Did Star Wars Just Introduce An AI 'Anti-Force'?

Since the beginning of the franchise, characters in "Star Wars" have been guided by the Force, a power that flows through all living things. Traditionally, the conflicts in "Star Wars" boil down to which side of the Force a being falls under — light or dark. But if a power like the Force exists, might there not be other powers like it? Less common, certainly, but it would be surprising if other Force-like powers weren't lurking around the galaxy far, far away. Thanks to a new comic book series, we now know that one such power might be entirely inorganic.

In the comic "Star Wars: Dark Droids #1," we are introduced to an unnamed malevolent being that's able to take control of droids, turning them into a hive mind for itself. In a sense, this entity represents a dark inversion of the Force. Rather than existing in all living things as the Force does, this entity resides in non-organic life. It appears as a small disc with 'A'-shaped markings but hides a terrifying power.

It's important to note that the entity of "Dark Droids" does not appear to be Force-sensitive, differentiating it from the few Force-sensitive droids, such as Iron Knights, we've seen a few times in obscure "Star Wars" stories. Rather, it can replicate Force-like powers. The technological entity describes itself as having its own consciousness in addition to the individual consciousnesses of each droid it infects. "I am a droid," it says. "But also something else ... I was the Spark Eternal."

The Spark Eternal, as the entity calls itself, was once bonded with organic beings. But it is, itself, fully inorganic. Still, it is also essentially an anti-Force, and it was created for that purpose.

While the second issue of "Star Wars: Dark Droids" does not release until September, what we've seen of the Spark Eternal thus far in "Dark Droids #1" suggests that it is an entity we've seen before. In the comic "Star Wars: Doctor Aphra" from 2022, the Spark Eternal is created by the Ascendancy, a cult dedicated to using technology to recreate the powers of the dark side of the Force. Their goal was to destroy the Sith and usurp the power of the dark lords.

In fact, they were pretty successful, with the only problem being that the Spark Eternal was so powerful that it couldn't be contained. The Spark Eternal operates a lot like the Force. As infamously explained by Qui-Gon Jinn in "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace," the Force operates based on microorganisms called Midi-chlorians that reside in all living things. The more of them in a being, the more Force-sensitive that being, with Anakin Skywalker having the highest Midi-chlorian count in history.

Miril, the Ascendancy leader who created the Spark Eternal, says it unified the body with technology by using artificial intelligence. In other words, it's sort of like AI-based Midi-chlorians. It has an innate hunger for controlling others, just as users of the dark side do, and it can even accomplish the most powerful of all dark Force powers: resurrecting the dead.

The first issue of "Star Wars: Dark Droids" depicts the Spark Eternal taking over a Star Destroyer and absorbing all droids onboard into its network. Now, it has the kind of power it could never achieve by controlling organic beings, a network of bodies at its disposal. What it does next will require, shall we say, forceful intervention.