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Did Vader ever fathom that Palpatine was Darth Sideous?

Jedi Knights are in short order who hunt Sith... But in the middle of that spectrum there must of been hundreds of thousands of untrained force users that didn't undertand who they were doing what they were doing or the consequences.
 
I always took it that Skywalker knew that there was a Sith operating somewhere in the Republic, but didn't know (or rather, didn't believe) that it was the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic until Palpatine all but actually told him. One of the things repeated during the prequel was that the Dark Side was hard to see unless it was pretty much smacking you in the face. As powerful with the Force as Skywalker was, he still couldn't divine the truth about Palpatine being Darth Sidious any more than the other Jedi Masters could, IMO.
Yes, because the Force is the only means of figuring things out...

(Sure, this is Skywalker we're talking about and common sense is a nonexistent concept regarding that bloodline, but the point remains.)
Given that there are likely plenty of corrupt politicians who aren't Sith, the idea that Palpatine was one really had to be confirmed before any action could be taken. As far as the Jedi knew, Dooku could have easily been lying to Obi-Wan about Palpatine in the hopes that the Jedi would arrest or take down someone who really wasn't a Sith and throw the Republic into chaos at a time when it needed to be stable the most.

It was ironically Skywalker--Palpatine's BFF and the one least likely to say anything negative about him--that convinced Windu that maybe Dooku wasn't lying after all, but he still had to confirm it himself.
 
As Mace put it in the ROTS novelization, "The only reason Palpatine himself isn't a suspect is because he already rules the galaxy." And he had been for over a dozen years at that point. Given the history of previous Sith Lords (Naga Sadow, Exar Kun, Darth Revan, Lord Kaan), they figured if Palpatine was a Sith, he would have lost patience/subtlety and tried to make a move to seize total control years ago. He was essentially FDR circa 1945 (minus the annoying cerebral hemorrage) at this point as far as the galaxy was concerned. What they were suspecting by the early part of ROTS was that Palpatine had been in office too long, gotten too used to the trappings of power, and was starting to look at ways to stay in power permanently while keeping the Jedi and Senate in check. IF there was a Darth Sidious around, he could be acting as Palpatine's Karl Rove/Valerie Jarrett.

They didn't WANT to believe that a Sith Lord could have been running the Republic for years right under their noses. It was simply unthinkable.
 
The TPM novel says there's 10,000. But then the AOTC novel says there's 9,000. So either 1000 died between 32 BBY and 22 BBY or someone's wrong.

Did they ever say anything on screen? I know Star Wars isn't like Star Trek, but, at the same time, I haven't read the novels so I'm wondering if there's anything I missed.

You still get the impression that most people don't see Jedi all that often.
 
Even though the propaganda machine must have been spinning bullshit something fierce to justify the public executions and hunting of the Jedi. And you know what they say, any publicity is good publicity.
 
20 years ago Europe was full of magicians who could make shit float or blow up with their minds?
No, I think what you're asking here is for people in Kenya to have a working knowledge of what happened to the Washington branch of the Freemasons in the 1980's. Some details might get a little sketchy over time.
 
they were the generals of the clone wars that ripped up every planet in the galaxy after they kept the peace for 10,000 years...

Clones vs Droids.

Like "real" people gave a shit.
 
C. E. Evans said:
As far as the Jedi knew, Dooku could have easily been lying to Obi-Wan about Palpatine

Dooku didn't say anything about Palpatine, just that a Sith Lord was influencing the Senate. To see this as a reference to Palpatine is hindsight; the Jedi wouldn't be expected to take it that way.

Alidar Jarok said:
You still get the impression that most people don't see Jedi all that often.

Well, they wouldn't; given the surely vast number of people in the galaxy, 10,000 would be a relatively tiny amount.

Guy Gardener said:
didn't undertand who they were doing

We've all been there, haven't we?
 
C. E. Evans said:
As far as the Jedi knew, Dooku could have easily been lying to Obi-Wan about Palpatine

Dooku didn't say anything about Palpatine, just that a Sith Lord was influencing the Senate. To see this as a reference to Palpatine is hindsight; the Jedi wouldn't be expected to take it that way.
Dooku said that the Republic was under the control of the Sith. Well, if Palpatine was in control of the Republic, I think he would at least be a suspect if Obi-Wan took his words seriously.
 
That's not the message Obi-Wan is going to take away from that conversation. This is not the point in the timeline where Palpatine is ready to reveal himself.

Nightowl1701 said:
As Mace put it in the ROTS novelization, "The only reason Palpatine himself isn't a suspect is because he already rules the galaxy." And he had been for over a dozen years at that point. Given the history of previous Sith Lords (Naga Sadow, Exar Kun, Darth Revan, Lord Kaan), they figured if Palpatine was a Sith, he would have lost patience/subtlety and tried to make a move to seize total control years ago. He was essentially FDR circa 1945 (minus the annoying cerebral hemorrage) at this point as far as the galaxy was concerned. What they were suspecting by the early part of ROTS was that Palpatine had been in office too long, gotten too used to the trappings of power, and was starting to look at ways to stay in power permanently while keeping the Jedi and Senate in check. IF there was a Darth Sidious around, he could be acting as Palpatine's Karl Rove/Valerie Jarrett.

They didn't WANT to believe that a Sith Lord could have been running the Republic for years right under their noses. It was simply unthinkable.
 
Winston Churchill admits that Hitler is working for him and he is the secret leader of the Third Reich.

George Bush Snr admits that he has an intimate relationship with Saddam Hussein who had been operating under his direct order for the 15 years leading up to his death.

People who hated Palatine knew this, and he stayed in power, unless Yoda and Obi-Wan crawled into a bottle or started sucking on te spacehash pipe, got to busy to start up an imperial Wiki-leaks.
 
Winston Churchill admits that Hitler is working for him and he is the secret leader of the Third Reich.

George Bush Snr admits that he has an intimate relationship with Saddam Hussein who had been operating under his direct order for the 15 years leading up to his death.

People who hated Palatine knew this, and he stayed in power, unless Yoda and Obi-Wan crawled into a bottle or started sucking on te spacehash pipe, got to busy to start up an imperial Wiki-leaks.

Or they get dismissed as the equivalent of people saying that George Bush planned 9/11. Also, I'm not sure there's a Galactic version of the internet in this universe where information can travel that freely and anonymously.
 
Well the Emperor was able to send communications to Vader from half a galaxy away in Empire.

of course Military communications man be a snuff above commercial communications.

Imperial Mail?

In one of the "what if' mirror universe Star Wars comics that came early this century, where just changed something slight to make the movies really incredibly different... I think in one Luke died on the assault against the first Deathstar and Leia became Vader's Apprentice but the death star survived... And an Imperial news report was now calling it "The Justice Star".

They must have a wealth media of media and news, whether it is true or fabricated to uplift the sentient condition.

Was podracing really just George thinking that he could exploit NASCAR's unexplainable popularity?
 
There's also the remote location of Tatooine to take into consideration. Most inhabitants of the planet probably didn't receive galactic news quickly, and many of them may not have been all that knowledgeable about recent galactic history.
So why didn't Han believe in them? Especially with Chewy at his side?
 
Imagine if Chewey and Yoda had met in Empire?

"DUUUDE!"

"DUUUDE!"

And then they high five.

(Yoda might have to jump.)
 
Well, Han probably believes that the Jedi existed and were really good at using lightsabers, but he had no reason to believe they had special powers. I don't think Chewie saw Yoda do necessarily changed that.really good, but didn't know they had
 
Also, I'm not sure there's a Galactic version of the internet in this universe where information can travel that freely and anonymously.
The HoloNet was pretty open under the Old Republic (and later would be again under the New Republic / Galactic Alliance), but large portions of it were taken offline after Palpatine took power as Emperor and what remained after that was strictly controlled.

Well, Han probably believes that the Jedi existed and were really good at using lightsabers, but he had no reason to believe they had special powers. I don't think Chewie saw Yoda do necessarily changed that.really good, but didn't know they had
Also, perhaps Chewie never talked to Han about his experience in the Clone Wars. Chewie was already 200 years old by the time of Yavin, so that's a pretty lengthy lifespan of numerous possible stories.
 
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