The Vergences Of 'Star Wars': What And Where They Are
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“I have encountered a vergence in the Force.”
“Located around a person?”
“A boy. His cells have the highest concentration of midi-chlorians I have seen in a life-form. It is possible he was conceived by the midi-chlorians.”
Qui-Gon Jinn’s revelation to Mace Windu after encountering the nine-year-old Anakin Skywalker marks the first explicit mention of the term vergence in Star Wars canon. However, the audience had witnessed such a phenomenon already nineteen years earlier, when Luke Skywalker entered the cave on the swamp planet Dagobah and experienced a disturbing vision of Darth Vader.
Vergences - although not always referred to by that name - are another concept carried over from Star Wars Legends into current canon. And not only that, shows like The Acolyte even expanded our understanding of these seemingly strange nexuses of the Force.
Naturally, this raises the question: what exactly is a vergence in the Force?
The official Star Wars Databank offers the following definition:
A powerful concentration of the Force located around a place, object, or person.
While this explanation is vague, it provides a useful starting point. Vergences appear in many forms and scales, ranging from entire planets to small, localized sites. Some persist for millennia - or even beyond the boundaries of time itself - while others exist only briefly. They may be aligned with either the Light Side or the Dark Side of the Force, thus drawing the attention of both Jedi and Sith. Yet despite centuries of study, neither faction ever reached a definitive understanding of how or why vergences form.
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One prevailing theory suggests that some vergences are lingering echoes of immense Force events - places marked by great triumphs or devastating tragedies. While this explanation fits certain cases, it fails to account for the full diversity of known vergences.
Just as varied as their origins are their effects. Exposure to a vergence - or interaction with an object imbued with such power - can amplify Force abilities, grant access to rare or dangerous aspects of the Force, or even allow those powers to be misused. Vergences may offer visions of the future, reveal the location or fate of allies and enemies, or act as a veil that obscures one’s presence in the Force.
In the most extreme cases, vergences are said to possess the power to create, alter, or even end life itself.
Vergences As Locations
The Force Planet (Wellspring Of Life)
Image Source: starwars.com
After communing with the Force spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn, Yoda traveled to a seemingly barren planet deep within the galactic core. Guided by the five Force Priestesses, he learned that this world was the birthplace of the midi-chlorians—and possibly the origin of all life in the galaxy. As such, it represents one of the most profound Force vergences ever encountered.
Mortis
Image Source: Wookieepedia
The realm of Mortis, where Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Ahsoka Tano encountered the Father, the Daughter, and the Son - embodiments of balance, the Light Side, and the Dark Side - was another site of immense Force concentration. Both breathtakingly beautiful and deeply unsettling, Mortis allowed Obi-Wan to communicate with his former master and forced Anakin to confront visions of his own future. Ahsoka even died there, only to be brought back to life. The ultimate fate of Mortis after the deaths of its godlike inhabitants remains unknown and may be explored further in Ahsoka season two.
The Sacred Spire
Image Source: starwars.com
Atop a mountain on Coruscant once stood a site revered by ancient Coruscanti as a powerful Force nexus. Long before the planet became the heart of the Republic, the Sith built a shrine there in an attempt to corrupt the location with the Dark Side. After the Jedi destroyed the shrine, they constructed the Jedi Temple on its ruins, seeking to cleanse the site. Despite this, traces of darkness lingered deep beneath the temple - drawing the attention of a young Count Dooku and probably enabling Palpatine to conceal his true nature from the Jedi for decades.
The Cave Of Evil
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Hidden within the swamps of Dagobah, this dark-side nexus was capable of manifesting and amplifying one’s deepest fears. Before the end of the Clone Wars, Yoda entered the cave and witnessed visions of the fall of the Jedi Order and the rise of Darth Sidious. During his exile, he returned to the cave annually, both to contain its darkness and to use its power to mask his presence from Vader and Sidious.
The Jedi Temple On Lothal
Image Source: starwars.com
Buried beneath the surface of Lothal, this ancient Jedi Temple would rise only through the power of the Force. For centuries, it served as a site of Jedi trials, where Padawans ventured alone into its maze-like depths while their masters waited for their return. The visions encountered within - fear, aggression, sacrifice - tested those who entered, and many never came back.
The temple also provided access to the World Between Worlds, a realm beyond space and time that allows interaction with past and future events. Unsurprisingly, Palpatine sought to control this power for his own dark ambitions.
Other Force Nexuses
Image Source: ScreenRant
Additional examples of locations with extreme Force concentrations include the crystal caves of Ilum, where Jedi younglings bonded with the kyber crystals for their Lightsaber, the mirror cave on Ahch-To, where Rey confronted visions of herself, and the planet Brendok, which was devastated during the Great Hyperspace Disaster in the era of the High Republic before life mysteriously returned. Other notable sites include the Sith cave on Mustafar, where Vader attempted to breach the boundary between life and death to resurrect Padmé, and Exegol, where Sith cultists succeeded in restoring the spirit of Darth Sidious.
Vergences In Objects
Anakin’s Lightsaber
Image Source: Comicbook.com
The lightsaber of the Chosen One represents a rare example of a man-made vergence. When Rey touched the weapon in Maz Kanata’s castle on Takodana, she experienced powerful visions of the past. It remains unclear when or how the lightsaber became a vergence, as neither Obi-Wan nor Luke had similar experiences while wielding it. Its power may stem from Anakin himself - yet this raises further questions, as Anakin also built C-3PO, who never displayed any comparable Force properties.
Sith Artifacts
Image Source: CBR
Many artifacts created or used by Sith became Force vergences, including those used by Gallius Rax and Yupe Tashu to unleash Dark Side energy within the core of Jakku. Other examples include the mask of Darth Momin, which allowed the ancient Sith Lord to temporarily return to his physical form before being killed by Vader, and the Sith dagger used by Ochi of Bestoon to murder Rey’s parents.
Vergences In A Person
Osha And Mae Aniseya
Image Source: Collider
When Jedi investigators arrived on the planet Brendok to study the planet’s mysterious recovery, they encountered Force-sensitive twins: Osha and Mae. Initially perceived as embodiments of good and evil, the episode “Choice” in The Acolyte revealed that the sisters were created by the Force itself. Rather than residing in a single body, one consciousness was split into two beings, explaining their unique bond and their ability to communicate across vast distances.
Anakin Skywalker
Image Source: Wookieepedia
Qui-Gon Jinn’s discovery of Anakin Skywalker led him to believe the boy was the Chosen One foretold by ancient Jedi prophecy. Anakin’s mother, Shmi, claimed there was no father, implying that the child was conceived by the Force itself. Later books and comics have suggested - more or less directly - that Darth Sidious may have manipulated the midi-chlorians in an attempt to create his future apprentice. Even so, the true nature of Anakin’s origin remains unresolved.
Like vergences themselves, some mysteries of the Force may be better left unexplained.
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Sources: Marc Sumerak: Star Wars: The Secrets of the Sith, Simon Beecroft et.al: Star Wars - Complete Locations
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