Force Storms

 Force Storms

Huge thanks to Guru and Kira. 

To explain what Force Storms are, first we must discuss what Hyperspace is.

Hyperspace

Hyperspace is an alternate dimension that allows ships to achieve faster than light travel. In the Death Star novel, Hyperspace is frequently described as having more than 4 dimensions. It contains a unique tachyonic matter known as “Hypermatter”, which allows objects in hyperspace to travel infinitely fast. Hyperspace also has the capacity for time travel, although these high-speed travel properties come with risks as normal matter would dissolve upon contact with its energies. Traveling through Hyperspace is described as going through an endless, other dimensional hole. Hyperspace is a "great dimension...outside of ordinary space and time and an "incomprehensible dimension".

Higher Dimensionality is nothing new to Star Wars, as shown in the Novel MedStar 2. When Barriss Offee used the Bota to achieve a form of Oneness with the Force, she was capable of sensing beyond three, even four dimensions, and understood that the universe was of an entire piece, each part connected to all the others, webbed together by vibrating strands of the Force that stretched through dimensions utterly beyond the ken of her senses:

Master Unduli went translucent, then transparent, and then blinked off like a light going out. With her next breath, Barriss felt sudden energy flow into her-pure, raw, vast power. In that moment, she felt transcendent, almost omnipotent. She was simultaneously in her body and out of it, able to sense beyond three, even four dimensions. It felt as if she could grasp the fabric of space and time, and turn it, twist it, anyway that fabric of space and time, and turn it, twist it, anyway that suited her. For one blinding instant she could feel the Force as she had never done before-in its entirety. There was a kind of... cosmic consciousness, in which she felt connected to all things, everywhere, able to do anything, anything at all-For that timeless moment, she was the Force. Suns were born, planets spawned, civilizations rose, fell, the planets grew barren, the suns cold. Time flowed like a blaster bolt, like a ship at hyperspeed, but she was ill’ to track it all. Every detail on every world in all the galaxies to the end of the universe. It was indescribable. This must be what it felt like to be a god, did such things exist. How long it lasted, she couldn’t say. A few moments or a few eons, there was no way to time it...

Beyond her unamplified capabilities. But nothing seemed too big for her to handle while connected in the Force by the miracle of the bota. She knew, right to the depths of the miracle of the bota. She knew, right to the depths of her bones, that what she could do with the Force in that state would be astounding, once she got used to it. Once she learned to not control it, but to flow with it, to be it. She now understood how it was that the greatest Jedi Masters could sense things even parsecs away, information gained far faster than by subspace packet; she had now the knowledge-the certainty-that the universe was of an entire piece, each part connected to all the others, webbed together by vibrating strands of the Force that stretched through dimensions-utterly beyond the ken of her senses-and she knew her place in it, and that all things, great and small, were precisely in position. As they had always been, and as they always would be, worlds without end.

The Force encompasses even Hyperspace, which has been shown in a plethora of media. It is time to examine the most destructive example of this. 

The Technique

Force Storm is a volatile Force ability from the Dark Side capable of creating Hyperspace Wormholes that are able to displace objects across vast distances. A Hyperspace Wormhole was a tunnel in Hyperspace itself that connected two realspace locations to one another. Force Storms are incredibly difficult to control once unleashed and require mastery in many different Force disciplines. By manipulating the energies of the Dark Side to shatter the fabric of space, the user can create storm-like hyperspace wormholes capable of swallowing entire fleets. Their energy cannot accurately be measured by a Nebulon-B Frigate. 

Force Storms can rip off the surfaces of worlds (a minor usage devastated Coruscant), destroy planets, are on par with the Death Star and potentially can destroy all of space. The wormholes are described as shattering the fabric of space and as dimension altering energy. They can even twist the space-time continuum. They rend the fabric of space, which in context includes Hyperspace (which is referred to as the “fabric of space”). Should the user of the Storm die, the wormhole will vanish, as the user sustains it.

Far in the past, the Sith artifact known as the Darkstaff could make Force Storms by draining the Force from its victims. It sent the Sith Darth Rivan hundreds of years into the future. The Force Storms created by the staff were so potent they could cause an entire star system to disappear and travel into the future. It is interesting to note the Darkstaff itself has no Force signature of its own and makes the Storms purely off the amount of the Force it absorbs. Force Storms can also transport living beings across the galaxy if willed by the user and can also send beings across time.

Luke also alluded to the possibility of his future students coming across the ability to create Force Storms in their experimentations, causing him to move his new Jedi Academy to Yavin 4, where if such an event occurs there would be less casualties.

WoG

According to the writer of Dark Empire, Palpatine cannot make force storms of his volition and requires outside help in the form of reaching to another force sensitive mind in order to create the storm. It's also noted in the Dark Empire endnotes that Sidious overestimates his control over Force Storms.

These statements have 2 issues:

If you read the first issue of the comic, Sidious connects to Luke's mind after the Force Storm shows up on Coruscant, not prior. As shown here, Luke links minds with Palpatine after he sees the Storm.

The second issue is that the story in and of itself was planned and written before the writers of the EU had a focus on continuity in their stories. Because of this, there wouldn’t have been a mandate of continuity in terms of what happens in the story itself, and other writers were allowed to make changes to the timeline of said events of Dark Empire because of this. Tom Veitch is not the Word of God in regard to Legends continuity as that falls to Leland Chee, the Keeper of the Holocron. To be clear, Tom does have authority to clarify elements of his story, but his statements made years after Dark Empire released not only contradict the story, but several other statements that Palpatine can use the ability of his own will.

Citations

There also numerous in universe and guidebook citations for Palpatine being able to use Force Storm of his own will:

Dark Empire Handbook:

Vast energy storms that connect wildly disparate spots across the galaxy, hyperspace wormholes are unpredictable and devastating. It was to the Rebel Alliance's detriment that Emperor Palpatine was able to not only control these storms, but to create them.

Palpatine was very proud of his ability to create and control the hyperspace wormholes.

​In a last ditch attempt to stab at his enemies Palpatine evoked another hyperspace wormhole over the rebels' Pinnacle Moon Base. 

The Comics Companion

Unleashing the full power of his hatred, he conjures a Force Storm that threatens to consume all of space, including the New Republic fleet.

Dark Empire Sourcebook

Emperor Palpatine- Create Force Storms

I have learned that Anger and Will, when joined together, forge a most unholy and devastating alliance. Using Anger, I have learned to unlock the hidden reservoirs of the glorious dark side power. Anger concentrated by Will in the vital center of the body creates a portal, through which vast energies are released. The energies of the dark side of the Force. This is the power I command, now that I am one with the dark side. With these energies, I have slain my enemies across the empty reaches of space. I have created lightning, and unleashed devastating fires. With this knowledge, I can unleash dark side energies that swirl invisibly around us, even to shatter the fabric of space itself. In this way, I have created Storms.

Leia and Luke Skywalker try to disrupt Palpatine’s Force storm, which is destroying the Republic’s fleet. Palpatine is in the room with them. Luke and Leia and Leia ‘s new child are related by blood and are all strong with the Force. ….then Palpatine ‘s control over the Force storm is severed.

A Guide to the Star Wars Galaxy. Third Edition

Force Storm A tornado of energy created by great disturbances in the Force. Dark Side Adepts demonstrate limited control over the creation of these storms, while the reborn clone Emperor was able to create and control Force storms at will. Light-side practitioners can also join to create Force storms. [DE].

Jedi vs Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force

“Through a simple act of will, I can generate Force Storms, energy storms that are vastly destructive and virtually unstoppable. Although triggering such storms requires merely thought and inclination, I admit I am not yet able to completely control the phenomenon. Among my goals is to perfect this control." 

Starwars Databank

“Using his dark powers to invoke a force storm of great magnitude…”

Clues to the emperor's power before he could piece together their significance a raging force storm appeared in the sky. The swirling vortex of dimension-altering energy consumed Luke and deposited him far away on the deep core world of Byss. there in an ornate citadel Luke faced an enemy had never expected to see again, Emperor Palpatine

Jedi Path

Force Storm- "The Reborn Emperor used this at Da Soocha. It has the power to kill worlds."

Audio drama version of Dark Empire

Full link to audio:

https://www.theforce.net/timetales/misc/de1.doc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLGqHJkADUs

“...and I have come to realize that the dark side is my only ally. The dark side is the only means to power. My explorations of the Force have revealed to me many wonderful secrets. I have learned that Anger and Will, when joined together, forge a most unholy and devastating alliance. Using Anger, I have learned to unlock the hidden reservoirs of the glorious dark side power. Anger concentrated by Will in the vital center of the body creates a portal, through which vast energies are released. The energies of the dark side of the Force. This is the power I command, now that I am one with the dark side. With these energies, I have slain my enemies across the empty reaches of space. I have created lightning, and unleashed devastating fires. With this knowledge, I can unleash dark side energies that swirl invisibly around us, even to shatter the fabric of space itself. In this way, I have created Storms.”

--Palpatine’s hologram recording

(Audio Link)

…………….

Luke: He's created another energy storm.

Leia: It’s descending on Pinnacle Base, consuming all the ships in its path. (Sound of comlink activating.) Mon Mothma, can you hear me?

Mon Mothma: Princess Leia. There’s an energy storm. It’s suddenly taken over the planet! We have twelve ships lost already. All our hands are being lost. We’re being wiped out!

Han: Leia, Leia! (Sound of comlink deactivating.)

Leia: You’re going to slaughter all those people.

Palpatine: Yes. Did I not warn you? I’ve played along with your Jedi dueling games long enough. Now, you will experience my full potency. I live as energy. I am the dark side!

Book of the Sith

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I0hfWrbgiwnKhj18sXygZrFFj_l9gY8M/view?usp=sharing

“It must be understood that anger can be funneled through the body and released near the heart at the ‘vital gate.’ The destruction that can be unleashed by this method is immense. Thousands of enemies can be annihilated in a single act of malice.”

“The churning energy mass of a Force Storm can consume everything it touches for at its eye is pure hate. Just as a black hole devours a star, this storm can swallow armies and fold space.”

--Darth Sidious

"One of the Emperor's Force Storms destroyed the Alliance base on the moon of Da Soocha and the entire fleet above it. Every day I'm reminded how lucky we are that Palpatine is lost to Chaos forever."

--Luke Skywalker

Essential Chronology

He summoned up a huge Force storm, far more powerful than the one that had swept Coruscant.

Essential Atlas

A dark side force storm intended to obliterate the new republic headquarters consumes the emperor instead

The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons

Palpatine conjured up a hideous force storm…

The new essential guide to vehicles and vessels

Emperor Palpatine began generating devastating force storms…

The new Essential Guide to Characters

The emperor died aboard his flagship the eclipse when brother and sister turned Palpatine's all-consuming Force storm back on its maker

Star Wars - The New Essential Chronology

The desperate emperor summoned up a huge Force storm but could no longer control what he had unleashed

Starwars.com

While on coruscant Luke has discovered strange clues to the nature of the late palpatine's power. When a massive force storm, a chaotic distortion of space-time, comes twisting in from hyperspace to consume him and transform him to the heart of the Galaxy he finds out the shocking truth:

Emperor Palpatine lives

Dark Empire Comic

With mounting anguish Luke and Leia watch the emperor's rage take form as a great storm of raw energy rends the fabric of space itself

“He's creating another force storm Luke, he's destroying the whole fleet thousands of warriors are dying”

“My force storm is reducing your rebel fleet to dust”

Dark Empire Endnotes

"with all his hatred funnel into the death storm"

The key to Luke's turning is the moment when he and Leia realize the Emperor is no longer defined by his physical form, but has become a chaotic nexus of dark energies that swell and burst open the fabric of space, tearing apart everything in the vicinity, human and machine.

--Dark Empire endnotes

Figure Descriptions

His Force powers included the devastating Force lightning attack, hypnotic persuasion and the near unstoppable Force storm.

Supporting Statements:

The moment the Emperor "died" at the Battle of Endor, Droga fell into an inexplicable insanity, butchering his crew and causing the Emperor's Shadow to plunge into Kaal's oceans. Even as he perished, Palpatine used the dark side knowledge the Sith Lords had granted him years earlier to rend space itself and transmigrate his essence across lightyears to Droga's body.

--Gamer #5

When Darth Vader hurled Emperor Palpatine to his doom, it seemed to Luke and the Alliance that the rule of Darkness had come to an end. But in that moment, when flashing blue energy rushed from exploded flesh, the Emperor entered a bodiless transitional state. As conscious Dark Force he was translated across the Galaxy...

In the clone labs on Byss, a young Emperor opened his eyes... And laughed. He had won. The Empire would survive.

Source: Dark Empire Endnotes (Supported by WoG)

What does this mean for Palpatine’s attack potency?

Sidious creates these Force Storms by channeling his raw Dark Side Energies. This is what empowers Sith. The potency of these Force Storms is tied directly to Sidious, himself. It is much more than just opening a portal or wormhole. Sidious directly controls the higher dimensional energy of Hyperspace and further empowers it with his rage through the Force. This is why once Luke and Leia cut Palpatine off from his Dark Side empowering emotions, he can no longer control his attack made most devastating through his unleashed rage.

Hatred and Anger for Sith directly tie into their power with the Force. Negative emotions amplify the Sith, and having those emotions affected will weaken them. Anger ties into Force amplification of the body, an example being Dooku using it to increase his strength to parry Yoda. The Book of the Sith further backs this up, with Hatred/Anger being used to amplify the body with the Force.

Considering it is via Sidious’ own power/hatred that he makes these Hyperspace Wormholes, the power may scale to his physicality when enhanced by the Force as mentioned above. This is supported by Palpatine becoming weaker when Luke and Leia cut him off his anger and hatred. He loses control of the Force Storm and is killed by it. Merely summoning the Storm is not evidence one scales to it in potency. Luke at one point was fearful his students might summon the Storm without the capacity to control it.  When using the Storm, Palpatine’s body emanates an electric aura. The aura is the same as Force Lightning, used earlier in his fight with Luke both as an attack and to amp his lightsaber when dueling him. This helps show the power used for his Storm and Lightning is the same, his own Dark Side energy tied with his rage.

Palpatine first learned how to use Force Storms around the time of Revenge of The Sith (according to the dates in his Book of Anger). Initially he had very limited control over the technique, and spent decades mastering it. After reviving in a clone body after his death in Return of the Jedi, Palpatine (in a weakened state) finally mastered the power. He has enough control to use the Force Storm to teleport Luke into the hold of an Imperial ship. Palpatine may also have made several of these at once according to Audio Drama for Dark Empire, though it might be an error.

Statements regarding control:

"The moment the Emperor "died" at the Battle of Endor, Droga fell into an inexplicable insanity, butchering his crew and causing the Emperor's Shadow to plunge into Kaal's oceans. Even as he perished, Palpatine used the dark side knowledge the Sith Lords had granted him years earlier to rend space itself and transmigrate his essence across lightyears to Droga's body." - Gamer #5

"This is perhaps the single most destructive Force power known. This power allows the Jedi to twist the space-time continuum to create vast storms of force. The power also allows limited control of these storms. Capable of creating annihilating vortices, the storms can swallow whole fleets of spaceships or tear the surfaces off worlds." - Dark Empire Sourcebook.

"Vast energy storms that connect wildly disparate spots across the galaxy, hyperspace wormholes are unpredictable and devastating. It was to the Rebel Alliance's detriment that Emperor Palpatine was able to not only control these storms, but to create them." - Handbook #3: Dark Empire

According to the Emperor, through a simple act of will he is able to generate energy storms, vastly destructive, virtually unstoppable. “Force Storms,” he calls them. What he also admits in his Book of Anger, is that he is not completely able to control such phenomena, once he has triggered their onset. However, in the years since he wrote those words, the Emperor has continued to perfect his Dark Side abilities, and now he boasts to Luke that he has perfect control of his Force Storms. - Dark Empire Endnotes.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Conclusion

In conclusion Palpatine can summon and control Force Storms, which are wormholes like tears through Real Space into the higher dimensional Hyperspace. This releases “dimension altering energy” (energy of Hyperspace) which Palpatine controls and empowers with his hatred. Merely making the tear into Hyperspace is insufficient for the user to be as powerful as the Storm. It is by controlling it and empowering it with the Dark Side that one should scale it. Due to how the Force Empowerment works for Sith, Palpatine should in theory scale to the potency of the Force Storm (since he is both empowering and sustaining the storm) while using his Hatred to empower his physicality with Force Enhancement/Amplification. 

That same potency should also apply to his Force attacks like Force Lightning when empowered by his full rage. It is all by the same Dark Side energy he performs any of his abilities. All of this is explained in the Book of Anger (link here). As explained prior, Palpatine being killed by his Storm is not an anti-feat, as he was cut off from the Force and his emotion by Luke and Leia, which in turn nullified his Force Enhancement and any control he had over the Storm.

Does it make sense?

Does it make Sense for Palpatine to be this strong? Potentially. Due to his repeated resurrection, and exposure to the Dark Side, Palpatine has become a living Dark Side Nexus. Byss is a planet that Sidious corrupted, albeit overtime, to become one of the most powerful Dark Side nexus’ in history. While near Byss, Luke was convinced it was the “dark center of the universe”. Byss is called the Heart of the Dark Side by Palpatine and narrator in the Audio Drama. The Dark Empire endnotes even state that while on Byss, Sidious was the ultimate expression of the Dark Side. Sidious corrupts everything around him, with his ship noted to cause “oppression” more so than anything Leia had experienced prior. Sidious notes that he had become pure energy in flesh, which is similar to what Vitiate became from his rituals and what Exar Kun attempted to achieve.

Here’s a few more quotes to support it:

"And then there was Palpatine, of course: he was beyond power. He showed nothing of what might be within. Though seen with the eyes of the dark side itself, Palpatine was an event horizon. Beneath his entirely ordinary surface was absolute, perfect nothingness. Darkness beyond darkness. A black hole of the Force."

Revenge of the Sith novelization

"When Luke had been brought before the Emperor, Palpatine's visage had been familiar to him from images that had reached even remote Tatooine, and his inherent power was immediately evident.

The Supreme Overlord, however, was a void Luke could not fathom. He wasn't a shell of a human in a hooded cloak, more energy than flesh. Nor was his face that of a Sith Master, prematurely wizened by years of calling on dark power."

The Unifying Force

"The 10 years that followed were tumultuous, but nothing rivaled Hethir's shock when summoned to the planet Byss to face a miraculously reborn Emperor Palpatine. Hethir re-pledged his loyalty immediately, coming to understand Palpatine not as a man but as a vessel for the darkness of the universe, an avatar of the dark side itself."

Aliens in the Empire, Part II

"The Dark Side flowed through him like some primordial ichor and was the key to all his power."

Dark Empire Sourcebook

"Palpatine had become such a creature of the dark side that its powers consumed him. It constantly fed at his core and withered his flesh. The very power that cemented his rule over the galaxy threatened his life, and so he ingeniously turned to technology to cheat death."

The Dark Empire Saga

Eager to meet his captor, Luke learned that the dark side nexus he had sensed was none other than the cloned reincarnation of Emperor Palpatine himself.

Source: The New Essential Chronology

With the power of luminous beings, brother and sister Jedi press the Force around the dark nexus that is Emperor Palpatine…

Dark Empire

Revenge of the Sith novel support:

Their clash transcended the personal; when new lightning blazed, it was not Palpatine burning Yoda with his hate, it was the Lord of all Sith scorching the Master of all Jedi into a smoldering huddle of clothing and green flesh. A thousand years of hidden Sith exulted in their victory. 

"Your time is over! The Sith rule the galaxy! Now and forever!"

And it was the whole of the Jedi Order that rocketed from its huddle, making of its own body a weapon to blast the Sith to the ground.

When those blades met, it was more than Yoda against Palpatine, more the millennia of Sith against the legions of Jedi; this was the expression of the fundamental conflict of the universe itself.

Light against dark.

Winner take all.

It came when the avatar of light resolved into the lineage of the Jedi; when the lineage of the Jedi refined into one single Jedi.

It came when Yoda found himself alone against the dark.

This truth: that he, the avatar of light, Supreme Master of the Jedi Order, the fiercest, most implacable, most devastatingly powerful foe the darkness had ever known…

Conclusion:

Palpatine became, over time, a living Force Nexus, more energy than flesh. His power aligns well with the potency of the Force Storm by lore. Even dying caused the Dark Side to become much more powerful throughout the galaxy. It is also consistent with his master, Darth Plagueis, having turned his body into a vessel that could handle the full power of the Dark Side of the Force, or Dooku being able to make himself the center axis of the universe in the Force and using the power of the Dark Side across the universe.

Speed

Interestingly enough, the Audio Drama for Dark Empire establishes that the Force Storms travel through Real Space in motion. Han Solo sees one traveling through space to reach Coruscant’s atmosphere, which he mistakes for a magnetic storm. Considering they have to physically travel, here is a theoretical calc for Palpatine’s initial Storm traveling from Byss to Coruscant. Force Storms need knowledge of an ability known as Instinctive Astrogation to use effectively. Instinctive astrogation is Force ability that helps the user to find a route through Hyperspace that was fast and safe without the help of a navigation computer. Palpatine can react to guide his Storm to pick up and guide Luke to himself. Palpatine himself is guiding the Storm across space with his mind via Instinctive Astrogation. As such it could possibly scale to his reaction speed.

“Astrogation” in Star Wars as described in the West End Games RPG books is a skill necessary to chart a safe course through hyperspace, often done via a Nav Computer which automatically finds and charts a course. Astrogation is a very involved process, as the astrogator can choose to speed up or slow down their course, and depending on how unsuccessful they are certain “mishaps” can occur. Attempting to use Astrogation with a Nav Computer typically carries a severe penalty, however it is possible to use the Force to “instinctively” Astrogate, an ability which the Jedi have used many times in the past.

Bonus: Rakata Technology and the powers of Hypermatter.

As stated earlier in the beginning of this document, Hyperspace is noted as containing a unique substance called “Hypermatter”, which in the past has been used as a power source in real space, and the first among the Galactic races to do so were the Rakata.

The Rakata were an ancient precursor race known to be Dark Side adepts who used the Force to create and power their technology. In fact this dependance on the Force was so severe that any who attempted to control the Star Forge without adequate power would be drained and dissolved in its energies. 

Their Energy Cores which they created via the Force drew in the matter from Hyperspace and used it as a power source. These cores contained such energy that if they were released, it would sound out a shockwave with the power to annihilate multiple star systems. And although not directly related to their hypermatter technology, the Star Forge, which they harnessed to produce a majority of their fleets and advanced tech, had such potential that a single broken piece of it would eventually grow to become capable of creating its own galaxies.