10 Times Star Wars Broke Its Own Rules (And You Didn't Notice)

10. How Force Ghosts Work

Many elements of the Force are kept ambiguous throughout the series, seemingly intentionally, but one of the more irksome inconsistencies is the means through which a fallen Jedi becomes a Force ghost.

Obi-Wan (Alec Guinness) of course becomes one after being felled by Darth Vader (David Prowse), and Yoda (Frank Oz) and Anakin (Sebastian Shaw) follow suit in Return of the Jedi, but what about other Jedi who die throughout the series?

Namely, what about the 200-or-so Jedi who died in the Battle of Geonosis in Attack of the Clones? Why didn't we see them become Force ghosts?

Beyond that, the time it takes for a dead Jedi to become a Force ghost is totally all over the place - some near-instantly transmuting into ghost form, while others take considerably longer.

Elsewhere there are countless unanswered questions, like who Force ghosts can reveal themselves to, and how extensively they can interact with the physical world.

Again, this aspect of Star Wars is kept vague to give the writers leeway for how they use it, but the constant deviation and variation makes it frustratingly hard to get a bead on what being a Force ghost is actually all about.