Ancient Order of the Whills

One of their shamans was known to have discovered the secret of eternal consciousness and later Qui-Gon Jinn learned the secret, allowing him to interact with the living after his death.

The Whills kept a collection of stories, called the Journal of the Whills, that chronicled the history of the galaxy. A Keeper of the Whills was responsible for adding new information into it. One such Keeper was told the story of the Skywalker family's exploits during the Clone Wars and the Galactic Civil War, by the astromech droid R2-D2 one hundred years after the Battle of Endor.

In early drafts of A New Hope, the name 'Whills' is equivalent to the Force.

It is a common misconception that "Whill" is the name of the unknown species of Yoda. George Lucas has firmly denied this. Because their form is totally unknown, and since the Whills were an early concept of the Force, some fans have speculated that the Whills are of spiritual substance more or less like Wisties and probably immortal. However, this is unlikely to be true, as Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith: Illustrated Screenplay and The Art of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith both have Qui-Gon Jinn stating that he knew of only one Shaman who had achieved immortality. However, Qui-Gon also states in the Revenge of the Sith novelization that immortality is a possible end-result for working with the Whills' teachings.

Since the journal was composed in 104 ABY, it's possible that the events explored in the Star Wars: Legacy were not part of the narration. In fact, it is unclear to what extent the narration covered the history of the galaxy as we know it.

The idea of Jinn learning the secrets of immortality from a Shaman of the Whills was later contradicted by "Voices" from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which indicated that he had learned from the Force Priestesses, but his training was incomplete.

George Lucas originally planned a sequel trilogy focusing on the Whills as microscopic beings that controlled the universe, feeding off the Force. Later, by selling Lucasfilm Ltd. to The Walt Disney Company, these plans for the sequel trilogy were dropped by Disney CEO Bob Iger.

• Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays
• Star Wars: Chronicles
• "Bookshelf" — Star Wars Insider 130
• "Ask the Master" — Star Wars Insider 79
• The Art of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
• The Making of Star Wars Revenge of the Sith
• Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith Illustrated Screenplay
• "Ask the Master" — Star Wars Insider 89
• "Unknown Origins" — Star Wars Insider 92
• The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film
• Star Wars Insider 93
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
• The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force
• Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side