First of all this post contains spoilers for Season 1 and 2 of The Madalorian and The Rise of Skywalker, so If you aren’t caught up, don’t read this!

This could  be my nerdiest post ever, but here it goes. The information about genomic, chloroplast, and mitochondrial DNA is real. The midichlorian stuff is science fiction based on observations in Star Wars.

In the prequels, the concept of midichlorians comes up. I always thought these were meant to be analogous to mitochondria and chloroplasts in eukaryotic cells. Chloroplasts are organelles with their own DNA found in plants that allow the plant to convert sunlight into energy the plant can use. In animals, mitochondria are organelles with their own DNA that generate energy from food. It is hypothesized that mitochondria and chloroplasts were once independent organisms that came into cells when larger cells tried to eat them and then instead of being degraded, formed a symbiotic relationship and became eukaryotic cells.

Mitochondria are in egg cells. Only a very small number are in an individual sperm cell to help it swim, but they get destroyed once the egg is fertilized. This means animals get all their mitochondria from their mother. Scientists use mitochondria to track maternal lineages and they use the Y chromosome which is only found in males to track paternal lineages.

There are many traits that depend on genes in the mitochondria and the genome. Genomic DNA is in the center of a cell and it is basically the instruction book for a person. You get half your genomic DNA from your mother and half from your father.

Here’s the science fiction bit:

Let’s assume midchlorians are another organelle like mitochondria present in the cells of people who can wield the force and they follow the same inheritance rules as mitochondria (maternal inheritance). They are what makes someone sensitive to the force. Let’s say that genomic DNA can determine what types of things they can do with their force powers (like shoot lightning out their hands), but sensing the force comes from the midichlorians.

Here’s what we know from the movies and books:

-Anakin’s mother was unaware of his father’s existence.

-Palpatine suggested that Darth Plagueis could create life after he died.

-The technical knowledge to clone organisms exists in the prequels.

-Palpatine’s scientists were busy trying to clone him.

-Palpatine’s scientists were trying to use Grogu for these cloning experiments.

-Snoke was a Palpatine strandcast.

-Ray’s father is a Palpatine strandcast with no force ability.

Now here is my theory of the way force sensitivity and abilities are inherited in Star Wars.

A long time ago in a galalaxy far far away, the Sith Lord Plagueis died before he was ready. He was prepared though! He had some of his minions save his genetic material, just in case. After he died his force ghost communicated with his people to find force sensitive women and artificially inseminate them without their knowledge. He then reached through the force and increased the replication rate of their midichlorians in the fertilized egg. One of the children (or the only one created) was Anakin Skywalker. Anakin had such a high midichlorian count because it was increased by Darth Plagueis using the dark side of the force.

Palpatine knew all about Darth Plagueis’s plan and suspected Anakin was produced this way. He didn’t like this idea because he saw Anakin’s pull to the light side and thought it would be a better idea to clone himself when his time came.

Palpatine had two problems. One, he never learned how to use the force to increase midichlorians in a fertilized egg, because he thought he’d use his somatic (non-reproductive) cells. Two, his midichlorians were in bad shape for cloning due to his age and the force lightning that Mace Windu reflected back to him.

In real life scientists have cloned a sheep by taking the genetic material from an adult sheep’s body cell and putting it in the egg of another sheep which had its genomic DNA removed. In this case the organelles (mitochondria) of the egg donor would be in the cell and not those of the original sheep. This is a possibility for Palpatine’s strand cast (Rey’s father). It could explain why the strand cast was healthy and capable of reproducing, but was not force sensitive.

Palpatine’s people found a force sensitive female for an egg donor, but she didn’t have enough midichlorians to make the child force sensitive enough to handle Palpatine’s spirit. The only strandcast that was healthy had no force ability! This boy would later become Rey’s father.

Palpatine really wanted a clone he could inhabit. The scientists attempted to make other clones, but they needed to get a midichlorian donor. They tried to use Gorgu’s midichlorians, and that is why they were hunting him. As of yet they didn’t get enough “material” from Grogu and all the Palpatine clones have issues.

Meanwhile, Rey’s father was either set up with or met a force sensitive lady and he fell in love with her. She was the one who passed the force sensitivity to Rey. Rey is half Palpatine and has some of his force wielding skills. Being force sensitive, Rey’s mother had a very bad feeling about what would eventually happen to her daughter and she and Rey’s father tried to hide Rey as far away from the First Order as they could.

In this scenario it is actually the mother that determines a child’s ability to wield the force. Padme was force sensitive, but was never trained in the ways of the Jedi. Luke and Leia did not have as high a midichlorian count as Vader had. Luke was able to turn Anakin back to the light side, but he couldn’t defeat Vader. Rey’s midichlorian count from her mother may not have been as high as Vader or Palpatine’s, but she was in a force dyad with Kylo Ren and was able to defeat Palpatine because of that.

Genetics Terms

Genomic DNA– Consists of 22 autosomes (1 of each type from mother and father) and sex chromosomes that determine an individual’s sex. Each typical person has 46 chromosomes all together.

mitochondrial DNA– DNA in the mitochondria which is an organelle inside a cell that converts nutrients into energy.

X and Y chromosomes-These are the sex determining chromosomes in genomic DNA. Females are XX and males are XY. Males can only inherit the Y chromosome from their father. Females get a copy of their father’s only X chromosome and get one of their mother’s X chromosomes.