Sorry Yuri, I don't have any idea about this. However, certain in-born capabilities, natural gifted talent, magic education and fighting for good definitely gives someone power and strength.

Dear Yuri Yegorov,

I did not watch the movie "Star Wars" (only excerpts, by which I realized that I was not interested). I have not been interested in such films lately, as well as much of what goes on screens in Hollywood (USA) and other countries.

I want to thank everybody for answers. I thought that it would be an easy question and would attract much more attention. Given the global popularity of this movie, but perhaps in younger generation. But maybe there are few scientists among them.

Yogesh basically agrees with my statement about origin of power, but I wanted further exploration.

Dear @Joaquin, your idea about black matter deserves some scientific interest. But it puts us further away from application of the ideas of this movie into real life. As for other link, about mitohondria, there might be something. Perhaps, many would like to know: "Where is the school of jedi on the Earth? We would like to become strong and to fight with evil." Perhaps Carlos Castaneda (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Castaneda) gives us an entrance to one of magic paths on the Earth.

Dear Prof.@ Zabrodskii, I understand that you do not watch Hollywood. Indeed, today 90% of its production is not very serious, to my mind. But "Star wars", like "Lord of the Ring", "Gladiator", "Avatar", "The Matrix" and some others are good exceptions. You probably have seen Russian movie "Brother 2" with Sergei Bodrov, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brother_2 . Another type of fighter for justice. He did not pass majic jedi school, but perhaps got special military education. But he killed only bad people, already criminals. An interesting dialogue in the end of this movie: "Do you think that the power is in money? - No, the power in in justice and truth."

Religious ideas and ideals in (science) fiction are driving factors of human imagination, certainly magic and mystery. The Jedi school was polymath; it is most probably preceded by: The Martians (PDF). Moses impressed the Pharao with magic skills, transmitted from Abraham. No-thing (the secret) is the Absolute that is not involved in human perception; the secret origin of the universe is derived from no-thing. Reality and unreality are like living and dreaming; this paradox can only be solved by learning about the secret as absolute reference system. Life is a dream; after death, we will wake up.

I'm one who differentiates between science fiction, which I enjoy very much, and what I would call "science fantasy," like the Star Wars franchise. For instance, the original Star Wars, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, came out at about the same time. I considered Close Encounters to be science fiction, and Star Wars science fantasy. There have been other, more recent, true science fiction movies, such as Interstellar or The Martian, which I enjoyed considerably more than the Star Wars ones, I must confess.

Anyway, science fantasy can get away with any amount of unsubstantiated fiction, including "the force." In some vague way, "the force" is power derived from, you know, being in sync with nature and with all that's intrinsically good and noble (except for Darth Vader, who strangely harnesses this "the force" while being a bad guy - probably deriving this from the notion of Lucifer, the "fallen angel"). It doesn't have to have any relationship to Maxwell's equations or special relativity. Just fantasy. We all like to think we could have this force, in some shape form.

Here's an example. Star Wars incorporates a morality message which should be familiar to the religious, including the notion that "good people" can be lured to "the dark side." Not an uncommon theme in religious circles. On the other hand, Interstellar worries about traveling at relativistic speeds, and time dilation, that Star Wars seems blissfully unaware of. That's an example of the difference between science fantasy and science fiction.

Recently saw the Last Jedi. And again, I was overwhelmed by the level of fantasy, as opposed to science fiction. The movie was easily 1/3 longer than it needed to be, IMO, feeding shamelessly (IMO) on the cult following.

Interesting comment, @Stephen! As I understand, polymath is interdisciplinary scientist, someone like Leonardo, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymath . Indeed, interdisciplinarity is a potential power, but the present scientific world seem to undervalue and even to create difficulty for such people. It is more difficult to publish, to get a position, etc. So they lack perhaps some magic power component to sustain.

As for Martians, who came from Hungary, I think that it was nuclear project that made them demanded.

@Albert, you are right about the difference between scientific fiction (something that will come in future) and fantasy (that may not come). Indeed, Star Wars do not present interpretation of Force at some scientific level. But at the same there are magicians (Castaneda, etc) who know how to practice the Force without knowing it in detail.

Star Wars, as originally conceived as acknowledged by George Lucas, derives from three main sources:

The movie serials Lucas used to watch at the cinema as a child, particularly Flash Gordon. (The opening credits and scene cuts attest to this.)

The influence of Joseph Campbell, author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces and other works, with whom Lucas consulted on the film. (There's a 6 part documentary on this, see preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F7Wwew8X4Y

And the original (Holy) Grail poem/Arthurian Romance by Chretien de Troyes, titled Perceval or The Story of the Grail. Luke's story in the first film has many parallels with Perceval's life in that poem. (Discussed in the documentary.)

An interesting addition, Kathleen! So we are looking at what has influenced George Lucas. In fact, Holy Grail poem is linked with the epoque of knights, King Arthur, "Ivanhoe" by Walter Scott, crusaders, etc. The time when honesty and other principles of knights had more value than the gold.

I would also put a parallel with secret societies, like Templars, perhaps with some magic as well; there is good mysterious book on that by Umberto Eco: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foucault%27s_Pendulum ... I mix here literature and history because they are mixed in brain.

There might be also a fighting technique of Japanese samurai and Buddhist monks, who also catch some flow of universal energy...

But this is just another free flow on my fantasy, similar to one used in the movie (as @Albert figures out). It is also important to summarize the impression created by the movie among those who watch it; it can be a bit distant from what has impressed George Lucas. But probably it is somehow close to what we all discuss here.

On the influence of the samurai way and Buddhist monks on Star Wars, both Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola worked with Kurosawa on some of Kurosawa's films and were clearly influenced by the Japanese director. The robots R2D2 and C3P0, Lucas has acknowledged, were modelled on minor characters in one of Kurosawa's films.

I'll post more on Luke, Perceval and the Grail later, Yuri.

Here's my comment on the parallels between Luke Skywalker and Perceval.

The parallels are drawn from the first, unfinished Grail poem, Le Conte du Graal, by Chretien de Troyes.

Luke and Perceval were both taken away in infancy to be raised in the wilderness as far from civilisation as possible - Luke on Tatooine, Perceval in the Waste Forest.

As far as each knows, his father is dead, and the people bringing them up deliberately keep them ignorant of their father's life and what happened to him, and the fact that the father had been a famous knight.

Their carers (Luke's Uncle in particular and Perceval's mother) are very afraid of what might happen to Luke should he learn the truth about his father.

Both Luke and Perceval only discover the truth after a chance encounter with outsiders. (With Luke, the robots lead him to Obi Wan, Perceval meets knights in the forest and the sight of them makes him want to be one to. Forcing his mother to tell him about his father in a vain attempt to dissuade him.)

Both eventually leave home determined to become a knight.

Both receive some brief and incomplete training from a knight they meet - Obi Wan and Gornemant de Gohort.

Both rescue a princess from her captors or beseigers.

And in each case, though at different points in the chronology, their departure from home leads to the death of their carer(s). In Perceval's case, his mother, he later learns, dies from grief that very day. In Luke's case his Aunt and Uncle are killed by Storm Troopers searching for the droids.

From their the tales begin to diverge. Lucas was also being guided by Campbell and his theme of the Hero with a Thousand Faces, so other themes from Campbell's own views on myth quickly overlay the opening tale.

According to the creators of this saga, "Star Wars", Luke Skywalker's strength stems from his positive side of power that permeates the entire universe.

Actually, Dariusz, according the the creators, The Force is derived from microorganisms called "midichlorians" that reside inside certain people's bodies and convey abilities. The whole "'energy field permeating the universe" is apparently Jedi rhetoric, although there is some evidence that the midichlorians somehow connect or network with each other allowing them to synergize.

Of course, the fans were greatly offended by this explanation, and it has been dropped in the more recent movies as a bad storytelling idea. :-)