Force Of Corruption

[Colby DuLin]

MindtrickTechnical informationAlternate name(s)Affect mind[1][2]Alter mind[1]Dominate mind[2][3]Force mind trick[4]Force persuasion[5]Force suggestion[6]Illusion[7][8]Jedi mind trick[1]Mindform[9]AreaAlter[10]Control[10]Mind[11]Sense[10]Historical informationAffiliationJedi[1]Sith[12]Krath[9][Source]

Mind tricks, or mind control, refer to a spectrum of Force powers which influenced the thoughts of sentient creatures, most commonly used to coerce into agreement by suggestion through voice manipulation, or to cause one to reveal information. This allowed its practitioners to resolve matters in a non-violent way. It could also be used to appeal to a sensory impression for distraction or cause friendly fire among enemies.

A mind trick was the use of the Force to alter a target's perceptions or to plant a suggestion in their mind. It usually worked on the weak-minded.[1] There were some species that were particularly resistant to mind tricks, such as Hutts, Toydarians, Falleen, Geonosians, and Dashade.[5]

Examples of mind tricks included persuading another person to do something they would find unpalatable, creating a sensation of fear in a person, or causing them to see or hear things that were not there, including illusions.[1]

Force persuasion was the use of the Force to exert influence. Some species with highly organized mental facilities were known to be inherently resistant to its effects, requiring more skill, among them Hutts, Toydarians, Yinchorri, Kloodavians,[15] Dashade, Falleen, Geonosians, and possibly Snivvians. For example, Revan could persuade Motta the Hutt, but Luke Skywalker failed in his attempt to persuade Jabba the Hutt. Also during the Jedi Civil War, certain ranks of soldiers were trained to resist this technique.[16] On the other hand, some species, such as the Nikto, were particularly susceptible to it.[17] Known variants included affect mind and dominate mind, with dominate mind being a more advanced version of the former.

When using a Jedi mind trick, a Jedi often waved his or her hand to aid in the persuasion. The Jedi adopted a peculiar tone of voice along with a casual facial expression. The sentient being that was the object of the mind trick tended to adopt a casual tone of voice but a peculiar facial expression. Should the trick succeed, he or she then agreed to whatever was being said to them without being able to think for themselves. Moments later, they would feel puzzled about their new opinion, but usually didn't feel like changing it back.

Usage of the mind trick was a moral issue for the Jedi, as it did violate the individual's free will and conscience. Thus, the Jedi were strictly prohibited from using it for personal gain (such as in betting or bargaining), reserving its use for when it would serve the greater good (greater good could also be sometimes a reason to overlook this restriction); the Sith and other Dark Jedi, however, had no qualms about the usage of the ability.

When instructing Jedi students, Yarael Poof stressed that a user must be mindful when utilizing this ability, that their target was nevertheless a living being with a life of their own, and that extra precaution must be exercised as their command could potentially ruin their target's life.[1] Mind tricks could also be used to convert individuals to fight for another.[19]

This power required the complete concentration of the user. Worries such as whether or not it would work or allowing one to be distracted by the insight gained into the mind of the subject would cause the trick to fail.[20]

Among the more advanced mind trick techniques was Force confusion, which could be used in combat to temporarily manipulate enemies to fight as an ally. It was especially useful when outnumbered, and was quicker to employ than affect mind in the heat of battle.

Force fear was a dark-side Force power and possibly a dark-side variant on the Jedi mind trick, used around 4000 BBY by Sith and Jedi with dark-side tendencies. The wielder would strike directly at the deepest parts of the target's mind, causing an uncontrollable shaking fear that would wreak havoc with the target's capabilities. Through pure force of will alone, a user could cause them to lose their courage completely, and if left undefended, the effects could be severe, rapidly demoralizing the enemy with a feeling of hopelessness and regret. Depending on the victim, it would caused them to either cower defenselessly or flee from their opponent outright.

Force Fear was classified as a dark-side power because fear was an emotion of the dark side. However, as with many powers, it was the intent behind its use that counted, and Jedi would sometimes use it to defuse a potential dangerous situation.

Force fear had two advanced variants: Force horror and Force insanity. Force horror enabled the Force user to cause multiple enemies to enter into a catatonic state of panic that was more severe and more difficult to defend than the basic Force fear. In similarity, Force insanity also enabled the Force user to affect multiple enemies at once, although to an even greater range than its predecessor. As the most advanced form of Force fear, its effect was much more devastating, with the victims possibly descending into an utter state of frenzied madness and deranged mania as their situation seemed to suddenly become hopeless.

Also known as dominate mind or control mind, mind control was the dark-side equivalent of the Jedi mind trick, though mind control was much more invasive. It took complete control of the mind(s) of the victim(s) affected by the power. Higher levels of mastery allowed more people to be controlled, though its effect on members of certain species with an innate immunity to mind tricks (such as Hutts or Toydarians) is unconfirmed.

Force corrupt or Force corruption was a dark-side ability that could temporarily manipulate the minds of other sentient beings and make them serve one's own cause. During the Galactic Civil War, it was sometimes employed by the Force users of the Galactic Empire, possibly including Mara Jade and Palpatine himself, taking control of enemy soldiers and making them serve the cause of the Empire by attacking other enemy units.

This technique was a variation of the mind trick developed by Daegen Lok where he intruded into another's consciousness and twisted their perception of reality to suit his own ends. Lok's skill with the ability was such that he was able to convince Xesh that he was suffocating, and he convinced Bel Zana's mind that she was on fire to the point where her body exhibited burn marks.

Force illusion was a very powerful Force ability, a subset of the various mind trick powers. The user projected an image into the minds of beings within range, of anything from a pillar of fire to a horde of snarling monsters to a fleet of warships, depending on the range. The user could "see" the illusion as well, though it would be only partially there, semi-transparent like a hologram.

The key differences between a Force illusion and a hologram is that unlike a hologram, the illusion could be controlled mentally and was limited only by the imagination of the user. Even more importantly, a Force illusion did not merely affect the sight of a creature. Since it was projected directly into the brain of the creature, it appeared on all of the creature's senses, from hearing to smell to senses such as echolocation. Even viewing it through an electronic system such as a cybernetic eye or camera was of no use if the creature was within range of the illusion during its duration; the creature would "see" it with the system as if the illusion were actually there, though any playback after the illusion had ended would reveal nothing at all.

Though powerful, it was not without its drawbacks. Chief among them was that it had no effect on any inorganic mind, such as those of droids and other AI, and had a greatly reduced (or almost nonexistent) effect on Force users or Force-resistant species such as Hutts and Yuuzhan Vong. It was also difficult to learn. While Force illusions could make something out of nothing, they couldn't make nothing out of something (in other words, render someone invisible; for that aspect, Force immersion would be used), though they could conceal anything within the illusion. In addition, the illusion offered no physical substance. Though it could be "felt," in most cases, any appendage that touched it would pass straight through, usually betraying its status. Finally, the sustained use of a Force illusion could be taxing, especially at the extreme ranges of the skill (thousands of kilometers, large enough to affect capital-ship combat).

Lumiya used Force illusion on mirrors in her bedroom, to make the reflected people look more attractive than they really were. The Fallanassi, due to their abilities to manipulate the White Current, were capable of creating powerful illusions. However, unlike most Force-sensitives, illusions created through the White Current could be created to be as insubstantial or as real as the user wanted, with the most convincing illusions being indistinguishable visually from a real object. Conversely, Fallanassi illusions could be intentionally insubstantial, so as to trick a sentient into thinking that something that was real wasn't real.[25]

Yarael Poof, being described as a "consummate illusionist," was an adept at Force illusions, and was known to have used them on various occasions. Through the Force, Poof would determine an opponent's innate fears. Based on these fears, he would project images of them to wholesale armies, prompting quick, deliberate ends to battles that would otherwise have erupted into bloodshed. In some ways, this was not unlike the effects of Force fear, albeit a different method.[1]

The dark-side technique for creating illusions, or mindforms, involved conjuring visible, lifelike astral projections of whatever the conjurer desired through the use of Sith magic. The illusions distorted all of an individual's sensory perceptions, and only through concentration on the Force was an individual able to perceive them as being false.

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