The Force works in mysterious ways

< The Force works in mysterious ways
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"To say that the Force works in mysterious ways is to admit one's ignorance, for any mystery can be solved through the application of knowledge and unrelenting effort."
―Darth Plagueis[1]

"The Force works in mysterious ways,"[2] also existing as the variation "the Force moves in mysterious ways," was a phrase[3] that concerned the energy field known as the Force.[4] Larin Moxla,[5] Darth Plagueis,[1] I-5YQ,[2] Jan Ors,[3] Luke Skywalker,[6] and Kinnin Vo-Shay[7] at various points all used the phrase[2] or a variation of it.[3] In addition, Marcus Trant,[8] Darth Bane,[9] Barriss Offee,[10] and Zekk[11] also noted the phrase[10] or its variations mentally.[11]

Behind the scenes

Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire introduced the first version of the phrase "the Force works in mysterious ways

Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire introduced the first version of the phrase "the Force works in mysterious ways."

The phrase "the Force works in mysterious ways"[2] originated as "the Force moves in mysterious ways" in Soldier for the Empire, the 1997 first entry in the Star Wars: Dark Forces series of novellas by William C. Dietz.[3] A variation of the phrase, "the Jedi work in mysterious ways," debuted in The Fight for Justice, John Peel's 1998 first installment of the Star Wars Journal series of young reader novels.[6]

Michael Reaves and Steve Perry's 2004 novel Battle Surgeons, the first novel of the MedStar Duology, introduced "the Force does work in mysterious ways,"[10] and the novel Dynasty of Evil, Drew Karpyshyn's 2009 final entry of the Star Wars: Darth Bane Trilogy, debuted the unemphasized version of the phrase, "the Force worked in mysterious ways."[9] James Luceno's 2012 novel Darth Plagueis marked the first time that an in-universe character used that baseline phrasing in direct speech.[1] The 2015 sourcebook Keeping the Peace, a supplement for Fantasy Flight Games' Star Wars: Force and Destiny system of roleplaying products, introduced yet another variant of the phrase, "the Force operates in mysterious ways."[12]

Prior to the introduction of the phrase into Star Wars in in-universe context, Michael P. Kube-McDowell humorously noted in the acknowledgments section of Tyrant's Test, the 1996 final entry of The Black Fleet Crisis novel series, that Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency agent Russ Galen, Bantam Books editor Tom Dupree, Bantham Doubleday Dell audio producer Lynn Bailey, and Lucasfilm[13] editor[14] Sue Rostoni all worked "their mysterious ways through such arcane media as the fax, the telephone, and E-mail" while assisting with the publication process of the trilogy.[13] The phrase "the Force works in mysterious ways" shares similarities with the real-world proverb "God moves in mysterious ways," which originated from William Cowper's 18th-century hymn "Light Shining out of Darkness."[15]

Appearances

Sources

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Darth Plagueis
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 The Last Jedi
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire
  4. ↑ The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. I, p. 285 ("Force, the")
  5. ↑ The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Star Wars Journal: The Fight for Justice
  7. ↑ SWAJsmall "The Last Hand" — Star Wars Adventure Journal 13
  8. ↑ The Old Republic: Annihilation
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 MedStar I: Battle Surgeons
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Young Jedi Knights: Delusions of Grandeur
  12. ↑ Keeping the Peace
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Tyrant's Test
  14. ↑ StarWars.com Sue Rostoni to Retire as Star Wars Editor on StarWars.com (original site is defunct)
  15. ↑ Mansen, Martin H.. The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs, Second Edition, Facts On File, 2007, p. 103. (web archive)