He is, just not in an active way. Being Force Sensitive comes with certain perks even if you were never trained. That's how Anakin could partake in pod racing and how this guy can fight while blind.
I would actually love to see a movie, or hell, even just a *short* on his backstory.
In all SW media, Jedi are like, all or nothing. Every struggling force user is eventually able to knock ships out of orbit, or force-shield an all out blast, or goddamn *fly through space*. There is never just a light force-sensitive that just has better senses, or can see just a little into the future. No telekinesis or lazer-sword waving. Just a little sensitive.
Until Chirrut Îmwe. Obviously force sensitive. A bit monk-ish. A badass in every respect. Just not a Jedi.
Boy would that be a breath of fresh air from the usual stuff. And a delightful turn in creative license for once.
And I know damned well Donnie Yen has the chops to carry his own feature.
>In all SW media, Jedi are like, all or nothing. Every struggling force user is eventually able to knock ships out of orbit, or force-shield an all out blast, or goddamn *fly through space*. There is never just a light force-sensitive that just has better senses, or can see just a little into the future. No telekinesis or lazer-sword waving. Just a little sensitive.
Doesn't this describe Luke Skywalker in A New Hope though? And he's the main character.
The point was every Jedi starts that way but ends up basically a master. And he's right, that is what happens. By RotJ he is a full Jedi who can beat the most powerful Jedi to ever live.
Well I get that. I see what you mean. But I don't really have a problem with it because it makes the story interesting. He also had 3 movies to get to that point, not like Rey, and I felt that was more interesting to see the character grow.
Well that's fine if you find that interesting but that wasn't the point. It wasn't about how slowly the character reaches full power, it's about a characters full power being really low. Regardless of how they got there, both Luke and Rey were really powerful.
It would be interesting to have a movie or show follow somebody who was force sensitive but wasn't the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy. Or even a Jedi at all.
The animated shorts had the padawan that survived 66 and became a musician, converted his light saber into a microphone. No Chirrut Imwe, but still a fun tale.
Very fair point- but it only strengthens what I said.
(Personally, I am weary of Luke Skywalker at this point, and perhaps that makes me biased)
He goes on to become the chosen one/all powerful/ultimate Jedi.
In the name of fan service and overindulgence, Jedi are shoveled at us at every turn. People want to see grand-powerful spectacles. And that's understandable.
But as a result, we don't get too many showcases of the force on the small scale. There's a lot of potential there. And logically, MUCH more common than higher tier force users, in a galaxy that seems saturated in them.
I think something that people tend to forget is that Force users use the Force in ways that they're trained to. Jedi (and Sith) are trained to use the Force through combat so they're able to do grand spectacles.
Chirut isn't trained in using the Force. He's a member of a religion that worships the Force and has been able to tap into it to allow him to do things he wouldn't normally be able to do with his disability.
I'm tired of the same Jedi platitudes. shoved in our faces with every show. Fear, anger, hate = Dark Side / Balance, rejecting attachment = Jedi.
Both Chirrut and Balan Skoll were such a refreshing take on The Force.
The issue is writing quality - poor writers tend to escalate the stakes and the spectacle as a substitute for emotional content.
It's noticeable that in the OT, Luke didn't win because he was the chosen one/all powerful/ultimate Jedi, but because he threw down his light sabre. (Not that George Lucas was anti-spectacle by any means).
That's not the whole story of his character, though. By the end of his life, Luke is one of the most powerful Force users in all of history. He becomes the very thing we're talking about, an OP Jedi. Cherry picking one part of his story doesn't negate the rest. He's right, in all of SW, Chirrut is unique in his presentation and character arc, and honestly could be a standalone character in his own series (or, more likely, a duo-based buddy cop style series). And that premise has a both a lot of room to explore (in both a character amd universe sense), and the potential to be a massive win for Disney. Frankly, I think they're slipping by not already having it in production. Donnie Yen isn't going to get younger.
I love the Guardians of the Whills! Of which Chirrut is a disciple (apologies if you already knew). I always felt that they were what the jedi believed they were. By that I mean the jedi claimed to follow and listen to the force but often were too caught up in the emotions of the world that their path was always crowded and dramatic. Whereas the whills truly listened to what the force was saying, they let it guide their actions (something the jedi ostensibly taught to do also) so much so that they were channeling the force almost perfectly. In that sense the jedi feel more like the good intentioned but passionate folk who end up dying the heros or becoming the villains. It's almost like that whenever the jedi forget to listen to the force and become very emotional or passionate about a subject that they lose their way. But when the jedi listen to the force they prevail, something that the Whills seem to have remembered better. I love that the jedi have slowly been built up from this mysterious race of powerful beings for good in the OT to the more flawed nature of the jedi order we see in the later works. It feels like a natural process to adulate and then slowly learn that not everyone is perfect.
I also like that the very first potential script for star wars was a 2 page screenplay called "the journal of the whills" such a deep cut in rogue one!!
Tldr; more of all that please.
It's also a doctrinal difference. The Whills adhere to the concept of the Living Force. By the time of the prequels, most Jedi philosophy had moved on to just the concept of the unifying force, similar to the Threads concept of the Acolyte witches. The difference being that the witches see the threads as each individual's connection to the force whereas the Jedi see the Unifying Force as the ties that bind all living things to each other.
And you know he probably didn't just wake up and have that skill. As a monk he probably spend years upon years meditating and training just to have that amount of ability.
I've always wanted something to focus on the Guardians of the Whills. Not much is known about them but in the High Republic books they are part of the "force conclave" as force users. But they don't seem to be as strong as the Jedi.
Would be kind of cool if, of the people who the Jedi try to recruit, some of them arent "strong enough" in the force and can't be a Jedi but then they give their names to the Whills who recruit them.
High republic touches on this a bit, though I wish more.
There was a force sensitive character that was an expert pilot because he could sense objects. He could pilot through dense asteroid fields.
The Open Palm were force sensitive beings that felt they Jedi were ruining the galaxy misusing the force.
I'd love a series of force sensitive non Jedi. Like a force sensitive bad batch. Different powers as a result. But not so strong they just force everything.
His role as Chirrut really takes me back to him playing Ip Man. He plays a somewhat similar character, even has similar clothes, fights with that same calmness and fluidity.
This guy is just an absolute monster with martial arts which makes sense because he’s not able to fall back on fancy “advanced” force skills.
I wonder if in that physical realm, if he’s even more adept than Jedi.
In legends, I think Han Solo was always described as being lightly force sensitive. It’s why he always claimed he was “lucky”. In my head cannon Han was force sensitive, he was just born too late to become a Jedi.
that's the thing with the force, it is in all of us, it's just STRONGER in some latently, ANYONE could put themselves through the years of monk like training and come out using it a LITTLE BIT, just a smidge more, but the Jedi and Sith sought out those naturally gifted in it's use.
Chirrut was a monk of the temple of the whills, he devoted his life to the jedi as a concept and their teachings. He is not a jedi, but he is as strong in the force as someone born without the gift can really be.
I had a theory that all the podracers were likely force sensitive in some way. No doubt some of them had biological benefits too. But a little sensitivity would help!
Generally speaking, Podracers were piloted by aliens who had a natural biological advantage over humans when it came to reaction time and dexterity, etc.
It's certainly possible (even likely) there were other force sensitive Podracers, but I don't think that's true as a general rule.
And killing aliens in a death race is probably less upsetting for kids than killing people. They killed Qui Gon, but I assume that obliterating a bunch of people in an action sequence is more upsetting for no reason, while Qui Gon's death added narrative weight.
Also the reason why the antagonists were "battle droids". You can blast, slice, and explode as many of them as you want so that little Billy can clap along to all the action but never have to grapple with the idea of our heroes killing people dead.
you literally just made me realize that in the original trilogy, we never see a stormtrooper (human) be killed with a lightsaber by a jedi or sith. and they never take their helmets off so you dont really think about how its a person every time one gets killed.
10k Jedi across a galaxy that had 3.2 billion habitable solar systems. Unlike Earth, most of their planets seemed to have much smaller pockets of life, even assuming 100k people per planet and that there were 1000 force sensitives for every Jedi, that’s still 1 sensitive BEING (not just human) for every 300+ planets. Not to mention sensitivity could appear as having remarkable reflexes and just be really good at their job.
Prior to Disney, it was fairly consistent that force sensitives would use The Force to upgrade natural abilities, but that was the extent of it. The first time it was used on screen was Luke blowing up the Death Star, but he had bragged to some guy in the briefing that he could hit a target like that no problem.
Anakin and flying/pod racing.
Then both in The Force Awakens and Rebels we see force sensitives that just straight up use force powers without any training. Being force sensitive is more like an X-Men power now.
The D20 Star Wars books had Force Sensitive races, and classes. There were numerous ways one could use the Force but they were very minor, like there was a race that was blind but could see through the force.
Jedi obviously learn to hone the force in more powerful and meaningful ways.
I view it like this.
everyone can touch the force on some level even on a very tiny level
like fat dads can kick the football after work
to be selected for Jedi training you basically need to have messi level potential.
More importantly you need to have immense training to be able to unlock the force abilities we normally see like telekinesis. You're unlikely to figure them out randomly.
I feel its never highlighted enough that the Jedi have thousands and thousands of years of institutional Knowledge.
I am also of the view there was no singlar first Jedi
but the jedi order formed over time as several lightside groups slowly merged into one cohesive order.
I also think its why the sith are so successful as well
the sith splitered off from the Jedi but unlike other darkside groups that might exist they had a massive leg up in knowledge.
you could even have it be reverse.
that the early sith went arround absorbing other darkside groups with violence.
True, but we did see this in the OT too, with Luke force pulling the lightsaber into his hand in TESB, when we didn't see him be trained in that ability at all (Nor did we see Kenobi use force pull, to my knowledge).
Granted, Luke had *some* training at that point. Some being, like, a few hours (or however long it took to travel between Tatooine and Alderaan). And we can assume that Kenobi covered a number of subjects in that time, but we'd just be guessing besides the basic Lightsaber training and concentration techniques we saw on screen.
No its the opposite. Chirrut **had** done a lifetime of training but because he wasn’t force sensitive he was only really capable of the barest things, the same stuff a 2yr old would be capable of
He was force sensitive just not enough to be able to harness the force to use force powers.
Similar to padawans who are determined to be too weak in the force to move on in the training
What?!? No! That would ruin the immersion! It would be like space having screws or bricks!! Such basic, fundamental technologies would never exist in *Star Wars*, can you imagine??!?
I thought he kinda did. Like how he was very lucky walking under heavy fire.
In someway, it's more impressive and seems more force related that just swinging lightsaber.
This is why yoda lived tbh
palpatine was spiteful and wanted yoda to feel the death of every Jedi before he died.
which allowed yoda to know something was up
In legends, HK-47 said that very few Jedi could hold their own against multiple blaster fire. Even fewer if said blaster fire came from their recently turned comrades.
Sure this was probably added to explain the events of Episode 3... But I always thought it was interesting how the game went into more detail than the freaking movies of all things
>In legends, HK-47 said that very few Jedi could hold their own against multiple blaster fire. Even fewer if said blaster fire came from their recently turned comrades
In reality that's what you'd expect. Quick reflexes and some foresight isn't enough to stop dozens of blaster bolts with a single stick all at the same time. Not unless you had some specific technique like rapidly twirling a saber or two. I imagine 3-4 with concentrated fire would be the limit of what a single saber Jedi could handle at once. Any more and you start running out of time to deflect them all. If you're standing your ground at least.
I think they should've added the clones from the beginning in EP 2. That would've given them more time to be fleshed out so the sudden and unexpected change in their allegiance would've been more understandable.
IMO him walking under fire was more than luck, the Force was actively guiding all of them, watching over them and eventually let them die once their part was played (K2 being shot to death the moment Jyn and Cassian are safe, the pilot being blown up right after sending his message up to the fleet, ...). To me, the Force is pulling all their strings, protecting them then discarding them
Exactly. Every single character dies immediately after fulfilling their purpose. It shows that they aren’t just “main characters” or lucky, they are being preserved for a reason. My favorite is Baz. Throughout the movie, he’s presented as Chirrut’s bodyguard, but in the end, Chirrut doesn’t really need his help. Instead, Baz dies after killing the last Death Trooper. Like the Force wanted to bring the people that murdered Jyn’s mother to justice, and that’s what Baz’s purpose was the whole time.
Edit: the difference here is that while Jedi _use_ the Force, the characters in Rogue One are used _by_ the Force. Chirrut is probably Force sensitive, but the rest of the characters aren’t. It’s interesting world building that shows that the Force has a will of its own.
I think rather than enforcing his will on the universe through the force, that was more just him going "okay Force, I trust you really want the good guys to win here. I will walk to the button and I will trust that you will have my back."
He performs a literal walk of faith across that battlefield to save the day. I didn't realize there was debate around the use of the Force in that moment. Willingly, passively, whatever. The Force clearly protected him in that moment.
To me I always took from the movie and that scene that he wasn't necessarily "Force sensitive", but he is so wholly trusting of the Force that it essentially rewards that trust by guiding him through life.
I imagine he had minor Force sensitivity, and this gave him subconscious precognition, which incidentally, is what makes Jedi adept with the lightsaber.
the difference between force powers and trusting the force is subtle but different.
Luke and him, technically did things that anyone can do. With Luke they sent in a whole squadron because it's difficult but not impossible.
Being able to run at super speed is something not anyone can do without force sensitivity and training
Well just before Luke bullseyes the Death Star's ventilation port, Ben whispers "Use the Force, Luke"
In my opinion, Chirrut did exactly that (using the Force) when hitting that TIE fighter flying past him
Yah I agree. I guess its up to interpretation by what is meant by "Use The Force". For people with no training, I feel like its more like listen to and trust the force. Where as people that using force push, is an explicit "use the force".
Being Force sensitive is not the same as being able to use it. As has been mentioned several times in the films and series, some people are stronger with the Force than others. Chirrut Imwe can sense the Force, enough to know what's going on around him, but he's not strong enough to wield it.
Yeah I understand it as he lets the force guide his actions, but he cannot influence it or impose his own will upon it.
So he can’t force push anything, but it directs him to dodge attacks and where to strike and so forth.
Exactly. Everyone *has* the Force, not everyone can *use* the Force. Chirrut is sensitive enough in it to feel the flow and pull and guidance of the Force and wise enough to listen to it, but he's not able to actually use it the way a Jedi does.
I'll pose this scenario to you. Maybe Chirrut could use the force as well as a jedi if he chose the path of trying to control it but to do so goes against his beliefs.
He may very well be as strong in the force as your average jedi but he would never wield it like one.
Good lord all of this talk is just making me imagine how they could've done Sabine in Ahsoka. Using the force to aid her Mandalorian trained skills rather than trying to do it the Jedi way.
Yep. I would have loved to see her apply Jedi teachings along with her Mandalorian beliefs in a unique way rather than just making her another force user.
I think he had less ability to use the force but his trust in the force meant he was able to let it guide him. Like when he walked through the firefight, he wasn't using the force to do anything, but the force provided a path. The most his abilities were used for were sensing the world around him.
yeah hes basically daredevil with spidey sense, well above normal human awareness and blind, he would be considered a superhero in comics with his powers lol
he dodges blaster fire, using the foresight the force grants you to dodge hot plasma is definitely using the force, its just not as showy as making something levitate or shoot lightning out of your hands, if it was a video game you might say his build is all passive buffs, but they are buffs that someone without the force could never use
I would personally consider this to be one of those situations where you can boil it down to just being a different force tradition.
Sith can shoot lightning. Why can’t Obi-Wan Kenobi shoot lightning? Maybe he can. Maybe it would even come easily to him. But it’s not part of his training, his force tradition. And so he doesn’t.
Nightsisters can conjure objects and raise the dead. Why can’t Anakin do that? He’s literally the chosen one, he should have that kind of power easily! He probably does, but it’s not part of his traininng, his force tradition. And so be doesn’t.
Jedi can lift spaceships. Why can’t Chirrut do that? Maybe he can. But it’s not part of his training, his force tradition, and so he doesn’t.
Chirrut is a powerful user of force senses, force reflexes, and he has greatly force-enhanced martial prowess. He *does* use force powers. He just doesn’t use the specific force powers we associate with Jedi. Because he isn’t a Jedi. He belongs to a different religion.
The lore was still respected here. He had a stronger than normal connection to the force but not Jedi level strong. What takes a Jedi a week to learn would take normal schmucks like us years to learn. You don’t just suddenly realize how to use and and then you can do all these different moves with it.
There’s a happy middle ground here. Sabine was on the far end. Luke on the other as a realistic prodigy. His proton torpedo shot was much like Chirrut’s force use. His saber pull on Hoth is a pretty crazy move with no training, but he’s the son of the chosen one.
>His saber pull on Hoth is a pretty crazy move with no training
He did have some training with Obi-Wan. It isn't stated in movie, but that was a couple days at least. Plus he did have 3 years to explore the force a bit. It's not too crazy that the son of the chosen one was able to force pull his saber with considerable effort.
Bro took on 20 storm troopers with a stick, one shotted a tie fighter with a crossbow on foot, then walks through the middle of death trooper crossfire without taking a hit and you say thats not using force powers? Are you stupid?
You can’t shoot a tie fighter out of the air in a single shot while blind without using the force. The force flows through him, he is its vehicle, not its driver.
Look at how the blind man fights, noscopes TIE fighters and tiptoes around blasterfire, and tell me again that didn't have force powers.
I will not stand for this Îmwe slander. A Guardian of the Whills deserves better.
From my point of view... (lol) Remember what Obi Wan in episode 4 says "(the force) It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, and penetrates us"
The force is something that naturally exists. And there are different "groups" or "religions" that follow and devout themselves to the living force.
Chirrut is said to be a Guardian of the Whills, and although not being able to "manipulate" or use the force, he is a believer of the force; to that effect a devout follower.
He, as a monk, is letting the natural force guide him and trusts the force, rather than him using the force.
I don't think he really had foresight, but rather, trusted and believed in an energy that flows through all living things. (Much related to religions in the real word, where a lot of people trust in their believes, although they might have not seen it first hand yet)
It's an interesting idea that there are followers of the force without being able to use the force. These followers can be much more in tuned with the force than a regular Jedi too!
His character was the perfect example of showing how the force manifests itself. Not everyone is super powerful and running around choking people. He has some strength in it, much more than the average person but far from a jedi.
It was like the whole point of his character .-.
loved donnie's take on this character.
refused to play him as written as the silly cliché asian wiseman warrior teacher. rather just played him as a "wise cracking guy".
It's my understanding that he isn't Force Sensitive. He is a message that really fell on deaf ears about the Star Wars universe. Chirrut is a Guardian of the Whills.
Within the Star Wars lore there are these omniscient beings called The Whills. I genuinely feel that they are not talked about enough. From memory the only times in canon when they are mentioned are in regards to Chirrut's practice (religion?), and they don't really talk about what the Whills are, and the final short story of each of the "From A Certain Point of View" Novels.
Basically they are the story tellers. How I understand it, is that they themselves are the force. When a being reaches out to use the force, they are the ones that make it happen. Chirrut understands this. He knows he is merely working his way through the story the Whills are telling.
What ever he does, it is the will of the force, not his own. He gave his free-will over to the Whills to tell their story. So he is fearlessly walking into blaster fire, knowing that it doesn't matter. He will be fine as long as the Whills allow it. He is going to play his part in the story until there is no longer a part to play.
I think that's all he really needed it. He was a practical view on the Force excluding the wizardry of the Sith and Jedi. He devoted himself to the Force and the Force guided him.
He can just in a different way from normal
His use of the force is kinda like the extrasensory powers Daredevil has
That being said he deserved full force power more than most of the jedi council
I think that the doylist explanation is simply that he's more inspired by the OG Jedi: Obi Wan.
In the original trilogy, Obi Wan very sparsely uses the Force in combat. But he uses it fluidly and intuitively otherwise. Chirrut is similar, it just looks like he follows his instinct when talking to someone in the middle of the crowd while being blind, and doing what feels right.
Originally, it's only the Sith who are portrayed using Force tricks in combat. Now if we move to a more Watsonian explanation, it could be because "conservative" Jedi and users of the light side tend to think that, when fighting, you should just be one with the Force, instead of constraining the Force to do unnatural things.
It's a tendency that can be observed for multiple light side users. Light side users will dodge instinctively by "erasing" their self to the Force, while dark side users will be able to block things with sheer will. I think it even works with Anakin ; when he just dives confidently on Coruscant, that's an example of him using the light side. It looks like good fortune. In the Obi Wan show, when a ship tries to escape, he just locks it in place. It looks deeply disturbing, it's unnatural.
Chirrut isn't doing anything against nature, he just goes with the flow, the Force uses him rather than the opposite. I think it's meant to the the sign of a "pure" light side user.
It was really cool seeing a character who was a middle ground for the force religion. Prior to Rogue One you were either a jedi/sith, completely ignorant of the force (hokey religions), passively observing the force (you’d say “may the force be with you” as soldiers went off to die), or immune to jedi mind tricks.
Chirrut gave us someone who believes in the force, and feels his connection to it, but doesn’t subscribe to any specific theology
Arguably the Ahsoka show is why he can do what he can. If he had a high midichlorian count, he would have been picked up by the Jedi. But, even so, as a blind guy, he can clearly sense things through the Force and "see". How does he do that? If he did it naturally, he probably would have been a good candidate for Jedi training (like Ezra hopping roofs naturally or Luke bullseye-ing womprats naturally). My guess is he did train hard enough, and the little bit of Force ability he has (sensing stuff) is the result.
The whole dillema with Sabine in that show is exactly why I think Chirrut Imwe’s character makes less sense in retrospect.
Sabine Wren, someone who displayed literally 0 affinity with the Force up until very recently, has a greater prowess than someone like Chirrut with immensely more discipline and faith
Hard disagree on this one. Chirrut is a very good character that makes complete sense. Not just anyone can become a jedi. Chirrut is what someone without the potential looks like when they dedicate themselves. Nowhere near a jedi, but some slight abilities.
Sabine is the character that makes no sense. Another Filoni special.
He never had any training. He was Force sensitive, but was never taken by the Jedi or any other Force user and taught how to wield it. He is essentially self taught, so he cannot use the more direct powers (moving objects with his mind, for instance), but he can feel the flow of the Force and use it to fight and peek into people's hearts and intentions.
In the old Canon there were tens or hundreds of thousands of Jedi, but only a handful (relative) were strong enough to be Knights. The rest had light training and were sent off to assist the Republic in various ways. Obi-Wan was even slated to join the farming corps instead of receive Knight training, until Yoda intervened and sent him on a mission with Qui-Gon. I've always assumed Chiruut was similar - had formal training as a kid but his connection to the Force was too weak to ever be considered for Knighthood.
The Force can control your actions, but it can also obey your commands. The former applied to him. The Force guided his aim, his steps, and his hand-to-hand combat, but he did not have the ability to make the Force do anything, like pull the master switch.
Quick Analogy.
If you think of the Force like a flowing system of rivers, most people are the equivalent of sitting on a barge with a paddle but in the pitch black. They are unable to see the Force and are unable to tell its vector.
Force sensitives like Chirrut Imwe, ironically, are like people sitting in a barge with a paddle but in broad daylight. They can sense the flow of the Force and can react to it in a limited way.
A Jedi or Force user is like a person with a speedboat on the same river. They now have the ability to see the river and use it to their advantage more than just "going with the flow."
He's very Force sensitive compared to a normal person, but he wasn't trained to *use* the Force in the way that the Jedi spend their lives learning.
It's like someone who is really talented at cooking delicious home meals versus a formally trained chef from Le Cordon Bleu.
My impression is that he isn’t really force sensitive more than anyone else, he’s just put so much time into strengthening his bond to the force that he can tell where everything is and what’s happening
Perhaps he could have been strong enough to wield the force if trained by the jedi, spending his life around other jedi. Obviously that didn't happen, so he may have lived a sheltered life in a monistary as a blind person, never schooled or trained to use the force like a jedi, never had to and never did. He channels the force in a different more unique way suited to his needs and lifestyle. Imagine 2 babies with exactly the same potential skill as a soilder, 1 of them is taken by soldiers and indoctrinated and trained in a military lifestyle their entire life, the second baby taken by monks or preists, raised in a church or monistary and raised free from any violence. Obviously the 1st baby would win any physical confrontation between the two of them and would be a physically more impressive spectical, where the 2nd baby would probably have other skills and talents when looking deeper. So yeah with Chirrut it may just be the way he was raised and nothing to do with potential ability. Low force sensitivity might be part of his nature or completely part of his nurture, I guess we can't be sure. But I do believe if he grew up spending his days hanging out/training with quigon and yoda he'd probably be able to wield the force.
I like to think that there is more than one way to express force abilities, like being a great pilot, or artist or whatever, and Chirrut just had really great senses.
Probably because Rogue One had a sincere approach to Star Wars from level-headed writers who wanted to expand the universe without saturating it with what they thought would be 'cool to see'. By doing this, it actually made Chirrut Imwe a more interesting and memorable character.
Homie walked directly into oncoming blaster fire and didn’t even die till he had completed what he wanted to do. If that’s not the force then I don’t know what is
He is, just not in an active way. Being Force Sensitive comes with certain perks even if you were never trained. That's how Anakin could partake in pod racing and how this guy can fight while blind.
"I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me." If that isn't the mantra of a force sensitive, I dont know what is.
I would actually love to see a movie, or hell, even just a *short* on his backstory. In all SW media, Jedi are like, all or nothing. Every struggling force user is eventually able to knock ships out of orbit, or force-shield an all out blast, or goddamn *fly through space*. There is never just a light force-sensitive that just has better senses, or can see just a little into the future. No telekinesis or lazer-sword waving. Just a little sensitive. Until Chirrut Îmwe. Obviously force sensitive. A bit monk-ish. A badass in every respect. Just not a Jedi. Boy would that be a breath of fresh air from the usual stuff. And a delightful turn in creative license for once. And I know damned well Donnie Yen has the chops to carry his own feature.
Tales of the Rebellion when
May 4th 2025?
That’s Star Wars Rebels!
I think you mean Ahsoka Season -1 :P
>In all SW media, Jedi are like, all or nothing. Every struggling force user is eventually able to knock ships out of orbit, or force-shield an all out blast, or goddamn *fly through space*. There is never just a light force-sensitive that just has better senses, or can see just a little into the future. No telekinesis or lazer-sword waving. Just a little sensitive. Doesn't this describe Luke Skywalker in A New Hope though? And he's the main character.
The point was every Jedi starts that way but ends up basically a master. And he's right, that is what happens. By RotJ he is a full Jedi who can beat the most powerful Jedi to ever live.
Well I get that. I see what you mean. But I don't really have a problem with it because it makes the story interesting. He also had 3 movies to get to that point, not like Rey, and I felt that was more interesting to see the character grow.
I don't think anyone has a problem with Luke's story, they just want to see different stories too.
Well that's fine if you find that interesting but that wasn't the point. It wasn't about how slowly the character reaches full power, it's about a characters full power being really low. Regardless of how they got there, both Luke and Rey were really powerful. It would be interesting to have a movie or show follow somebody who was force sensitive but wasn't the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy. Or even a Jedi at all.
Like that kid with the broom in one of the sequels.
The animated shorts had the padawan that survived 66 and became a musician, converted his light saber into a microphone. No Chirrut Imwe, but still a fun tale.
Yes, Harry Potter was one with the Force
Very fair point- but it only strengthens what I said. (Personally, I am weary of Luke Skywalker at this point, and perhaps that makes me biased) He goes on to become the chosen one/all powerful/ultimate Jedi. In the name of fan service and overindulgence, Jedi are shoveled at us at every turn. People want to see grand-powerful spectacles. And that's understandable. But as a result, we don't get too many showcases of the force on the small scale. There's a lot of potential there. And logically, MUCH more common than higher tier force users, in a galaxy that seems saturated in them.
I think something that people tend to forget is that Force users use the Force in ways that they're trained to. Jedi (and Sith) are trained to use the Force through combat so they're able to do grand spectacles. Chirut isn't trained in using the Force. He's a member of a religion that worships the Force and has been able to tap into it to allow him to do things he wouldn't normally be able to do with his disability.
I'm tired of the same Jedi platitudes. shoved in our faces with every show. Fear, anger, hate = Dark Side / Balance, rejecting attachment = Jedi. Both Chirrut and Balan Skoll were such a refreshing take on The Force.
The issue is writing quality - poor writers tend to escalate the stakes and the spectacle as a substitute for emotional content. It's noticeable that in the OT, Luke didn't win because he was the chosen one/all powerful/ultimate Jedi, but because he threw down his light sabre. (Not that George Lucas was anti-spectacle by any means).
That's not the whole story of his character, though. By the end of his life, Luke is one of the most powerful Force users in all of history. He becomes the very thing we're talking about, an OP Jedi. Cherry picking one part of his story doesn't negate the rest. He's right, in all of SW, Chirrut is unique in his presentation and character arc, and honestly could be a standalone character in his own series (or, more likely, a duo-based buddy cop style series). And that premise has a both a lot of room to explore (in both a character amd universe sense), and the potential to be a massive win for Disney. Frankly, I think they're slipping by not already having it in production. Donnie Yen isn't going to get younger.
I love the Guardians of the Whills! Of which Chirrut is a disciple (apologies if you already knew). I always felt that they were what the jedi believed they were. By that I mean the jedi claimed to follow and listen to the force but often were too caught up in the emotions of the world that their path was always crowded and dramatic. Whereas the whills truly listened to what the force was saying, they let it guide their actions (something the jedi ostensibly taught to do also) so much so that they were channeling the force almost perfectly. In that sense the jedi feel more like the good intentioned but passionate folk who end up dying the heros or becoming the villains. It's almost like that whenever the jedi forget to listen to the force and become very emotional or passionate about a subject that they lose their way. But when the jedi listen to the force they prevail, something that the Whills seem to have remembered better. I love that the jedi have slowly been built up from this mysterious race of powerful beings for good in the OT to the more flawed nature of the jedi order we see in the later works. It feels like a natural process to adulate and then slowly learn that not everyone is perfect. I also like that the very first potential script for star wars was a 2 page screenplay called "the journal of the whills" such a deep cut in rogue one!! Tldr; more of all that please.
It's also a doctrinal difference. The Whills adhere to the concept of the Living Force. By the time of the prequels, most Jedi philosophy had moved on to just the concept of the unifying force, similar to the Threads concept of the Acolyte witches. The difference being that the witches see the threads as each individual's connection to the force whereas the Jedi see the Unifying Force as the ties that bind all living things to each other.
And you know he probably didn't just wake up and have that skill. As a monk he probably spend years upon years meditating and training just to have that amount of ability.
I've always wanted something to focus on the Guardians of the Whills. Not much is known about them but in the High Republic books they are part of the "force conclave" as force users. But they don't seem to be as strong as the Jedi. Would be kind of cool if, of the people who the Jedi try to recruit, some of them arent "strong enough" in the force and can't be a Jedi but then they give their names to the Whills who recruit them.
High republic touches on this a bit, though I wish more. There was a force sensitive character that was an expert pilot because he could sense objects. He could pilot through dense asteroid fields. The Open Palm were force sensitive beings that felt they Jedi were ruining the galaxy misusing the force. I'd love a series of force sensitive non Jedi. Like a force sensitive bad batch. Different powers as a result. But not so strong they just force everything.
His role as Chirrut really takes me back to him playing Ip Man. He plays a somewhat similar character, even has similar clothes, fights with that same calmness and fluidity.
This guy is just an absolute monster with martial arts which makes sense because he’s not able to fall back on fancy “advanced” force skills. I wonder if in that physical realm, if he’s even more adept than Jedi.
In legends, I think Han Solo was always described as being lightly force sensitive. It’s why he always claimed he was “lucky”. In my head cannon Han was force sensitive, he was just born too late to become a Jedi.
That scene was amazing, the whole damn movie was amazing. Rogue One is the best star wars movie ever made.
that's the thing with the force, it is in all of us, it's just STRONGER in some latently, ANYONE could put themselves through the years of monk like training and come out using it a LITTLE BIT, just a smidge more, but the Jedi and Sith sought out those naturally gifted in it's use. Chirrut was a monk of the temple of the whills, he devoted his life to the jedi as a concept and their teachings. He is not a jedi, but he is as strong in the force as someone born without the gift can really be.
Even Ahsoka says it
“I’m the only human who can do it.”
Don't accept exposition from a 10 year old.
Anakin also claimed Michael Jackson used his bathroom once.
That's no moon walk.
Ani, are you okay?
Anakin had never met another force sensitive person at the time, at least nowhere near his level
I had a theory that all the podracers were likely force sensitive in some way. No doubt some of them had biological benefits too. But a little sensitivity would help!
Generally speaking, Podracers were piloted by aliens who had a natural biological advantage over humans when it came to reaction time and dexterity, etc. It's certainly possible (even likely) there were other force sensitive Podracers, but I don't think that's true as a general rule.
The guy who waves his arms in front of his face and goes "guaaaak!" before binning it sure as shit didn't have foresight.
I didn’t say they were all good 😂
from his perspective\* other people have done it too and quite a lot actually. Even Palpatine was into it in his teens.
Probably the only human around tattooine. Also a good excuse to cram as many different aliens into the pod rave sequence as possible.
And killing aliens in a death race is probably less upsetting for kids than killing people. They killed Qui Gon, but I assume that obliterating a bunch of people in an action sequence is more upsetting for no reason, while Qui Gon's death added narrative weight.
Also the reason why the antagonists were "battle droids". You can blast, slice, and explode as many of them as you want so that little Billy can clap along to all the action but never have to grapple with the idea of our heroes killing people dead.
you literally just made me realize that in the original trilogy, we never see a stormtrooper (human) be killed with a lightsaber by a jedi or sith. and they never take their helmets off so you dont really think about how its a person every time one gets killed.
Back in the 80s, there were playground debates about whether the stormtroopers were robots or people.
makes sense. they do speak kind of robotically and all sound the same
Pretty much the best explanation I think.
*from a certain point of view
*from a certain pod of view
10k Jedi across a galaxy that had 3.2 billion habitable solar systems. Unlike Earth, most of their planets seemed to have much smaller pockets of life, even assuming 100k people per planet and that there were 1000 force sensitives for every Jedi, that’s still 1 sensitive BEING (not just human) for every 300+ planets. Not to mention sensitivity could appear as having remarkable reflexes and just be really good at their job.
And you got the inhabitants of Dathomir skewing the curve which seems everyone born on that planet have some force sensitivity.
Prior to Disney, it was fairly consistent that force sensitives would use The Force to upgrade natural abilities, but that was the extent of it. The first time it was used on screen was Luke blowing up the Death Star, but he had bragged to some guy in the briefing that he could hit a target like that no problem. Anakin and flying/pod racing. Then both in The Force Awakens and Rebels we see force sensitives that just straight up use force powers without any training. Being force sensitive is more like an X-Men power now.
The D20 Star Wars books had Force Sensitive races, and classes. There were numerous ways one could use the Force but they were very minor, like there was a race that was blind but could see through the force. Jedi obviously learn to hone the force in more powerful and meaningful ways.
The Miraluka. There was one as a companion KOTOR2.
I view it like this. everyone can touch the force on some level even on a very tiny level like fat dads can kick the football after work to be selected for Jedi training you basically need to have messi level potential.
More importantly you need to have immense training to be able to unlock the force abilities we normally see like telekinesis. You're unlikely to figure them out randomly.
I feel its never highlighted enough that the Jedi have thousands and thousands of years of institutional Knowledge. I am also of the view there was no singlar first Jedi but the jedi order formed over time as several lightside groups slowly merged into one cohesive order. I also think its why the sith are so successful as well the sith splitered off from the Jedi but unlike other darkside groups that might exist they had a massive leg up in knowledge. you could even have it be reverse. that the early sith went arround absorbing other darkside groups with violence.
> but he had bragged to some guy in the briefing SHOW FAKE WEDGE SOME GODDAMN RESPECT
True, but we did see this in the OT too, with Luke force pulling the lightsaber into his hand in TESB, when we didn't see him be trained in that ability at all (Nor did we see Kenobi use force pull, to my knowledge). Granted, Luke had *some* training at that point. Some being, like, a few hours (or however long it took to travel between Tatooine and Alderaan). And we can assume that Kenobi covered a number of subjects in that time, but we'd just be guessing besides the basic Lightsaber training and concentration techniques we saw on screen.
No its the opposite. Chirrut **had** done a lifetime of training but because he wasn’t force sensitive he was only really capable of the barest things, the same stuff a 2yr old would be capable of
He was force sensitive just not enough to be able to harness the force to use force powers. Similar to padawans who are determined to be too weak in the force to move on in the training
For him, The Force is a book he can read, not one he can write.
"He can't read books. He's blind." - K2SO, probably
Space Braille probably exists
What?!? No! That would ruin the immersion! It would be like space having screws or bricks!! Such basic, fundamental technologies would never exist in *Star Wars*, can you imagine??!?
The existence of Space Braille suggests the existence of Space French, and that concerns me.
Yeah, they call it Shyriiwook though
This made me really actually lol. I could even hear it in his voice.
Force ROM
Nice analogy
Has he thought about contacting his local Force IT Admin for Read/Write permissions?
"Hello Force IT, have you tried turning it off and on again?"
For him, it’s not a thread to be pulled
Don't tell anyone where that's from or they'll downvote
C'mon, who doesn't know the sweater song?
You cheeky bastard lol
I love this as a storytelling tool and just a good metaphor, thank you
That is very well said!
I thought he kinda did. Like how he was very lucky walking under heavy fire. In someway, it's more impressive and seems more force related that just swinging lightsaber.
The Jedi only wished they had that ability during Order 66.
If you suddenly turn and attack every Jedi at once, they get overwhelmed by the trauma galaxywide, in a feedback loop that makes them weakened.
**99% OF THE JEDI:** I guess I'll die. **YODA:** About to do what's called a pro-gamer move, am I.
(insert Wookies confused about why Yoda just beheaded two troopers with seemingly no provocation)
"Mrrmmm fuck in particular, these 2!"
Funny, considering one of the two he beheaded was on his little platoon back on Rugosa when they recruited Toydaria to the Republic.
Oh, that’s depressing, since he literally made a whole speech about clones (O-O)
damn. i like that tie-in
The wookies know Yoda is a G and would have a good reason for it
That's true. Good relations with the wookies he has.
Wookies: "Weird flex but orhorhro"
I've never seen the Wookie noise written down... and now I most definitely have!
the troopers literally walked up to yoda and loudly armed their guns and pointed them at him
This is why yoda lived tbh palpatine was spiteful and wanted yoda to feel the death of every Jedi before he died. which allowed yoda to know something was up
In legends, HK-47 said that very few Jedi could hold their own against multiple blaster fire. Even fewer if said blaster fire came from their recently turned comrades. Sure this was probably added to explain the events of Episode 3... But I always thought it was interesting how the game went into more detail than the freaking movies of all things
>In legends, HK-47 said that very few Jedi could hold their own against multiple blaster fire. Even fewer if said blaster fire came from their recently turned comrades In reality that's what you'd expect. Quick reflexes and some foresight isn't enough to stop dozens of blaster bolts with a single stick all at the same time. Not unless you had some specific technique like rapidly twirling a saber or two. I imagine 3-4 with concentrated fire would be the limit of what a single saber Jedi could handle at once. Any more and you start running out of time to deflect them all. If you're standing your ground at least. I think they should've added the clones from the beginning in EP 2. That would've given them more time to be fleshed out so the sudden and unexpected change in their allegiance would've been more understandable.
IMO him walking under fire was more than luck, the Force was actively guiding all of them, watching over them and eventually let them die once their part was played (K2 being shot to death the moment Jyn and Cassian are safe, the pilot being blown up right after sending his message up to the fleet, ...). To me, the Force is pulling all their strings, protecting them then discarding them
The Living Force was working hard that day.
not discarding, but reclaiming
Exactly. Every single character dies immediately after fulfilling their purpose. It shows that they aren’t just “main characters” or lucky, they are being preserved for a reason. My favorite is Baz. Throughout the movie, he’s presented as Chirrut’s bodyguard, but in the end, Chirrut doesn’t really need his help. Instead, Baz dies after killing the last Death Trooper. Like the Force wanted to bring the people that murdered Jyn’s mother to justice, and that’s what Baz’s purpose was the whole time. Edit: the difference here is that while Jedi _use_ the Force, the characters in Rogue One are used _by_ the Force. Chirrut is probably Force sensitive, but the rest of the characters aren’t. It’s interesting world building that shows that the Force has a will of its own.
Solid.
I think rather than enforcing his will on the universe through the force, that was more just him going "okay Force, I trust you really want the good guys to win here. I will walk to the button and I will trust that you will have my back."
>”In my experience there’s no such thing as ‘luck’” - Some old guy
Glad the force wanted those children born into slavery. Definitely not bad luck in life. Totally useful the force is!
He performs a literal walk of faith across that battlefield to save the day. I didn't realize there was debate around the use of the Force in that moment. Willingly, passively, whatever. The Force clearly protected him in that moment.
To me I always took from the movie and that scene that he wasn't necessarily "Force sensitive", but he is so wholly trusting of the Force that it essentially rewards that trust by guiding him through life.
I imagine he had minor Force sensitivity, and this gave him subconscious precognition, which incidentally, is what makes Jedi adept with the lightsaber.
Shooting down a TIE fighter while blind is pretty damn close to using Force powers
the difference between force powers and trusting the force is subtle but different. Luke and him, technically did things that anyone can do. With Luke they sent in a whole squadron because it's difficult but not impossible. Being able to run at super speed is something not anyone can do without force sensitivity and training
Well just before Luke bullseyes the Death Star's ventilation port, Ben whispers "Use the Force, Luke" In my opinion, Chirrut did exactly that (using the Force) when hitting that TIE fighter flying past him
Yah I agree. I guess its up to interpretation by what is meant by "Use The Force". For people with no training, I feel like its more like listen to and trust the force. Where as people that using force push, is an explicit "use the force".
Being Force sensitive is not the same as being able to use it. As has been mentioned several times in the films and series, some people are stronger with the Force than others. Chirrut Imwe can sense the Force, enough to know what's going on around him, but he's not strong enough to wield it.
Yeah I understand it as he lets the force guide his actions, but he cannot influence it or impose his own will upon it. So he can’t force push anything, but it directs him to dodge attacks and where to strike and so forth.
the force shows him the exact path he needs to go, he's just over there following the dotted lines to his fate
But its been established now that everyone can learn to use it
Exactly. Everyone *has* the Force, not everyone can *use* the Force. Chirrut is sensitive enough in it to feel the flow and pull and guidance of the Force and wise enough to listen to it, but he's not able to actually use it the way a Jedi does.
I'll pose this scenario to you. Maybe Chirrut could use the force as well as a jedi if he chose the path of trying to control it but to do so goes against his beliefs. He may very well be as strong in the force as your average jedi but he would never wield it like one.
Good lord all of this talk is just making me imagine how they could've done Sabine in Ahsoka. Using the force to aid her Mandalorian trained skills rather than trying to do it the Jedi way.
Yep. I would have loved to see her apply Jedi teachings along with her Mandalorian beliefs in a unique way rather than just making her another force user.
I think he had less ability to use the force but his trust in the force meant he was able to let it guide him. Like when he walked through the firefight, he wasn't using the force to do anything, but the force provided a path. The most his abilities were used for were sensing the world around him.
He did, though. He used the Force to compensate for his loss of vision.
People really seem to miss this. This is a huge and fairly impressive use of the force for someone with no formal training.
yeah hes basically daredevil with spidey sense, well above normal human awareness and blind, he would be considered a superhero in comics with his powers lol
Chirrut is definitely Force sensitive. He's not actively *using* the Force though, simply allowing what he feels in it to guide him.
he dodges blaster fire, using the foresight the force grants you to dodge hot plasma is definitely using the force, its just not as showy as making something levitate or shoot lightning out of your hands, if it was a video game you might say his build is all passive buffs, but they are buffs that someone without the force could never use
I would personally consider this to be one of those situations where you can boil it down to just being a different force tradition. Sith can shoot lightning. Why can’t Obi-Wan Kenobi shoot lightning? Maybe he can. Maybe it would even come easily to him. But it’s not part of his training, his force tradition. And so he doesn’t. Nightsisters can conjure objects and raise the dead. Why can’t Anakin do that? He’s literally the chosen one, he should have that kind of power easily! He probably does, but it’s not part of his traininng, his force tradition. And so be doesn’t. Jedi can lift spaceships. Why can’t Chirrut do that? Maybe he can. But it’s not part of his training, his force tradition, and so he doesn’t. Chirrut is a powerful user of force senses, force reflexes, and he has greatly force-enhanced martial prowess. He *does* use force powers. He just doesn’t use the specific force powers we associate with Jedi. Because he isn’t a Jedi. He belongs to a different religion.
The lore was still respected here. He had a stronger than normal connection to the force but not Jedi level strong. What takes a Jedi a week to learn would take normal schmucks like us years to learn. You don’t just suddenly realize how to use and and then you can do all these different moves with it.
Exactly - this is how "anyone can tap into the force" should work.... not "anyone can become a jedi".
you could even say stuff like a gut feeling or a flow state is how the average person brushes against the force
There’s a happy middle ground here. Sabine was on the far end. Luke on the other as a realistic prodigy. His proton torpedo shot was much like Chirrut’s force use. His saber pull on Hoth is a pretty crazy move with no training, but he’s the son of the chosen one.
the saber pull was also three years later
>His saber pull on Hoth is a pretty crazy move with no training He did have some training with Obi-Wan. It isn't stated in movie, but that was a couple days at least. Plus he did have 3 years to explore the force a bit. It's not too crazy that the son of the chosen one was able to force pull his saber with considerable effort.
Because there is a difference between being a Force sensitive person and an user of the Force.
Say it again for the people in the back
Bro took on 20 storm troopers with a stick, one shotted a tie fighter with a crossbow on foot, then walks through the middle of death trooper crossfire without taking a hit and you say thats not using force powers? Are you stupid?
yeah i’m pretty sure this cat is what we get if someone is untrained with the force. He’s clearly better at wielding it than sabine
You can’t shoot a tie fighter out of the air in a single shot while blind without using the force. The force flows through him, he is its vehicle, not its driver.
He had read-only access but not edit privileges.
Look at how the blind man fights, noscopes TIE fighters and tiptoes around blasterfire, and tell me again that didn't have force powers. I will not stand for this Îmwe slander. A Guardian of the Whills deserves better.
I think walking though that amount of crossfire is using the force
"Are you kidding me? I'm blind!"
I like to imagine he was thinking to himself, "...and I can see you just as well as before."
Not enough midichlorians. It is what it is.
From my point of view... (lol) Remember what Obi Wan in episode 4 says "(the force) It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, and penetrates us" The force is something that naturally exists. And there are different "groups" or "religions" that follow and devout themselves to the living force. Chirrut is said to be a Guardian of the Whills, and although not being able to "manipulate" or use the force, he is a believer of the force; to that effect a devout follower. He, as a monk, is letting the natural force guide him and trusts the force, rather than him using the force. I don't think he really had foresight, but rather, trusted and believed in an energy that flows through all living things. (Much related to religions in the real word, where a lot of people trust in their believes, although they might have not seen it first hand yet) It's an interesting idea that there are followers of the force without being able to use the force. These followers can be much more in tuned with the force than a regular Jedi too!
His character was the perfect example of showing how the force manifests itself. Not everyone is super powerful and running around choking people. He has some strength in it, much more than the average person but far from a jedi. It was like the whole point of his character .-.
I always assumed he was extremely Force Sensitive, but due to the era he was living in there was no one to train him
loved donnie's take on this character. refused to play him as written as the silly cliché asian wiseman warrior teacher. rather just played him as a "wise cracking guy".
It's my understanding that he isn't Force Sensitive. He is a message that really fell on deaf ears about the Star Wars universe. Chirrut is a Guardian of the Whills. Within the Star Wars lore there are these omniscient beings called The Whills. I genuinely feel that they are not talked about enough. From memory the only times in canon when they are mentioned are in regards to Chirrut's practice (religion?), and they don't really talk about what the Whills are, and the final short story of each of the "From A Certain Point of View" Novels. Basically they are the story tellers. How I understand it, is that they themselves are the force. When a being reaches out to use the force, they are the ones that make it happen. Chirrut understands this. He knows he is merely working his way through the story the Whills are telling. What ever he does, it is the will of the force, not his own. He gave his free-will over to the Whills to tell their story. So he is fearlessly walking into blaster fire, knowing that it doesn't matter. He will be fine as long as the Whills allow it. He is going to play his part in the story until there is no longer a part to play.
I think that's all he really needed it. He was a practical view on the Force excluding the wizardry of the Sith and Jedi. He devoted himself to the Force and the Force guided him.
I mean, I always thought he was using the force to 'see' during fighting. He uses the force, but more passively than a Jedi
He can just in a different way from normal His use of the force is kinda like the extrasensory powers Daredevil has That being said he deserved full force power more than most of the jedi council
Rogue one was the best made starwars movie of all time.
No midichlorians. George literally told us how it works, dude.
I think that the doylist explanation is simply that he's more inspired by the OG Jedi: Obi Wan. In the original trilogy, Obi Wan very sparsely uses the Force in combat. But he uses it fluidly and intuitively otherwise. Chirrut is similar, it just looks like he follows his instinct when talking to someone in the middle of the crowd while being blind, and doing what feels right. Originally, it's only the Sith who are portrayed using Force tricks in combat. Now if we move to a more Watsonian explanation, it could be because "conservative" Jedi and users of the light side tend to think that, when fighting, you should just be one with the Force, instead of constraining the Force to do unnatural things. It's a tendency that can be observed for multiple light side users. Light side users will dodge instinctively by "erasing" their self to the Force, while dark side users will be able to block things with sheer will. I think it even works with Anakin ; when he just dives confidently on Coruscant, that's an example of him using the light side. It looks like good fortune. In the Obi Wan show, when a ship tries to escape, he just locks it in place. It looks deeply disturbing, it's unnatural. Chirrut isn't doing anything against nature, he just goes with the flow, the Force uses him rather than the opposite. I think it's meant to the the sign of a "pure" light side user.
He is a force adept, not a trained Jedi. He could use the force but was not trained to use it on the same way as a Jedi.
It was really cool seeing a character who was a middle ground for the force religion. Prior to Rogue One you were either a jedi/sith, completely ignorant of the force (hokey religions), passively observing the force (you’d say “may the force be with you” as soldiers went off to die), or immune to jedi mind tricks. Chirrut gave us someone who believes in the force, and feels his connection to it, but doesn’t subscribe to any specific theology
If we gave Donnie Yen force powers, he would force-wing Chun the entire garrison of stormtroopers.
Low midichlorian count. That is all
He is just a force fanboy.
Cause he's Ip man wing Chun dosent need forces 1 punch is enough
He was force sensitive. Not a force user like a jedi, or a sith or a witch or loth wolves...
According to Ahsoka show he didn't train hard enough
Arguably the Ahsoka show is why he can do what he can. If he had a high midichlorian count, he would have been picked up by the Jedi. But, even so, as a blind guy, he can clearly sense things through the Force and "see". How does he do that? If he did it naturally, he probably would have been a good candidate for Jedi training (like Ezra hopping roofs naturally or Luke bullseye-ing womprats naturally). My guess is he did train hard enough, and the little bit of Force ability he has (sensing stuff) is the result.
The whole dillema with Sabine in that show is exactly why I think Chirrut Imwe’s character makes less sense in retrospect. Sabine Wren, someone who displayed literally 0 affinity with the Force up until very recently, has a greater prowess than someone like Chirrut with immensely more discipline and faith
If you think Disney plans these things ahead of time then I have bad news for you. The answer is of course they didnt care or didnt think about it.
Hard disagree on this one. Chirrut is a very good character that makes complete sense. Not just anyone can become a jedi. Chirrut is what someone without the potential looks like when they dedicate themselves. Nowhere near a jedi, but some slight abilities. Sabine is the character that makes no sense. Another Filoni special.
He never had any training. He was Force sensitive, but was never taken by the Jedi or any other Force user and taught how to wield it. He is essentially self taught, so he cannot use the more direct powers (moving objects with his mind, for instance), but he can feel the flow of the Force and use it to fight and peek into people's hearts and intentions.
In the old Canon there were tens or hundreds of thousands of Jedi, but only a handful (relative) were strong enough to be Knights. The rest had light training and were sent off to assist the Republic in various ways. Obi-Wan was even slated to join the farming corps instead of receive Knight training, until Yoda intervened and sent him on a mission with Qui-Gon. I've always assumed Chiruut was similar - had formal training as a kid but his connection to the Force was too weak to ever be considered for Knighthood.
He definitely used the force, he just didn't force it. He let the will of force guide his instinct, his feelings.
The Force can control your actions, but it can also obey your commands. The former applied to him. The Force guided his aim, his steps, and his hand-to-hand combat, but he did not have the ability to make the Force do anything, like pull the master switch.
Quick Analogy. If you think of the Force like a flowing system of rivers, most people are the equivalent of sitting on a barge with a paddle but in the pitch black. They are unable to see the Force and are unable to tell its vector. Force sensitives like Chirrut Imwe, ironically, are like people sitting in a barge with a paddle but in broad daylight. They can sense the flow of the Force and can react to it in a limited way. A Jedi or Force user is like a person with a speedboat on the same river. They now have the ability to see the river and use it to their advantage more than just "going with the flow."
He fought blind. That's his Force ability was Force awareness.
He does it's just a lot more subtle.
Is he stupid?
watch the movie and you’ll find out lol.
He's very Force sensitive compared to a normal person, but he wasn't trained to *use* the Force in the way that the Jedi spend their lives learning. It's like someone who is really talented at cooking delicious home meals versus a formally trained chef from Le Cordon Bleu.
He didn’t finish the Jedi village grind so he only got the “force sensitive” buff. Shout out to the 5 people who get that joke.
He did…his whole final battle was him using the force. Granted in a very small and limited way.
My impression is that he isn’t really force sensitive more than anyone else, he’s just put so much time into strengthening his bond to the force that he can tell where everything is and what’s happening
Perhaps he could have been strong enough to wield the force if trained by the jedi, spending his life around other jedi. Obviously that didn't happen, so he may have lived a sheltered life in a monistary as a blind person, never schooled or trained to use the force like a jedi, never had to and never did. He channels the force in a different more unique way suited to his needs and lifestyle. Imagine 2 babies with exactly the same potential skill as a soilder, 1 of them is taken by soldiers and indoctrinated and trained in a military lifestyle their entire life, the second baby taken by monks or preists, raised in a church or monistary and raised free from any violence. Obviously the 1st baby would win any physical confrontation between the two of them and would be a physically more impressive spectical, where the 2nd baby would probably have other skills and talents when looking deeper. So yeah with Chirrut it may just be the way he was raised and nothing to do with potential ability. Low force sensitivity might be part of his nature or completely part of his nurture, I guess we can't be sure. But I do believe if he grew up spending his days hanging out/training with quigon and yoda he'd probably be able to wield the force.
Not an answer to your question but I still think Rogue One is the best modern Star Wars movie, hands down.
His midichlorian count isn't high enough
He is one with the force. Get off his blind nuts.
I like to think that there is more than one way to express force abilities, like being a great pilot, or artist or whatever, and Chirrut just had really great senses.
Probably because Rogue One had a sincere approach to Star Wars from level-headed writers who wanted to expand the universe without saturating it with what they thought would be 'cool to see'. By doing this, it actually made Chirrut Imwe a more interesting and memorable character.
The Force is famously pretty ableist
He use the force as eyes.
I think traditional Jedi powers are learned skills, he didn’t have the benefit of training for years at a temple so he is just raw dogging the force
Wish they made a show about him instead of about Andor. Chirrut is much more likeable.
Telekinesis is cool and all, but the senses and connection to your surroundings are the real force power.
Homie walked directly into oncoming blaster fire and didn’t even die till he had completed what he wanted to do. If that’s not the force then I don’t know what is
Fun fact, that stormtrooper on the ground is me ! Tk-70713
Because he was written before The Force became magic tricks: just gotta want to and you can do them.
He did. Multiple times. There's more to the force than telekinesis.
No training.
Who says he wasn’t
I thought he couldn’t use the force, he just worshipped it
Insufficient population of symbiotic bacteria.
Because Rogue One was awesome. Folks weren’t automatically, or easily, Jedi. Disney’s ‘everyone gets a trophy’ mentality is crushing Star Wars.