Click HERE to see this thread with all of the graphics, features, and links.

Hi, I'm new here. I did a search, and the most lively discussion of the "Journal of the Whills" was in an Ep 3 thread that is now closed. I know nothing of an in-universe journal that may appear or be referenced in RotS (I have avoided most spoilers), but this is the answer to what the original "Journal of the Whills" is, from a book I have that has the classic trilogy scripts in them (and developmental stages of the scripts are also discussed). Strait from GL himself:

the journal of the whills is involved in episode III

So I've heard on this forum. Like I said, I tried to post a reply in the Episode 3 thread about this, but it was closed.

That makes no sense. The Journal Of The Whills is going to be only applicable to Episode III.

Depends what we are talking about.

Are we talking about the Episode III Whills or the Whills "character" Lucas made up?

i'm talking about Jedi ghosts and a certain dead jedi master

The Journal of the Whills is very relavent to ANH.

Mark Hamill once recalled in an interview: "One of my favourite earlier versions of the Star Wars screenplay had a clever device to offset the technology of the whole thing so that audiences wouldn't think that this was going to be another 2001. It started with a helicopter shot of an enchanted forest and they puch the camera through the window of a tree and you see a mother Wookiee trying to breastfead this squealing baby Wookiee. He keeps gesuring toward the bookshelf and there's all this Wookiee dialogue going on. She goes and points to one particular book and the baby gets all excited. She takes that book off the shelf and we see it's titled Star Wars. She opens the book and that's when the ship comes overhead and the film we know starts."

In reality, the film was very different to the ANH we know and love at this stage.
But basically, the Journal of the Whills was - at one stage - the book that Hamill mentions.
That is all.
Not so much something from "within" the SW universe, but actually SW itself.
This concept remained until the fourth draft (which does resemble the film we all know and does not include this comical "Wookiee" opening) which is titled: Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope, from the Journal of the Whills - Revised Fourth Draft, January 15, 1976.

There is, of course, no reference to who or what the Whills are in this script, but it has been suggested that, at this time, the Whills were an ancient omniscient race who had been recording the events in their galaxy, and the film we see is one of the many tales from their "Journal".

Just as names such as Utapau, Valarium (Valorum), Mace Windu etc from the very early drafs of SW have been reused and given new uses in the PT - so, it would seem the name "Whills" was recycled for ROTS.