Strong am I with the Force, but not that strong

To refresh:

Luke: Master Yoda, you can't die!
Yoda: Strong am I with the Force, but not that strong.

Does this imply someone strong enough with the Force could never die? And how would Yoda know this? Was it a theoretical possibility suggested by whacked-out Jedi scientists trying to get a grant funded at the last minute? Or was there a secret experiment back in the day where they tried to test it by pushing Jedi off of tall buildings and so forth? Was there a special group of Jedi who sat around getting old and being strong with the Force, to see how long they could hold out? Would this protect against getting smashed with large objects, hit with Death Star beams, and/or decapitated with lightsabres, or was it one of those things like with elves, who die in battle but not from being really old and cranky? Is it a skill documented in the RPG (Immortality: Ruggedly Heroic Roll of 200D)? Or was it just something he said? IITS (it's in the script)? Well?

 

I interpret it more as "not even the Force is strong enough to keep someone from dying", which relates to Anakin's quote about learning to keep people from dying in AOTC.

 

If you want an EU answer...

... that could have been Yoda's way of saying Palpy could never die because he was too powerful.

If you don't, that's an interesting thing to think about. Maybe some Jedi could learn to stop aging. But if that were true, where were they during the OT era?

Also, I think Yoda tries to say in that same scene that both birth and death are natural and part of the Force, and resisting them is not something a Jedi should do. Trying to defeat death is of the dark side.

 

Interesting...I think actually it could be possible. If you were so strong in the Force that you didn't even notice it, and it took no effort (essentially as if you were a manifestation of the Force), you could stop aging, but you'd be like an elf, so it wouldn't cover falling in lava or down reactor shafts.

Yoda sure managed to put it off for a while. Maybe that was why he was so tired, waiting for Luke and all that. He could have been living on half a kidney or something.

 

I think a Jedi who is strong enough with the Force could stop aging but, no Jedi ever has or ever will in the official canon(unless they don't want to kill Luke). However in my fan fics Jedi Master Zax Starwalker is strong enough.(That's the Zax quoted in my sig)

 

In TPM, Anakin tells Qui-Gon something like how nothing can kill a Jedi. Qui-Gon says that he wishes that were true.

Jedi can extend their lives a little longer using the force. But can not live forever.

 

Yeah, I don't think it's possible at all. I think that quote is basically saying, "Not even the Force can stop death, no matter how strong you are".

EDIT: Er, I guess I basically repeated what YodaJeff said.

EDIT II: Contradictorily, Yoda's (and Obi-Wan's, Anakin's, and possibly Qui-Gon's) connection to the Force really prevents him from truly dying, by staying as a ghost. So while his "crude matter" dies, Yoda's luminous self remains.

EDIT III: Also of note is that, movie-wise, for all Palpatine's strength and power, it was not enough to save him from dying and allow him to become a ghost, while the less strong Jedi managed to live on after death. Thus indicating that strength is not the deciding factor.

 

/cue "Who Wants To Live Forever"

 

I always had the impression that Yoda was using the Force to keep himself alive, long enough to meet Luke and train him.

As for a group of immortal Jedi...sounds like an interesting EU story. How would Jedi deal with immortality? Most stories make immortality out to be a curse, not a blessing. Would Jedi view it differently? Would it somehow be going "against the will of the Force", which would want to claim them at some point, but the Jedi are resisting it?

 

It's like somebody saying, "Hey, I'm strong, but I'm not that strong." It's just a colloquial way of saying that a given action is impossible.

 

I guess it is possible that a Jedi could live forever if they were powerful enough. They would probably have to regenerate their cells and if they were powerful I imagine they could do that.

The only two Jedi I can think of who might be that powerful is Jacen Solo and Cilghal (Jedi Healer). I'm not sure if Yoda or Anakin Skywalker are powerful enough to do that, and if they are that powerful, they may not have that particular Force power.

 

"they may not have that particular Force power."

So? They only need to surrender some other skill(s), and, presuming they have enough Force XP, stand in front of a starport and shout "Who can teach me Living Forever 4???"

<- plays too much SW Galaxies

 

Would it be against the code to be immortal? On the one hand, you're living forever, but on the other, you'd be kinda stupid to develop any attachments to anything external. Maybe it's intent: if you decided you were going to live forever just to live forever, it would be wrong, but not if you just lived and ended up being immortal without thinking about it (some sort of unconscious skill).

 

Not to mention the resources a bunch of immortal people would consume, depriving new generations.

 

It seems that Yoda is simply being facetious when he says that. Luke says, "Master Yoda, you can't die." Yoda replies with this phrase - to me, he's saying that as strong as he is in the Force, like everyone else he cannot prevent life from taking its natural course.

If you notice, he goes on to say, "Twilight is upon me, and soon night must fall. That is the way of things - the way of the force." In other words, he realizes that death is inevitable for all living creatures, and that it is merely a part of the cycle of life.

 

I agree with YodaJeff.

He's basicially saying every1 dies even Jedi.

 

Exactly..

Its just a remark meant to say, "Even I am not that strong" Death is an inevitable part of life even in the GFFA.. It can't be stopped, not even by Yoda..

"Twilight is upon me. Night must fall".

 

I just had an eeeeeee eeeeevil thought! What if The Plaid One had designed the whole Star Wars saga to be a musical? I can just see Yoda Death Scene. He breaks out singing Oingo Boingo's "No One Lives Forever."

You worry too much / You make yourself sad
You can't change fate / But don't feel so bad
Enjoy it while you can / It's just like the weather
So quit complaining brother . . . . . . .
No one lives forever!!

Let's have a party there's a full moon in the sky
It's the hour of the wolf and I don't want to die

I'm so happy dancing while the grim reaper
cuts, cuts, cuts
But he can't get me (I'm as)
Clever as can be, and I'm very quick, but don't forget
we've only got so many tricks
No one lives forever!!!

You think you got it rough / What about your darling
doggy?
Ten short years / And he's getting old and groggy
I don't think it's very fair
Cold, chop, low, but it's all relative my friend
No one lives forever!!!
Let's have a party there's a full moon in the sky
It's the hour of the wolf and I
Don't want to die (but) . . .

No one beats him at his game
For very long but just the same
Who cares, there's no place safe to hide
Nowhere to run--no time to cry
So celebrate while you still can
'Cause any second it may end.
And when it's all been said and done . . .
Better that you had some fun
Instead of hiding in a shell-Why make your life a living
hell?
So have a toast, and down the cup
And drink to bones that turn to dust ('cause) . . .
No one, no one, no one, no one . . . . . . . (etc.)
No one lives forever!! (Hey!)

Sorry.