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.