The world of Star Wars novels is usually cordoned off from the movies and TV shows, but that’s starting to change. The Mandalorian Season 2 introduced Cobb Vanth from Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath trilogy into the official canon, and Rebels and Ahsoka have brought Grand Admiral Thrawn into the mainstream decades after he was introduced in Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire.
Now another, seemingly unrelated book may have an even bigger impact on Ahsoka by redefining how the Force works, and by giving us a glimpse into Ahsoka’s Jedi lineage. io9 reports that Star Wars novelist and comic book writer John Jackson Miller will write The Living Force, a novel coming in 2024 set immediately before the prequels.
“Many of my Star Wars works have explored what it meant to be a Jedi alone, cut off from the Jedi Order. The organization came in for criticism in those books, and I found myself sympathizing with Qui-Gon Jinn, who felt they’d lost touch,” Miller told io9. The book will follow the entirety of the Jedi Council as they traverse the galaxy and, at Qui-Gon Jinn’s urging, learn about life beyond Coruscant.
The timing of this announcement, just one day before the release of the most mystical episode of Ahsoka, is a bit too convenient to ignore. Qui-Gon has always been an anomaly among the Jedi, as The Phantom Menace demonstrated. Among other unique traits, he was very focused on studying the Living Force. And, because you can draw a direct line from Qui-Gon to Ahsoka through their master and padawan relationships, he’s essentially Ahsoka’s great-grandmaster.
The Living Force is the universal side of the Force that binds all beings in the galaxy together, while its counterpart, the Cosmic Force, is more spiritual. Ahsoka has already touched on both parts; the Living Force is discussed when Ahsoka and Sabine discuss how even those who aren’t born Force-sensitive can still be trained as Jedi, because the Living Force flows through everything.
Meanwhile, the Cosmic Force is shown at the end of Episode 4 when Ahsoka, caught on the border of life itself, meets with Anakin on an otherworldly plane. It’s not clear just what this realm is, but because it involves Jedi visiting from beyond the grave, it definitely has some cosmic elements.
The Cosmic Force is vague and poorly understood. Even Star Wars creators don’t seem to have a firm grasp on it yet. And so, while The Living Force may not literally have much to do with Ahsoka, it could provide valuable clarity on the rules and uses of both sides of the Force. Ahsoka has made it clear that the franchise is willing to re-examine the Force, and now, through the eyes of Qui-Gon, we can see how the pieces for a new interpretation have always been in place.
