The Whills were a community of beings who notably wrote the Journal of the Whills, a document that recorded important events in the galaxy, as well as philosophical reflections in verse. There were shamans among them, one of whom taught the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn that the ability to retain one’s consciousness after death required absolute selflessness.

The moon of Jedha was home to a Force-worshipping monastic order called the Guardians of the Whills. One of Jedha’s most sacred places, the Temple of the Kyber, was also known as the Temple of the Whills.

Star Wars creator George Lucas intended the Whills to be microscopic single-celled life-forms who were essentially God; the will of the Force. Maintaining a symbiotic relationship with the midi-chlorians, the Whills fed off the Force and controlled the universe, offering destinies to sentients such as Anakin Skywalker, who was destined to be the Chosen One of the Force to act as the tool by which balance was restored to the Force—to restore balance and harmony to all of life by destroying those who violated and would continue violating the symbiosis of life; users of the corruptive, addictive force of the dark side. 

Individuals were controlled by the Force’s will, yet they had free will; all had a destiny if they wanted to follow it. The midi-chlorians were in turn symbionts with all of life: the midi-chlorians lived in every single cell of every living thing, and communicated to living beings the will of the Whills’—the will of the Force. George Lucas’ concept of the Whills align with the canon concept of the will of the Force, which was held by the Cosmic Force. Lucas said that, had he held onto Lucasfilm Ltd. instead of selling it to The Walt Disney Company in 2012, the sequel trilogy would have featured the microbiotic world of the Whills.