#midichlorians

[galactic-rhea]

The Midi-chlorian essay only a few asked

(or, How Is Anakin Skywalker a walking biological horror)

So I made this post and a few were actually interested, also i needed to write down all of this or I wouldn't be able to sleep.

The way I went just from "hahaha they're just mitochondria before becoming forced symbionts and losing all autonomy" to the Medical Horror that would be Anakin Skywalker .

Let me explain, going from this theory, let me tell you that the average mammal cell can have between 800 to 2000 mitochondria. In Star Wars we're told that the average living being, has 2500 midi-chlorians per cell. The difference isn't that big, so we can assume that mid-chlorians are smaller than our real-life mitochondria, and it would make sense since the mitochondria have the best possible living conditions, whereas midi-chlorians, if they're free-life bacteria (as in, they aren't forced to live in the cells of another being) it would make sense if they're just smaller, let's say, sneaky, to increment their chances at living.

So Midi-chlroains don't just produce ATP, Force sensitives have a minimum of 4000-5000 midi-chlorians per cell. That's...a big number, but not very horrific. See, the amount of mitochondria is related to how much energy the organic tissue requires. The cells of muscular tissue and neurons are the ones with the highest mitochondria count. Also the mitochondria in the neurons are mobile and flexible, because just thinking burns ATP.

We can assume that using The Force burns insane amounts of ATP, so I assume it makes sense for Force Sensitives to have big amounts of Midi-chlorians. But! The problem with this is that we're told that the Midi-chlorians are attracted to the force, not born within it. But any multicelullar organism (with a few exceptions) need the mitochondria. Mitochondria have their own ADN, and they're always inherited from the mother, so we can assume that there's two different types of midi-chlorians: The ones any normal being borns with, and the ones that get attracted because of the baby's force potential. Either that, or both the mithocondria and the midi-chlorians exist simultaneously.

Which means that Jedi (or anyone who wants to know, really) would need to take several blood tests for midi-chlorians count. Because a newborns midi-chlorian count wouldn't be the same through a babie's infancy. UNLESS...The midi-chlorian infection (yes, i'm calling it that) ocurrs already since the pregnancy, if the force is strong enough for a fetus to be a possible force sensitive in the future, then I guess the midi-chlorians would get attracted to the parent during the pregnancy as well.

WHICH BTW, IT FITS WITH PADMÉ BECOMING FORCE SENSITIVE, at least for a while, like the discarded ROTS concepts. But also, would mean, that poor Shmi became a hella strong force-sensitive person as well, at least for a while.

And it would be a biological advantage if we take this route, because it would possibly make the pregnant being stronger and with a higher supply of energy.

It also explains why the jedi would only take a single blood test when the force sensitive is just a baby, because the infection is already settled. It can also be argued, that any baby born with a fairly high amount of midi-chlorians (like the 4000 per cell count minimum) would only increase, if only slightly, as the force sensitive grows because the midi-chlorians will get attracted regardless.

There must be a limit, or more like, a balance, that the midi-chlorian and the force potential of the individual met. As in, there's just enough force within the individual for a certain number of midi-chlorian, and all of this is probably decided already during the fetus formation or very early on the baby's life.

Now, Anakin...would be an abomination. Because his cells are so full of midi-chlorians, that it's scary to think how the cells aren't exploding or downright giving malfunctions to the rest of the cellular organelles.

If we go by the route of "midi-chlorians start infecting the force sensitive host mother during pregnancy" it means there were high chances of a misscarriage or an incompatibility between Shmi and Anakin, because holy cow, Anakin is just too much.

But you know what also, it could potentially mean? That Padmé's pregnancy was a risky one, fron the start -slowly nods-. Luke and Leia's force potential was lower than Anakin's, but there's still a lot to unpack there in terms of compatibility. We are never given the exact count of midichlorian count for the twins, but let's pretend it was low enough for Padmé to not inmediatly have a miscarriage. That, and also, maybe, Padmé isn't strong in the force to manipulate it, but maybe just close enough for the pregnancy to be carried to term, let's say, her midi-chlorian count is 3900, close enough.

Something similar with Shmi, I'm taking for granted that she also had a difficult and risky pregnancy (on top of it being a pregnancy she had no agency). It becomes worse because, unlike the twins, Anakin is just...50% human. The only possible genes Anakin has are from Shmi. So he's probably...genetically, almost a clone of Shmi but with a massive infection of Midi-chlorians (yes, this implies that Anakin has homogametic sex chromosomes, aka XX, there's no other possible explanation because he literally only has Shmi's genes to work with!).

But he's Space Jesus, though,so let's pretend that the "no father genes" helped with this and allowed Anakin to grow into a...normal-ish baby despite it all.

Midi-chlorians must be extremelly small, closer to the size of a virus in this case, viruses vary on size and the way they infect the cells is by hijacking the nucleus, which then can produce more viruses instead of its own proteins. This can vary anywhere between a production of 50.000 to 100.000 viruses produced by infected cells.

Which, btw, still fits somewhat with the mitochondria theory, because mitochondrias are believed to have been from a genus of bacteria called Rickettsia, which used to be believed to be the in-between of Viruses and Bacteria due their small size and extreme endosymbiotism.

Still, we aren't even told how many midi-chlorians Anakin had, just that it was over 20.000 and thus the chart couldn't even register it. Even if we're just counting 21.000 midi-chlorians per cell, that's...a lot. Even if the relationship is symbiotic and positive in nature, that's excessive, an infected cell will usually die faster. So Anakin's cellular death must be on record time.

The life span of a cell varies highly depending of the type of cells, white cells can live about 2 days, others about 5, and then there's others that live about 6 years in average.

Forget all of that, Anakin's cells die anywhere between a few hours and a week. Which also means a super fast regeneration and healing (Hey! that tracks, that's how he didn't die even though he should have, on several ocassions).

But that's not the only problem here, the production of energy is strong with this one, too strong. Again this should make the cells burst due too much ATP because of an increase on osmotic pressure. Anakin is producing so much damn ATP (which we can assume it becomes glycogen stored in muscles and fat tissue) his need to be active and just doing something skyrockets, he might as well be the equivalent of being high on meth since birth.

The accelerated cellular formation and death, gives me the horrific idea that Anakin was probably one of these babies that are born premature, but also that he probably was bron with, idk, teeth and already lots of hair. Maybe that's also why he got so tall of all sudden, lots of cellular grow, huh.

Anakin seems to age normally by what are we given by canon. So despite it all, his life-span or aging doesn't seem to be compromised, this is probably because of how strong he is with the Force. In the sense that...he needs the midi-chlorians to handle this much power, but he also needs the force to handle with that many midi-chlorians, otherwise he would have been already born dead.

See, ageing has a lot to do with stem cells. Anakin's stem cells need to be highly prolific and potent to keep cellular division happening at such a high rate, we can infer that any force sensitive has potent stem cells, so the force must inherently affect stem cells. So Anakin's stem cells must be monstruosities in efficiency. If Anakin donated stem cells to someone else, that person would either have a strong inhumne reaction against them or they would get some of the worst cancer ever seen. Again I'm no expert, but the fact Anakin doesn't develop cancer at all as soon as he was born is already impressive. The rate in which Anakin's cells die must be ridiculous, even has a baby, he must have required tons of energy and endure lots of stress which...tracks. The fact he gets electroshocked, burned, gravely wounded or whatever every week or so, must help him to no develop some cancer, which is a bit funny.

But it would also mean he can go long periods of time without eating or resting like...a normal human. Not saying that he doesn't need it, though, but his neural activity and use of the force must be high at all times to burn out that much energy. Theoretically, the production of glycose and glycogen helps him through long periods without sleep or food so he doesn't get long-term damage, or at the very least the ability to keep going, like I said, maybe is like being on drugs all the time; there's still the need to sleep and eat, but he can push his body to keep surviving beyond what's considered normal without having long-term damage. (Don't get happy, this isn't taking into account all of the stuff that happens to him, lol)

The balance between burning too much energy and not burning enough must be insane as well. As Vader, a lot of this probably watered down because all of his energy must be saved for...you know, surviving all the torture. But as a young teen/man amist war? Oh boy.

I'm not an expert, but I'm theorizing that putting Anakin in an induced sleeep must be...fricking hard. Painkillers that work on him? fricking hard. Anesthesia? Probably the same used for big animals, he must be insane and awful for a doctor to work with! Just imagine it, he probably gets injured in such a way that would have anyone else fall unconscious, but Anakin remains awake and with tremendous amounts of adrenaline triggered by a stress response sustented by the extreme amounts of energy that the midichlorians produce.

When it happens in the central nervious system, excess of ATP can produce neuronal dysfunction. In fact, many degenerative mental illnesses have a lot to do with a malfunction of the mitochondrias. There's a corelation also with neurodivergency sometimes, like autism or ADHD. I will leave it there.

And with all of this...I also conclude that Anakin, on general basis, doesn't like sugary things and doesn't even rationalize why, but is because he has already enough glycose. Having something sugary probably gives him a headache.

God what has Star Wars done to me.

[amandamadeathing]

I can't find the original image to reboot and credit, but here you go.

TECH: When I analyzed Omega's DNA, I noticed an anomaly in her blood. Upon further research, she has a high volume of midichlorians."

WRECKER: What does that mean?

TECH: There was a correlation between a "high M-Count" and a Jedi's abilities using the Force.

OMEGA: Does this mean I'm a Jedi?!

TECH: Possibly. You would need extra training by a Jedi to use those skills.

ECHO: I've never noticed she has Force skills.

TECH: I thought her ability to connect with animals was an obvious manifestation of such abilities.

HUNTER: I am sensitive to vibrations. Do I have the Force?

TECH: It seems of the Kaminoans' experimental Clones, only Omega was specifically given a high M-count, which probably explains why she is so valuable to Nala Se and the Empire.

ECHO: Now we know what we're up against. Thankfully, we don't need to collaborate with any suspicious women to get this information. We must find a more secure location to hide. I will contact Rex immediately.

[facts-i-just-made-up]

What determines luck?

According to the Talmudic Mishna, it's is a result of tiny beings in our cells called "Mazel-chrolrians" that secrete a force that determines luck. The earliest Amoraim of the Gemara have no comments, but later generations including Rabbi Abbahu felt this was an unnecessary addition to the Hebrew Canon, stating that the mysteries of Hashem are not for us to know and that this only weakened the Torah by attempting to make it "Hard Sci-Fi" at the cost of the Jewish fandom.

Rashi expands on this to state, "Always two there are, a Schlemiel and a Schlimazel. But which is the Schlemiel... And which is the Schlimazel?"

[saphronethaleph]

Carida One

“Is… something wrong, Lord Vader?” Commandant Vex asked, trying very hard not to swallow.

Or sweat too loudly.

Or give off any other indication of guilt, laxity, or something that would lead Darth Vader to decide to terminate his employment – and him – with a single gesture.

Vader didn’t respond, all his attention on a screen, and Vex took a deep and steadying breath before checking what was on the screen.

It… was nothing, really. The input report of one of the recent cadets. Joined up two days ago as part of a group from the same Outer Rim world, high aptitude marks in proprioception and the highest reflex scores Vex had ever seen… but it didn’t look like anything was strange about it. Except that Vader was reading every single line of data, examining every photo, like he’d found some kind of hidden source of truth that had been concealed from the entire galaxy until now.

“This cadet,” Vader said, abruptly deigning to take notice of Vex again. “Cadet 421. What is your impression of him?”

“Well – he’s…” Vex began. “That is, Lord Vader… he’s talented? A little quick on some of the answers, I suppose, at least that’s the impression my interviewer had – the man thought that perhaps Cadet 421 was lying about specific details of his past.”

“Which details?” Vader asked.

“Principally, that he had permission to leave his home,” Vex said. “It’s not a major issue. We deal with worse all the time, and with incoming cadets from the Outer Rim-”

“Enough,” Vader interrupted, only it didn’t qualify as interruption when it was Vader. It was simply a declaration that your sentence had reached a conclusion, and he was not going to take any discussion on that point. “You took a DNA sample, I take it?”

“Yes, Lord Vader,” Vex confirmed, nodding nervously.

“I will be leaving with it,” he said. “For clarity, that means I will be leaving with the DNA sample. I will also be leaving with all records of the DNA sample; the academy will not be permitted to retain the sample.”

The blank black eyes of his visor stared at Commandant Vex.

“Cadet 421 is under my personal protection,” Vader said, evenly. “If he dies, so do you. If he is severely injured or otherwise harmed in any way for which you or anyone in the Academy can be blamed in any fashion, you die. So will anyone responsible. I recommend putting a note in his file that you will take care of all disciplinary interactions with Cadet 421. You will not appreciate the consequences if you fail in any way. Have I made myself clear?”

In a great many ways, he had not.

But in one specific way…

“Yes, Lord Vader,” Commandant Vex said, swallowing again.

“Good,” Vader said, turning to sweep out of the room.

Then he paused.

“Which cadets did he arrive with?”

“420 and 419,” Vex answered.

“Darklighter…” Vader said, out loud. “Interesting.”

Then, with a swish of his cape, he was gone.

“This is getting ridiculous,” Luke said, with a sigh. “You’d think if the Empire was so good they could just rely on us realizing it, rather than telling us three times a day.”

Biggs winced.

“Shavit, Luke,” he said, much more quietly than his friend. “You know the academy proctors will come down on us like a ton of duracrete if any of us talk like that.”

“They will?” Luke asked. “Really?”

“Yeah, you saw what happened to Yancit, right?” Biggs said. “He got put on hard physical training for three days just for moderately defeatist statements.”

He shook his head. “You’ve got some kind of charmed life, man. I’m just glad to stay close enough that some of it rubs off on me.”

Luke chuckled, a bit nervously.

“If you say so,” he said. “What do you think it is, anyway?”

“Could be your sim scores,” Biggs guessed. “You’re doing even better than me behind the stick, and we’re both way ahead of everyone else… it’d be a weird thing to give you some kind of pass on, though. Like they’d want future ace pilots to be down on the Empire?”

Luke shook his head.

“I mean that… I mean that the Empire should just be obviously better,” he said. “And I mean obviously – it shouldn’t even be a question about whether it’s the best option. You shouldn’t have to tell people. It should just be obvious. Right?”

Biggs looked distinctly worried.

“That would be dangerous enough to say on Tatooine, Luke,” he pointed out. “That’s getting towards the kind of thing that would earn a visit from some kind of enforcer. They’d say the Empire is already that, and if you’re complaining about it, that’s the problem.”

Several months later, Commandant Vex felt like biting through his tongue.

Cadet 421 – cadet Skywalker – and his associated group of friends like Darklighter and Klivian were causing a lot of trouble. It was trouble that was… not the kind of trouble he’d feel comfortable telling a HoloNews channel was trouble, because it was all to do with the cadets earnestly saying that the Empire should be doing things the Empire was supposed to be doing already.

Under normal circumstances, he’d have gone ahead and placed the troublemakers into solitary confinement already – if not disappeared them, remanding them into the custody of Imperial Intelligence or the Internal Security Bureau to never again see the light of day.

The problem was, if that happened, Vex would never see the light of day.

He practically jumped out of his suit as the door to his office swished open.

“Commandant,” Vader said, without preamble. “I am taking several of your cadets for my own personal squadron. Effective immediately.”

“Oh, no,” Vex said, then remembered who he’d said that to. “I mean – just as you say, Lord Vader? Who?”

“Cadet Skywalker,” Vader said. “And anyone who he is closely associated with. Any friends of his. I will look over their scores myself before their transfer is finalized.”

Vex felt like sighing in relief.

He would have been considerably less happy about the situation if he knew that Vader’s reason for the transfer was to get the various cadets out of the academy before Imperial Intelligence or the ISB made the same connection he had.

But he didn’t know that, and what he didn’t know wasn’t going to get him sent to a black site for at least another three days.

[darthkote]

I love when dooku and obi-wan interact bc of the master/apprentice connections to qui gon

[dhampiravidi]

Anakin, the Force, his kids

uh. I know Anakin was 1) lied to by the Emperor, 2) blinded by grief for Padmé + anger/guilt at himself, BUT how did the Strongest Jedi* at the time NOT sense his own kids (before the Rebel/Original Trilogy)?? If he did & I’m mistaken, please cite your source bc I’m curious. It’s hard for me to imagine him knowing his kids were alive & not going to find them despite them being his family + a literal part of Padmé.

*please don’t come over here talking about how there’s anyone w/a higher midichlorian count than Anakin bc I don’t agree w/that. Anakin was Space/Force Jesus for a reason. Revan had the 2nd-highest, I’m thinking. & I completely ignore the newest movies’ lore.

[lightwise]

Project Necromancer

Alright, I think we all get the gist of what's going on with Project Necromancer, the cloning efforts on Tantiss, why Omega's blood is so important, and how it all ties in to the Mandoverse and Palpatine's return in the Rise of Skywalker. But, I wanted to make a bit of a reference post with posts I've seen going into detail on each aspect of this and also combining some screenshots.

Necromancer is Palpatine's goal all along, to create endless bodies for himself that he can transfer his life force and Force sensitivity into, so that he never dies and can rule forever. And he is starting those ambitions in The Bad Batch. Unfortunately for him, transferring Force sensitivity successfully to another body long term is almost impossible, which has led to this same project, and the exact same efforts, STILL being just out of reach by the time of The Mandalorian, which is after he has supposedly been killed off by Vader in RoTJ.

Now, the specimens are not actually the clones. The clones are the receivers, the experiments. The donors are yet to be revealed, but I would bet a lot of money that they are using the bodies of the Jedi killed in Order 66 (maybe some captured younglings as well--potentially Grogu?) As the M-count donors. This seems to be confirmed by the similar amber pods seen in the Inquisitorius in Kenobi.

However, they are obviously having difficulty, and we know that Nala Se has sworn that this might be impossible, mostly to protect Omega, who as we learn, has already successfully (accidentally or on purpose we don't know yet) shown to have this capability to receive midichlorian-saturated blood without decay or complication.

So, we know that Hemlock now knows that Omega is actually the key to this project. And we know that Palpatine does eventually succeed in cloning himself. However, what happens in between now and then? Something is going to happen this season that sets back this project, or Palpatine would have completed it long before the Original Trilogy, AND they wouldn't be scrounging for scraps and trying to recreate the results by hunting down Grogu in The Mandalorian, a full 25 years after TBB. (Is Pershing already involved in this effort? When and why did Pershing get caught up in Moff Gideon's schemes, and how did those branch off from Palpatine's efforts?)

Finally, in Rogue One, Jyn Erso mentions a Mark Omega Imperial project that was housed alongside Project Stardust (which was begun around the same time as TBB), and Krennic has appeared in TBB and is already working for the Empire. Is it possible that Omega's name is the aspect of the project being referenced here? If so, is she captured again and experimented on? Will her blood end up being used to help further Palpatine's goals? And how much will the clones be able to succeed and push back this project by the end of the season?

[twinterrors29]

Din Djarin, kicking in the door: Jedi. Luke: ???? yes?? Din: Boba Fett has informed me that I am infected with midichlorians. How much do I need to pay you to get them removed? Luke, does not know what midichlorians are: ...come again? Din: I am also willing to pay in services rendered. Luke, catching on and recalling his Tatooine roots: well, I suppose we can come to an arrangement :)

[hahaha1d0that]

Guys…there’s still one major cameo from the Bad Batch season 3 trailer that has still yet to make an appearance…

The title for 3x09 is “The Harbinger,” the definition being “a person or thing that shows that something is going to happen soon, especially something bad.”

Ventress found Omega with no trouble (most likely with the Force, but still) and warned the batch that they needed to leave Pabu because they weren’t safe there.

This is obviously foreshadowing that someone is going to attempt to bring Omega back to Hemlock as an M-count target.

If there’s one bounty hunter in the whole galaxy audacious enough to attempt this job (and be successful) it’s Cad Bane.

It wouldn’t be the first time he stole force sensitive children for Palpatine…

It wouldn’t even the first time he would be kidnapping Omega either…

Force sensitive children seem to be his specialty. I’d bet on him being the one.

If you have your doubts about how dangerous he is, remember that he was the one that broke Ziro the Hutt out of prison, held the Galactic Senate and Anakin Skywalker hostage, broke into the Jedi Temple on Coruscant to steal a Holocron, held Ahsoka hostage and manipulated Anakin into opening and giving him the Holocron to save her life, kidnapped force sensitive children for Palpatine’s evil experiments and brought them to Mustafar, fought Obiwan Kenobi with Quinlan Vos’ lightsaber, and orchestrated a prison break and escaped through the morgue.

Cad Bane does not fuck around people!! He is dangerous, he’s experienced, and the groundwork has been laid. Be scared!

[adragonsfriend]

Someone explain the mortis arc to me in a way that doesn't make it sound like the stupidest world building decision since midi-chlorians

[sollody]

We don't even know Sabine's bloody M-count.

However, what we do know is that she was 'blocked and her mind was conflicted' in Rebels.

We know that she was "too mandalorian" and "just as stubborn and bullish" in episode 1 of the Ahsoka show.

We know that "there's only been very few Mandalorians who ever became a Jedi".

We know that she "reeks of Jedi" and "is dangerous".

We know that Ahsoka "feared that if Sabine unlocked her potential she would become dangerous."

We know that Midichlorians are kind of important according to "The Bad Batch" and "The Mandalorian."

Peace out. ✌️

[libraryogre]

Queueing this up for May 1st, Clone Rememberance Day.

Don't know if this is explored anywhere, but a thought on why Jango Fett was chosen to be the Father of Clones: he had an abnormally LOW M-count. Which meant, even iterated millions of times, it was unlikely that any of his clones would be force sensitive, and thus a possible threat to Palpatine's plans.

Why does Palpatine not want force sensitive clones? Because they are going to be interacting often with the Jedi. If the clones start showing force sensitivity, it will BOLSTER the Jedi, giving them hundreds, if not thousands or millions, of Padawans, raised from creche for loyalty to the Republic, and possibly unsuitable for Order 66 ("Kill all Jedi?" <commits suicide>)

By the time of Din Djarin, 9ish ABY, Imperial research had changed direction: they wanted high M-count clones, allowing them to raise force users habituated to the Dark Side, to be the servants of a reborn Palpatine, but also to test how force sensitivity survives through cloning, to refine their techniques for the Emperor and his clones. Early clones (such as Rey's father) were unsatisfactory; he was either aged up as part of the process (as the GAR Clones were), or born well before the Battle of Yavin. Rey, born 15 ABY, would have been the child of one of those unsatisfacory clones.

[mst3kgifs]

That's what I keep telling myself, Jonah.

[authortobenamedlater]

Endlessly amused at how Mandalorian and Bad Batch are the only Star Wars media since TPM to mention midichlorians and they won’t even use the word. “M-count.” Like they need to say midichlorians without saying midichlorians and trust that everyone watching knows what it means.

[ezras-left-thumb]

THE BAD BATCH S3 THE HARBRINGER (SPOILERS)

VENTRESS!!! The queen has returned. Loved her.

Also the Tech mention made me squeal! but then i cried

This entire episode was a tsunami of nostalgia and ecstasy and feels!!! we got ventress and a tech mention and THE FREAKING POSSIBILITY OF A FORCE-SENSITIVE OMEGA???

Ventress said she isn’t, but… she lied. They wouldn’t give us “Hey, Omega might be force sensitive” for no reason, and I really, really don’t want her to be for many reasons.

Crosshair being all protective of Omega this episode was adorable, and on a completely different tangent, the fight between the Batch and Ventress had me on the edge of my seat SQUEALING.

I loved how they showed even though the Jedi had an affinity for nature and beauty in the Force, Ventress of all people could summon those glowing rays.

Also, the yellow lightsabers?? I’m relatively sure that the yellow hue is from kinda healing the crystals to be neautral? Similar to the white crystals of Ashoka’s lightsabers?

i could be very wrong tho.

I’ll be back next Wednesday xx