Since reading the prologue to the original Star Wars novelization in '76, fans have been wondering, "Who are these Whills?" Even though we don't have a complete answer this quarter-century old mystery, here is what we do know and with that I will try to explain some of what the Whills really are.

ABOUT THE MYSTERIOUS BEINGS

This quote is all we really know about the Whills. We know that they are a higher order of beings who are recording the history of the Star Wars Saga:

"Originally, I was trying to have the story be told by somebody else; there was somebody watching this whole story and recording it, somebody probably wiser than the mortal players in the actual events. I eventually dropped this idea, and the concept behind the Whills turned into the Force. But the Whills became part of this massive amount of notes, quotes, background information that I used for the scripts; the stories were actually taken from the 'Journal of the Whills." - George Lucas in the Annotated Screenplays

And here is a quote from an even more recent source, and that source is the Revenge of the Sith final draft script. It tells us about the 'Ancient Order of the Whills', which Qui-Gon Jinn encountered a Whill shaman to learn how to become a Force ghost. So we can assume that the Whills know a lot about the Force. Here are some of the quotes:

QUI-GON: (V.O.) The ability to defy oblivion can be achieved, but only for oneself. It was accomplished by a Shaman of the Whills. It is a state acquired through compassion, not greed.

And from later in the script

YODA: An old friend has learned the path to immortality.

OBI-WAN: Who?

YODA: One who has returned from the netherworld of the Force to train me . . . your old Master, Qui-Gon Jinn.

OBI-WAN: Qui-Gon? But, how could he accomplish this?

YODA: The secret of the Ancient Order of the Whills, he studied. How to commune with him. I will teach you.

And from Jude Watson's "Last of the Jedi" p.5 :

And now it was Qui-Gon who was withholding the knowledge he'd learned from the Ancient Order of the Whills, a training that could bring Obi-Wan some measure of peace. He could learn to be one with the Force but retain his consciousness.

CONCERNING YODA

Some people have come to believe that Yoda (and Yaddle, along with master Vandar from Knights of the Old Republic) are Whills. That assumption is indeed false. Even though I have heard rumors that it says Yoda is a Whill in an officially licensed calendar from a few years back, which is the most solid proof there is, it was most likely accidentally looked over by Lucas Licensing, which was bad on they're part.

This conversation, from an ep.3 cut scene, has Qui-Gon explaining to Yoda that the Whills have found a great secret in the Force, which if Yoda was a Whill, he would have already known about it:

222 INT. POLIS MASSA-OBSERVATION DOME-NIGHT

On the isolated asteroid of Polis Massa, YODA meditates.

YODA: Failed to stop the Sith Lord, I have. Still much to learn, there is ...

QUI -GON: (V.O.) Patience. You will have time. I did not. When I became one with the Force I made a great discovery. With my training, you will be able to merge with the Force at will. Your physical self will fade away, but you will still retain your consciousness. You will become more powerful than any Sith.

YODA: Eternal consciousness.

QUI-GON: (V.O.) The ability to defy oblivion can be achieved, but only for oneself. It was accomplished by a Shaman of the Whills. It is a state acquired through compassion, not greed.

YODA: . . . to become one with the Force, and influence still have . . . A power greater than all, it is.

QUI-GON: (V.O.) You will learn to let go of everything. No attachment, no thought of self. No physical self.

YODA: A great Jedi Master, you have become, Qui-Gon Jinn. Your apprentice I gratefully become.

YODA thinks about this for a minute, then BAIL ORGANA enters the room and breaks his meditation.

BAIL ORGANA: Excuse me, Master Yoda. Obi-Wan Kenobi has made contact.

ABOUT THE JOURNAL AND WHAT WE CAN INFER

There is very little about the Journal that we can learn except that it tells the history of the Star Wars Saga. Here is the beginning of the Journal of the Whills:

"This is the story of Mace Windu, a revered Jedi Bendu of Ophuchi who was related to Usby C.J. Thape, Padawaan learner of the famed Jedi." - The beginning of the Journal of the Whills

The largest excerpt from the Journal of the Whills was released in the prologue of the original Star Wars novelization, which basically tells the Prequel Trilogy in two pages. Note that it said it came from the First Saga. The Fourth draft of Star Wars was also said to have come from the First Saga of the Journal of the Whills, so is the First Saga the Prequels, or the entire Star Wars Saga? I suppose that is another one of the mysterious questions. Here is the entire excerpt from the Journal of the Whills:

Another galaxy, another time.
The Old Republic was the Republic of legend, greater than distance or time. No need to note where it was or whence it came, only to know that... it was the Republic.

Once, under the wise rule of the Senate and the protection of the Jedi Knights, the Republic throve and grew. But as often happens when wealth and power pass beyond the admirable and attain the awesome, then appear those evil ones who have greed to match.

So it was with the Republic at its height. Like the greatest of trees, able to withstand any external attack, the Republic rotted from within though the danger was not visible from outside.

Aided and abetted by restless, power-hungry individuals within the government, and the massive organs of commerce, the ambitious Senator Palpatine caused himself to be elected President of the Republic. He promised to reunite the disaffected among the people and to restore the remembered glory of the Republic.

Once secure in office he declared himself Emperor, shutting himself away from the populace. Soon he was controlled by the very assistants and boot-lickers he had appointed to high office, and the cries of the people for justice did not reach his ears.

Having exterminated through treachery and deception the Jedi Knights, guardians of justice in the galaxy, the Imperial governors and bureaucrats prepared to institute a reign of terror among the disheartened worlds of the galaxy. Many used the imperial forces and the name of the increasingly isolated Emperor to further their own personal ambitions.

But a small number of systems rebelled at these new outrages. Declaring themselves opposed to the New Order they began the great battle to restore the Old Republic.

From the beginning they were vastly outnumbered by the systems held in thrall by the Emperor. In those first dark days it seemed certain the bright flame of resistance would be extinguished before it could cast the light of new truth across a galaxy of oppressed and beaten peoples...

From the First Saga
Journal of the Whills

Here is an excerpt from the Journal which obviously tells the prophesy of the Chosen One. Note that it was written like most religious texts and it was written like the Star Wars Saga hadn't happened yet, unlike the prologue to the novelization, which was written in past tense:

"... And in the time of greatest
despair there shall come a savior,
and he shall be known as:
THE SON OF THE SUNS."
Journal of the Whills, 3:127