Force Deflection

"No! Fight! I am deflecting their salvos&hellip; with the Force!"

- Master Thon to Nomi Sunrider

Force Deflection was a Force power used by Jedi and Sith who were without a lightsaber, or chose not to carry one. It is unknown exactly if the Jedi and Sith merely created a wall using the Force to deflect blaster bolts and Force Powers, or if they actually deflected them back with their hand. It took much skill in the Force to use this, however, and most Jedi used their lightsabers instead to deflect incoming attacks.

Notable uses
While training with the Beast Master Thon on the planet Ambria, Nomi Sunrider, her daughter Vima, and Thon were attaked by Bogga the Hutt's gang of pirates. When the thugs fired upon Thon and his apprentices from their hovercraft, the Tchuukthai Jedi was able to use the Force and repel the incoming salvo bombardment.

During the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi also used this ability during a fight with Durge to deflect projectiles from his Gatling gauntlet, and again later against a group of droidekas.



Grand Master Yoda used deflection to block barrages of Force lightning hurled at him while dueling Darth Tyranus, and again when dueling Darth Sidious. It is possible that Yoda combined Force Deflection with Force Absorb when protecting himself against Force lightning. He was unsuccessful against Sidious because he was trying to gather the lightning's energy into an orb to fire back at Sidious, but it overloaded and exploded, throwing the combatants apart.

Galen Marek used this ability when the reach of his lightsaber is not sufficient to block incoming blaster fire in which he imbued his free hand with the Force to deflect them; notably he also used it against Sidious, combined with Force lightning to protect Rahm Kota from being shocked, allowing the him and the other rebels to board the Rogue Shadow and escape. While deflecting the lightning, Galen then unleashed a huge Force Explosion, not only burning the whole Observation Tower, but killing himself in the process.

Jedi Master Rahm Kota was skilled in this ability, as seen at the start of his duel with Galen Marek when he was able to easily deflect the lightning the Sith apprentice had unleashed back to its source, as well as deflecting Marek's Force push back at him.

When Luke Skywalker dueled his father, Darth Vader, in the Temple of Pomojema on Mimban, Vader fired a ball of kinetic energy at Luke. Luke was able to use this power and redirect it towards the Sith Lord, even though he had little training with Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Darth Vader may have used this ability to deflect blaster fire from Han Solo in Cloud City. However, the shots may have been deflected by his armored mechanical hand, rather than the Force, so whether he did use this power is debatable. However, Luke Skywalker believed that in this incident, Vader used the ability known as Force Absorb to absorb the incoming fire, and redirected the energy thus absorbed to pull the blaster out of Solo's hand.

Jacen Solo used this ability at the Battle of Snevu during the Swarm War; holding his hand above his head, he deflected cannon fire from a Chiss task force as though he held a deflector shield. Jacen also used this ability to deflect Thrackan Sal-Solo's blaster shots on the Centerpoint Station in 40 ABY.

Behind the scenes
In the Star Wars Revised d20 RPG, this skill is referred to as "Block" and normally cannot be used without some sort of protective gear or an item that can withstand the attack (though there are exceptions).

The Saga revision split this power into "Rebuke", allowing the user to resist, deflect, and possibly reflect back force powers ("force duels"), and "Negate energy" allowing the user to dissipate and possibly absorb energy attacks. (the barehanded deflect)

In "Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy", the player can use Force push to give a similar power to this against projectiles.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
 * Star Wars: Clone Wars
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
 * The Force Unleashed novel
 * Star Wars Rebellion 8: The Ahakista Gambit, Part 3
 * Splinter of the Mind's Eye
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Dark Empire II
 * Survivor's Quest
 * Dark Nest III: The Swarm War
 * Betrayal
 * Invincible
 * Star Wars Legacy 7: Broken, Part 6