Symbiosis

"You and the Naboo form a symbiont circle. What happens to one of you will affect the other. You must understand this."

―Obi-Wan Kenobi, to the Gungan Boss Nass^[1]

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.^[1] Species in a symbiotic relationship could not live without the other and would die without the partnership.^[2] 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.^[3] 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.^[1]

Similarly, just as the energy of all life—the Living Force—fed into the Cosmic Force, midi-chlorians^[4] were microscopic organisms living in the bloodstream of sentient beings in symbiosis.^[1] 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.^[4] 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.^[5] 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.^[1]

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.^[1] 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.^[6]

Fungoid symbionts were worn as toxin-detecting epaulets by General Yiv the Benevolent.^[7] 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.^[8] 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.^[9]

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Behind the scenes

"[…] it's about selflessness versus selfishness—the two sides—and we're all born with both. We have the power to choose between them. Star Wars is based on a symbiotic relationship. The superstitious part is: there is a god, or a force, or something that's bigger than we are. We have power over it, and it has power over us. Which is to say, if you don't work in the ecosystem that you're in, then when you pull yourself out, it collapses. And if you keep doing selfish things, pretty soon, the whole thing will collapse as well. So you've got to keep things in balance. […] if you go to the light side, you will find more happiness and things will work better. The world will be a better place. It is a better place if everybody is compassionate and helps each other."

―George Lucas^[10]

In the strictest sense, real-world "symbiosis" refers to any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different species, whether it benefits both parties (mutualism), benefits one party and is neutral to the other (commensalism), or benefits one party to the detriment of the other (parasitism).^[11] Star Wars creator George Lucas stated that the basis of the Star Wars saga is symbiosis, in which one should chose to be compassionate in order to maintain harmony with others, the wider world, and a bigger "force" by committing to the "light."^[10]