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star wars - Was Kylo Ren's Blaster Bolt Freezing Really Force Telekinesis?


In this questions answer its stated that Kylo Ren freezes the blaster bolt in midair with telekinesis:


Have Kylo Ren's Force abilities been shown before?



Because he is extremely skilled in Force telekinesis, Kylo Ren is able to freeze not just objects but even blaster bolts in midair.



But as a commenter already pointed out, this seems nonsense (even in star wars force physics). The blaster bolt is, as far as I know, a cloud of plasma. If it is stopped by telekinesis, why should it continue its old path with its old speed after it is released? Wasn't it more a completely new force ablility like "time freeze"? While I admit in a case of time freeze the bolt should not have flickered all the time. Also the plasma should have expanded and vanished or simply cooled down releasing its energy to the surrounding air.


So when it was force telekinesis Kylo must have done the following:




  1. Stop every atom in the plasma cloud

  2. Keep the cloud compressed and in form and shape.

  3. Isolate it to prevent the heat flow or keep it on temperature (is this still telekinesis?)

  4. Not just releasing it but accelerate it again exactly on its old path and speed.


This would be indeed a greate never seen mastery of telekinesis. And very ineffective. And if he wanted to be cool, wouldn't it be even cooler to change the path after the "release" so that it hits one of his enemies?


So what was going on there? Pure telekinesis or something else? Did the writers intend this? Or did they just not thinking it to the end?



Answer



It could easily have been telekinesis



One consistent aspect of Kylo Ren's personality is his low self-esteem, his doubt. He fears that he is corrupted by the light side of the Force, and that he cannot properly live up to the standard set by Vader. He feels inadequate relative to other Force users, and probably other people in general. This is what leads to his legendary tantrums.



KYLO REN: Forgive me. I feel it again. The pull to the light. Supreme Leader senses it. Show me again, the power of the darkness, and I will let nothing stand in our way. Show me, Grandfather, and I will finish what you started.



The key is that Kylo wants people to see him as vastly more powerful than he is, equal or superior to any Sith. So perhaps Kylo wants people to believe that he can put a blaster bolt into stasis, which, at least in video game canon, is a real Force power. He seems more powerful if he can appear to stop time itself, even for a blaster bolt. Thus Kylo telekinetically holds the blaster bolt in midair, then flings back in the direction it was travelling. In doing so, it appears that he was able to put the bolt in stasis as opposed to merely stopping it, thus making Kylo look much more powerful than he is.


Kylo is wasteful; Vader is efficient. Kylo would be perfectly willing to expend all his power on holding a blaster bolt together, merely in order to appear more powerful.


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