The ability known as mind probe was a potent technique within the Force. It enabled a Force user to delve into the thoughts, feelings, and memories of another being, often against their will, to extract valuable data or insights.
Most individuals sensitive to the Force possessed the inherent capacity to sense, even to a limited degree, the immediate thoughts, emotions, and memories of those around them. This was especially true when the targets were emotionally or mentally agitated. However, individuals with greater mental discipline and composure presented a greater challenge to such casual readings. According to Snoke, this specific technique was a variation of the mind trick. It allowed a Force user to reach deeper into the minds of others. By focusing their concentration, a skilled practitioner could navigate the subject's mind. However, this act of forceful intrusion into another's consciousness was considered a dark side ability. The use of a mind probe generated a significant disturbance in the Force. The Jedi Order forbade its use, viewing it as an unacceptable violation of another being's mental boundaries. The mind probe could also induce effects akin to a Force choke, causing the target to experience difficulty breathing and bodily stiffening under the intense pressure. Despite its dark side classification, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker believed that, in rare circumstances, the potential benefits of such powers might justify their use by Jedi.
When applied against unwilling subjects, this ability constituted a form of telepathic intrusion, granting the user unauthorized access to the target's memories and subconscious. Instead of merely assessing the subject, the user actively penetrated and pried into their mental state. This form of probing could inflict considerable discomfort, even extreme pain, making it a useful tool for torturing those who resisted. Similar to the mind trick, prolonged or improper use could overwhelm and damage the subject's mind. This, in turn, could make the victim more susceptible to coercion and incentivize compliance to avoid further harm. As a variant of the mind trick, it was also possible to attempt to compel the subject into compliance, though this process was not exempt from the aforementioned risks posed to the victim.
Resistance to a mind probe was generally difficult, dependent on the subject's mental fortitude and the practitioner's skill and power. Individuals with Force abilities were typically more resistant, with some possessing the strength to become entirely immune to the probe.
During the Battle of Dalna in 382 BBY, which took place during the High Republic Era, Jedi Knight Azlin Rell was emotionally scarred and filled with dread by a novel weapon deployed by the Path of the Closed Fist: the Nameless, enigmatic entities that consumed the Living Force and overwhelmed the Jedi. When Rell, accompanied by fellow Knight Oliviah Zeveron and Padawan Matthea Cathley, encountered Path Herald Werth Plouth, he succumbed to his desperation and forcibly entered Plouth's mind, demanding information about the unleashed weapon. Rell's action caused Plouth to experience a Force choke-like sensation, his body stiffening under the influence and his breathing becoming labored. Cathley witnessed Rell's actions and ordered him to stop, ultimately using a Force push to separate them. Once released and able to breathe freely, the Herald interpreted Rell's actions as confirmation of his anti-Jedi sentiment.
From his intrusion into the Herald's mind, Rell discovered the existence of the Rod of Power, an artifact capable of controlling the Nameless, and the identity of the Guide of the Closed Fist, Marda Ro. Cathley accused Rell of deviating from the Jedi path and asserted that he should have known better, also believing there was certainly a better way to teach the Herald a lesson, while Rell defended his actions as a response to a desperate situation. Zeveron expressed eagerness to learn what Rell had gleaned from the Herald's mind, which alarmed Cathley as it seemed that Zeveron was approving of Rell's mind probe usage. Shortly thereafter, when Cathley asked how far they were from Ro's location, the Herald sarcastically asked why she did not just look into his mind like her ally. She insisted that was not the Jedi way and took a look over to Rell, who become shy in the time since his mind probe. Ultimately consumed by fear due to his encounters with the Nameless during the battle, Rell would go onto fall to the dark side of the Force and continue to investigate the creatures.
Maul, once a Sith apprentice under the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious before becoming a rogue Sith Lord, demonstrated proficiency in this ability. During the Siege of Mandalore, he probed the mind of clone trooper Jesse in the undercity of Sundari to obtain information about former Padawan Ahsoka Tano. During the [Imperial Era](/article/imperial_era], Maul employed the ability to uncover the location of Kanan Jarrus' Jedi holocron and his former name, Caleb Dume, by probing Hera Syndulla's mind. He also sensed that Obi-Wan Kenobi was safeguarding someone when he confronted his adversary on Tatooine.
During the Invasion of Mon Cala, the Ninth Sister extracted the whereabouts of Ferren Barr from the mind of King Lee-Char. After capturing Kanan Jarrus, a Jedi survivor of Order 66 and a rebel, the Grand Inquisitor interrogated Jarrus aboard Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin's Star Destroyer, the Sovereign, using the mind probe in an attempt to locate other rebels. However, Jarrus successfully resisted the Inquisitor's probing. After capturing Ezra Bridger on abandoned Republic medical station, the Seventh Sister tried to psychologically break him and to get him to reveal the location of Ahsoka Tano through taunts, threats, and even an attempted mind probe, which only caused Ezra discomfort, while he was able to resist her.
Anakin Skywalker, later known as the Sith Lord Darth Vader, also possessed this ability. He once used it to sense the internal conflict within his son, Luke Skywalker, aboard the second Death Star. During this process, Vader discovered the existence of Luke's twin sister, born to himself and Padmé Amidala.
The powerful dark side user Kylo Ren was highly skilled in the mind probe, employing it to great effect. His command of the ability was so strong that he could exert physical force on his targets, pinning them down or holding them aloft. In his search for the map leading to Luke Skywalker, he traveled to the planet Pillio, where he probed the mind of Del Meeko and discovered that Lor San Tekka had taken the map to Bayora.
Later, he captured Resistance pilot Poe Dameron on Jakku after Dameron's mission to retrieve the map fragment from Tekka. While Dameron proved resistant to conventional interrogation methods, he was unable to withstand Ren's power, which inflicted severe pain. Eventually, it was revealed that Dameron had stored the information within the astromech droid BB-8, who was also on Jakku. Subsequently, Ren captured the scavenger Rey after learning that she had seen the map and subjected her to a mind probe. As he sought the information, he discovered other memories, such as her encounters with Han Solo, and taunted her. Rey, however, discovered something new within herself, an ability in the Force. To her surprise, she turned the mind probe's effect back upon Ren, learning something of him: that he feared he would never be as powerful as the legendary Darth Vader. Ren, rattled, left her in order to regroup. When Rey was alone with but a single guard, she considered what she had done with Ren's mind. Her dawning realization led her to perform a mind trick on the guard.