Star Wars has introduced a new Force power that appears to show how Anakin Skywalker built C-3PO. "Thank the Maker," C-3PO declared in the first Star Wars film. Viewers never expected George Lucas to one day reveal C-3PO's Maker was actually Anakin Skywalker himself, a slave boy on Tatooine who built the droid as part of his fantasy of leaving the desert world to explore the galaxy. Anakin dreamed that he and his mother could one day wander the stars, and so he built the protocol droid to serve as a faithful helper and interpreter.
Anakin was an unusual boy, conceived by the will of the Force, with a midi-chlorian count higher than even Master Yoda's. That is why he was the only human podracer to win in the races on Tatooine; because he could sense threats and obstacles just before they became a reality. But Anakin's ability with machines, at such an early age, was also decidedly odd.
Anakin's ability with machines is perfectly explained in Daniel José Older's novel Race to Crashpoint Tower, which introduces a Jedi Padawan named Ram Jomaran. He lived in the High Republic Era, some 200 years before the events of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, and his relationship with the Force was different to that of any other Jedi; where most Jedi possessed abilities related to living creatures, he found himself instinctively able to understand technology. When Ram took apart a damaged speeder, he could focus and use the Force to identify any part that was not working, or when he looked at a sabotaged comm system, he could intuitively sense how to repair it. It seems to be a rare Force power, one few Jedi possessed even in the High Republic Era.
Presumably, Anakin Skywalker also possessed this Force power when he was a child on Tatooine, explaining his natural skill with technology. Unfortunately, it is likely this was not one talent he grew in with age; the Jedi of the High Republic had a different philosophy of the Force, encouraging each Force-sensitive to relate to the Force in their own unique way, but by the prequel trilogy the views and understanding of Master Yoda had become dominant, and Jedi were no longer encouraged to experiment. While Anakin would always be gifted with technology, he seems to have seen it as something separate from his Force-powers, and he never tried anything like the creative tricks Ram Jomaran attempted.
The High Republic books and comics reveal a time when the Jedi Order was flourishing before the Jedi became so afraid of the dark side. This is allowing writers to shine a new light on the nature of the Force and the powers it blesses Jedi with, revealing skills and abilities that have been alluded to before but never explicitly identified. Although Ram's power is unnamed, it is impressive nonetheless, and it finally resolves one of the oddest mysteries of Star Wars; why a Force prodigy was also a mechanical and engineering genius.
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