Star Wars: The case for and against the sequel trilogy
By Nik Edlund
New Force Powers
The sequel trilogy introduced us to many new Force powers. In The Force Awakens we see Kylo Ren freeze a blaster bolt in mid-air. He holds it while carrying on a conversation with Poe, until finally releasing it as he boards his ship. We also see the ability to look into someone’s mind, which happens to be a favorite of Kylo Ren as he does it twice, first with Poe, and later with Rey as he tries to probe her mind for information on Luke’s whereabouts.
In The Last Jedi, we get a couple of new and very powerful Force powers. The mind-meld ability allows two people to communicate over long distances through the Force. This power appears to grow in strength and eventually, Rey and Kylo Ren are able to see each other even though they are light-years apart.
Later we are introduced to Force projection. Luke uses this when he projects himself to Crait to save the resistance by creating a diversion. This is a power that can prove to be fatal as it cost Luke his life because he did it from such a distance away, and the power all but drained his life force.
In The Rise of Skywalker, the mind-meld goes to another level. Through their Force Dyad, Rey and Kylo/Ben are able to physically pass things to each through the Force. We see it early in the film when Ren grabs Rey’s necklace off of her when she is far, far away on Pasana. They later fight through their Force bond, and at the end of the film, Rey passes Luke’s lightsaber to Ben through this connection.
We also get introduced to Force healing. This seems to be something Rey has learned through her reading of the ancient Jedi texts. We first see her heal the wound on the angry snake-like creature they encounter when they fall through the sinking fields of Pasana. Later, Rey heals Kylo’s fatal wound that she deals him after stabbing him with his own lightsaber. This Force power apparently transfers some of one’s living Force into another, and at the end of the film, we see Ben transfer all of his to save the woman he loves. Every Star Wars film has introduced new Force abilities and the sequels do that and then some.