Telekinesis

Telekinesis was one of the most basic Force powers. A commonly used ability for those with power in the Force, the purpose of telekinesis was to manipulate matter, allowing the user to touch, hold, move, and otherwise interact with a target through the Force. For a sufficiently skilled and powerful practitioner, the size, weight, distance, and mass of a targeted object would seldomly hinder their ability to influence it. One could lift something as small as a piece of fruit to an X-wing starfighter, while they could also use it to manipulate liquids or to dispel gaseous substances.

Despite the ability allowing the user the ability to manipulate targets without physical contact and from a variable distance, the precision, accuracy, range, and strength of the ability were tied to the user's concentration, willpower, emotions, senses, and spatial awareness. Therefore, a user's power of telekinesis could be weakened, nullified, or destabilized, causing said user to be unable to properly control it. The power was generally used at close range, but in rare instances, a user was able to affect a target only by having to know the targets location relative to themselves, whether it be around a corner or in another room. As such, the power could be applied even if the user did not have a direct line of sight to the target with enough concentration, even if the target was light-years away, viewed though a holocomm or viewscreen.

During meditation, which drew forth a stronger and more direct connection with the Force, the enhanced state of consciousness could sometimes inadvertently affect one's surroundings, usually by causing surrounding objects, or even the practitioner themselves to levitate. In fact, some practitioners were so skilled and powerful that they could consciously resist gravity, inertia, friction and other physical forces to enhance their mobility, notably allowing them to slow their falls.

Users of the Dark side could use physical pain, as well as intense and raw emotions, to strengthen their power to allow them to exert more telekinetic effort than normal, especially during moments of great stress, fear, desperation, and rage. Force Rend saw an enemy violently lifted into the air, where their body would contort through stress applied by the Force.

Water could be manipulated through the Force, but also lava, fire and explosions. It was possible to affect targets that were otherwise obscured, such as the inside of a target, which notably could allow a target to affect technology to an extent by manipulating its internal or external mechanisms. The user was able to reach out and essentially lock onto a target through sheer concentration, picturing it in their mind if it was obscured or obstructed. This allowed for feats such as disabling and then reactivating thermal detonators or opening doors without touching them.

In a lightsaber combat situation, telekinesis could be used to hold back an incoming lightsaber blade. Some users were also skilled with activating or deactivating lightsabers from a distances or keeping the blade ignited while not touching it. This additionally allowed a user to throw their lightsabers like boomerangs while manipulating their trajectory to strike a distant target before causing it to deactivate and return to the user's hand. Consequently, some Force users could muster enough telekinetic strength to crush all sorts of objects such as ships, walls, and droids.

Telekinesis naturally possessed both offensive and defensive capabilities, with most Force user being able to combatively use it to a degree. In combat, the ability could be used to exert harmful amounts of physical force against a target, such as to push, pull, throw, grab, or choke them. This allowed a user to grab an opponent with the Force to suspend them in the air, occasionally holding them up by a certain part of their body, such as the neck, or to pin them against walls and ceilings. Alternatively, this could be used to pull or hold back an target, effectively restraining or completely immobilizing them.

Furthermore, as a user can grip and squeeze certain parts of their targets, they can potentially manipulate their targets motor skills or make them unable to move. This could also be done more subtly, such as to disrupt the aim of an opponent, usually with a telekinetic shove, whether they be using longer-ranged weapons such as blasters or melee weapons such as lightsabers. Indeed, Jedi General Anakin Skywalker used telekinesis on a corpse during his mission to Batuu to make it appear as if an enemy agent was still alive. However, Skywalker confessed such an act was harder than making one's limbs move: for the scheme to succeed, the individual needed to look as though they were breathing, he needed to ensure their balance remained stable, and he had to make sure their muscles under the skin moved properly. Skywalker's partner for the mission, Chiss Senior Captain Mitth'raw'nuruodo "Thrawn," was interested in Skywalker's plan and deemed the final product adequate.

Despite the strengths of telekinesis, many users of the ability were susceptible to limitations, which were in part brought on due to their own physical and mental limitations. The weight of an object could affect the speed in which an object could be moved and it was normally less easy to control targets that were already moving or had stronger force already exerted on them, such as the debris and concussive force of an explosion. In addition, the effort of using the ability was able to induce physical and mental exhaustion. Focusing the ability with only one hand was adequate for some objects. However, with heavier objects, a user likely needed to use two hands to help guide the mass.

Even the most powerful and skilled users of the Force, who naturally possessed greater levels of precision and accuracy with their ability, commonly refrained from repeated use of this ability in combat, using it more in short bursts to repel or otherwise attack their opponents, rather than to perform more delicate, complex, or strenuous tasks, as the effort and concentration could leave a user vulnerable and potentially weakened against their opponent. More times than not, they were forced to divert an intense amount of continuous effort on such tasks and as such, they were left unable to perform other tasks in the meantime, including moving in most cases. As this could leave them vulnerable in dangerous scenarios, such as open combat, Force users usually had little time or focus to manipulate their environment in more drastic ways, such as dismantling supports on large structures or surgically controlling small objects, without some form of cover or outside protection to ensure they were not interrupted.

The ability was usually accompanied by or channeled through physical gestures, specifically the motion of the eyes, hands, fingers, or occasionally the entire body. Such gestures were the most common way to use the power, especially when the user's mind or senses were strained or overwhelmed, as the user required comparatively less concentration, focus, and effort to manifest their ability. However, the feature could also limit the use of one's abilities if the user is restrained or otherwise rendered immobile. As such, physically restraining a Force-user was an effective way to neutralize their ability to use their power effectively enough to escape, especially if they were surrounded by enemies. Additionally, the use of a containment field or stuncuffs, was even more effective at disabling Force-users and keeping them from being able to use the Force to attempt to overpower their captors.

Because of the ability's common deployment by Force users, many non-Force using combatants devised ways to counteract and mimic the effects of telekinesis. Among their other technologies developed during and after the Mandalorian-Jedi War, the Mandalorians built weaponized repulsors and grappling lines that could mimic the effects of telekinetic pushes and pulls. Jetpacks such as those utilized by Mandalorians and bounty hunters were used to provide counter-thrust against telekinetic attacks while others such as the Purge Troopers of the Empire's Inquisitorius were trained to recover or react quickly from pushes and shoves or to counterattack whilst being pulled. In fact, individuals of a sufficient level of size, strength and resilience could more easily withstand telekinetic attacks and could capitalize on the limits of a Force user's capabilities to overcome them.

During the skirmish at the wedding of Phan-tu Zenn and Xiri A'lbaran, Jedi Knight Gella Nattai used telekinesis to hold up the collapsing ceiling of a building in the Erasmus Capital City, protecting herself and Axel Greylark, the rogue son of Supreme Chancellor Kyong Greylark. Focusing on what he had told her, trusting in her own abilities, and trusting in the Force, Nattai, repeating the Guardian's Mantra, slowly but surely loosened each piece of the collapsing ceiling off until they were safe.

As a Padawan, Jedi Knight Bell Zettifar trained the use of his telekinesis by playing fetch with his charhound Ember. Once, on a visit to the Jedi Temple on Tenoo, Zettifar offered the same training opportunity to youngling Kai Brightstar, however, Brightstar accidentally sent the stick into a nearby forest, where the charhound chased it. While searching the forest together for the charhound, Brightstar fell out of a tree and Zettifar used telekinesis to slow his fall and save him. Eventually they found Ember confronted by a gangul and Brighstar used his own telekinesis to help distract the gangul by throwing a log, in order to save Ember.

Once, when having a meal with Padmé Amidala, Anakin Skywalker used telekinesis to manipulate a piece of fruit. He lamented that Master Obi-Wan Kenobi would be grumpy if he knew that he was doing it because a Jedi was not supposed to use the Force for frivolous purposes. Yoda and Dooku used this power to fight their enemies. Asajj Ventress was skilled in telekinesis.

During the mission to Utapau, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi were forced to lift a massive kyber crystal onto a repulsorcraft. Skywalker mentioned how he believed that the crystal was too large to be Force grabbed with one hand, but Kenobi stated it would be simple.

Upon discovering his wife's death, Darth Vader inadvertently unleashed his anger, despair, shame, and grief on the chamber of the Grand Republic Medical Facility where he was cybernetically rebuilt, resulting in a tremor inside the room that severely damaged it, while multiple objects and droids were telekinetically crushed. He then blasted Palpatine against a wall with his power and attempted to choke him. However, Palpatine was able to use his own powers to resist the second assault, and it had no visible effect on him.

Luke Skywalker lamented the fact that Kenobi had never addressed the subject of telekinesis in his lessons during the brief time that he trained under him, likely because Kenobi felt he wasn't ready to train in something that was considered an advanced field of study. The power could be used to focus the kyber crystal used in a lightsaber using one's mind. Skywalker decided to give it a try, but couldn't seem to get the hang of it at first. He was pleased when he was finally able to access the ability.

When Luke Skywalker was training under Master Yoda, he was tasked with lifting his T-65 X-wing starfighter out of a Dagobah swamp, but did not believe it was possible. Yoda proved him wrong by completing the task himself after which Skywalker again expressed disbelief, only to be told that it was his disbelief that caused his failure. When Padmé Amidala's former body-double Sabé chose to remain with Vader instead leaving with her fellow Naboo Royal Handmaidens, as she believed in Amidala's final words about the light existing in Vader and felt that only the Empire had the resources to defeat the civilian-killing revolutionary Jul Tambor, she detached an antigravity device to fall to the ground and reunite with Vader. With Sabé falling through blaster fired from stormtroopers shooting at the handmaidens, Vader guided her back to the ground with telekinesis.

In 9 ABY, Grogu trained in telekinesis with his adoptive father, Din Djarin, aboard the Razor Crest as they journeyed to Tython. After being captured by Gideon's Imperial remnant, Grogu used telekinesis on two stormtroopers in a cell on Moff Gideon's light cruiser, thrashing them around the room. After he arrived to rescue Grogu, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker used telekinesis to dispatch multiple hostile Third-generation Dark Troopers, including crushing one inside its own armor.

Kylo Ren was skilled in telekinesis, able to suspend a blaster bolt in midair and leave it harmlessly hanging until he left the scene, which caused it to turn towards and then hit a wall as it was released. He could immobilize victims in a paralyzing grip, to the point where he could control their motor skills. His grip allowed him to squeeze a specific body part, notably gripping Dopheld Mitaka by the neck from across a room to drag him over to his hand. Even his use of the mind probe was strong enough to exert physical force on a subject, as he pinned Poe Dameron against his interrogation chair and held up Del Meeko by the arms without touching them. Supreme Leader Snoke was also skilled in telekinesis.

Having just bested former stormtrooper Finn in a lightsaber duel, a weakened Ren—who had been weakened physically and emotionally by Chewbacca's bowcaster and killing his father, respectively—attempted to use telekinesis to retrieve the lightsaber that had once belonged to Anakin and Luke Skywalker, which had been used by Finn in the duel. To Ren, securing the lightsaber was his birthright. However, the aspiring Force user Rey managed to do the same and secure the lightsaber via telekinesis. Her knowledge in the use of this skill was also partially taken from the memories she managed to extract from Kylo when he attempted to use the Force to interrogate her earlier.

During the Battle of Oetchi, the Skywalker lightsaber sat beside Snoke as Ren turned his lightsaber closer to a captured Rey, making it seem to Snoke he was preparing to strike down the light side user. In truth, the feeling of turning a lightsaber to kill his true enemy, as felt by Snoke, came from Ren using telekinesis to move the lightsaber beside Snoke, which he activated via telekinesis to cut Snoke in two and execute the Supreme Leader. The lightsaber was then retrieved with telekinesis and used by Rey in a battle against Snoke's Elite Praetorian Guard. Afterward, Rey and Ren engaged in a battle of telekinesis over who could claim the Skywalker lightsaber, shattering it in two in the process. Rey escaped with the broken weapon.

During Ren and Rey's duel across the Death Star ruins on the moon Kef Bir, Finn made his way to the ruins and attempted to get to Rey, only for her to Force push him back. During the duel, additionally, both Ren and Rey would use telekinesis to hold back each others' blades. Shortly thereafter, by which point Ren had returned to the light side of the Force and his former identity of Ben Solo, Rey used the Force to deflect the blaster bolts of Sovereign Protectors during the Battle of Exegol. At another point, she also deflected an incoming shot by moving the Protector themself, telekinetically moving their body before they fired so the blast hit another guard. She also telekinetically crushed a guard down and then threw them back. Meanwhile, Solo engaged his former followers, the Knights of Ren, in a duel, during which he Force pushed Knight Ap'lek into a hole. Solo made his arrival to Rey's location by pulling back a remaining Protector.

Telekinesis first appeared in the original Star Wars films and, alike the continuity of Star Wars Legends covers a wide range of named abilities including the Force choke and Force Push. Telekinesis was first identified by name in canon in the 2015 novel Heir to the Jedi by Kevin Hearne.

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