there are four natural, neutral elements to the force in this world: fire, water, air and earth. there are also two supernatural, weighted elements to the force: light/creation and dark/destruction. corporeal sapients such as humans, elves and orcs can only use the natural elements. on the other hand, spiritual beings such as paragons (the light spirits that jedi work with) can only use light abilities and demons can only use dark abilities. there are also extremely rare beings known as greysprits that can use both light and dark abilities, but they are never as powerful in either one as paragons or demons, and they are almost never used because most people would die upon feeling both the light and dark sides of the force enter them at once. this is why humans are willing to share bodies with paragons and demons and vice versa: only when the two beings exist in the same body can they use the powers that are exclusive to the other.
there are some exceptions, however, to this rule. anakin, for example, can use all six elements without the help of a paragon or a demon due to the fact that he is the son of magic itself (though in practice, he’s way better at using dark abilities than light abilities and every time he uses light ones it just feels so awkward and gross). the direct children (and only the direct children) of a jedi and a sith such as anakin’s children with padmé are also notable for being able to use both light and dark abilities--they are the only beings that can accept greysprits into their bodies without dying, and some particularly skilled jedi/sith children such as luke skywalker have also been known to develop light/dark abilities on their own--even if it’s the opposite element of the spirit inside them. finally, a paragon or demon can become a greysprit if they so choose, but the process is long and arduous and may end up killing them.
the one rule that has no exceptions, however, is that every magical being has at least one strength and at least one weakness. they are born with these and while these properties can change over time, you can never eliminate strengths and weaknesses entirely--if you lose the only one you have, you simply gain another. there are some usual weaknesses, such as a fire mage being weak to water or an earth mage being weak to air, and the fact that light and dark no matter what are always weak to each other. but not all of the weaknesses are so cut and dry--for example, an air mage might be weak to fire, or a fire mage weak to earth.
anakin’s strength is fire. this may seem strange if you consider my headcanon that he was set on fire by the high elvish crown prince when he was just 7 years old, nearly died, and also (potentially) got left with chronic pain from the supernatural burns (haven’t decided the source of his chronic pain but that could be it). but in fact the attack was so magically strong that his strength in fire was the only thing that even saved him in the first place, let alone allowed him to recover most of his original appearance during the healing process. his usual weakness is water, as with many but not all fire-strong mages, but sidious managed to add one more in lightning (a combined element of earth and air which palpatine was strongest in), and here’s how.
both anakin and vader started out as fully organic but now are at least 50% mechanical, owing to two things: one, anakin is a quadruple amputee, and two, sidious took anakin’s demon form apart against his will and had him rebuild it to be “stronger.” however, sidious knew that most automatons had a lightning weakness. the changes in vader’s body also changed ani’s body and literally caused anakin to have metal bones, for fuck’s sake--how the hell long do you think he’d last after being electrocuted? to make a long story short, in spite of being the most powerful sith lord and probably also the most powerful magical mortal who ever lived, anakin has not one, not two, but THREE magical weaknesses: light, water and lightning. sucks to be him i guess
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