32

In A New Hope, Kenobi could feel the sudden deaths of the population of Alderaan, and in Empire Strikes Back, both the Emperor and Vader could feel Luke's Force awakening, referring to it as "a great disturbance in the Force", and that was only one person!

So wouldn't creating millions or billions of clones for the Republic's armies create enormous and weird disturbances in the Force? Why couldn't the Jedi sense something so unnatural on such a vast scale, especially considering there were many Knights and Masters? Surely somebody would've noticed something!?

(I know this is based on a (possibly unfounded) assumption that breeding an exact clone of a living thing would generate strange vibes in the Force, somewhat akin to the impact Luuke Skywalker had on Luke in Heir to the Empire etc. An EU concept, neither confirmed nor denied in canon! Either way, you'd think that logically a planetload of a single individual, Jango Unlimited, would not be a normal happenstance within the Force.)

Micah
  • 21,806
  • 5
  • 94
  • 113
Meir Illumination
  • 1,028
  • 7
  • 20
  • 3
    I think they usually won't be able to sense a single person. The only reason they would sense Luke is that the force is very strong in Luke. The force isn't strong in a clone, I would expect the force in a clone to be weaker than that of an average human being. – kasperd Aug 17 '15 at 08:21
  • 2
    Is nobody going to mention Midichlorians... – SeanR Aug 17 '15 at 09:16
  • @kasperd I think I recall in a couple of the books,(no idea if it's been retconned) there was an apprentice jedi character who was a clone from some planet where everyone was cloned. So I'm not sure if clones are automatically weaker in the force. – Murphy Aug 17 '15 at 11:02
  • 8
    @SeanR Hush now, speak no evil. – Gusdor Aug 17 '15 at 12:27
  • @Murphy I seem to recall a few scenes in which clones are shown to be weak in the force. Though I don't know whether the cloning process influence the strength of the force. I also have no idea whether the strength of the force in the individual whose DNA you are cloning will influence the strength of the force in the final clone. But it does seem that the force can be inherited from father to son, so it is plausible that the force can be inherited through cloning as well. – kasperd Aug 17 '15 at 12:35
  • in the EU, at least, clones of force users have similar force abilities (see: starkiller and jorus c'baoth). i don't believe this has been fully addressed in the new canon yet. – phantom42 Aug 17 '15 at 13:20
  • 3
    R.I.P. Star Wars canon. To me, you'll always be canon. :'-( – jvriesem Aug 17 '15 at 14:03
  • Billions of clones??? – Ras Morthil Aug 19 '15 at 18:25

3 Answers3

56

I believe there are two reasons. The first is that the Jedi's ability to use The Force has diminished (see this question for more information).Yoda and Mace Windu discuss their blind spot and failure to detect what was going on in Attack of the Clones.

Yoda: Blind we are, if creation of this clone army we could not see.

Mace Windu: I think it is time we inform the senate that our ability to use the force has diminished.

Yoda: Only a Dark Lord of the Sith knows of our weakness. If informed the senate is, multiply our adversaries will.

The second reason is likely scale.

When Obi-Wan mentions the disturbance in The Force, he is able to notice it because it is "millions" of voices crying out all at once.

I felt a great disturbance in the Force... as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.

Yes, millions of clones were created, but they were not created and birthed all at the same moment the way millions of people were killed. There would not be one specific momentous disturbance in The Force to detect. Couple that with their diminished ability to use The Force in the first place, and you have the Jedi not noticing what was going on at all.

Community
  • 1
phantom42
  • 134,387
  • 74
  • 573
  • 831
  • 2
    Why was their (personal?) ability to use the force diminished? – Mazura Aug 16 '15 at 18:03
  • 6
    @Mazura see How did Darth Sidious manage to diminish all of the Jedi's ability to use the Force? for information on that. – phantom42 Aug 16 '15 at 19:04
  • @phantom42: I read that and don't get it anyway in respect to the time scale. – Zaibis Aug 17 '15 at 14:13
  • 4
    @Zaibis Wookieepedia says there were 2 billion inhabitants of Alderaan as of 0BBY (legends canon). even if we just go by "millions", obi-wan feels "millions" of people dying all at once. at most, there are a few thousand clones being "birthed" all at once. collectively, there are statistically thousands of new lives being birthed at any given moment through the universe regardless of the clones. thousands of new births isn't abnormal and isn't a "disturbance in the force" – phantom42 Aug 17 '15 at 14:25
  • @phantom42: Please excuse my inaccuracy. this is clear to me. What isn't clear to me is When and how it happened to diminish the use of force for them. I read the linked post. I even read the well quoted answer but i don't get how that made them inaccesable to use the force nor I can remember the movies that the force were from that time on inaccessable for them. – Zaibis Aug 17 '15 at 14:34
  • @Zaibis you should ask for clarification on one of the answers in the other question, but they never say the force is inaccessible, just that their abilities have diminished. – phantom42 Aug 17 '15 at 14:39
  • Perhaps worth mentioning the "background noise" aspect, as well. Sure, millions of clones were being created, but across the Republic, how many millions of millions of people were being born just in the normal course of things? – T.J. Crowder Aug 17 '15 at 14:44
  • @phantom42: thanks, you made it clear to me. – Zaibis Aug 17 '15 at 14:45
  • @phantom42 - your answer is also supported by the fact that Luke could sense whenever clones were near during the Thrawn Trilogy & Hand of Thrawn duology. So basically the clones DID cause a disturbance in the Force, but the Jedi didn't detect them for the reasons you mentioned. And, obviously, the first reason is explicitly mentioned on-screen so that's as canon as it gets. – Omegacron Aug 17 '15 at 18:36
27

You seem to be underestimating the sheer number of people living in the galaxy and the relatively small proportion that the clones represent. The best estimates suggest that the total population of the Star Wars galaxy is around 100 quadrillion sentient beings. The best guess for clone numbers is several million. That means that they represent less than 0.000001% of the total population, grown over the course of several years.

Assuming most of the galaxy breeds like humanity, you'd expect that there would be 100 times as many babies born each day than the total number of clones created over the course of several years.

By comparison, when Kenobi senses the destruction of Alderaan, he's in relatively close proximity and their deaths are instantaneous. This evidently creates sufficient damage to the Force for him to sense it.

Community
  • 1
Valorum
  • 689,072
  • 162
  • 4,636
  • 4,873
  • 7
    Not to mention all the non-sentient life on Alderaan; all 7 billion humans represent less than 0.0003% of Earth's biomass. "The force is created by all living things" – Dale M Aug 17 '15 at 06:18
  • @DaleM Although of course, we have no idea if force is "assigned by mass" - as we know, some are more sensitive than others, and it's entirely possible that even though miniscule by mass, sentient beings would still be dominant in the force of the whole planet. But it could just as well be some mold :D – Luaan Aug 17 '15 at 07:20
  • @dalem - That may be true, but Yoda places sentients in a class of their own. "Luminous beings are we". He may have been talking about Jedi specifically though. – Valorum Aug 17 '15 at 07:21
  • Granted that they're a tiny minority of all biomass in the Galaxy - but Jedi have also been in 'relatively close proximity' to clones; most of them have been embedded within whole armies of the things. Yet none of them ever seem to have felt anything odd or untoward in their Force-presences, as far as I know? – Meir Illumination Aug 17 '15 at 10:13
  • @MeirIllumination Yea, this is a point of contention in "Attack of the Clones," as there are various accepted reasons why the Jedi did not sense the clones turning on them, but the explanation in the book is that for whatever reason, the clones' intentions could not be sensed by the Jedi. Perhaps low mediclorian count? It doesn't make sense why the Jedi could fight droids but not clones. – jfa Aug 17 '15 at 21:37
  • I think you mean "Revenge of the Sith". – Ras Morthil Aug 19 '15 at 00:06
-1

Mace Winduu says "I sense a plot to destroy the jedi". They probably did sense it. Remember, sensing is pretty nonspecific. Also, at first, the clone troopers were good guys so they probably sensed something but let it slide.

The real answer is that George Lucas either forgot about Ben saying that in A New Hope or just outright didn't care when writing the prequels.

Race Bannon
  • 705
  • 5
  • 8
  • 8
    The first part of this answer (if fleshed out) would make a pretty decent answer. The second part just seems ranty. – Valorum Aug 16 '15 at 16:54