In Star Wars, midichilorians were the closest thing we had to power levels. Anakin, as a 9 year old, were over 20,000, more than master Yoda himself. The prequels were the first time we entered a measurable state of the force, now while midichlorians aren’t to be mistaken for one’s full on power levels, they are an abstraction of one’s potential should they train in the force. Now back in the 80’s when esb was being written, George Lucas actually had devised a power ranking system out of 10 for obi-wan, Luke, and the emperor.

So as we can see, Luke Skywalker, is a level 2, Obi-Wan with all of his training from qui-gon, Yoda and more is only a 6. This means during the prequels, he was probably a 4, considering the last 20 years he didn’t learn all that much more when it came to his training. Unless, of course, George completely abolished this level system in his mind, and just went straight to the midichlorians. The interesting thing about obi-wan is that he had the poorest connection to the force of all jedi, he was an embarrassment. Both in canon and legends. In fact, in Canon, Qui-Gon in the novel master and apprentice, talks about how Obi-Wan is so far behind compared to where he was at the same age. Basically calling Obi-Wan useless. So for Obi-Wan to be as powerful as the Emperor now, really is a testament to how hard he practiced and trained. Of course, these power levels shouldn’t be as theorized and analyzed as I’m doing now, as they are outdated and clearly something George established for the originals and possibly abolished going beyond that to the prequels, but it is interesting to know. Does this mean that Yoda in the prequels was a level 6, and Obi-Wan was a level 4? Meaning Anakin was also a level 4 while being so much younger, putting in the effect of his many thousands of more midichlorians compared to the rest? This would have given anakin more of a potential to reach a higher level faster than others. Like giving Anakin a higher iq, which wouldn’t necessarily mean he’s smarter than his masters, unless he studied, in which case if he did, he would destroy all of them. So we could assume the rate at which anakin developed his abilities were maybe 2 to 3 times as fast as others who were more average or slightly above even.

With Vader being a 4, this is indicative, I think, of his lowered power state that George always talked about after losing to obi-wan. George said that once he lost to obi-wan he’d never reach his full power, and be only 80% as powerful as the emperor, who was a level 6, about to become a level 10.

The massive jump to level 10 from 6 meant that he was about to learn some crazy new ability in the short time span from episode 4 to 6. What he could learn, well it’s never discussed I don’t think, but I could rule out the ability to learn lightning, as originally, George wanted Luke to use lightning against Vader, as well as Vader to use lightning against obi-wan in their fight. I think the idea of the emperor getting ready to jump to an immortal power level of 10 and the heroes had to beat the clock so he didn’t get there would have been a bit too comical for me. I like the idea that Sidious always harnessed the power of a 10 and it wasn’t his power that needed to be matched, but the power of love that Vader showed for his son which beat Sidious once and for all. To show that you can change your ways no matter how evil you have become and the horrible things you’ve done, that it’s never too late to change, and in the end, the power of love triumphs over all evil, no matter the power, which in this case it did. Vader saved Luke in a sacrificial last effort and fulfilled the Jedi prophecy of bringing balance to the force.


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edited by @StarWarsElseworlds

image of vader by Andi Bazylewski