This video will contain spoilers for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
One of the standout characters of Rogue One was Chirrut Imwe.
A believer in the Force and a member of the Guardians of the Whills, he was a capable
fighter despite being completely blind.
So what accounted for his astounding combat abilities?
Was Chirrut Force-sensitive?
According to the Rogue One Visual Guide...maybe.
Chirrut is a practitioner of zama-shiwo, a martial art from Jedha which translates to
“the inward eye of the outward hand.”
The focus of the art was complete physical awareness and bodily control.
Through a conscious accounting of body placement, contact, and internal functions, a master
of zama-shiwo could alter his heart rate, oxygen intake, and vital processes to create
seemingly supernatural effects.
This was achieved through exercises very similar to those used by the Jedi Order.
Let’s touch on Chirrut’s blindness for a second.
He does not speak of how it happened, but thanks to his location on a remote planet,
the condition is permanent.
The Visual Guide says that through the mental discipline of zama-shiwo, he is able to filter
only the most crucial information from his remaining sense to move with pinpoint accuracy
through his imagined surroundings.
In addition, his staff contains a lamp powered by a battery and a sliver of kyber crystal.
He is able to hear the battery and the crystal harmonic to better get a feel of where the
end of his staff is, especially in combat.
Based only on the information found in the Visual Guide it sounds like Chirrut might
not be Force sensitive, at least not in the traditional sense, but rather has insane control
over his body, senses, and mind.
He’s the embodiment of the blind warrior archetype.
But I would say there is room for audience interpretation there, and in fact the filmmakers
may have intentionally left it that way.
The Force works in mysterious ways.
Chirrut certainly believes in it, and we as viewers have seen enough to know it’s real.
The rest of this video will be my own speculation, but personally I choose to believe he has
some degree of Force abilities.
Maybe it comes and goes, or maybe it’s just very limited.
But for a blind man to dodge blaster bolts and one shot TIE Fighters out of the air is
crazy, even for Donnie Yen.
While on Eadu, Chirrut notes that the Force is moving darkly around Cassian, so that has
to mean he has at least some connection to it, even if he doesn’t have any powers through
it.
Pablo Hidalgo has spoken about the nature of the Force and different interpretations
of it before, basically saying that the Force isn’t limited to those that we would traditionally
consider Force-sensitive, which makes sense, considering the Force is created by all living
things.
So just because Chirrut might not have the raw natural talent of someone like the Skywalkers,
that doesn’t mean he can’t access supernatural abilities.
The zama-shiwo principles of physical awareness seem very much in line with Yoda’s teachings
in The Empire Strikes Back.
So maybe Chirrut is something we have never encountered before.
After all, if he is Force-sensitive, wouldn’t he have been picked up by the Jedi Order?
The Visual Guide states that he is 52, which would have put him in his 30s during the Clone
Wars.
Maybe Chirrut is a man that believed so strongly in the Force and trained so rigorously that
he was able to unlock very limited Force-sensitivity for himself at a later age.
I’m hesitant to bring up midichlorians but I think they’re relevant here.
Whether you believe they caused the Force or were a symptom of it, a high count indicated
strength.
Pablo Hidalgo said that midichlorians are evidence that the Jedi had become less spiritual
and more cold and calculated when it came to recruitment.
They ran blood tests to find potential in the Force.
Again, this is speculation, and I’m not even saying it’s something I believe was
intended, but wouldn’t it be interesting if Chirrut were someone with very low potential
that received no formal training, but because of his own perseverance, and maybe through
necessity after his blindness, he was able to develop limited Force abilities on his
own?
Abilities to have complete control over his senses, and visualize his surroundings perfectly.
Maybe he was able to teach himself the first lesson Luke ever learned aboard the Millennium
Falcon, but nothing more advanced like telekinesis.
Maybe we’ll get more information in the future, but in the meantime what do you think?
Is Chirrut Force-sensitive, or does he just have an insane natural amount of control over
his senses?
Let me know in the comments!
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As always, thanks for watching and may the Force be with you!