Warning! This article contains spoilers for Star Wars #33 & Star Wars: Hidden Empire #5 There are few Jedi and Sith in Star Wars stronger than Luke Skywalker and his father, Darth Vader–especially during the age of the Galactic Civil War–with Emperor Palpatine being one of the few who can compare. And now, the Skywalkers have become stronger in the Force than ever before, and it’s all thanks to one failed attempt at stopping the Empire once and for all.
The ongoing continuity of Star Wars comics is primarily focused around an event known as the Crimson Dawn Saga. During this saga, Lady Qi’ra–leader of the Crimson Dawn–has gotten her hands on an ancient artifact known as the Fermata Cage. The Fermata Cage is a containment vessel with a strong connection to the Force. Anything or anyone kept within the Fermata Cage is suspended in time for all eternity, or until they are eventually released. In Star Wars: Hidden Empire #5, Qi’ra nearly completes this series-long plan to trap Vader and Palpatine within the Fermata Cage, which would have decimated the Empire and won the war for the Rebellion. Unfortunately, the Knights of Ren turned on Qi’ra and her forces, destroying the Fermata Cage before Darth Vader and the Emperor were trapped within. When the Fermata Cage collapsed, there was a ‘great rending’ in the Force, creating ripples throughout the cosmos that lowered and spiked Force-sensitive people’s connection with the Force–including Luke Skywalker, who wasn’t even in the galaxy at the time.
The Ripples in the Force Make Luke Skywalker & Darth Vader Stronger, but at Random Times
In Star Wars #33 by Charles Soule and Madibek Musabekov, Luke, Lando, Leia, Chewie, and Holdo are fighting for their lives against an army of lightsaber-resistant Killbots as they try to attain the engines they need in order to escape No-Space. No-Space is a place outside the Star Wars galaxy where Luke, Leia and the gang found themselves trapped after trying to get their hands on more fuel reserves–as the Rebellion was running low with no real way to replenish. Right as Luke got the upper hand against the droids, one of them grabbed hold of the Jedi and crushed his robotic hand, destroying the lightsaber Luke was holding in the process as well. At this point, these Rebels were seemingly done for, until Luke harnessed the Force like he never had before and blasted every single Killbot into the vacuum of No-Space. Later, while recalling that moment, Luke says that he felt a ripple in the Force, though he didn’t know where those ripples were coming from.
The actions of Qi’ra in Hidden Empire seemingly stretched all the way through the Star Wars galaxy and into an entirely different dimension. This is interesting, as it shows that even though Qi’ra’s plan failed, the destruction of the Fermata Cage seemed to actually saved the lives of the most important players in the Rebellion. Now, Force-sensitive people are experiencing strange highs and lows in terms of their connection to the Force. For instance, when Luke showed that he was at his most powerful, Darth Vader and the Emperor commented on the fact their grip on the Force felt ‘tenuous’. What’s really unfortunate is that no one knows what level of Force-ripple they will get from the cosmic current, and there is no way to control it. However, one thing they do know is that, when the ripples give them a power-boost, these Force-users are the strongest they will ever be.
While these ripples in the Force clearly won’t last forever (given that they’re not even mentioned in Episode VI and beyond), for the time being, they have the potential to offer Force-users untold levels of power, which is how Luke Skyalker and Darth Vader are stronger in the Force than ever before in the history of Star Wars.
Star Wars #33 and Star Wars: Hidden Empire #5 by Marvel Comics is available now.
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
