Symbiosis

Symbiosis was a mutually beneficial relationship between living things. Such relationships were described as symbiotic, and the parties involved in the relationship were named symbionts. Species in a symbiotic relationship could not live without the other and would die without the partnership. While the Gungan species of the planet Naboo lived in harmonious symbiosis with their natural environment underwater, in the city Otoh Gunga, the Naboo humans threatened the planet's ecosystems, gathering plasma beneath the ground of their settlements, led by the capital city Theed. Nevertheless, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn considered the Gungans and the Naboo to have formed a symbiont circle, where whatever happened to one civilization would affect the other, such as when the Trade Federation invaded their shared planet and occupied the human settlements.

Similarly, just as the energy of all life—the Living Force—fed into the Cosmic Force, midi-chlorians were microscopic organisms living in the bloodstream of sentient beings in symbiosis. Originating from the Wellspring of Life, midi-chlorians allowed sentient beings who focused on the flow of the Force to perceive the will of the Cosmic Force and channel powers that were otherwise considered impossible. The Jedi were Force-sensitive beings who served all of life through the light side of the Force, seeking symbiosis and a harmonious balance between the lifeforms of the galaxy. When the natural balance of the galaxy, ruled from the central Core Worlds under the democracy of the Galactic Republic, was threatened by the Sith, the Jedi strove to counter the threat.

Master Qui-Gon Jinn emphasised listening to the Living Force and living in the present, trusting his instincts that the boy he encountered on Tatooine during the Naboo crisis, Anakin Skywalker, was the prophesised Chosen One who would bring balance to the Force. Despite the misgivings of the Jedi High Council—which admitted that the boy had immense potential in using the Force due to his unprecedented midi-chlorian count and that the future was clouded by the dark side of the Force—Jinn's apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi, trained Skywalker in the Jedi ways. The Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Sidious, was secretly Senator Palpatine of Naboo, and he persuaded Queen Padmé Amidala to initiate a Vote of No Confidence against Republic Chancellor Finis Valorum, leading to Palpatine himself becoming the new Chancellor as he oversaw the subsequent Clone Wars. Palpatine also exploited Anakin Skywalker's fears to tempt him to the dark side, and Skywalker became the Sith Lord Darth Vader, plunging the Republic into the dictatorship of the Galactic Empire and rendering the galaxy imbalanced and filled with fear.

Fungoid symbionts were worn as toxin-detecting epaulets by General Yiv the Benevolent. On the planet Mustafar, the Eye of Webbish Bog and the blind giant were locked in a symbiotic relationship. The Eye had spoken with both Darth Vader and his grandson, Kylo Ren. Chelli Lona Aphra and Sana Starros stole a nest of parasitic abersyn symbiotes from Aphra's doctoral supervisor, Toob-Nix, and blackmailed him into awarding Aphra her doctorate.

Text and facts from the “Symbiosis” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.