From the minute we are born, many of us are deemed to be special. A gift from God himself. A miracle if you will.
As we grow older, it seems like we fall out of that alignment set up for us by our parents. However, this isn’t exactly true.
While many of us don’t go on to become presidents, prime ministers, doctors, lawyers, or whatever else our parents had predetermined for us, we do tap into our specialness in our own way.
We learn to navigate through life. In addition to that, we learn to work our way through various emotions, mental and physical turmoil, and just everyday events.
We eventually learn to be exactly who we want to be. That in and of itself is special.
Even so, Star Wars handles things a bit differently. The difference between whether a person is special or not is clear cut. Especially when it comes to the Force.
The more special species in Star Wars is deemed to be Force Sensitive. That is, they have a higher affinity for the Force, regardless of whether it’s on the dark or light side.
Of course, the Jedi don’t want all the Force-sensitive individuals to fall into the hands of the dark side. Given that fact, they take the Force-sensitives and turn them into Padawans.
But how exactly do they find these Force-sensitive children?
Well, keep reading as we delve into this topic.
Table of Contents
Can Jedi Sense Force-Sensitives?
We all know that many people can sense when there’s danger. That sixth sense or gut feeling, which indicates when something is going wrong or sometimes right.
The Jedi have something quite similar, yet their ability is stronger. Jedi are force users and have a very strong connection to the light side of the Force.
For that reason, they are responsive to any Force in their vicinity, even if it’s just remnants of a passing being, who contained the Force.
This ability allows the Jedi to detect the presence of a Force-sensitive child once near them.
Of course, they have to be trained to correctly use this skill, however, all force users generally can do this.
Once a Jedi, or any other Force user for that matter, is around someone who is Force-sensitive they can tell that someone strong in the Force is close by.
For the Force users who may be on the opposite side of the morality spectrum, they possess the potential to hide their Force from the detection of other Force users.
Powerful Force-sensitives such as Anakin Skywalker, and Palpatine had that skill. Even if they didn’t give it much thought, they could still hide their Force from other Force users.
How Do Jedi Find and Recruit Force-Sensitive Children?
Apart from the ability to detect Force users like a bomb-sniffing dog, there are other ways the Jedi seek out and recruit Force-sensitive children.
They do this by determining the level of midi-chlorians in the youngins’ blood.
To give a brief overview of what midi-chlorians are, they are tiny microbes that live inside the cells of all living things. Every living being in the Star Wars universe has these microscopic organisms living inside them.
The difference comes based on how many or how few of these microbes are present in the blood. When present in a surplus, the individual they inhabit then gains an affinity for the Force.
Generally, the normal human midi-chlorian count is a mere 2,500 per cell. Whereas the Jedi counts 13,442.5 per cell, and the Sith has a higher count of 14,177.5 per cell.
With the stark difference between the regular people and Force-sensitive, it’s clear to be able to tell who is more likely to become a Force user and who would just be a regular human.
Impressively, the Jedi who clocked the highest midi-chlorian count of the Star Wars Franchise is none other than the man himself, Anakin Skywalker.
As a Jedi, he had an astounding 20,000 midi-chlorian per cell.
Are Force-Sensitives Rare?
The Jedi army is one of, if not the most numerous corps in the Star Wars universe.
Given how many of them they are, and the fact that they are all Force-sensitive then it seems that there are more Force-sensitives than regular people.
When added to that the number of Sith and new Force-sensitives born each day, then it’s clear to see why persons in the Star Wars fandom may think Force-sensitives are fairly common.
Be that as it may, Force-sensitivity is actually quite rare. Let me explain.
Everyone, whether they are human, a Jedi, a child, a Sith, or even an animal for that matter, has some form of the Force embedded in them.
This is because the Force is a living energy that binds everyone in the Star Wars universe together. Ergo, everyone and everything has it.
Therefore, some beings do have a far stranger connection to the force than others. These individuals are known as being Force-sensitive, and it’s not as common as one might think.
Considering that being Force-sensitive requires a relatively high midi-chlorian count then that feat may not be as easy to reach as one may think.
Even if there is more than the known amount of Force-sensitive beings, due to no documentation we can only draw conclusions on the data at hand.
This data shows that despite being at the forefront of the entire franchise, force-sensitive beings are quite rare to come by.
Conclusion
Force sensitivity is the backbone of the entire Star Wars world. Without it, there would be no show. Force sensitivity is quite easy to detect, whether it be by another force user themself or through a blood test.
If someone with Force sensitivity uses their skills or powers in the presence of another Force user, then the other Force user can detect and tap into that power, which is pretty awesome!
Moreover, some Force sensitives can cloak themselves from being sought out by others.
It‘s not clear if the Force users themselves or the Force is the thing that shields the user’s skill from others, but we do know that it’s generally subconscious.
Despite all this, Force-sensitive beings are relatively uncommon in the galaxy and are rightfully cherished as a result.