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I'm only familiar with the movies, so in The Force Awakens I saw some use of the Force that was new to me.

Most notable were these two abilities:

freezing blaster bolts in mid-air, and directly reading someone's mind like he tried with Rey.

Have either of these happened before?

Rand al'Thor
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Ivo
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  • A blaster bolt is made of matter. According to the Star Wars Wiki http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Blaster: "When the blaster was fired, a small amount of gas moved from the cartridge" - so why would it be any more difficult to stop a blaster bolt than someone throwing a water balloon at you really, really fast? – Nate Dec 18 '15 at 14:02

6 Answers6

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1. Mind-reading: Yes

Darth Vader was also able to use the Force to perceive thoughts:

VADER: Give yourself to the Dark Side. It is the only way you can save your friends. Yes, your thoughts betray you. Your feelings for them are strong. Especially for... sister. So, you have a twin sister. Your feelings have now betrayed her, too. Obi-Wan was wise to hide her from me. Now his failure is complete. If you will not turn to the Dark Side... then perhaps she will...

Darth Vader was able to read Luke's thoughts. Kylo Ren seemed, to me anyway, to have even greater skill at mind reading.

2. Freezing blaster fire midair: No

As far as halting a blaster bolt in midair, I don't believe we've ever seen that before. We've seen plenty of Force users exercise Force telekinesis on various objects but never before on blaster fire.

Because he is extremely skilled in Force telekinesis, Kylo Ren is able to freeze not just objects but even blaster bolts in midair.

This is reinforced in The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary page on Kylo Ren:

enter image description here

Specifically the part where it says:

His reflexes and telekinetic defenses are immense - he is able to stop an incoming blaster bolt in midair and hold it in place for several seconds before releasing it.

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RedCaio
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    We never saw on screen but Vader tried to get information out of Leia it was probably her force affinity that prevented him. – Jeremy French Dec 18 '15 at 07:56
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    Not sure until I see the movie myself but could it be a similar power (the freeze blaster thing) as darth vader used on bespin to defend against solos blaster shots? – Thomas Dec 18 '15 at 16:33
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    @Thomas Vader deflects the bolts. Kylo literally stops it in mid-air. – phantom42 Dec 18 '15 at 17:25
  • @phantom42 yeah but that does not mean that they are two different force powers....as throwing things at someone, throwing someone and lifting an xwing out of a swamp are still the same force power (telekinesis). So I wonder if those two blaster affecting powers are of the same kind (or if it was just the most interesting usage of telekinesis so far) – Thomas Dec 18 '15 at 17:27
  • my answer explains that it wasn't necessarily the force being used to deflect the bolts to begin with – phantom42 Dec 18 '15 at 17:29
  • Kylo Ren also stopped people dead in their tracks, including their arms and hands wielding weapons. Im not sure that level of force control over other people specifically, not to mention objects has been shown before in cannon. – Mayshar Dec 18 '15 at 17:47
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    I think that it's also curious that the bolt continued its path afterwards. If it was simply telekinesis I would think it would just drop to the floor when the effect ended. It was as if time was stopped for that bolt, keeping it's direction and speed. It also seemed that Kylo didn't need to keep focus at all to keep it frozen. As if just the stopping of the bolt was some kind of one time force effect that lasts temporary. – Ivo Dec 19 '15 at 00:09
  • Kylo Ren seems to be favoring brute force when using the force. It shows someone with lots of power, but not necessarily skill. When Vader reads minds, he skims surface thoughts and uses those to probe for more. Kylo just tries to rip them off your mind. When Vader gets shot by Han, he uses minimal effort and simply deflects the bolt towards the wall. Kylo, on the other hand, freezes the bolt in mid-air. It's a great display of strength, but it's certainly not a show of skill. – Dungarth Dec 20 '15 at 17:11
  • As @Dungarth said, Kylo is more of a shower, in the sense that he wants others to KNOW he's strong. Vader is (I believe) stronger than him. Extremely. For example, Kylo's saber seems to have "lightning" coming out of it. While on one hand it can be said that it's because he's stronger and can produce that, I would argue that it's because Kylo can't control his powers as Vader can – Oak Dec 30 '15 at 18:37
  • @Oak The difference in Kylo's lightsaber is because he is using a defective crystal. It is also the reason for the side vents. I can't think of any instance in which a character's ability to use the Force has had a visible effect on a lightsaber. – T.J.L. Jan 23 '16 at 20:51
  • Yea, Disney: killing YouTube one link at a time (video link is dead). – Mazura Apr 14 '16 at 06:08
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    "Because he is extremely skilled in Force telekinesis...." Well, except for that one time where a Force-sensitive individual who just became aware of their abilities recently out overpowered Ren for a shiny silver cylinder that was on the ground..... – Ellesedil Apr 15 '16 at 16:48
  • Ren may be stronger with Force telekinesis (though I’d argue that he’s just showing off), but Vader may have the stronger telepathy, since he’s (a) able to do it without putting his hand near someone’s head, and (b) able to do it on Luke, who (though off balance, not expecting it, and relatively untrained) is still a Force user, and as we see from Rey and Kanan’s examples Force users can resist mind probes. – Adamant Dec 24 '16 at 22:21
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He was using a force power very common in books and video games called "force stasis". Giving the user the ability to freeze people and objects in place without causing physical harm. It is typically considered more of a light side affiliated move. However, it seems to be Ren's signature power, much like Vader and force choke. It could relate back to his training under Luke before being turned to the darkside.

JakeF
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  • To my knowledge, Force Stasis doesn't exist in the Disney Canon yet. Am I wrong? – phantom42 Dec 20 '15 at 14:15
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    To be honest I don't know if it does or not. However if you look at pictures of the power being used in comics, and games, it is the same move whether it's "officially" in the canon or not. Also, it seems to me that every darkside villain other than Maul has had their own "signature" power. Whether it was choke, lightning, or now stasis. However this is more speculation on my part. The power itself however is force stasis. – JakeF Dec 20 '15 at 14:21
  • @phantom42 - Apparently it's Disney Cannon now thanks to TFA. – iMerchant Feb 03 '16 at 02:07
  • @iMerchant I'm referring to the name, not the exhibited power. – phantom42 Feb 03 '16 at 02:51
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I don't think we have seen the first ability, I believe the reason for this is inexperience.

Most force users we have seen stop energy bolts (without a lightsaber) have been very experienced force users. They have absorbed the energy from the blast.

However we have signs that Kylo Ren is not very in control of his force powers.

We see Kylo Ren having rage attacks with unfocused anger

Also

He is unable to defeat Rey.

And

Snoke calls him back for more training.

However

While freezing a bolt in mid air looks flashy it is not controlling the energy is a very effective way.

Jeremy French
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  • I am showing signs that he is not as experienced or in control of the force as he would like people to think. His power is more akin to Luke having the rage fit at Vader than other dark side users we know. – Jeremy French Dec 18 '15 at 17:33
  • Hopefully the edit makes it a more direct answer to the question. – Jeremy French Dec 18 '15 at 17:41
  • it does, thank you. My personal opinion is that what Ren did was more impressive than just deflecting a bolt, but that's a separate question :) – KutuluMike Dec 18 '15 at 17:49
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    "Most force users we have seen so far that have tried to stop energy bolts without a lightsaber have been very experienced." When have he ever seen anyone beside Kylo Ren do this? I'm sorry, I think this sentence and many others in your answer need clarification, it's really hard to understand what you mean sometimes. :) – RedCaio Dec 19 '15 at 00:27
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Force Stasis from the KOTOR 1 + 2 games...Its depending on how you use Force Stasis for example its light side because it incapacitates the enemy without much physical harm. However Jedi don't attack the helpless, so in KOTOR when you force stasis and then hack away at the frozen enemy, id say that's pretty dark side lol.

T M
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force stasis is an ability he learned while training with Luke that doesn't require much force to even freeze light because when Yoda was teaching young-lings they could even slow a light saber blade for a period of time

Joseph Lattin
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Force stasis is the ability he was using. As mentioned previously very common in books, Comics and in the video games.

user58288
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