Tuesday, November 4, 2025
The Phantom Menace
There's some small significance in Qui-Gon's syntax in the scene in The Phantom Menace where he asks Obi-Wan to analyze Anakin's blood for midi-chlorians. Obi-Wan is surprised by the results: "The reading is off the chart, over 20,000. Even Master Yoda doesn't have a midi-chlorian count that high." Qui-Gon replies, "No Jedi has." His response exhibits ellipsis; for brevity, he leaves out some words. In full, it would be "No Jedi has a midi-chlorian count that high." In a way, however, this elision matches the context. The omission in Qui-Gon's remark is similar to how other Jedi's midi-chlorian counts fall short of Anakin's. There's a lack common to both.
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commentary,
The Phantom Menace