Order of the Whills

"The ability to defy oblivion can be achieved, but only for oneself. It was accomplished by a Shaman of the Whills. It is a state acquired through compassion, not greed."

- Qui-Gon Jinn

The ancient Order of the Whills was a high order of beings that dwelled within the Ashlan Expanse on the mythical world of Ashlan Four. A deeply spiritual and possibly part-divine race, the Whills were the keepers of an ancient manuscript called the Journal of the Whills that chronicled the history of the galaxy. The Whills were led by a chief, who supposedly took orders from Yahweh, the Jedi Bendu God, and was overseen by the deeply spiritual Shaman of the Whills, a man called Ussej Padric Bac who rose to a partial divine status forty years after the end of the devestating Great Territorial War.

With the help of the wisest of the Whills, Ussej was able to discover the secret of eternal consciousness and passed the knowledge on to a Jedi Master called Qui-Gon Jinn, who in turn passed it on to Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda and Anakin Skywalker, the pre-ordained Chosen One, allowing the legacy of the Order of the Whills to continue within the realm of the known galaxy.

Along with aiding in the discovery of eternal consciousness, the Order helped re-established particle contact with the Jedi Bendu who were forced to flee to Earth only decades after the Galactic Civil War due to the oppressive forces of the Rizen Order. By finding the Jedi Bendu on Earth, the self-named “E.T.” gave way for the fulfillment of the The Prophecy of The Last Son, the second reunification of the Jedi Order and the Bendu Order and the birth of the child that was a direct descendant of both Ussej Padric Bac and Anakin Skywalker.

Gathering
"You and your descendants will go out among the stars and find a race of great wisdom called the Whills."

- The Skywalker

The first mentioning of the Whills came from the mouth of The Skywalker on the day he died. He had grown sicker as the day went on, but his family remained by his side to nurse him through his final moments. He told them that they and their descendants would go out among the stars and find a race of great wisdom called the Whills. They would accept their destiny and follow the Jedi Bendu to dwell in the light of the Ashlan Nebula. On the fourth planet, he said, they would record their continuing story. The Whills would tell the story of the Jedi Bendu and a great Republic which would last for thousands of generations. Every race of the Republic would share its story. It would be their common heritage. Just before he passed on, he told them that the Whills would be sustained by their task and that when the shadow of the Bogan fell upon them, the Ashla would not desert them, and in the time of greatest despair there would come a savior, and he would be known as the Son of the Suns.

After The Skywalker’s death, his children and his followers decided not to immediately search for the Whills, but rather to extend their hand on their influence across the stars, starting with the Ashlan Expanse. The first planet they sought out was Kal'Shabbol, the first planet to bear sentient life in the galaxy, though most sentients had moved off world to find opportunities, despite the paradise of the planet. When the Jedi Bendu arrived, they set up their enclave on the top of the highest mountain where they could overlook the plains, the grasslands and the oceans of their new world.

However, there was a group that lived deep within a valley at the bottom of the mountains, an area that the Jedi Bendu called the Valley of the Shadow of Death and forbid its members from entering into. The group that lived there was introduced to the way of the Force of Others, but what began as a simple fascination soon turned into greed. The valley’s Medicine Man gathered his people and told them about the “kingdom of the mountains” that held a “treasure buried deep beneath the stone”. The people of the valley swore that they would have the treasure for their own.

When the Jedi Bendu told them that they would share their knowledge with them, the people of the valley became enraged and slaughtered the vast majority of the Jedi Bendu in a brutal conquest that lasted for seven months. When they finally found their “treasure”, they realized that the knowledge was about peace in the Force of Others for eternity. Ashamed of their actions, they discovered a way to contact the Jedi Bendu on Ashlan Four and deeply apologized for their actions before committing a ritualistic suicide.

When the Jedi Bendu thought upon what had occurred, they realized that they needed to fulfill the mandate that The Skywalker had set for them. The children of The Skywalker took the greatest of Jedi Bendu and set out to find the Whills within the Ashlan Expanse. Their journey took them to the previously lost world of Brodo Asogi and, when they arrived, they knew immediately that they had found the Whills. However, they were not like what they had expected. The Whills were only one meter tall with brown, clammy skin, glowing fingers and glowing hearts. The Whills were also somewhat Force Sensative, having basic telekinetic and telepathic abilities.

The Whills did not resist when asked to follow the Jedi Bendu, as they said it had been pre-ordained long before by the God Yahweh, who they assumed had told The Skywalker about it. Some Whills, however, opted to remain behind on Brodo Asogi to continue their exploration of space. The Jedi Bendu and the rest of the Whills agreed and those who decided to leave made their way to Ashlan Four with the children of The Skywalker.

The Twelve Children
"They will accept their destiny and follow you to dwell in the light of the Ashlan Nebula. On the fourth planet, they will record our continuing story."

- The Skywalker

After months of travel, the Jedi Bendu and the Whills arrived on Ashlan Four. Once they arrived, they immediately began the construction of a great monastery that would house the small creatures until they were told to do otherwise. During that time, Shamus, the eighth son of The Skywalker, came to see just how deeply religious the Whills were. They not only accepted their new mandate, but in his eyes they accepted it willingly without any hesitation.

Once the monastery was complete, Shamus shared with the Chief of the Whills everything he and his people knew about the Force of Others, and vice-a-versa. Each of them learned much from the other and Shamus soon shared with the chief the Jedi Bendu Prophecies that his father had written before he died. The chief took them, telling Shamus that someday that could be put to good use.

When the exchange of information was complete, Shamus and the chief began working on setting up what they referred to as the Order of the Whills, the more organized group that would be dwelling within the light of the Ashlan Nebula. They both believed that there should not be a hierarchy, but rather each Whill should be equal except for one, that one being the Chief of the Whills. However, they both agreed the power the Chief of the Whills would hold would be minimal, at best. The current Chief of the Whills was allowed to stay in his position, one he would hold until the day he died.

The Journal and the Shaman
"The Whills will tell the story of the Jedi Bendu and a great Republic that will last for thousands of generations. Every race of the Republic will share its story. It will be their common heritage."

- The Skywalker

Once the Order of the Whills itself was set up, Shamus and the Chief knew that they would have to begin on what they were destined to begin. They put together a large, blank book, a book that they came to call the Journal of the Whills. The first page of the Journal contained the words of The Skywalker, stating how the Whills would tell the story of the Jedi Bendu and the future Republic and how everyone would share its story.

When the Journal of the Whills was finally set up and the first stories of The Skywalker and the Jedi Bendu were documented, Shamus and the Jedi Bendu knew that they would have to return to Kal’Shabbol to begin the expansion of their own order. Shamus said goodbye to the Chief of the Whills, who told him that the Jedi Bendu would always be honorary members of the Order of the Whills. With that, the Jedi Bendu left, leaving the Whills to themselves for thousands of years.

Twenty-two thousand years after the last contact with the Jedi Bendu Order, they Whills were growing impatient. For thousands of years, they had nothing to document in the Journal of the Whills and they felt that they had been forgotten about. However, that all changed when a man named Ussej Padric Bac suddenly appeared in their monastery. He told them that he was the one spoken of in an ancient Jedi Bendu Prophecy, the one that foretold the coming of the Shaman of the Whills, a mandate that Ussej was given immediately after his mortal journey ended in the mountains of Kal’Shabbol.

With Ussej’s arrival, the Whills finally were able to get back to work. Ussej was able to tell them of multiple important points in history, such as the schism that saw the separation of the Jedi Bendu Order into the Jedi Order and the Bendu Order, the rise of the Sith Empire, the Jedi Civil War and the Great Territorial War. When Ussej Padric Bac II arrived, they were able to document the Great Rim Lines War and when Ussej Padric Bac III arrived they were able to do the same for the United Pirate Crusades and the Great Sovereign Crusades. However, no one arrived for thousands of years after Ussej Padric Bac III, leaving them with nothing to document once again.

Final Mandate and the Planet of God
"The Whills will be sustained by their task and when the shadow of the Bogan falls upon them, the Ashla will not desert them, and in the time of greatest despair there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as the Son of the Suns."

- The Skywalker

After the end of the Galactic Civil War and the destruction of the Sith Lords, the Jedi Order and Bendu Order reunified and named themselves the New Jedi Bendu Order, guardians of peace and justice in the New Republic and the Ashlan Expanse. Jedi Bendu Masters Luke Skywalker and Ussej Padric LXIV were summoned to Ashlan Four to speak with the Chief of the Whills, who asked them to relay to them the events that had occurred during the war. After doing so, Ussej was paid a visit by the spirit of his ancestor, Ussej Padric Bac, who told him of the mandate that the Whills would be given.

Ussej told Luke about the visit he had from his ancestor. He said that the Shaman of the Whills had told him that the New Jedi Bendu Order would eventually leave the galaxy and make their way to the Planet of God, somewhere that the Shaman could only describe as the “Milky Way”. Luke asked what this had to do with the Whills and Ussej told him that it would be the Whills responsibility to watch over them, but until that time it would be their responsibility to watch over the Whills. Luke agreed with the mandate that both of the orders had been given. The two made their way back to Kal’Shabbol to inform the order of what they had been told.

Two thousand years after the Jedi Bendu were forced to exile themselves out of the galaxy and head for Earth, the Whills that remained on Brodo Asogi were contacted by their brothers on Ashlan Four who asked them to use their technology to travel to the Planet of God to check on the progress of the descendants of Ussej Padric Bac LXIV, Dash Rendar and Luke Skywalker. Not long after the transmission ended, the Whills began their year long journey to Earth, using the Ashlan wormhole as a means of getting their much faster.

When the Whills arrived on Earth, they searched for days for the descendants of the Jedi Bendu heroes to no avail. Before leaving, they collected vegetation samples around their ship, as they had a strong liking of alien plant-life. However, agents of the United States government appeared and the Whills were forced to fleet to their ship, leaving one of their own behind in the frenzy.

That same night, a young boy named Elliot was forced to play server to his older brother, Michael, and his friends in their home in California. When we walked outside to get pizza, Elliot discovered the stranded Whill who immediately fled. When Elliot told his family, they did not believe him. However, that same night, he left Reese’s Pieces in the forest to lure the Whill back to his bedroom. Before he went to bed, Elliot noticed the Whill intimidating his own movements.

To avoid school the next day, Elliot feigned illness so that he could play with the Whill. That afternoon, Michael and their younger singer Gertie met the Whill. Their mother, Mary, heard the noise and came upstairs. Michael, Gertie and the Whill hid in the closet while Elliot reassured her that everything was alright. Deciding to keep the Whill, the three children began to question it of its origins. It answered by using the Force of Others to levitate balls to represent its local star system and further demonstrated its supernatural powers by healing a dead planet.

At school the next day, Elliot began to develop a psychic connection with the Whill. Elliot became irrational, freeing all of the frogs from a dissection class. As the Whill watched John Wayne kiss Maureen O’Hara in The Quiet Man, Elliot’s psychic link caused him to kiss a girl he liked in the same manner. Elliot was then taken to the principal’s office following his inappropriate behavior.

The Whill learned how to speak English by watching the show Sesame Street and dubbed itself “E.T.”. It enlisted Elliot’s help in building a device to contact his people. Michael started to notice that Elliot’s health was declining and that he was referring to himself as “we”. On Halloween, Michael and Elliot dressed E.T. up as a ghost so they could sneak it out of the house. Elliot and E.T. left on a bicycle to the forest where E.T. was able to successfully contact his people.

The next morning, Elliot woke up to find E.T. gone and returned home to his distressed family. Michael found E.T. dying and took him to Elliot, who was also dying. Mary became frightened as she discovered her son’s illness and the dying Whill, just as agents of the United States government invaded their home.

Setting up a medical facility in the house, scientists quarantined Elliot and E.T. The link between the two disappeared as E.T. suddenly died. Elliot was left alone with the motionless Whill when he noticed a flower coming back to life. E.T. awakened and revealed that his people were returning. Elliot and Michael stole the car that E.T. was loaded into and a chase ensued, Michael’s friends joining the evasion of the authorities. Now on a bicycle, they suddenly faced a dead-end, but E.T.’s telekinesis lifted them into the air and towards the forest.

E.T. stood near the Whill starship, his heart glowing as he readied himself to return home. Mary, Gertie and Keys, a government agent, showed up as well. E.T. said goodbye to Michael and Gertie and, before entering his ship, he told Elliot that he would always be in his heart, and vice-a-versa. With that, E.T. entered his ship and the Whills began their year-long journey back home. While on their starship, E.T. revealed that he had made contact with the descendant of Dash Rendar, the boy named Elliot, and that their mission was a partial success. Knowing that the Jedi Bendu did make it to Earth, the Whills decided to join their brothers on Ashlan Four and document one of the final journeys of the Journal of the Whills.

Religion
The religion followed and practiced by the Whills is much like the religion of the Bendu Order and the Jedi Bendu Orders. The Whills recognize that there is a God and that he dwells on a planet called Heaven, found in another dimension of space and time than the one they reside in. The name of this God is Yahweh, and he is the entity that is the Force of Others. Yahweh had spoken to a man named Jedi Bendu on the highest peak of Mount Sky on Had Abaddon and dubbed him The Skywalker, as he was the only one who had been able to climb to the top of the mountain and live to tell the tale. Yahweh had allowed his chosen people, those being the creatures that were sensitive to the Force of Others, to tap into his power and use it for good. However, the Whills recognized that once God allowed that to happen, the darkness of the galaxy was able to tap into it as well, leading to many groups such as the Dark Jedi Bendu, Dark Jedi and the Sith.

Many Whills, specifically the ones on Brodo Asogi, had challenged the existence of Yahweh in the past, though they all universally recognized the existence of the Force of Others. Some do not believe that The Skywalker spoke to Yahweh at all because, as they put it, “no God in our existence would be foolish enough to allow mere mortals access to his unlimited power”. These claims were frequently dismissed by the Whills of Ashlan Four, as well as the Bendu Order and the Jedi Bendu Order.

Powers, Abilities and Technology
The Whills had a relatively strong connection to the Force of Others, but no where near that of the connection that the Jedi Bendu, Bendu, Jedi or Sith had. They Whills are able to practice Force Healing, using their glowing fingers to heal whatever it touches. They also have the ability to levitate objects and move them, using Force Push and Pull, and can tap into the minds of others. Unlike the great orders that use the Force of Others, the Whills are able not only able to levitate simple objects but they can use their powers to make objects fly, such as when E.T. used the Force of Others to levitate Elliot’s bicycle through the air and into the forest to evade the United States agents.

The Whills were the only known space in the galaxy to have technology that would allow them or anyone near them to access an intergalactic wormhole, which was essentially an intergalactic tunnel that could carry those who used it from one part of the galaxy to another or even another galaxy entirely. It was this technology that caused Ussej Padric Bac LXIV and his Jedi Bendu to be thrown into the Milky Way Galaxy, and it was also the technology that caused the Whills to enter into the aforementioned galaxy. However, due to their lack of ships and funding, they were initially unable to undertake the deep space voyage by themselves.

Roughly two thousand years after the end of the Galactic Civil War, the Trade Federation and the Techno Union planned to reopen the ancient Operation: Outbound Flight that had been attempted a few years prior to the devastating Clone War. Because the Whills felt the need to find the Jedi Bendu on Earth, they contacted the two organizations and allowed them to finance the expeditions. The Whills claimed that they would simply be observing the botany of the Planet of God, though history would show that they planned to observe far more than botany.

Important Figures

 * The Skywalker
 * Shamus, Eight Son of The Skywalker
 * Ussej Padric Bac
 * E.T.

Behind the Scenes

 * The Whills are based upon the Children of the Green Planet, originally seen in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and brought into the Star Wars Saga in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.

Appearances

 * The Beginning: The Legend of the Jedi Bendu
 * Shadows of the Jedi: The Legend of Ussej Padric Bac II
 * Shadows of the Jedi: The Legend of Ussej Padric Bac III
 * Cloak of Deception
 * Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
 * Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
 * E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
 * E.T.: The Book of the Green Planet