Whills?

I just heard about them on StarWars.Com which lead me to do a bit more research into it on Wikipedia. I thought this was just something made up from the sad little imagination of SuperShadow, but now I am totally confused.

The article on Wikipedia seems to imply that they were something from the early drafts of Star Wars, yet it also says they were mentioned in the ROTS comic book. I have not read it so vould some one exlain what the reference was?

So are they canon & if so are they considered real within the galaxy?

I personally think the idea of it being told by these creatures would be stupid & wouldn't fit into Star Wars at all. It also seems too much like LOTR, as Tolkien told the story as if he was an all seeing immortal character who had watched the entire history of Middle Earth play out before him.

 

"It was another dangerous and disturbing puzzle for Yoda to solve while the Republic collapsed around him. Through meditation, he was able to commune with the spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn. The dead Jedi Master had discovered an esoteric yet powerful technique to preserve identity even after death. A Force ability honed outside the Jedi order, this method was developed by a Shaman of the Whills. In the years to come, Yoda would study these techniques, learning the ability in a role he had not played in centuries: an apprentice."

"Knowing that these children would pose a threat to the Emperor, the Jedi were determined to keep their existence a secret. The twins were separated -- baby Luke Skywalker was taken to live on the Lars Homestead on Tatooine; baby Leia Organa was spirited to Alderaan to be raised as the adoptive daughter of Bail and his wife, the Queen of Alderaan. The Jedi would bide their time, sensing through the Force when the moment was right to oppose the Empire. In the interim, Yoda and Obi-Wan would study the Shaman of Whills' knowledge from the disembodied form of Qui-Gon Jinn."

http://www.starwars.com/databank/character/yoda/

 

Interesting, that makes the whills more mysterious than Yoda's origins. I wonder what they were, they seem to be powerful in the Force.

 

I'm going to have to make some wild statements here that I am not quite sure of. Some of them will be EUish, but stay with me.

I think the Whills are a half inside joke, half EU invention. Supposedly an early draft of the original Star Wars was called "The Journal of the Whills" or something (Or R2D2 told the story of Star Wars to the Whills or some other crazy thing.) These things never really made the final cuts of the story, so as a last minute nod to early ideas.

Now, it is possible that they are an extinct species that was once powerful in the force. Looking at the "Rakatan" in KoTOR - we see a species that had a lot of force power and technology powerful enough to use a freaking Star to power some crazy device that built spaceships. Eventually, they invented hyperspace and conquered parts of the galaxy creating the infinite empire. Eventually they bean to lose their control on their empire, lose their connections to the force, and finally end up a primitive tribe of backwater nobodies. Could the Whills be a species similar to the Rakatan (Not in appearance, but in story)? Just an idea.

Carnage

 

But here's a question: will the Whills ever be explored in the expanded universe. If so i hope GL puts some input into it. Come to think of it i wish GL offered more input into the EU.

 

Early drafts of Star Wars were subtitled "From the Journal of the Whills", as if it was a chapter of a larger narrative (sound familiar). The actual Journal of the Whills didnt exist but Lucas just liked presenting the tale as if it was part of some huge space chronicle written by these god-like beings who had recorded the history of the universe. Eventually, this idea morphed into one of the aspects of the Force, the "Cosmic Force" i believe it is called, the part that has to do with destiny and the will of the universe. Lucas brought back his original concept in a somewhat transformed way for ROTS, implying that they are some kind of alien species that apparently know the secrets of life. There really isnt anything known beyond Qui Gon's vague statements about a "Shaman of the Whills" or whatever he says.

 

Journal of the Whills.
Original Story Outline. 40 pages. Partial, handwritten.
Source: Bouzereau: p. 3.

It begins thus: "This is the story of Mace Windu, a revered Jedi Bendu of Ophuchi who was related to Usby C.J. Thape, Padawaan learner of the famed Jedi."

"Originally, I was trying to have the story be told by somebody else; there was somebody watching this whole story and recording it, somebody probably wiser than the mortal players in the actual events. I eventually dropped this idea, and the concepts behind the Whills turned into the Force. But the Whills became part of this massive amount of notes, quotes, background information that I used for the scripts; the stories were actually taken from the 'Journal of the Whills'."

--George Lucas, from Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays, 1997, p. 6:


"In compiling this information and these background details, Lucas created a reference book he called 'Journal of the Whills', which eventually became the starting point for the Star Wars saga."


--Laurent Bouzereau, The Annotated Screenplays, page 8

This is all taken from the Jedi Bendu website, http://www.starwarz.com/starkiller

In the second and third drafts, the films starts with a passage like you'd see in the Bible talking about the coming of the savior known as "The Son Of Suns".

"... And in the time of greatest
despair there shall come a savior,
and he shall be known as: THE SON
OF THE SUNS."
Journal of the Whills, 3:127

This would later change into "The Chosen One". The text was then changed into the now infamous "A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away..." Lucas revised the Journal for the ANH novelization's intro. The only part that he wrote for the book. Lucas would re-write it for the intro to the paperback version of "Shatterpoint", the first Clone Wars novel. This time including completed material from the OT and the PT at that point, as well as revised terminology. Lucas would bring the Whills back in ROTS, using them as a means of explaining how Qui-gon could come back. In the eu, there are other Force users out there besides the Jedi and Sith. The closest analogue would be the Aing-Tii from "The Hand Of Thrawn". A group of Force users who don't get involved.

Anyway, the story of the Whills will never be told in the eu. It might in the television series, but that'll be because Lucas himself is involved. But for the most part, it's off limits just as Yoda and Palpatine's origins, beyond what Lucas has allowed.

 

I was not aware of this. care to elaborate?

 

You really did your homework, Sinister.
I think that the whills should be ignored in the present version of Star Wars. They just don't fit in with the story & seem dangerously alike to the valar or the elves of LOTR.

Although it would be a cool idea that LOTR & Star Wars are some how connected. Like Arda being a planet in the GFFA & the elves recorded everything that happened.

I don't like the idea of Star Wars being presented in such a narrative form, as if it is just some ancient, insignificant, little tale of a greater & larger one.

When I was reading LOTR it was an exciting & fun story but when I finished it felt like it was just ancient history. I like the feeling that Star Wars gives off that it could all be happening right now.

Something about them seems creepy, yes I know that's weird but in the words of Obi-Wan "I have a bad feeling about this" or "I sense a disturbance in the Force".

 

So the phrase "A long time ago" means nothing to you?

 

Ah, but who's time line are we speaking of? Despite that, it gives this feeling like it is still happening. But Middle-Earth as we know eventually becomes our world now, so it makes it feel ancient.

 

I'd assume that the reason LOTR seems ancient is due to the flagrant use of swords, horses, knights, and things like that. You know, ancient things. I'm sure if you looked at other medieval style books, you'd think the same thing.

I think the reason Star Wars seems more like it could be happening right now has a lot to do with how it's written. The Lord of the Rings books were written in the 1950's, and based on much older stories, so of course a lot of the language used is going to seem out of date. In contrast, Star Wars is more recent, with new material being released constantly (and most of it being published well after the end of the 1980's), so the style of writing is more modern.

And about the Whills, if you're so willing to accept that the "A long time ago" refers to some far flung future of the GFFA, it shouldn't be much of a stretch for you to imagine that the Whills are part of it, and have little to do with the present.

 

What's a whill??

 

If you'd read the rest of the thread, you would know.

 

I forget who he said it to, but in the Making Of ROTS George states that the entire Saga is told to the Whills by R2-D2 100 years after the events of ROTJ.

 

Lucas only wrote the introduction of ANH, the rest of the book was written by Alan Dean Foster. The concept of the Whills, was revised into being a journal and not like a bible. When Lucas wrote the intro for "Shatterpoint" in paperback, he took the text of the original intro and rewrote it to feature all the stuff that had developed in the Saga since 1976. He includes references to the Confederacy, the Jedi and the Republic falling into corruption, Dooku's rise to power as the leader of the opposition, the Clone Army and that Palpatine became Chancellor following the Naboo invasion. That how the Clone Wars and the rise of Palpatine would become important in shapping the future of the Republic.

 

I think the Whills are a half inside joke, half EU invention. Supposedly an early draft of the original Star Wars was called "The Journal of the Whills"

They did, indeed. The Whills concept is as old as SW, but it was never flushed out. Even if the Shaman of the Whills scene was left in, it would not have been flushed out. So, in the end, we don't really know.

 

They are alot like the yuusan vong, they seem pretty far fetched & some people accept them while others do not.