The Force Does Not Exist in ‘Star Wars’

If you are reading this on the day this publishes, then today is May 4, 2026, aka May the Fourth, aka Star Wars Day. If you are reading this after the day it publishes, it will be another date. Unless it’s now 2027. (If you are reading this in 2027, then congrats, we made it.)

Anyway, May the Fourth is called Star Wars Day because “fourth” kinda, sorta sounds like “Force.” Ah, but what if the Force doesn’t even exist at all in “Star Wars”? There is a strong claim to be made that it does not.

Now, mind you, I am talking about the 1977 movie “Star Wars,” not the all-encompassing franchise that came after that also goes by that title. Of course the Force exists in the Star Wars franchise. By the time “The Phantom Menace” came out, Jedi were basically superheroes with all the powers they have on display. They can push objects with their mind, levitate basically anything, and run at super speed (well, OK, just that one time at the beginning of “The Phantom Menace,” then never again).

But, the first time we see the Force do anything that would qualify as no-doubt-about-it supernatural would be in the opening moments of “The Empire Strikes Back,” when Luke uses the Force to levitate his lightsaber across the Wampa cave.

So, now, on Star Wars Day, let’s go back to 1977. For our purposes, the only Star Wars anything that exists is just the movie “Star Wars,” a few years even before it would be given the chapter title of “A New Hope.” So, as you read this, you have to forget “The Empire Strikes Back” exists. You have to forget “Attack of the Clones” exists. Yes, you even have to forget “The Book of Boba Fett” exists.

And you definitely have to forget the Force exists, at least how it’s perceived now.

In “Star Wars,” the force is basically presented as a religion. Or, as Ben Kenobi puts it, “It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.” That’s a nice sentiment, but just saying, “See, it’s everywhere,” isn’t exactly proof that it even exists at all.

Or, as Han Solo puts it, “I’ve flown from one side of the galaxy to the other, I’ve seen a lot of strange stuff, but I’ve never seen anything to make me believe there’s one all-powerful Force controlling everything. There’s no mystical energy field that controls my destiny.”

In “Star Wars,” Han is presented as a savvy, intelligent, world-weary, seen-it-all character. Also, he’s out to make money. If the Force actually existed, he’d find a way for this to be profitable. So how could Han Solo live in a galaxy where the Force exists, yet he’s never seen one example of it being used that convinced him it is real? I mean, in those yet-to-exist other “Star Wars” installments — except for “Andor,” which kind of plays by the rules established in the first film — it’s pretty difficult to avoid the Force.

Let’s go through every single time the Force is (allegedly) used in “Star Wars” and how and why someone like Han Solo could explain all of this (alleged) evidence away.

Also, keep in mind, in the current Star Wars timeline, Han Solo would have been alive during the age of the Jedi Knights and should have seen something. But, with just the movie “Star Wars,” that’s almost certainly not the case.

Anakin was supposed to be Ben’s age. His young pupil was Vader. When the characters were eventually combined (in the first draft of the “The Empire Strikes Back” script they are still separate characters), I think George Lucas had a tough time reconciling how the ages work. For the end of “Return of the Jedi,” he cast Sebastian Shaw as Anakin, who was almost 80 at the time and almost a full decade older than Alec Guinness.

The point is that Han Solo, in his original context, would have never seen Jedi Knights in action.

The first time we see the Force used in “Star Wars” is when Luke, Ben, R2-D2, and C-3PO are entering Mos Eisley. Luke’s speeder is stopped by Stormtroopers and they are questioned. (I do not count “making an animal noise to scare off Tusken Raiders” as a use of the force.) Ben Kenobi does a little hand maneuver and tells the Stormtroopers that these are not the droids they are looking for. The Stormtrooper repeats that these are not the droids they are looking for and tells our heroes to move along.

Look, people have seen hypnotists make people bark like a dog on stage. Plus Ben even mentions the Stormtrooper is weak-minded. So, If I’m Han Solo, I’d say Ben learned some sort of parlor trick using the power of suggestion on a stupid person. Case closed.

‘Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope’©Lucasfilm Ltd./Courtesy Everett Collection

The next instance is in the Imperial conference room on the Death Star as blowhard Admiral Motti drones on and on about how wonderful the Death Star will be. Now, keep in mind, in “Star Wars,” Darth Vader isn’t really Darth Vader yet. As stated earlier, in the first draft of the “The Empire Strikes Back” script, Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker are still two separate characters. They wouldn’t be combined until the second draft.

So, in the first movie, Vader is just some dude who betrayed Ben, killed Anakin, and now just kind of hangs out at the Death Star to motivate and/or intimidate the military. He has no real rank. He seems to answer to Tarkin, so he’s not in charge … but also he’s seven feet tall, wears a scary mask, and dresses in all black. He is an intimidating man.

When Vader starts to “choke” Motti? Yeah, I’d probably start feeling some stress if this man were mad at me, too. Granted, this is the closest to the Force seeming real in the whole film, but a cynical Han Solo could just surmise that Motti was having a panic attack because a seven-foot-tall man in a scary mask is threatening him.

Also of note, when Vader interrogates Leia on the Death Star, this would be a perfect time to use the force. Instead, Vader uses a torture droid that injects Leia with … something. Why use a torture droid when you are Darth Vader and are a master of using the Force? Maybe it’s because the Force doesn’t exist?

The next time the Force comes into play is on the Millennium Falcon, on the way to Alderaan. Ben has to sit down because he “feels a great disturbance in the Force” around the same time that Alderaan is destroyed by the Death Star. This kind of thing happens to people all the time in our galaxy. People get premonitions that something bad has happened, then it turns out that something bad did happen. Luke then successfully stops two blasts from the training remote while not being able to see. Luckily, Han witnesses this happening and gives us our answer, “I call it luck.”

When the Millennium Falcon is in the Death Star, Vader says, “I sense something. A presence I haven’t felt since…,” then walks off. Again, people have premonitions. Obviously Vader is so confident in the Force telling him that Kenobi is on the ship he immediately commands hundreds of Stormtroopers to search the ship until Kenobi is found.

But that’s not what happens. Vader tells Tarkin, “He is here.” Tarkin basically says, “I don’t believe you.” And that’s that.

When I tell people this theory in person (this happens more than you might think), this is the part people have the most difficult time getting past. As Vader and Kenobi fight, Kenobi tells Vader, “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.” In a vacuum, without all the other movies and television shows, this doesn’t automatically mean, “I will become a Force Ghost.” This also can mean Kenobi will become a martyr for the galaxy, the last known Jedi Knight who gave his life to try and fight the evil Darth Vader one last time.

When Kenobi surrenders and Vader swings his blade through Kenobi’s chest, Kenobi disappears. Here’s the thing about what an audience knew about lightsabers in 1977 … nothing. When I first saw “Star Wars,” I just assumed lightsabers could disintegrate a guy kind of like phasers can in “Star Trek.” There were no real rules of what those things did then. Earlier in the film, Kenobi slashes off the arm of a creature who was known then as Walrus Man and is known now as Ponda Baba. And we do see Ponda Baba’s severed arm, but we never see the rest of Ponda Baba. So for all anyone knew then, a direct hit by a lightsaber just vaporized a person.

‘Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope’©Lucasfilm Ltd./Courtesy Everett Collection

People seem to interpret Vader stepping on Kenobi’s robes as Vader being surprised this happened. But it could also be interpreted as Vader taking a victory lap, “Ha ha, got him.” Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2 all watch Kenobi get vaporized and no one seems surprised. No one says later, “Well, that was weird, where did he go?” Vader never mentions it again either.

The only thing Vader says about it is, “This will be a day long remembered. It has seen the end of Kenobi. It will soon see the end of the Rebellion.” Which seems clear, as far as Vader is concerned, he just hit Kenobi so hard that Kenobi disintegrated.

From this point on, Luke hears Kenobi’s voice a couple of times. He hears Kenobi in the Death Star telling him to run. Then he hears Kenobi tell him to use the Force to blow up the Death Star. Again, in a vacuum, this could just be Luke asking himself what Ben would tell him to do. Or remembering something Ben said. There is no conversation here.

This is in sharp contrast to “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi” in which Luke and the ghost of Ben actually have a full conversation with one another. In “Star Wars,” Ben’s presence after he’s killed is still up for interpretation.

Luke turns off his targeting computer and blows up the Death Star. Yes, he went with his gut instincts and his faith in a higher power to achieve this, but that doesn’t mean that higher power exists. And let’s not forget, if Han Solo doesn’t come back at the exact last second, Vader would have destroyed Luke’s X-Wing. Where was The Force there? The Force forget to check Luke’s six.

Look, if I lived in the Star Wars galaxy, and if you add all of these occurrences together, and I witnessed them all, I would probably be trying to convince my friends that the Force is real. But I would have no proof. On their own, not one occurrence of the Force being used in “Star Wars” is proof alone that the Force exists.

‘Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back’©Lucasfilm Ltd./Courtesy Everett Collection

When that lightsaber goes flying across the Wampa cave? Yes, that is proof The Force exists. When Yoda lifts Luke’s X-Wing out of a swamp? There’s really no arguing that.

But the entire point of this post is, this raises an interesting thought. What if, after “Star Wars,” the Force remained vague? What would that have looked like?

Actually, it would have looked a lot like “Andor,” a television series most people love. Is that better? I do not have these answers other than Jedi, with seemingly unlimited super powers, can get boring.

On the other hand, without the Force, “May the fourth be with you” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.