What Was Anakin Skywalker’s Midi-Chlorian Count?    

The storyline of Star Wars all started when Qui-Gon Jinn sensed how strong a nine-year-old Anakin Skywalker was in the Force, and that was why he was taken to the Jedi Temple to be trained as a Jedi. Of course, Qui-Gon was convinced that Anakin was the Chosen One prophesized to bring balance to the Force after learning that he had a ridiculously high Midi-chlorian count. So, what was Anakin’s Midi-chlorian count?

Anakin Skywalker’s Midi-chlorian count is said to be somewhere over 20,000. It is theorized that his Midi-chlorian count is somewhere between 23,000 and 27,000. But the fact is that there has been no one else in recorded history to have a Midi-chlorian count that was close to Anakin.

The fact that Qui-Gon learned that Anakin’s Midi-chlorian was over 20,000 convinced him that this was the Chosen One. He understood that there had never been any Jedi that had that much potential in the Force, and that was why Qui-Gon did everything he could to bring Anakin back to Coruscant to be trained in the ways of the Force.

What are Midi-chlorians?

When it comes to Star Wars, a concept related to the Force and how powerful Force wielders are was introduced in ‘Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.’

This happened when Qui-Gon Jin met Anakin Skywalker and could sense his power in the Force. Convinced that Anakin was unusually strong in the Force and had the potential to be a great Jedi, Qui-Gon tested him for Midi-chlorians. But what exactly are Midi-chlorians?

Qui-Gon explained to Anakin what Midi-chlorians were when the boy asked about them. He said that these are microscopic creatures that live inside every living being. They originated from the wellspring of life and have a symbiotic relationship with their host in that they allow the Force to speak through them so that the host can communicate with the Force as well.

What that means is that the Midi-chlorians are responsible for allowing people to commune with the Force, which is a cosmic energy that lives within every living being.

The Midi-chlorians are the ones that allow the Force to live inside all of the living creatures in the galaxy. And those who are strong in the Force are said to have higher Midi-chlorian counts than regular people, even though every living being in the galaxy has Midi-chlorians.

For a person to be considered strong in the Force, they must have a Midi-chlorians of at least 7,000. This is the minimum requirement for a person to be trained as a Jedi Knight. Meanwhile, it is believed that the average Midi-chlorian count in the Jedi Order is around 10,000, which means that a Jedi with a Midi-chlorian count higher than that is considered stronger than the average Jedi.

When a Jedi uses the Force, they communicate through the Midi-chlorians inside them. That is why stronger Jedi have higher Midi-chlorian counts than others. And the potential of a Jedi is usually determined by their Midi-chlorian count.

Who had the highest Midi-chlorian count?

So, now that you know more about Midi-chlorians and their nature, let’s now get back to Anakin. When Qui-Gon Jinn tested him for Midi-chlorians, he discovered that he had a Midi-chlorian count of over 20,000, according to Obi-Wan Kenobi. And this is where it gets interesting because that was when Obi-Wan said that not even Jedi Master Yoda has a Midi-chlorian count that high.

This means that Anakin Skywalker had the highest Midi-chlorian count in the history of the Jedi Order or even the entire galaxy. According to Qui-Gon, no one has ever had a Midi-chlorian close to Anakin. This allowed him to conclude that Anakin Skywalker was the Chosen One that was supposed to bring balance back to the Force.

Of course, the fact that Anakin was born without a father suggests that the Midi-chlorians, through the will of the Force, were responsible for creating him inside of Shmi Skywalker’s womb.

As such, he was the product of the will of the Force and was created to have the highest Midi-chlorian in history to fulfill an ancient prophecy that told of a Force wielder that was supposed to destroy the Sith.

The truth is that Anakin had a higher Midi-chlorian count than just 20,000 because Kenobi said it was over 20,000. It is often theorized that his Midi-chlorian is somewhere between 23,000 and 27,000. Whatever the case, the important part is that no one else has ever had a Midi-chlorian count higher than Anakin’s own Midi-chlorian count.

That means that Anakin was born with the highest potential in the Force and was supposed to be the strongest Force wielder in the galaxy’s history if allowed to reach his full potential. But the problem was that Anakin never reached his full potential when he lost his limbs and got severely burned on Mustafar.

Because Anakin had to get replacement cybernetic parts and was forced to live inside a life-support suit, he was now a part machine. That means his Midi-chlorian count decreased as Midi-chlorians only exist within living beings. And because he lost a good part of his body, his Midi-chlorians were said to have dropped to a level below Palpatine’s, and that’s the reason why he could never defeat and overthrow the emperor.

Was Luke’s Midi-chlorian count higher than Anakin’s?

We all know that Anakin fell in love and married Padmé Amidala. They had children together, and these kids grew up to be Luke and Leia Skywalker, who were both heirs to the Skywalker legacy even though they only found out about their true father later in life.

The fact that Luke was the son of Anakin Skywalker made him unusually strong in the Force as well. That’s because Force potential is also passed on from one generation to another, as Midi-chlorians seem to be genetic or hereditary in nature. 

In that regard, it was believed that Luke also had a particularly high Midi-chlorian count. This was shown in the fact that he progressed as a Jedi fairly quickly and became strong enough to defeat Darth Vader after training for only four years, whereas most Jedi trained for decades weren’t close to becoming a match for the dark lord of the Sith.

It was also the fact that Luke had a high Midi-chlorian count that made him the next target of Emperor Palpatine’s machinations. He wanted Luke to be his new apprentice because of his potential in the Force, and that means that Palpatine probably wanted to take over Luke’s body after finding out that he could no longer take over Darth Vader’s damaged body.

As such, there’s a good chance that Luke’s Midi-chlorian count was higher than Palpatine’s own Midi-chlorian count. That is why it might be somewhere between 20,000 and 23,000. But we believe that Luke didn’t have the same Midi-chlorian count as his father because Anakin was always known to have the highest potential in the Force. So, while all Skywalkers have high Midi-chlorian counts, they are still inferior to Anakin in terms of pure potential.

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