quickly, he would die. There was no time to call for an evac, even if there was an available medlifter, which was problematic. But there was another way to treat him.
The Force.
Without even stopping to reflect on the irony of it, Barriss knelt beside Ji. She pulled the dart out, then rolled him over and put her hands on his chest. It occurred to her that it would be quite easy to just let the paralysis of his central nervous system do the job that, only a few minutes before, she had been all too willing to take on herself. But that temptation had passed. She was a Jedi healer. Here before her was a life in need of healing.
There was no need to make it any more complicated than that. Barriss Offee closed her eyes and opened her heart and mind to the power of the Force.
—Medstar I: Battle Surgeons, Michael Reaves
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I just saw this take in a collection of Star Wars videos I was watching and just…… what even:
where do people come up with stuff like this. Also I needn’t say it but this makes me so angry
This is what happens when fans try too hard to make something "make sense" in universe rather than accepting a meta/out-of-universe explanation for it.
So sure, if the ST introduces the idea that you can "Force heal" by learning it from some sort of Jedi text, it begs the question of why we never see any of the Prequels Jedi using it. Did they know about it and simply chose not to use it? Was it restricted to Jedi HEALERS for some reason? Did they NOT know about it because it was in a really obscure text that nobody even remembered anymore? And the ST chose not to answer any of those questions, which leaves the fans to try to come up with their own answers.
And the real answer is that the people who made the ST had no fucking idea what they were doing and quite honestly don't seem to have cared much about narrative continuity much at all. There's Force healing in the ST and not in any of the others because Force healing like what we see in the ST would kind-of ruin the entire POINT of the other stories. Luke could just... save Anakin. Anakin could just save Padme. Obi-Wan could just save Qui-Gon. Then where would the story be? Force healing is unsatisfying within the narratives we've been given and ruins the entire point of the message Lucas was sending with them.
But nobody who was making the Sequels fucking cared, so. Now we have Force healing from some random Jedi texts. Cool. Whatever. People who hate the Jedi are just going to hate the Jedi, they'll find whatever reason they want to do so, regardless of what the actual films show and regardless of what Lucas says. As someone who DOES like the Jedi, my explanation for why there's suddenly Force healing that can be learned from a text is that the people making the ST were fucking stupid and nobody realized or cared that it broke a lot of the narratives from the prior two trilogies and went against the themes of those films. That's it.
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Cienie's Star Wars sidenotes
While doing research and writing down the last pieces of Funeral Rites of the Clone Troopers, it became even more clear how The Clone Wars animated TV series did a great disservice to Jedi, especially in the context of medical care for clones.
TCW has clone medics, both as part of combat units (e.g. Kix from 501st Legion) and working apparently in the medcentre as sometimes was presented on the screen.
The role of doctors treating wounded troopers was given to Kaminoans (Nala Se) and droids and sure, those two groups were part of the whole GAR’s medical system in the Legends too. However Jedi Healers (doctors), as far as I remember, were seen treating mainly other Jedi like Yoda
and even then TCW barely paid attention to force healing as an important skill.
The research about medical care for clones gives a pretty drastic idea of what was happening during and after battle which is understandable why the show destined for younger viewers didn’t go into full details about triage of wounded but considering how many dark themes were put in the same show, I dare to say not showing medical care provided by Jedi or common Republic doctors and nurses (who btw are a rare example of republic citizens conscripted into army during the war) actually is unfair. The show reduced one very important aspect of Jedi - they weren’t just generals and commanders either sending or leading troops into battle, they also provided medical help, whether they were specifically trained at healing or not.
In Legends, we could see Jedi Healers assisting the army on various occassions, working in triage area like in Republic comics series:
The triage unit, where Jedi healers labor to save the lives of the wounded, was set up safely behind the line of battle. But as the fortunes of war shift, so do the battlelines.
and worrying first about wounded even in the face of serious danger
Master Saa! We’re cut off! There’s no way to get the wounded out!
and searching for survivors
Master Saa is hurt! She pulled the trees on top of us for protection...
and working in hospitals
Follow me Skywalker. We have much healing to do. The Jedi sickbay, where we treat the most severe injuries. And our own, of course. Master Offee has saved countless lives. She seldom leaves her post to rest. But we all work long hours.
Not to mention the whole Medstar duology dedicated to padawan Bariss Offee, doctors and nurses serving in Republic mobile hospitals close to frontine - and yes, forever I’m gonna be bitter about how TCW/New Canon treated the most iconic Jedi Healer.
(The cover art for Medstar: Jedi Healer by Dave Seeley)
When padawan Skywalker arrived at New Holstice with his troops, he was immedialy called to assist in the nearest sickbay
“Are you injured, master Jedi?”
“Not really, no.”
“Good. You can make yourself useful by heading to the nearest sickbay. We need all the Jedi healers we can get...”
and for context, this is Anakin two days after after Jabiim, one of the worst war campaigns Republic experienced so far, the solely survivor of Jedi Pack traumatized both by the loss of his comrades and what happened on the planet and forced to make a devastating choice is literally told to get at work ASAP because every Jedi in between assignment was working here hard to heal the most wounded..
Though no healer himself, Anakin even force-healed injured trooper on battlefield to stop him going into shock:
Supporting the commando trooper with his left arm, Anakin warded off blaster bolts on the run. The rest of Squad Seven supplied cover, blowing STAPs out the sky with uninterrupted fire. Cody motioned everyone into a shallow irrigation trench just short of the mound. By the time Obi-Wan arrived, the troopers were deployed in a circle, and continuing to pour fire into the sky. Anakin slid into the trench a moment later, lowering the commando gently to the muddy slope. Squad Seven’s medical specialist crawled over, removing the commando’s ravaged utility belt and deeply dented helmet. [...]
The harvester’s pincers had crushed the armor into the commando’s abdomen. His skin was intact, but the bruising was severe. With only half the original army of 1.2 million in fighting shape, the life of every clone was vital. Blood and replacement organs - - what the regular troopers referred to as “spare parts” - - were readily available - - “easily requisitioned” - - but with the war reaching a crescendo, battlefield casualties were on the rise and treated as high priority.
“Not much I can do for him here,” the medspec told Anakin. “Maybe if we can get an FX-Seven air-dropped - - ”
“We don’t need a droid,” Anakin interrupted. Kneeling, he placed his hands on the injured commando’s abdomen and used a Jedi healing technique to keep the clone from going into deep shock. [Labyrinth Of Evil]
(and included request for evacuation of the wounded trooper when Cody called for artillery support)
In Republic comics series alone we could see Jedi showing concern for the wounded troopers at various moments, putting their well-being as priority:
or helping (healing) wounded enemies:
And I won't lie, it is frustrating how Legends, especially Republic comics series that had around 40 issues put so much pressure on Jedi Force healing and how Jedi care for wounded troopers while The Clone Wars (New Canon) that lasted for decade or so kinda ignored the issue? Which is unfair to Jedi and clones alike. The first are presented as less caring, at times indifferent? the latter deserved to have all the available medical help, not just Kaminoans and droids.
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SO WHAT ARE JEDI HEALERS LIKE IN CANON?
The subtitle of this project was literally, “Started making it. Had a breakdown. Bon appetite.” because Star Wars lore is a mess of about five distinctly separate continuities and hardly anything has been devoted to this particular niche of Jedi worldbuilding. I spent a few hours hunting down sources, most of which were just one or two lines, at most a whole entire single paragraph! of information, and not much on how Force healing actually works.
This is fair, primarily the Force is about the emotions the user puts into it, that’s the core, central theme of what the Force means to Star Wars worldbuilding, rather than nitpicking details about hard rules of how it works. Further, the Force isn’t full of hard and fast rules on a bigger scale, it depends on the person, it depends on their mood, it depends on whether it’s a Tuesday or a Friday, because it’s about serving core themes, not about serving a system of magical rules.
That said, here’s what we know of Jedi Healers specifically in canon, both as a group within the Jedi Order and as an ability of the Force. This post will mix together Legends and Disney/Lucasfilm canon, as well as include RPG books that are not meant to be sources of canon, because the whole point of this is to give worldbuilders some tools to start with, should you want! HAVE SOME FUN WITH IT, PICK OUT WHAT YOU LIKE, AND BUILD UP FROM THERE. \o/
KNOWN JEDI HEALERS:
- Rig Nema (Lucas canon, Disney/Lucasfilm canon)
- Stass Allie (Disney/Lucasfilm canon, as a healer)
- Barriss Offee (Legends canon as a healer, Disney/Lucasfilm canon as working with healers)
- Mill Alibeth (Disney/Lucasfilm canon)
- Nahdar Vebb (Fantasy Flight Games canon, as a healer)
- Vokara Che (Legends continuity)
JEDI HEALERS ROLE IN THE JEDI ORDER:
Jedi healers seem to be fairly rare and they were regarded as fairly precious:
(Jedi vs Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force / Legends canon)
Note: In this instance “Old Republic” = prequels era, and while this snippet is Legends, Rhinnal has been mentioned in Disney/Lucasfilm canon in The Rising Storm. In the FFG books, the Jedi established a chapter house on Rhinnal for many patients that was still in use and had been expanded during the prequels’ Jedi Order’s time. So, the Jedi have Halls-of-healing-esque houses on other places beyond Coruscant.
Jedi Healers were regarded as the most sensitive Jedi of all:
(Wild Space / Legends Canon)
JEDI HEALERS’ STRUCTURE:
Rig Nema was a Consular Jedi, which was a Jedi that devoted themselves to the study of a science or diplomacy, where she was a dedicated doctor. Jedi specializing in healing seem to often withdraw from any combat duties, as well as they fall under this specialized role within Jedi career paths.
(The Visual Encyclopedia / Disney/Lucasfilm canon)
In Legends, the Jedi Healers worked with the MedCorps Jedi, as well as the were in leadership roles in the Temple’s infirmary and on worlds like Rhinnal and H’ratth.
(The Jedi Path / Legends canon)
Note: The Service Corps are tricky, because Legends established them just after The Phantom Menace came out, before even the second movie of the prequels had arrived, much less TCW or anything. Which means much of the content that came later had a tendency to contradict itself, as well as they do not exist at all in Lucas’ canon, and they are only mentioned in deeply obscure reference guides in Disney/Lucasfilm canon (and no mention of aging out--which further cannot work the same way, as TCW and Dooku: Jedi Lost establish that 14 year olds are young for Padawans and that 17+ isn’t rare for Padawans), but have never appeared in any book or comic yet. All of which means: Feel free to use them! Source material is a buffet that you get to pick and choose from! But be aware that some things are fundamentally incompatible from one continuity to another, and the Service Corps is a big one of those.
Within the Jedi Order, there was a sub-order of the Knights who practiced healing arts, called the Circle of Jedi Healers:
(The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia / Legends canon)
“Seated on the Jedi High Council due to her invaluable role as a Jedi Consular, Master Stass Allie is gifted not only in diplomacy and Lightsaber combat, but also Force healing. As a member of the Circle of Jedi Healers and overseer of the Medical Corps, she continues to hone her healing abilities even while deployed as a general for the Galactic Republic in the Clone Wars.”
(Complete list of Force Collection cards / Continuity status unknown, probably Legends as it started in 2013)
Not all Jedi had to be dedicated healers to work with the medical clinic. In Disney/Lucasfilm canon, Barriss Offee often spent time helping injured Jedi, because she found healing to give her solace.
(Stories of Jedi and Sith / Disney/Lucasfilm canon)
Though, in Legends, Barriss was more directly a healer, working under Stass Allie in the Circle of Jedi Healers, where she specialized in disease rather than surgery.
(Star Wars Databank / Legends canon)
Similarly, when Mill Alibeth finds her place within the Jedi Order, at Yoda’s suggestion that she use her abilities for specialized medical and spiritual assistance for war-wounded Jedi, she’s not necessarily Master Nema’s Padawan, it’s not so formalized as that, showing that there’s a lot of flexibility within the Jedi Order’s studies and paths.
(Brotherhood / Disney/Lucasfilm canon)
JEDI HEALERS’ ABILITIES:
While Jedi healers focus on medical training, they also train Jedi in the main components of Jedi philosophy, like greater control and insight. When Mill Alibeth begins training with Rig Nema, she gains greater mastery over herself and the insight she has into Anakin in their meditation together:
(Brotherhood / Disney/Lucasfilm canon)
In addition to Jedi healers being rare, it seems like it was taxing for them to directly use Force healing, because it drained them personally. While much of Kylo’s ability to revive Rey seems to come from that they were a dyad (and this would not be possible with other types of Force Healing, so other Jedi could not do that particular thing), Rey does do some Force Healing, where she must calm herself and center herself to do it properly, and it takes energy from her to accelerate healing.
It’s not much here, she doesn’t need to recover from it, but anything more significant and likely she would have. So, Jedi healers have to be careful about how much they give of themselves when healing others. This is also why Grogu collapses after healing Greef in The Mandalorian.
(The Rise of Skywalker novelization / Disney/Lucasfilm canon)
Another Jedi healing ability is the Healing Trance, which would accelerate their natural healing process. While in this trance, because their heartbeat and breathing slow, they can appear to be dead to others, and they’re unaware of the world around them. Depending on the climate, they can last anywhere from a week to a month within this trance, without outside hydration being given to them.
(Jedi vs Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force / Legends canon)
JEDI HEALERS WITH THE FORCE VS TECHNOLOGY:
The Jedi Order of the prequels seems to balance between technology and the Force, that both have their place in healing. In the episode “Voices”, Rig Nema relies on medical scans to show Yoda’s physiology, as well as a tank of dark liquid (either a bacta tank or a sensory deprivation tank, both would be useful for Jedi who need calm and no distractions to connect to the Force) to help him, but it’s balanced with his connection to the Force being plumbed, it’s not focused only on technological means.
JEDI HEALERS HAVE TO WATCH OUT FOR:
In addition to being extra sensitive, Jedi Healers would be spending time in places that were soaked in pain and suffering, just by the nature of injured people’s anguish. Not only would they face the difficulty of dealing with a patient’s pain directly, Force-sensitive means being psychic, as in that pain literally soaks into the walls around them.
(”The Jedi Who Knew Too Much” / Lucas canon / Disney/Lucasfilm canon)
It’s intense enough in places that have a bad accident and those feelings linger, it’s a hundred times worse in places where people are always in pain or dying. Jedi Healers aren’t just subjected to the person’s suffering that’s right in front of them, but the thousand patients before them that have left their emotional imprint on the walls, the floor, the ceiling, the pillows, the bed, the very air around them.
HALLS OF HEALING/MEDICAL WINGS:
The Medical Center and Infirmary seem to be located about halfway up the left-hand side of the main ziggurat: "Medical center and infirmary, staffed by Jedi Medical Corps.” (Complete Locations | Disney/Lucasfilm canon)
“The Jedi Temple's Halls of Healing were beautiful. They had lofty ceilings and enormous windows that spilled golden light over the blue and green and rose-pink walls and floor. Imbued with the Force's most gentle aspects, with love and nurturing and peace, they were full of perfumed flowers and green growing things, with the music of running water and the vibrancy of life renewed. They were the perfect retreat for those who were broken in body and mind, a place where the ugliness of suffering was washed away.” (Wild Space | Legends canon)
It’s difficult to get a sense of the size of it in The Clone Wars, but it seems to be fairly big, given the diversity of what we see of it, there may be more hard scientific areas and more gentle healing areas, both:
- Obi-Wan’s transformation into Rako Hardeen is in an area with multiple cordoned off areas with doors that can be fogged over. (The Clone Wars | Lucas canon , Disney/Lucasfilm canon )
Likely the same area in the episode “Voices”, it seems like it’s in an area of the Temple that’s a hallway away from windows facing the outside. (The Clone Wars | Lucas canon, Disney/Lucasfilm canon)
Anakin and Mace share a recovery room, which has a different style from the other infirmary rooms, done in different colors and with softer lighting, indicating that they have gentler recovery rooms versus the active medical problem areas
It has a window looking out over Coruscant, indicating that it’s near the edge of the ziggurat, likely an area for less critical patients and meant to promote healing. (The Clone Wars | Lucas canon, Disney/Lucasfilm canon)
Yoda is put in the infirmary in an area that looks to be the same area, but also has a separate area for a bacta tank, which seems to be at least possibly similar to the same area Depa was in when she was submerged in bacta.
When Anakin walks into the room (and later he and Yoda walk out), we see what looks like sky through a window in the background of the outside hallway, possibly indicating this was near the edge of the ziggurat as well. (The Clone Wars | Lucas canon, Disney/Lucasfilm canon)(Kanan: The Last Padawan | Disney/Lucasfilm canon)
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