Mandalorian Iron and the Force

Idea: Retcon/Modify Ysalamiri by saying that they can only block usage of the Living Force, but not the Unifying Force. Then we sort of don't need the Mando Iron idea. I liked Mando Iron if it was Lightsaber resistant though.

That way they aren't blokcing all types of Force Usage - just those that are used by Jedi. But since the Unifying Force is hard to draw upon or detect Jedi feel as if they can't draw on the Force because they can't draw on the Living Force.

 

Agreed. It doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense.

I do too, somewhat grudgingly.

::

There's a certain logic to these abilities, what with the Force being a mystical energy field that makes nearly anything possible to a user with the strength and the scope to take advantage of it. "Size matters not," and all that. And flow-walking's not really time-travel, per se...

...okay, so flow-walking is a complicated issue that needs some ironing out.

But notwithstanding, the biggest problem with Mando iron being resistant to the Force is that there's no stated reason for this. Mandalorian iron is a mineral like other minerals, albeit somewhat more dense than most.

The ysalmiri follows some logic, in that it's actively repelling the Force - it's not absent from it in the same way the YV are.

 

It works for me.

 

Yeah, it's not too bad a retcon, as - as far as I know - the Unifying Force is not something the Jedi actually draw on, or are even all that able to access in any capacity.

 

Here we are, Abel show us that the whole thing really ain't that big of a deal.

jSarek:

Hmm. Seems there may be some revisionism going on; the note on the Ysalamiri ain't in the article anymore. That paragraph now ends with the manacles.

A testament to the power of the fan voice, to be sure.

I admit to being a little surprised at the hubbub this paragraph, published almost two years ago now, has recently engendered. My opinion is that continuity can be taken a little too seriously at times ... particularly from a piece like Droids, Technology, and the Force, which has redundant continuity "loopholes" intentionally built into it (such as being told from an in-universe perspective, and the use of conditional language such as "hypothesized" and "may").

Remember folks: there is no spoon.
vong1116:

Violetlight:


No prob. For the record, my intention was never to make Mandalorians unstoppable, just cool. When Droids, Technology, and the Force was published, my History of the Mandalorians had only just been published a few months prior and modern Mando-mania was in its infancy. Furthermore, when I actually wrote DTF was five years prior to its actual publication. I could not have predicted some of the inventions concerning the Mandalorians that came afterward. Fans will notice History of the Mandalorians, quite conspicuously, never once says that the uses of Mandalorian iron include the production of Mandalorian armor.

Nonetheless, the solution is elegant. While the Force may (and I use that specific word intentionally) not be able to affect the iron itself, it still can affect what's around and beyond it ... or even inside of it, if we're talking about someone "wearing" it. Again, the iron itself doesn't "block" the Force from things it surrounds, unlike the Ysalamiri concept introduced by Timothy Zahn in Heir to the Empire. Hence, the apparent properties of the iron are a curiosity: it is effective in terms of detainment of a Jedi, but not suppression of or protection against his or her Force abilities. That would be overkill and anathema to good Star Wars storytelling.

That isn't to say the presumed properties of Mando iron couldn't be used creatively by some author to give the Jedi some trouble. But that should certainly be the exception rather than the rule. While they exist in Star Wars, we don't see armies of invincible individuals running around with personal force fields, after all.

Continuity is flexible. If a storyteller paints him or herself into a corner, they should be capable of painting themselves out. And fans should always reasonably oblige them.

Take care,
Abel

 

Here's the link to the quotes.

I find it interesting that it was changed, though I can't say I care either way. Maybe I'm just used to LFL doublethink.

Is somebody keeping tabs on these? If not, they should. Put it next to "Grand Moff Grand Moff"...