Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Headscratchers / AttackOfTheClones

Go To

1%%
2%%
3%% This is NOT a page for complaining. Keep questions and answers neutral, don't use a combative or aggressive tone, and don't blame everything on bad writing.
4%%
5%%
6
7New entries on the bottom.
8
9[[foldercontrol]]
10
11[[folder:Anakin's Attitude]]
12
13* I know he was grateful to Obi-Wan and the Jedi Order for freeing him. But Anakin seems to hate every part of his Jedi training and his place in the order, resents the rules against love, and seems angry that they didn't also make any effort to free his mother from Watto's control. Did it never occur to him in anywhere in the EU or even during some of the events of the main films to even think about quitting the Jedi life?
14** It did. Matthew Stover's adaptation of ''Revenge of the Sith'' have both him and Padme musing over him leaving the Jedi Order. The main reason why Anakin doesn't go through with it is because he knows Padme would never forgive him for it, because she feels there's still far too much good he's capable of doing as a Jedi.
15** Ah I see, what about before it? I'm sure his unhappiness didn't start with AOTC. Like in the ten years when he never knew he would see Padme or his mom again and hated how much the other Jedi were holding him back even though he was advancing so fast. I mean even if he was no Jedi he could probably build a light-saber with his skills, and he could already use the force very well by the beginning of the movie.
16*** You're exaggerating Anakin's feelings. At the start of AOTC, he's pretty clearly okay and enjoying his time as a Jedi. There's no indication of him "hating" the other Jedi holding him back. Just a little frustration, if that, which is normal for any talented youth. You're very much overstating how Anakin felt about his position in the Jedi order.
17*** I don't see it the same way. At the very start of the movie he gets in Obi-Wan's face in front of Padme and her team for suggesting they do something different, and he seemed genuinely offended about Obi-Wan not acknowledging what actually happened in in the Gundark incident.
18*** He also shows ridiculous arrogance about his betters, claiming to be more powerful than Obi-Wan and Yoda in some respects. He seems to resent authority with a passion[[note]]Which is sensible to a degree, coming from the life of a slave[[/note]], best typified after his mother's death when he says he should be all-powerful.
19*** After his mother's death is not at the start of the movie. At the start of the movie, he has some casual arrogance--the kind that, well, pretty much any teenager who finds themselves good at something is going to have--but that's about it.
20*** I think Anakin's behavior, although it can rub people the wrong way, makes a lot of sense when you look at it in the context of the film. He's nineteen, but he's never been on a mission by himself and it's clear he's saved Obi-Wan a few times. So, clearly, he's going to be a bit frustrated at the pace of his training. It's not uncommon, for example, for eighteen year olds to be dying to head off to college to be able to be on their own for once. This is made worse by the fact that Palpatine clearly feeds Anakin's ego as much as possible. Also consider that, as of the beginning of AOTC, Anakin is already having dreams of his mother and getting little sleep -- which would be destabilizing. Add to that the fact that Padmé is in danger (and Anakin is seeing her again after a long separation) and we have someone who is not going to be making the best decisions with the greatest amount of tact. When he contradicts Obi-Wan in front of Padmé for example, I always got the impression that Anakin was so focused on Padmé that he didn't listen to a word Obi-Wan said, messed up, and then tried to save face. He's crushing pretty hard on Padmé so he's pretty embarrassed and defensive when he gets called on it. But I don't think he's intentionally trying to disrespect Obi-Wan. Rather, he's trying to impress Padmé and it blows up in his face. AOTC is all about Anakin getting knocked down a few pegs, really.
21*** Anakin's also got a point. [[ExactWords The mission is protect Padmé]]. Obi-Wan, thinking like a ByTheBookCop, wants to just act as a bodyguard, while Anakin, being somewhat akin to a CowboyCop, pissed off someone's threatening Padmé and trying to please and impress her, knows it really means "Waiting for someone to attack, capture them, find out the truth and [[ItsPersonal kill the bastard messing with my crush]]". That's what Jedi do, it's already implied, but Obi-Wan (who also acted as a bit of a dick) thinks the best way of keeping Anakin from doing something harsh is being a SternTeacher and humiliating him, [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint which is EXACTLY]] [[SelfFulfillingProphecy why Anakin acts the way he does]], [[NiceJobBreakingItHero and is what allows Palpatine to manipulate Anakin]]. As for Anakin's frustration, I think the EU clarifies that while Anakin likes being a Jedi, the Council puts some pressure on him and he doesn't handle it well; the Jedi Training is meant to indoctrinate children since their toddler days(one of the reasons I don't like Jedi a whole lot either), not someone older, precocious and who already has a personality of their own outside the "accepted Jedi Code tenets". There's also a situation in EU that made Kenobi [[KickTheDog say some very nasty things to Anakin]] and widened the gap between them. Long story short: Obi-Wan is NOT the perfect teacher, and even though Anakin really likes the guy, he sometimes has problems with him, Obi-Wan's Jedi training prevents him from thinking in any other way than [[GoodIsNotNice "Be stern, authoritarian and make him fall in line"]] and the person Anakin goes to talk to and unwind is Palpatine. You do the math.
22*** That's exactly why there's a lot of fan speculation that Anakin would have turned out very much different if Qui-Gon had been alive to train him.
23*** Obi-wan was strict most of the time, even with his own master. He rebuked Qui-Gon in Episode I for being too reckless with his idea of training Anakin. Since he already had that tendency and he really didn't want to let Qui-Gon down as he was dying, Obi-wan decided that the best way to handle Anakin was with tough love.
24
25[[/folder]]
26
27[[folder: Lack of Suspicion for Jango]]
28
29* Why didn't the Jedi or Separatist leaders question why Jango was fulfilling the contradictory functions of serving as a mercenary on Geonosis, the clone template on Kamino, and trying to assassinate Senator Amidala? For the CIS leaders the question for Dooku would be why is this mercenary working for us the source of this mysterious Clone Army that we never knew existed until it attacked us.
30** Why are you assuming that everyone knew all the sides of it? We have no indication that the Separatists ever found out that Jango was the template of the clone army. How would they have found out, and why would anyone have told them?
31*** All it would take was one dead clone trooper having their helmet removed to see that they were clones of Jango. It is implausible that, during a war, the CIS never bothered to study the Republic's clone forces. Jango was well known by the CIS leaders since he hung around with them.
32*** I would argue it's impossible. That would be like if in World War 2, the Americans never recognized they were fighting Japanese soldiers.
33*** Dooku definitely knew about the Clone Army. He's the one who commissioned Jango to do it after the events of Star Wars: Bounty Hunter. Which just underlines how deeply compromised everything already was.
34** One thing that does have to be considered is that Jango is a mercenary who would work for anyone and presumably have complete discretion about his other numerous clients. In addition he was supposed to lead Obi-Wan to Geonosis so that the Clone Wars could begin.
35*** Which should have been suspicious to Obi-Wan. That the template for the clone army supposedly ordered by Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas was also in the employ of the Separatists should have rang alarm bells about the fact that ''somebody'' was playing both sides of the fence.
36** There are some elements in EU that might explain this. Sifo-Dyas was a TheSeer, and he predicted the coming of a war. He was also best friends with Dooku, who later killed him to become a Sith. The Jedi, knowing this, probably assumed Sifo-Dyas was manipulated by Dooku, and that his plan was to use the army AGAINST the Republic alongside the Droid Army. It would also be possible that Sifo-Dyas first hired Jango Fett, and Dooku paid him to become his ally, Jango is a bounty hunter after all.
37** He's a bounty hunter. He has no skin in the affairs of either side. The Republic hires him to be the clone template. Then the Separatists hire him to be a mercenary. His only loyalty is to himself and whomever pays him.
38*** The problem there being just how much money would it be worth for a mercenary such as himself to ''sell'' the Separatists the details about the Republic clone army even then being assembled on Kamino? Especially since ''nobody'' from the Republic was overseeing the project (the Kaminoans were actually ''relieved'' when a Jedi ''finally'' showed up!), Jango faced no repercussions for selling them out -- because they had no idea who he even was! Nor would he, laden with a '''huge''' payoff, ''ever'' have to go anywhere near the Republic ever again if he didn't want to!
39*** He can't sell it to the Separatists because Dooku, the leader of the Separatists, already knows that he's the template for the Clone Army- he's the guy who ''hired'' him for it. Really, it's not even a secret- both sides know after the movie that Jango is the one the Clone Army is based on, and they know that it was commissioned by Jedi. Assume the Jedi was Dooku (which it was, though Sifo Dyas played a part) and you could rationalise it as "Dooku secretly made a commission for the army in the name of the Republic, but secretly it was for the Separatists". If you are a Separatist, it looks like Dooku's secret "ace in the hole" that he never bothered telling you about and that was stolen from him by the Jedi; if you are with the Republic, it looks like you snatched the army from right under the nose of Count Dooku, or whoever they think Tyrannus might be. Aside from that, you fail to understand the character of Jango Fett- he isn't in it for the money, he isn't in it to retire, he is in it because quite simply fighting and hunting are his ''life'', which is exemplified by the existence of Boba Fett in the first place: to carry on his legacy. So, firstly, he can't sell it to the Separatists because the guy he'd sell it to is Dooku (who knows), or he sells it to Gunray et al behind Dooku's back (which he won't do because he still works for Dooku and that is a betrayal of contract, not to mention it risks making an enemy of Dooku if he finds out), and secondly he ''doesn't care'' about any of this, because money isn't the main motivator for him- the way of life and the professionalism that goes with it is.
40*** That's a very romanticized view of Jango, who sub-contracted the assassination attempts on Padme to another bounty hunter and who the Kaminoans outright stated was receiving very substantial pay for his contribution to the clone army! There is actually no justification for believing that he is especially honorable. Certainly not when he was willing to lie to a Jedi Master's face about his activities. He clearly ''knows'' that his actions are going to plunge the galaxy into war and doesn't care. He most definitely ''could'' sell out Dooku, since the other Separatist leaders were only willing to go to war because they believed that they had absolute military superiority over the Republic. If they knew that Dooku was setting them up for a huge and expensive war then they would have sicced the droidekas on him so fast his head would have spun!
41*** Fine, let's go with the idea that Jango is just in it for the money. He ''could'' go to the separatist leaders and tell them all about the clone army and how Dooku set them up for an unwinnable war. But he can't be sure, in advance, how much he's going to get paid for revealing that info. And if his "substantial" salary is already coming ''from'' Dooku...well, he's obviously going to lose that gig once he spills the beans. Also, Dooku might show up with all the force he can muster just to get revenge on Jango. So why take the risk? If you go to the separatists, you get some undefined sum of money plus the chance of getting killed by Dooku. If you keep quiet, then you continue to earn your substantial salary and Dooku leaves you alone. Might as well stay quiet.
42*** And where did it EVER say Jango was honorable. Just because he is in it for the fighting and hunting rather than JUST the money, doesn't mean he had honor. There is a reason we have tropes like BloodKnight and PsychoForHire. Yes he doesn't care about plunging the galaxy to war to get what he wants. Nobody said he did. That doesn't make money his only motivation.
43
44[[/folder]]
45
46[[folder: Padme falling into sand]]
47
48* Padme falls out of an aircraft that was travelling pretty fast. And yet she's completely uninjured?
49** [[HandWave Clearly Geonosis has the softest sand in the galaxy]].
50*** Hey, ''she's'' not the one that hates sand. Apparently, sand appreciates that.
51* Speaking of recoveries, let's just get this straight here: they cannot reattach limbs severed by a lightsaber, but they ''can'' heal muscle-deep cuts into such limbs? Because Anakin needed a cybernetic replacement arm, but Obi-Wan apparently suffered no lasting impediment from the slices Dooku took out of him. In the next film he shows no signs of impaired movement in his arm and leg, even though at the time they were enough to render him unable to fight.
52** Nicks with just enough force to render an opponent unable to fight, nothing some basic first aid can handle.
53
54[[/folder]]
55
56[[folder: The money is coming from somewhere wrong but the Jedi don't care?]]
57
58* One Jedi Master supposedly had a [[ArbitrarilyLargeBankAccount big enough expense account]] that he was able to just go to Kamino and order up an entire clone army, complete with weapons and a fleet of warships?! Yoda should have been as worried about the Jedi Order's accounting practices as he was about the fact that he did not sense the army's creation through the Force!
59** This is explained in Darth Plagueis' novel. Sifo-Dyas was the one who placed the order, but Hego Damask (aka, Darth Plagueis), an extremely wealthy Muun (the guy in Episode II from the Banking clan is one) provided the funds.
60** That does ''not'' explain why the Jedi Council and the Senate were not questioning the source of the money! Seriously, an entire army and fleet of warships just conveniently pops up, allegedly ordered by a Jedi Master, who like all Jedi was not supposed to have private assets and the funding did not come from either the Jedi Order or the Senate (who funds the Jedi Order)? This should have been the most obvious clue that there was something '''very''' suspicious about the clone army (along with the fact that they were clones of an employee of the Separatist leader Count Dooku) and about the Clone Wars in general! This is '''not''' Force mysticism! Any halfway decent investigator or auditor would have caught this!
61*** Kamino was not a part of the Republic, to the extent that its ''existence'' could be erased from the Jedi astronomical database with nobody even noticing! Thus, the ''name'' of the buyer was irrelevant information. ''Anyone'' could show up on Kamino claiming to be "Jedi Master So-And-So" without having to prove it. Thus the ''real'' question is who '''paid''' for the clone army, not who ordered it!
62*** However, this leads to the next issue. Kamino is not part of the Republic. Much like Tatooine -- and as we saw in ''The Phantom Menace'' not being a part of the Republic meant that Republic credits were worthless there. Likewise, a huge payment in Republic credits to a secretive world outside of the Republic would not work, because the Kaminoans could not ''spend'' the credits directly without becoming suddenly and glaringly visible on the galactic financial scene. This would mean that the money would have to be funneled through an intermediary, such as the Intergalactic Banking Clan (who just happened to be a signatory to the CIS charter!). Obi-Wan in particular [[IdiotBall should have caught this issue]], since he had personal experience with it.
63*** Since the identity of the actual buyer of the clone army was obviously hidden behind a front (because the money did not come from the government of the Republic or the Jedi Order), that means that some interested, concealed, third-party paid for it.
64*** The Jedi were already suspicious of Palpatine's increasing political power. But they never questioned the convenient way that an army and fleet were already built and ready to placed at his disposal literally at the exact time of him being granted emergency powers that allowed him to assemble such a military force? This despite the fact that nobody knew who ''really'' paid for their creation?
65*** The Jedi are not suspicious of Palpatine until the 3rd film, after he is still in office despite his legal term being up (Yoda might be suspicious in this film, but it's more of a "something not right about this guy" sort of suspicion; nothing concrete). They realize at the end of the movie that a war between the Republic and the Separatists was exactly what the Sith wanted, but to what end they don't know. Palpatine might be the most obvious suspect, but without proof there is no reason to suspect him much more than anyone else (in the ''Legends'' novels it is mentioned that they think he might be a pawn), especially since they are regularly in meetings with him and they never once sense the Dark Side in him (a testament to his skill more than anything else). Basically, the Jedi ''do'' realize that they have been had, but they don't know the endgame nor the mastermind and it doesn't matter since if they don't play along and fight the war with the Clone army, the Republic will just find different, less capable commanders and possibly the Separatists will slaughter everyone regardless. They ''have'' to fight this war, which hampers their freedom to investigate what is ''really'' going on. Plus as stated, for all they know the clone army was originally meant to be used by Dooku and they just got lucky, even if they doubt that is true.
66*** As a side note, the way events play out in the film, Dooku can claim that the Jedi had secretly built a clone army and invaded Geonosis while he and the leaders of his Separatist movement were convening (and any claims that they were about to murder two Jedi and a Senator were of course a dirty lie); this can be used to recruit more systems to his cause ''and'' blacken the Jedi name...just as the Sith planned all along.
67*** Except that, as is explicitly stated in the film, it took roughly a ''decade'' to grow the clone army! What does that coincide with? Palpatine becoming chancellor! So, you have an army that even the Kaminoans themselves believe is being grown for the Republic (not for Count Dooku or the CIS), which was funded by unknown parties, the very existence of which is ''illegal'' under Republic law and which was ready to be deployed the instant that Palpatine was voted emergency powers that suddenly made it legal for him to assemble such an army! The Jedi ''claim'' that they don't believe in coincidence. But this is a whole pile of supposed coincidences that all point in exactly ''one'' direction - at Palpatine!
68** Which is probably why in the novelization of ''Revenge of the Sith'' they suspect that Palpatine is a pawn being manipulated by someone else. He's too obvious a suspect.
69
70[[/folder]]
71
72[[folder: Why did Windu not kill Dooku?]]
73* After trading taunts with Dooku in the balcony, why the heck did Windu just allow him leave calmly with his courtiers? He should have stuck his lightsaber up through Dooku's rectum at the very moment. Windu is the kind of Jedi who does not mind using direct fighting approaches, and it would have ended the Clone Wars conflict before its beginning.
74** It's been a while since I've seen the movie, but I recall reading the EU book ''Shatterpoint'', which stars Mace Windu. Long story short, Windu has the power to see how people and events are connected to each other through the Force. He saw Dooku connected to incoming war, and knew killing him could stop the war before it starts. However, once the "cavalry" Jedi join the fight, it constitutes hostilities against the Separatists by the Republic. So war cannot no longer be prevented, it's inevitable. So Windu sees through the Force now that killing Dooku won't stop the Clone Wars. Instead it would just create a martyr for the enemy's cause. Plus, didn't he have to jump off the balcony because super battle droids and Jango Fett's flamethrower?
75** Windu was the living embodiment of his own assertion that the Jedi are "[[SpacePolice keepers of the peace]], not soldiers". His tactics at Geonosis were a solid example of GeneralFailure. He used his only weapon, his lightsaber, to keep Jango Fett at bay. Now, even though it was not common knowledge that Count Dooku was a Sith Lord, he ''was'' still known to be a very powerful Jedi Master. Had he chosen to attack Windu, either by drawing his own lightsaber or using the Force, then Windu would have had no choice but to pull his lightsaber away from Jango's throat. Had he tried to go straight for Dooku, Jango would have just shot him in the back! So even without the battle droids showing up, Windu ''never'' stood ''any'' chance of taking down Dooku. It was an idiotic gambit that could never have accomplished anything other than what it did: [[RedShirtArmy get a lot of Jedi killed]]!
76** Windu and Dooku are old comrades; Windu even spoke up for him when Padme accused Dooku of trying to kill her, saying "It's not in his character". Basically, he's pissed off at his old friend turning out to be a traitorous, murdering bastard, but not ''quite'' pissed off enough to stab him in the back.
77
78[[/folder]]
79
80[[folder: The Separatists' motivations]]
81
82* Is it ever explained why the Separatists are leaving the Republic? It just seems too much like a 'lol, we're leaving just cuz, kthxbai" scenario. Did they have legit grievances against the Republic?
83** The leaders we hear about are the trade federation, some kind of big banking conglomerate, and other business-types. Presumably they're trying to secede because they don't like the Republic's trade laws.
84*** Specifically, the EU also says that the places manufacturing droid armies aren't happy with the Republic laws making them illegal.
85** You also have 10,000 member-worlds seceding too. They have legitimate issues with how they're represented in the Republic, how corrupt some of it's functions are, the vast distances they might be located at from the Core, etc. It's all gone to in great detail in contemporary EU works.
86** So in summary, basically all of the reasons a subnational division may have to split from a country (or supranational grouping) in the real world, too.
87** Remember the Battle for Naboo in the Phantom Menace? You see, the Sith's Grand Plan with that was to start the Separatist sentiment. If the Republic can't protect one of their major planets from a trading company, what good are they, and what right do they have to charge hefty bills? The Separatists are basically [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere tired of the Republic's shit and want to start their own personal government]]. That said, there are TWO factions inside the Separatists: The CorruptCorporateExecutive council you see in the movies, and the civilian council you see in WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars. Sadly, both factions are no more than pawns for the Sith.
88
89[[/folder]]
90
91[[folder: Lack of Power With The Rain]]
92* Why is Kamino not a major galactic power? They have the ability to build a clone army massive enough to serve as the primary military force of the most powerful organized entity in the ''galaxy'', and yet the Kaminoans themselves have no presence beyond their home planet. Their location at the very edge of the outer rim is actually an advantage in this regard, as similar to how the Mandalorians conquered worlds in KOTOR, it would be relatively easy for the Kaminoans with their cloning technology to set up at least a small empire on a number of rim worlds without the Republic or any other entity getting in the way. It's not like they don't have any motivation to expand either, what with their home planet experiencing a cataclysm and most of its surface being uninhabitable to their population.
93** Kamino is more or less OUTSIDE the Star Wars Galaxy; if you read Star Wars Wiki, you'll see Kamino is basically shoved between the Star Wars Galaxy and a dwarf galaxy called Rishi Maze. They only developed a military program due to Jango Fett calling in a few contacts to train his clones. It's very likely that, like the Separatists leaders, they have little grasp on military strategy. They are, however, politically savvy. They know the Republic is made of hundreds of systems and are defended by the Jedi, so they're being smart about their chances of defying a galaxy-spanning government that is defended by WarriorMonks with supernatural powers, especially from a flooded planet with just a few cities. Kaminoans are also isolationist, so they don't want much to do with the rest of the universe, just profit. They're both minimalists and perfectionists. Considering the ViciousCycle of war in the main galaxy, they're being very smart (Especially since, once Order 66 came through, Sidious conquered Kamino).
94
95[[/folder]]
96
97[[folder: The Bad Battle of Geonosis]]
98
99* After some thought, why didn't the gunship carrying Anakin and crew just shoot Dooku? While I do understand they mention running out of missiles, this is still an armed gunship with laser cannons. Unless that carries a ammo count too, I really don't see them having trouble just because they ran out of missiles.
100** I choose to believe that the lasers aren't designed to be aimed at a small, rapidly moving target like a speeder bike (in the initial BigDamnGunship moment, they're used to strafe across the massed battle droids). The clones could have tried it anyway, but being in their first battle fresh from training, aren't accustomed to using their equipment in ways it isn't designed for yet.
101** Perhaps it's because Dooku's PlotArmor [[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack was too thick for blasters!]]
102* On another note about the prior subject, why didn't the [[PointDefenseless gunship's tail gunner do ''anything'' to engage the pursuing Geonosian fighters?]]
103** In World War 2, the tail gunner on most bomber planes (the main source of inspiration for the gunships) wasn't very effective at taking out enemy fighters - at best, they could hope to repel them most of the time. However, this raises an entirely different question: why weren't there any fighter escorts for the gunships?
104
105[[/folder]]
106
107[[folder: The fault in Palpatine's plan]]
108
109* When Palpatine assumes emergency power, he says that his first action will be to use his powers to create a standing army, thus legitimizing the Clones. Fair enough. The trouble is, how does he explain the fact that the army is ready and mobilized, complete with accompanying armor, logistics and a ''whole Navy'' from Kuat Drive Yards, to the Senate? All he can really say is "I now authorize an army, and conveniently, we've been building one without your permission or oversight for years! Ta-da!" Yes, it was ordered under a Jedi's name, but surely people would question and investigate how and why the Jedi made this enormous decision, costing billions if not trillions of credits, without telling anyone and when, ostensibly, there was no need for it (the order was placed well before the events of ''The Phantom Menace''). How does Palps explain away the highly suspicious fact that he has a fully-completed military ready to pull out his back pocket the second the Senate gives him emergency power?
110** Most frustratingly of all, Obi-Wan and the Jedi Council talk about the Clone Army's mysterious origins and get very suspicious about them...and then it's never mentioned again. Seems like an AbortedArc to me.
111** Actually the order for the clone army was made in 32 BBY, the same year in which the events of "The Phantom Menace" takes place.
112** Desperation, manipulation, and possibly good old fashion mind control?
113** But what kind of manipulation? The number one rule of a con artist is never make a con that is bigger than you - always be able to explain away any discrepancies, and always have an escape plan (ask Bernie Madoff). What is Palpatine's? And surely the Jedi would notice mind control - we're talking the entire investigative media of a galaxy here?
114** He used mind tricks to fool the lesser-minded, and strong armed (threats, etc) the stronger-minded to shut up and sit down if they decided to speak out about this. That's my guess. Oh, and desperation. The Republic was being torn in two, people were panicking, 'cause they had never dealt with a war of that magnitude for likely hundreds of years. They were likely willing to let it slide that Palpy (who was like their great messiah here) just so happened to have an army and a navy already built for such an occasion.
115** He didn't have to, because no one was going to ask, because no one wanted to know the answer. All they cared about was that they had an army to defend themselves against separatist aggression, and were more than happy to look the other way.
116** Simple. The clones aren't ''our'' army, they're some army Palpy found and got to work for the Republic. Everyone who knows better is on the other side anyway and those who don't know better are perfectly willing to let the matter slide at least until they don't need the clones to protect them anymore.
117*** Specifically, they were an army ordered by a dead Jedi. Either Dooku used his access to the Archives to steal the guy's identity and order the Clone Army in his name, or the guy defected when Dooku did (possibly as Dooku's apprentice). Presumably this was all set up so that Palpatine could go "I have recently learned of a clone army on Kamino. While I do not know the original reason for their commissioning, the one who filed the order is long dead, and I have thus offered to buy this army from the Kaminoans."
118*** Although this raises the legitimate question of: [[ArbitrarilyLargeBankAccount just how big of an expense account do Jedi get]]? Most people cannot put an entire army ''and'' fleet onto a credit card!
119** Lets just say he threatened to withhold highway money from anyone who questioned it and be done with it until WordOfGod says something.
120** The senators and general public don't have much knowledge about the Force, so saying that it was ordered by a Jedi would be enough as long as the Order was trusted. People would just assume that they had sensed the need for an army. This could give Palpatine cover not just for the clone army's existence, but the entire war! Who ordered the army? A Jedi. Who assembled the Separatists? An ex-Jedi. Who tried to assassinate the Chancellor? The Jedi. He has the perfect scapegoat, enough to mislead anyone suspecting a conspiracy.
121** ^ Precisely. Of course the Jedi ordering up an army without any oversight or approval would look suspicious. It's the first small step in wrecking the Jedi's public image so Palpatine can kill them all. Remember, this whole story basically boils down to a several-thousand-year-long grudge match between Sith and Jedi.
122
123[[/folder]]
124
125[[folder: Jango unarmed against Windu]]
126
127* Windu decapitates Fett after cutting his blaster in half. Sharp eyed viewers will notice that Jango lost his other blaster on Kamino during his fight with Obi-Wan. This means that Mace Windu killed an UNARMED man. Does the Jedi Code allow this?
128** Jango's armor was loaded with weapons and gadgets. It had already been clearly established that the Jedi are NotSoOmniscientAfterAll. So Windu had no way of really being sure that Jango was now safely "disarmed", or if he might have other weapons at his disposal.
129** Actually Mace chopped his right hand off. You may be thinking of the fight in Episode VI where Luke chops Boba Fett's blaster in half.
130** Looking closely at the scene, Mace only cut the blaster in half. When Jango's body falls over, his hand is still attached to his wrist.
131** It's all in one motion, and one novelization depicts it as sorta accidental; he is trying to kill him, but didn't expect the blow to land.
132** Second the first person to answer this question. Look at the Mandalorian TV series. They have weapons all over their bodies, including a very innoccous wrist device which can kill numerous opponents simultaneously. Even if Windu somehow doesn't know of the reputation of the creed, he certainly knows that this opponent is very capable in combat and in the fluid chaos of the situation, he has no means to reliably restrain and arrest him.
133
134[[/folder]]
135
136[[folder: Dumb Jango vs Windu]]
137
138* Mace loses his lightsaber while being chased by the Reek and Jango jumps on the ground knowing full well that Jedi can retrieve objects using the Force. Why? Lying flat on your stomach in a combat zone is one of the WORST tactical positions you could possibly be in so why would a renowned badass bounty hunter do something so foolish? Why didn't Jango just shoot Mace before he picked up his lightsaber? He would have won since Windu wouldn't have been able to block the blaster bolt.
139** GeneralFailure Mace Windu deployed his Jedi into an enclosed arena, where the majority of the crowd was capable of exiting at-will because they could ''fly'', leaving the Jedi vulnerable to being surrounded and trapped by enemy forces! Count Dooku was the only one present with anything resembling a clue.
140** Yes he does. Why do you think he tries to go for it - so Mace can't grab the thing. Mace likely would have called the saber to himself and deflected the bolt.
141** Darth Vader and Kylo Ren were later established to have been powerful enough to block or even stop blaster bolts dead in the air with their mastery of the Force alone; it's likely Mace Windu's power is sufficent to do similar things, or given his feats in the animated series, he could just [[FlashSteps teleport over to Jango]] and best him in unarmed combat.
142
143[[/folder]]
144
145[[folder: Obi-Wan vs Jango on Kamino]]
146
147* Another issue: when Obi-Wan fought Jango Fett ''why in the name of the Force did he not just yoink Jango out of the sky with the Force?!'' It would've taken two seconds and he'd have been able to capture and question him! Instead, he goes running round trying to fight him.
148** Perhaps he wasn't strong enough to stop Jango's motion, which might have let to Obi-wan struggling to hold Jango, who could have just shot him.
149** Because in the time it took him to go "OhCrap" he missed his chance to do that, and afterwards was more concerned with the fact that he was dangling over an ocean at the mercy of a murderer with more firepower than Alabama.
150
151[[/folder]]
152
153[[folder: Too many Jedi for a rescue mission]]
154
155* Why did Mace Windu, after hearing from Obi-Wan's transmission from Geonosis that the Trade Federation & several other entities of the CIS were to pick up a DROID ARMY, why did he still go ahead with sending over 200 Jedi?
156** All he knew was Yoda was going to the place. He didn't know he'd succeed in getting the army, or getting them there in enough time to save Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Padme and stop the Separatists.
157** Even worse, he deployed his Jedi inside of an enclosed area (the arena), filled with a race which could fly (the Geonosians) which would have left them vulnerable to attacks from the air even if there hadn't been an army of battle droids ready to slaughter them! Windu comes across as a GeneralFailure. But then again, he ''is'' the one who said that the Jedi were "keepers of the peace, not soldiers". Foreshadowing, the sign of a quality flick.
158** Before the introduction of purposely organized Spec Ops divisions in the Clone Army, the Jedi had to serve as the advance-recon force, space police or soldiers it matters not. If Mace hadn't deployed the majority of the Jedi inside the arena, the Geneosians could have easily just swarmed the hostages and ripped them limb from limb. He needed an equalizer to buy time until the real army showed up.
159*** So whatever happened to all that Jedi talk about not forming deep attachments or mourning those who have died? How does it make rational sense to sacrifice roughly '''200''' Jedi to save just '''3''' people? The Jedi sent just one Master and one Padawan to deal with the entire invasion of Naboo!
160*** That was Chancellor Valorum, not the Jedi Order, who sent Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan to Naboo to handle the Trade Federation blockade, which didn't even became an invasion till later on. The tradition of not forming deep attachment or mourning does not mean the Jedi should not rescue senators and Jedi in a hostage situation. After all, Obi-Wan, Padme, and Anakin are quite important figures for the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order; at the very least Padme is a fairly influential politician and Anakin is considered to be the ChosenOne. Not to mention it's not simply to rescue the hostages, but also to stop the Separatists from launching the Clone Wars.
161*** As a side note, Chancellor Valorum may have sent them on that mission unofficially, since he was mostly a figurehead. If so, not many people likely knew about it at first. It's possible that even some Jedi Council members didn't know until afterwards. In any case, that was a very different situation.
162*** They didn't send 200 Jedi to rescue three people - they sent 200 Jedi because they had a chance to take out/capture a large portion of the entire Separatist leadership, including Dooku himself. If they'd succeeded there wouldn't have been a war at all. But they were just smart enough to know high brass would have LOTS of security and wouldn't surrender easily. The actual fight was not their finest hour but despite the title 'Knight' most of them weren't soldiers and didn't have military training, at that point.
163*** Except that the Jedi were not deployed in positions that would allow them to ''capture'' the "high brass" of the Separatists! They were spread throughout the arena, with only Mace Windu positioned to directly approach the Separatist leaders, one of whom was a Jedi Master known to be an extraordinary duelist! Indeed, the entire reason that the ''only'' non-Jedi casualty from the executive box was Jango Fett was because he did not stay out of the fight the way the others did. More Jedi focused on rescuing the three captives than on going after the Separatist leadership, even though taking out the latter would have stopped the war dead. After all, it was not just Count Dooku, but also Viceroy Gunray and Archduke Poggle. They represent the Separatist's de facto head of state, plus the heads of the Trade Federation and Geonosian Industries. The other CorruptCorporateExecutive[=s=] would have very likely backed down and denied ever having been a part of the conspiracy had those major figures fallen so early in the conflict!
164** Mace clearly underestimated the army - the super battle droids for example, beyond some blink-and-you'll-miss it shots of their shoulder armour being forged in the plates that Anakin gets trapped in, come completely out of nowhere. He was expecting to merely face the Geonosians, who he states in cut script lines to be horribly disadvantaged against the Jedi; one Jedi equal to one-hundred Geonosians. In addition, as is brought up later in the franchise, Jedi are not assassins. They kill when necessary, but the intent would have been to bring the Council to justice.
165
166[[/folder]]
167
168[[folder: Jango's son]]
169* Why did Jango Fett want to have a mini version of himself? I understand the Kaminoans paid him for him to clone himself but why did he want Boba. He clearly didn't want to settle down and start a family because he continued to be a bounty hunter after they created Boba. He could have easily settled down; he probably had millions of credits in his bank account. So why did he want Boba?
170** He clearly didn't want to leave his job for a woman, but [[MyBiologicalClockIsTicking his biological clock was ticking]].
171** What I'm asking is why he'd have a kid at all. I know it's another annoying "Why didn't Character X do this?" Headscratcher but it just raises so many questions as to why a hardened bounty hunter like Fett, showing no signs of settling down, would ask to have a clone kid?
172*** Like I said: [[MyBiologicalClockIsTicking his biological clock was ticking]]. He wanted an heir and legacy to leave behind when he inevitably died on some mission or other, and felt the biological imperative to have an offspring supporting and magnifying that desire.
173*** Indeed. Despite what this wiki would have you believe at times, some people genuinely ''want'' children. Besides, at this point in time the Mandalorians were well on their way to dying out as both a race and culture. (Before Karen Traviss went "Naaaah, they were just napping slightly offscreen.") Jango wanted Boba not just to have a son not just for his personal legacy, but because he wanted to have someone carry on the ever-fading Mandalorian legacy.
174*** Jango wanted to continue his gene pool, but was narcissistic enough to want an exact copy, no other woman's genes to dirty the pool. Besides, it's not like Jango was settling down and teaching his son T-ball or something; he was making his son to be as badass as he is, something very in character for a Mandalorian.
175*** According to the Bounty Hunter game, it wasn't so much narcissism that inspired it as much as it was a realization that, with the kind of life he lives, settling down and finding a girl is out of the question, so this was pretty much the only way he would have a kid.
176*** Maybe he was a ''literal'' ArmouredClosetGay?
177*** Or maybe he was just plain infertile. Aside from natural sterility, any number of mishaps - combat injuries, radiation exposure, too-warm groin protection in his armor - could render him incapable of having a child by conventional means, which would make both raising Boba ''and'' seeing millions of copies of himself marching around in storm trooper armor an up to eleven case of CompensatingForSomething.
178*** There's no law of physics that says that people have to "settle down" when they have kids. Sure, if you want your kid to be emotionally healthy it's important to spend a lot of time with them and show them that you love them and that you're available to help them whenever they need you...but Jango isn't interested in emotional health. He's interested in raising a stone-cold badass. From his perspective, it's totally normal to continue his life as a bounty hunter while Boba is growing up. He figures that this will teach the kid to be ''tough''. He's leading by example. In his mind "settling down" would be a weak and cowardly thing to do, which would teach Boba to be weak and cowardly also. This is a horrible parenting style in real life, but nobody ever said that Jango was a good parent, so it fits the established facts.
179[[/folder]]
180
181[[folder: Kaminoan Currency]]
182
183* What did the Kaminoans get in exchange for them creating the clone army? Sifo-Dyas couldn't pay them because Jedi don't really have any money.
184** According to the [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kaminoan wiki]] they got a seat on the Galactic Senate that they didn't previously have. That would greatly improve negotiations they could have with neighboring worlds, protect them from war (since neutral states can be fair game), and now have a say in the biggest political body in the galaxy. How they could afford to make the clones in secret for a decade is another matter...
185*** How could they have a seat in the Senate if the very existence of their system was erased from the Jedi Archive and supposed to be a secret? “The chair recognizes the long-necked Senator from a system that doesn’t exist…”
186*** Since the army was actually ordered by Dooku who assumed Sifo-Dyas' identity after killing him, I'm thinking the Republic rewarded the Kaminoans with representation after the clone army was discovered and war had been declared. Maybe the project had only been partially paid for up to that point, so the Republic made the Senate seat part of the deal to keep the supply of troops.
187** Dooku's wealth assisted in funding the CIS remember? There's likely enough left over to help fund the Clone Army.
188** The Muun who ran the Banking Clan undoubtedly had access to all kinds of currency; Republic and non-Republic. Dooku may have had some business connections with them. Also, Darth Plagueis was a Muun businessman himself. Canon says he may have been alive as late as 32 BBY when the order was placed. He definitely had connections with his own people, and they would have had no problem financing the project in whatever currency the Kaminoans liked.
189
190[[/folder]]
191
192[[folder: Lack of Darth Maul investigation]]
193* Why didn't the Jedi Council investigate Darth Maul beyond the level of 'not at all?' Here is a Sith Lord working in tandem with the Trade Federation to advance an unknown agenda. It’s impossible to believe that Nute Gunray and his circle of advisors wouldn't have cracked if questioned by Jedi Masters. Why didn't the Council know ten years later that a Sith Lord had manipulated the entire Naboo crisis? Why didn't they obtain Gunray's computer records? Why wouldn't they have obtained records of Sidious and Gunray in holoconference?
194** It was implied that Nute Gunray didn't even know who Sidious was or why he's helping them. All he knows is that Sidious would provide them profits and rewards if they do whatever he says. And Sidious, as Chancellor Palpatine as well as the Senator of Naboo, would have ensure that any evidences tracing to him would have been wiped out entirely. After all, who says that the holoconferences were even recorded in the first place. And then there's the fact that Sidious's reasons for the Naboo's crisis is unclear without incorporating Senator Palpatine's rise to power. For all the Jedi know, Sidious wants to either conquer Naboo for himself or just cause chaos ForTheEvulz.
195*** That does not answer the original question. At the time, the Jedi Council was not even sure whether Maul had been the Sith Lord or the apprentice! Gunray ''could'' have at least answered ''that'' question, as he ''knew'' that Maul was Sidious' apprentice. Plus, this would have revealed his Sith name and at least some information about what his activities and personality were. It would have also revealed that Sidious apparently had some influence in the Senate, which would have provided a clue as to his identity. Sidious frequently stated to Gunray that he would make sure that the invasion of Naboo was not interfered with by the Senate, and he apparently was capable of making good on his assurances. Movie canon Sith are not capable of long-range MassHypnosis (unlike their EU versions). That would reduce the possible number of candidates for who Sidious might be from the entire human and near-human population of the galaxy to just the membership of the Senate and their highest-ranking aides.
196*** Perhaps the Jedi learned all those facts but it still didn't change the plot of this movie. Maul was an apprentice. His master is named "Sidious". Sidious's personality is "cryptic and evil". Sidious has some influence over the Senate. None of this information would lead the Jedi to do anything in particular. The list of suspects would not be narrowed down to actual senators and their highest-ranking aides, because Sidious could easily be pulling a ManBehindTheMan routine where he influences people who influence people who influence people. Also, you forget that Padme pushed for quick intervention and ''Valorum'' pushed against the idea. It was Palaptine who told Padme to get rid of Valorum so they could intervene quicker. All of this makes Palpatine look ''less'' suspicious, because he's apparently opposing Sidious! Sidious says "I will prevent the Senate from interfering with your invasion of Naboo" and Palpatine says "We've got to do everything we can to free Naboo!" From the Jedi's perspective, it looks like Sidious had ''Valorum'' in his pocket and told him to slow-walk the intervention, but this evil scheme ''failed'' when the noble Palpatine forced Valorum out of office! Nearly all the evidence the Jedi have points them in the wrong direction, so it's no wonder that they're still confused by the time ATOC happens.
197** Many of Gunray's aides who were "in the know" were likely killed when Anakin blew up the Federation ship. Beyond that, perhaps the Jedi simply weren't allowed to interrogate him (they are peacekeepers, but that doesn't mean they are police) and even if they are, either he or Sidious and / or their lawyers could have stepped in to stop that. Ultimately it is likely that Sidious got to him first and made sure Gunray and everyone else knew they should much more afraid of ''him'' than they are of any Jedi. All Gunray had to do was keep quiet and all his legal team had to do was make sure the Jedi were kept as far away from him as possible (with the secret and unknown help of the Supreme Chancellor / Dark Lord of the Sith). Gunray had four trials and still not only escaped justice, but kept his old job; it is likely that after the first one (and possibly even before that) some judge gave him permission to go back to his homeworld while most of the legal proceedings played out- the sort of thing that happens with sufficiently wealthy, powerful and well-connected corrupt corporate suspects all the time.
198*** After Palpatine became chancellor, he could have easily used his influence to ensure the prosecutors and judges in the Nute Gunray trials did not press him too hard, and in turn, expose any compromising information about the Sith. As a side point, Nute Gunray was still useful to Palpatine's ultimate plan at this point. Thus, Palpatine conveniently saw to it that Gunray was cleared of all material charges related to the Naboo invasion.
199** It's shown in the next movie that the Jedi knew the Sith Lord they were after was named Darth Sidious and they had been looking for him constantly. There was probably nothing on Maul's person or belongings that would have helped trace him back to Sidious or to Palpatine (they just knew he was obviously a Sith and deduced there must be another one out there). The Neimoidians probably were questioned after being arrested on Naboo, but they could have honestly told the Jedi that they don't know who Sidious is or where he is, just his name. They never met him in person, just communicated with him via hologram. So all the Jedi had to go on was that there was a Sith Lord somewhere and that he had an undue amount of influence over the Chancellor. That he could have actually ''been'' the Chancellor himself was beyond imagining for them.
200*** Remember, though, that Dooku explicitly revealed to Obi-Wan the existence of Darth Sidious who was secretly controlling the Senate. The Jedi already knew there was a Sith lord at large somewhere in the wake of Episode I's events, but they might not have known about the name or the extent of his power until they regrouped after Geonosis. By then, Palpatine already had those emergency powers, and in turn, the momentum needed to stay in power--and keep his secret intact--until he could weaken the Jedi sufficiently in order to annihilate them.
201
202[[/folder]]
203
204[[folder: Mind control as a means of law enforcement]]
205* So when Obi-Wan and Anakin are looking for the assassin subcontracted by Jango Fett, some guy in a bar offers Obi-Wan a drug with the improbable name of "death stick." Obi-Wan mind tricks him into going home and rethinking his life. Why don't the Jedi use this...like always? Wouldn't this eliminate 99.9% of crime in the galaxy if you could just wave your hand and give criminals a crisis of conscience and a chance to rethink their lives?
206** You're expecting an order of a few hundred, maybe a couple thousand, to personally mind trick every single criminal in a galaxy with billions and billions of people in it? And you don't even know that it worked. For all you know, death stick guy went home, thought about it, and decided he was totally okay with selling death sticks after all.
207** 32 years BBY, there were 10,000 Masters and Knights, so let's not underestimate the size of the order. But beside that, before the Clone Wars broke out, what else did the Jedi have to do on a day to day basis? Yeah, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan went to negotiate a trade dispute on Naboo, but that was like 10 years ago. And if the mind trick wasn't an effective way to get death stick guy to stop being a drug dealer, why did Obi-Wan bother instead of just saying, "you want to go away and stop bothering me."
208** That trade dispute had a threat of war behind it. As the Legends EU showed, the Jedi had plenty to do across the galaxy. Someone's always about to declare war on somebody else, and that's much more pressing that wandering around the streets of a whole city-planet trying to mind trick everybody. Also, Obi-Wan didn't know if it would have any effect, but figured it was worth trying while he was here. He can't see into the future.
209*** Visions of the future and SpiderSense are specifically in the Jedi power suite.
210*** "Visions of the future" that are vague feelings about things important to them personally, and SpiderSense for other force users.
211*** More like, Visions of the Future require intense meditation and concentration, and SpiderSense is specifically limited to "someone's about to try and kill me."
212** Okay, 10,000 versus billions upon billions of people. You'd ''still'' need every single one of them spending all their time canvassing every single world to even come close to finding and mind tricking a fraction of the criminals and potential criminals in the galaxy. At some point the criminals would see this happening and fight the Jedi, and you don't think them proactively mind tricking everyone would get local and planetary governments to step in and stop them?
213*** So it's a big logistical problem. I'm still trying to figure out why the Jedi aren't doing this and reducing crime in the galaxy by huge amounts.
214** Because it wouldn't work for all the reasons we just stated above, and they have other, more important things to do. Remember, folks: Just because it's on a Cracked list doesn't mean it'd actually work.
215** For what it's worth, the Legends EU says the drug dealer (Elan Sel'Sabagno) lapsed between trying to stave off drugs and continuing to sell them. The films have also demonstrated that Jedi mind tricks do not work on everyone, even entire species. (And it's called a "death stick" because it siphons off lifespan.)
216** Folks, Obi-Wan was just trying to tell Elan the Death Stick Guy to leave him alone as he was kinda on an important mission. Why he didn't just say, "You don't want to bother me again"? I figured that as a Jedi, he would want the people's best interests at the forefront of his thinking. Telling a man who ''clearly'' got into some bad habits to rethink his life would be more helpful than a mere "get lost, ya druggie!" At least from the Jedi standpoint. As to why they don't do this to everyone? The Jedi are powerful, but they're not gods and they certainly can't be everywhere at once. Besides, free will and all that stuff; the Jedi probably don't want to make a habit of routinely mind tricking people to be good even if they wanted it to be that way ('cause forcing people to submit is kind of a Sith thing...) Besides, as for our dear friend, according to Wookipedia, he flipped back and forth between his bad habits and going clean ''three years'' after his encounter with Obi-Wan. So even if the Jedi ''did'' try to use the mind trick on everyone, there's no guarantee that it would work at all.
217** He could also have just thrown in the "rethink your life" part on the off chance that it might work, with the main goal being to get the guy to leave him alone.
218** Plus, pay attention to Obi-Wan's wording. "You want to go home and rethink your life." Not "You want to stop doing and selling drugs and become a charity worker," not "You want to turn yourself in to the police," not "You want to flip on the other criminals you're working with." As respectful of free will and personal choice as a mind trick can be, leaving Elan's fate ultimately in his own hands: if he does decide he wants to do something more with his life, that's his decision. If he ultimately decides what he's best at is being a two-bit drug dealer, than that's his decision, too.
219** I always just assumed that the guy was ''highly'' suggestible at the time, because he himself was already high on death sticks. So the command to "rethink your life" would only last till he came down from the high, at which point his normal personality would return. So the Jedi ''can't'' cause criminals to reform at a whim. The mind tricks only have a short-term effect.
220** The Jedi have bigger priorities than stopping every petty criminal in the galaxy; that's what the police are for. The Jedi go on important diplomatic missions and try to stop major conflicts. UN peacekeepers aren't responsible for arresting small-time drug dealers either. Since the Jedi are relatively small in number and can't be everywhere at once, they focus on the most important tasks where they can do the most good. If they come across a crime while on a mission and have the opportunity to prevent it, they will do so, but it's not what they focus on.
221** Also, do remember that Obi-Wan has a rather dry sense of humor.
222** Another point worth mentioning is that many people who knew about the Jedi saw them as a weird religion. Criminal gangs who made their living peddling dope around the galaxy would have quickly caught on to the Jedi suddenly becoming a morality police agency, and they would have targeted them even more. As the other commenters point out, the Jedi had limited manpower and resources, and spending a lot of energy on dope fiends wasn't the most effective use of their time.
223[[/folder]]
224
225[[folder: Running Both Sides of the Clone Wars]]
226* RunningBothSides can be advantageous but was Palpatine's strategy to give the Republic the overall dominance in the war effort? The Separatists seem meaningless to his long-term game (since they're casually murdered as disposable liabilities once he consolidates his Imperial power), only there to act as the catalyst to encourage the Senate to turn over its power to him. But what if they were actually able to strike a decisive advantage against the Republic? Even if Darth Sidious and Dooku were the ones calling the shots, they would have to engineer the war effort to hide their true intention (i.e. actually take advantages when they present themselves and wound the Republic) and if the Separatists exploited a weak spot in the Republic that helped push them to win the war and capture Coruscant, Palpatine would be squeezed because there's no way he would be able to convince them as sitting Supreme Chancellor he should be spared once they occupied the capital (and Dooku would have to play along lest he also be tried for treason by the Separatists).
227** What was his strategy? It's very simple: Call up the Separatist leaders and ''command them to lose''. He's in charge of both armies (via proxies). He can just ''tell'' them what to do.
228** Sidious is kept abreast of all major Separatist strategies (when he isn't directing them) and likely feeding them information. The danger of them actually being able to strike a major blow against the Republic and put Palpatine at risk without his knowledge would be minimal, and remember that the leader of the Separatists is his own apprentice. The scenario described above is only really plausible if Dooku either isn't doing his job (eg. Grievous or the other leaders make important decisions behind his back or outright overthrow him) or if Dooku flat-out betrays Sidious, which in either case means he has bigger problems than worrying where Palpatine will fit in a post-Separatist victory. In any case, it's unlikely the non-Dooku Separatists will want to ''kill'' the Chancellor so much as take him prisoner, but the most logical course of action for him to take would be for Palpatine to fake his death followed by Sidious taking a more direct role in the Confederacy, which would only happen if a Confederate victory became not only more plausible but also more ''desirable''- again, Palpatine controls both sides, which means he has a monopoly on important strategic information, which means he is basically playing a chess match against himself and can pick and choose not just who wins what battle but also which battles are fought in the first place. Basically, as long as he plans carefully enough and doesn't tip his hand (and more than likely, the Republic might just be the more powerful of the two factions to begin with), it shouldn't be ''that'' hard to con each side. Not to mention, Separatist leaders like Nute Gunray are morons.
229** As detailed in ''Revenge of the Sith'', it's because the Clone Wars are a gigantic Jedi trap. The wartime takes a toll on the Jedi, simultaneously killing them and wearing down their principles, priming them for both public denouncement and being executed during Order 66.
230
231[[/folder]]
232
233[[folder: The Jedi Not Knowing About Anakin's Mother and the Sand People]]
234* This has more sweeping implications (like "why isn't Padme's relationship to Anakin known to the Jedi Council") but to nail it down, how come the Jedi Council overlooked Anakin's vengeful slaughter of the Tusken Raiders? Maybe he did a damn good job of it but it still seems hard to imagine that, as conflicted and grief-stricken as he was about everything surrounding it, he would be able to suppress his emotions enough to go undetected when he was brought before the Council for any sort of debrief (even Yoda felt it when he flew off the handle, although the dialogue there does leave open the ambiguity of what was actually sensed at that moment other than Anakin's sorrow). I would definitely think it might have come up when his knighthood ceremony was conducted (since, more than any other time, peering into his mind would not be unwarranted).
235** He probably never told them about the slaughter, and Padme wouldn't have, either. The Jedi aren't mind-readers -- they might sense emotion, but that would be easily explained by him finding his mother dead. When he was knighted, it was years later during the war, long after it would still be on his mind.
236
237[[/folder]]
238
239[[folder: C-3PO's appearance here]]
240* The presence of [=C3P0=] on the Lars's farm raises two questions:
241** 1) Did Anakin basically steal Threepio from Cliegg? Granted, the droid was Anakin's originally, but one would think it would necessitate some conversation between Anakin and Cliegg if the former wanted to take the droid with him. Particularly since we know from ANH that a translator is a pretty essential requirement to run a moisture farm.
242*** Threepio could be considered something of an inheritance to Anakin since his mother, who would be Threepio's actual owner since he left Tatooine ten years ago, or alternatively just going back to his proper owner. Cliegg likely wouldn't have been too bent up over it in any case since Anakin ''was'' family, now.
243*** In the novelization, this is indeed the case; Owen returns Threepio to Anakin, believing that it's what Shmi would have wanted.
244** 2) And this is the big one; ''how in the hell does Owen not remember Threepio''? It's never stated how long Shmi lived on the Lars homestead, but it must have been at least a few years, given that it was long enough for her and Clegg to fall in love and get married. So presumably Threepio would have been hanging around for several years of Owen's childhood. Given that, how is it that when he buys Threepio from the Jawas twenty years later, he doesn't even give the slightest blink of recognition when Threepio introduces himself? Did Owen get mind wiped too?
245*** The last time Owen saw Threepio, he didn't have his gold finish. If ''The Clone Wars'' is any indication, most people in the galaxy don't see droids as individuals and consider most of them replaceable. There's also only so many combinations of letters and numbers that could be used for droid designations in a galaxy of quintillions, so it'd be reasonable to assume that if Owen ''did'' recognize Threepio's designation, he might assume that it was just another protocol droid with the same designation.
246*** The fact that 3PO did not recognize ''Owen'' might be another indicator to Owen that this is not the same droid (that he last saw two decades ago). Even if he considers that 3PO might have just had his memory erased... what of it? How can he prove that? It's not like 3PO can confirm this if he asks (after all- memory wipe) and he's clearly different from how Owen remembers him superficially. Most likely though he just didn't think of it- he didn't even seem to be listening to 3PO when he told him his name; he cared more about what 3PO was capable of and what kind of work he could do.
247*** This is indeed what the junior novelization claims; he thinks 3PO is vaguely familiar, but doesn't really care.
248*** For that matter, considering that periodic memory-wipes are standard practice for most droids' owners, there's probably an equally-standard social custom for how to deal with "meeting" a droid that doesn't recognize you from before. Namely, humor its ignorance and treat it like you've never seen it before, either, to avoid rousing a curiosity about its own past that would only distract it from its ''current'' duties.
249*** And even if Owen ''did'' recognize Threepio, he'd have ''no'' reason to say anything, and ''every'' reason not to. He doesn't want Luke to know anything about who Anakin Skywalker really was, who Darth Vader really is, or anything that might give Luke cause to go off with "Old Obi-Wan on some damn fool idealistic crusade" and get killed/turned to the Dark Side. In fact, when Owen tells Luke to take the droids into Anchorhead and have their memories erased, it may have been not just because they'd suddenly mentioned Obi-Wan Kenobi to Luke. . . it may have been because Owen was starting to get suspicious about this protocol droid and his blue-hued astromech counterpart suddenly turning up on his doorstep, stirring up things better left (in Owen's mind) forgotten.
250
251[[/folder]]
252
253[[folder: Accepting the Clone Army like it's nothing]]
254* Why do the Jedi just accept their new and unexplained role as generals in the new clone army? Warfare would logically be anathema to the Jedi, as their Code stresses peaceful resolution and defense. A war would be a terrible thing for the Jedi Order to get involved in, because the emotions that the Jedi are supposed to guard against (fear, aggression, anger, hate, etc.) are all around them, constantly. It would also mean that each Jedi would be tempted to resort to the dark side much more than they would normally, to both save their own lives and protect their comrades. On the more practical side, the Jedi themselves are more of a SpacePolice, and have no knowledge of or training in strategy and tactics: Mace Windu at the start of the movie mentions that they're keepers of the peace, not soldiers. You could make a case for Yoda I guess (he's 900, who knows what he's done in his life?) but for the rest, they'd more likely be used as elite shock troops, not as leaders.
255** Because the Sith are on the leadership of the other side of the war.
256** Plus, consider how the general public's opinion of the Jedi would go if these supposed grand warriors who can move things with their minds and swing a lightsaber opted to sit on their butts while the Republic faced its first all out civil war in 1,000 years.
257** The Jedi Order is pledged as protectorates of the Republic Senate. This comes up during ''Revenge of the Sith'' when Anakin starts to grow close to Palpatine. When the Jedi Order becomes suspicious of Palpatine's intentions, Obi-Wan reminds Anakin that they are at the behest of the Senate, not the Chancellor. So if the Senate declares open war, the Jedi are duty-bound to do as they are requested by the Senate, in this case lead the clone army.
258** The [=OPs=] statement is ''exactly what Palpatine wanted to happen.'' He wanted the Jedi at the forefront of the war, where they would be killed in battle/fall to the dark side, or even just lose critical engagements to sour public opinion of them, and isolate them from fellow Jedi making it easier for them to be swept up when Order 66 was issued. The entire Clone Wars was nothing more or less than Palpatine's "Final Solution" for "The Jedi Problem." And the Jedi went along with it because they ''had'' to. They are guardians of the peace, and that peace is threatened by the Separatists declaring war on the Republic, so they ''have'' to go out and fight to protect the lives of the innocent civilians who will inevitably be caught in the crossfire, to say nothing of trying to actually preserve the Republic. To say nothing of the fact that, after Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Yoda confront Dooku, they know the Confederacy is being manipulated by the Sith, and the only way for them to learn more is to fight back against them (and, being led by the Sith, the Confederacy represents the Dark Side, and fighting the Dark Side is pretty much the Jedi's ''raison d'etre''). If the Jedi sit out the war, they let death and suffering propagate without doing anything to stop it, and let the Sith act unchecked. If they fight in the war, they risk their own lives and falling to the Dark Side themselves. Once again, Palpatine manoeuvred the entire Jedi Order into a no-win situation.
259[[/folder]]
260
261[[folder: Jar Jar speaking to the Senate]]
262* Jar Jar's language during the "emergency powers" speech is slightly confusing. Granted, we do not hear the full speech, but the part of the speech we do hear starts out with this: "Itsa clear desa Separatists made a pact… weesa deesa Federation du Trade." In English, I think this translates to "It's clear that these Separatists made a pact, we the Federation will do trade", which doesn't make a lick of sense, because it seems like Jar Jar claims that he is part of the Trade Federation. Also, didn't the movie say that Palpatine needed emergency powers to control the Clone Army, not regulate the Trade Federation (unless I missed something and the movie said the Trade Federation created the Clone Army). What does this have to do with giving Palpatine emergency powers? Another theory I had is that George Lucas didn't care what Jar Jar said before he announced that he was giving emergency powers to Palpatine, so they just had him talk nonsense before the most important point of the speech.
263** He's saying, "It's clear the Separatists made a pact with the Trade Federation."
264** Was it a pact to make the clones, kill Padme, or to make that Death Star that we saw in that blueprint for 30 seconds? Unless I wasn't paying attention to the dialogue, I might have missed that detail. I thought the order was for the Senate to authorize the clones, and the confusing dialogue made me believe that the Separatists did not make the clones.
265** Nothing that specific. He's just talking in general terms about them seceding from the Republic.
266** But why would Palpatine think that bringing out the Clone Army would stop the Separatists from seceding? That makes no sense, unless Jar Jar was talking off topic at the beginning to grab everyone's attention before the announcement.
267** The Separatists are building their own droid army to facilitate the secession and possibly attack the Republic. The Clone Army is to fight against that and bring the Separatists back into line.
268** We also don't hear Jar Jar's entire speech so he might have said more about the Separatists' plans.
269** "The Separatists have made a pact with the Trade Federation," is basically the point he was making with that phrase. Padme herself earlier says that, if it comes to war, the Separatists will likely turn to the trade federations and commerce guilds for help (since, apparently, they all have standing droid armies or some such). So Jar-Jar is pointing out that this has, in fact, happened, and now the Separatists, dismissed as "political idealists," have the capability to employ military force against the Republic, which has no military at all. Thus, the Senate needs to give Palpatine Emergency Powers so he can raise an army ''right now'' to keep the Separatists from curb-stomping the Republic.
270** Word for word, the phrase "Itsa clear desa Separatists made a pact… weesa deesa Federation du Trade" is meant to be understood as "It's clear these Separatists made a pact...with this Federation of Trade". In turn, "this Federation of Trade" is meant to be understood as "the Trade Federation".
271*** Exactly. Jar Jar's way of saying "Federation du Trade" may be a reference to a Latin based language like French.
272[[/folder]]
273
274[[folder: Count Dooku's Lightsaber]]
275* This isn't a plot hole question but what purpose does Count Dooku's lightsaber being curved serve in combat?
276** Well, in the old Legends lore, it allowed for an advanced user (Dooku being considered either the best duelist or one of them) to be able to pull tricks that would be difficult for a less experienced fighter to account for or pull off (somewhat minor tricks, but when you're in a duel to the death, a minor advantage can quickly spiral into an overwhelming one if you're one of the top duelists in the galaxy). Another possibility is ergonomics. Dooku might simply find the handle more comfortable as a personal preference. He's incredibly rich due to being a noble and lightsabers are already personally built, so it's not like he can't make a new one.
277** Real life fencing foils and the like frequently have "pistol" grips instead of straight handles, or a curved handle, to facilitate the kind of wrist movements the style is designed for. Dooku's chosen Lightsaber Form is closer to traditional fencing (since Christopher Lee himself is an accomplished stage fencer), so the design is made to reinforce that connection.
278[[/folder]]
279
280[[folder: R2 In Trouble]]
281* "I wonder what happened to poor little R2. He's always getting himself into trouble." Why would C-3PO say such a thing when he ''barely'' knows R2 at all, and has not once seen R2 get himself into trouble?
282** Threepio has probably heard about Artoo's experiences on Naboo, which include him repairing a shield generator while turbolaser batteries blew apart the astromech droids aboard Queen Amidala ' starship, or flying into the hanger of a Trade Federation warship and blowing it up from the inside. "Trouble" for Threepio could pretty much describe any adventures involving the possibility of being harmed. In any case, it is entirely in character for C-3PO to engage in idle hyperbole when he's chattering. He's not saying that he has literally seen Artoo getting into trouble, he's saying he's worried about Artoo.
283** They've met before, in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace''. Presumably R2 recounted his adventures to him then. He also may have filled him in on what he's been up to during the trip to Geonosis.
284* At least prior to the Blu-Ray editions, there's a scene right after Dooku's escape where Padme runs up to a crippled Anakin and the two kiss. Yoda, some clones and even Obi-Wan are watching. The only way to cover this bad writing up would be to say that Anakin uses the Force to temporarily blind everyone and/or give them amnesia. "Blind we are", Yoda says about the Jedi, maybe he's more right than he realizes?
285** Looking at the scene, she doesn't kiss him, just hugs him. Given that he had just got his arm cut off, it appeared just to be a sign of comfort, at least as far as the onlookers are concerned.
286[[/folder]]
287
288[[folder: Pre-Clone Defenses]]
289* ''Hoe'' does the Republic protects its own territories prior the deployment of the Clone Army? Why does the Republic, which consisted of countless star systems throughout the galaxy, has no grand army to defend itself at all? Just look at what happened in The Phantom Menace: the Trade Federation, a fairly minor faction, was able to form a blockade around Naboo and the best the Republic could do was sending two Jedi to solve the whole crisis. Flash forward to the Clone Wars, and even the mighty Clone Army struggles to beat the Separatists for years. If the Clone Army was never created, the Republic would be so screwed when thousands of planets declare war on it without any form of major military force to defend itself. Sure, Palpatine was manipulating them, but what about ''before'' that, when Valorum was still the Chancellor? Considering if the Old Republic is still canon, what happened to ''that'' army in those days? The Old Republic Army with soldiers who could take the fight to Force-sensitives on their own terms?
290** I gathered that the Galaxy had pretty much been in peace for a long time. It's hard to justify keeping a grand army around when there isn't a war, unless you're a dictatorship intending to intimidate the people, The Republic probably kept it's military budget low while it devoted its spending to galactic infrastructure or something like that. Whatever problems the galaxy had were often ones that could be solved by a couple of monks with magical powers. Ironically, this attitude probably fanned the flames of the Separatist movement; if the Republic was ill-equipped to defend a world from a major attack. why should they pay hefty taxes and follow legislation drafted by corrupt politicians light-years away when they would be just as well off on their own?
291** There are planetary defense forces. Even Naboo has a volunteer army and air force. Given there hasn't been an interstellar war since the formation of the Republic, presumably they are enough to keep the peace at a local level without the need for a Galactic military.
292** I gather that the Republic under Valorum was more of a decentralized alliance between planets. So as others point out, each planet was responsible for its own security, but they could bring charges against aggressors in the Senate when their rights were violated. Chancellor Valorum was a kind of ceremonial president, and as Palpatine said before Valorum's government collapsed, the bureaucrats held the real power. Valorum had to consult with them before making decisions, at least public ones. In contrast, Palpatine's government transformed the Republic over time to be more centralized with teeth. After he got the emergency powers, there was almost no stopping him from achieving absolute political authority (save for a few contingency protocols like Order 65).
293[[/folder]]
294
295[[folder: Lack of Force in the Arena]]
296* Anyone tell me why the Jedi simply did not just use the force? There were apparently thousands of them on one side of the arena, while the droids attacked from the other side. It seems much easier to get the Jedi lined up, and to use the force, perhaps force push. That way no Jedi would die, the droids would all be force pushed into the wall behind, and would therefore block the entrances where they entered. The sheer power of thousands of Jedi using the force would crush the droids, and even the other Jedi could move out and hack the droids to pieces. It just seemed to me that the Jedi took the route of defeating the droids so that as many Jedi as possible would end up in body bags. Mace Windu was seen in the clone wars cartoon to take out a droid army by himself. Why didn't the Jedi just do that?
297** First of all, the cartoon exaggerates things. A lot. As powerful as the Jedi are, I have a hard time imagining them capable of taking out an army of that size alone. Secondly, use of the Force requires concentration. If you're right in the heat of battle, why waste time trying to concentrate on a Force push with enemies on all sides, when a lightsaber can take them out just as easily and protect you from laser fire? Finally, at this time in the Star Wars universe, there hadn't been any major enemies for the Jedi to fight en massé for quite some time. They were simply out of practice.
298** "Thousands?" Are we watching the same movie here, because there were less than a hundred of them in that battle. Also, the droids were coming from every direction in the arena, as were the Jedi, and it very quickly devolved into an unstructured melee.
299*** Actually, it was 200, give or take a dozen or so.
300** Not all Jedi are created equal. Some are the most gifted at combat skills with a lightsaber. Others have stronger abilities with the Force itself. (Some Jedi don't have any combat abilities, at all.) Anyway, the point is that a giant force push wouldn't have been as feasible as it sounds. A group of just Jedi consulars might be able to do something like that, but they would have to work in precise unison. Also, because the Jedi needed to assemble a task force very quickly, they had to use whomever was on hand. The ones who went probably weren't scrutinized very carefully and shortlisted according to specific abilities.
301[[/folder]]
302
303[[folder: Kenobi's detective skills]]
304* Why is Obi-Wan such a shitty detective? Shouldn't Jedi have a better understanding of "motives"? In "Attack of the Clones" he states that there seems to be no motive for the Kaminoans to kill Padme. Well, they were offered a shit load of money to create an army for the Republic. And she was speaking out against the creation of such an army. If she managed to convince everyone then the Kaminoans would just have to kiss all that money goodbye. Not to mention all that they already spent creating all those clones. Seems like a perfect motive for murder to me.
305** I would imagine that most Jedi would have absolutely crap detective skills considering they're raised as monks.
306*** So, what, they enforce peace and justice throughout the galaxy handing out traffic tickets?
307*** That and stabbing people.
308** Hadn't they already been paid for the army?
309*** Yes, but if there's one thing a defense contractor loves more than getting paid huge sums of money to build something, it's getting paid huge sums of money to build even more of it after they've already worked the bugs out of production.
310** "No motive" could have been shorthand for Obi-Wan saying that he sensed no motive there... reasonably enough, as the Kaminoans are being entirely open with him. After arriving, he almost instantly fixes on the one person on the planet who's hiding something and is worth interrogating. Jedi aren't necessarily trained in detective work because they can achieve similar results through pure instinct, with their weak area being cases where everybody's guilty - such as politics.
311** Getting back to the main point, it wasn't actually the Kaminoans who placed the bounty, it was Dooku (in order to get the Trade Federation into the CIS), Kamino was just where Fett happened to be staying.
312*** This. Also, it was common knowledge that Nute Gunray hated Padme after she thwarted his invasion, but the Jedi and the Senate needed hard evidence about why she was a target and exactly who was behind the attempt. I would counter the original question by saying that Obi-Wan was actually quite resourceful; he found a salty old guy at a diner who knew more about obscure planets than the head librarian of the Jedi Archives. When Jocasta Nu was no help, he didn't give up the hunch and think "oh well, Dex must have made that one up." Eventually, he went down a pretty deep rabbit hole and uncovered a secret clone army modeled on the bounty hunter who was after Padme, the bounty hunter himself, the droid army the Geonosians were building for the Separatists, and talk of a Sith lord named Darth Sidious--possibly the one they'd been searching for since the fateful Naboo invasion--secretly controlling the entire Republic. The Jedi had no time to interpret all this information before Palpatine got the emergency powers and war was underway, but the fact remains; Obi-Wan was an excellent detective who worked his leads.
313** Plus, the Kaminoans don't really seem to even know what's going on with the Senate, or the Jedi. As far as they know the Republic is all set to get its new army and everyone's happy.
314[[/folder]]
315
316[[folder:What kind of a name is "Death Sticks" for a narcotic?]]
317* Death sticks? Seriously, ''death sticks?'' Was the [I'm assuming it's a Hutt, they run organized crime] Hutt who named that particular illegal substance on some really, really bad spice or something? I mean, public relations and marketing, man...
318** Slang.
319*** Yeah, but that doesn't sound like a "street name", like crack, pixie dust, blow, Mary Jane, LSD... all of which make the drug either no worse or sound better. It sounds like it'd, kinda, you know, push away potential customers.
320*** ''Crack'' sounds like something you want to try? Absurd names are common everywhere.
321*** And, of course ‘’cancer sticks’’ ‘’coffin nails’’ ‘’popskull’’ and even ‘’dope’’. All of these are real names, and none of them sound appealing.
322*** “Cancer sticks” aren’t usually called that by those who are trying to sell them.
323*** Maybe this guy is just a terrible salesman. Maybe most people call them by a more appealing name but he calls them "death sticks" because he thinks it sounds cool.
324*** He was probably a doper himself, and if death sticks cause cognitive decline, it follows that he was terrible at pushing them.
325[[/folder]]
326
327[[folder:Reason for the Separatist war]]
328* Why exactly is there even a war between the Separatists and the Republic in the prequel saga? Does this civilized, benevolent (though sclerotic) Republic really have no concept of something as basic as self-determination? There are very few advanced democracies in our world that would forcibly integrate secessionist provinces in the modern era. Quebec is a good example, the people had a referendum and decided that they would remain a part of Canada, the Canadians didn't just occupy the place when the Quebecois started talking about wanting to leave. What moral justification does the Republic have for forcibly re-integrating these planets? (And PLEASE don't bring up the American Civil War, as that was 100 years ago, there was a moral issue, and America was not a democracy as we would define it today.)
329** The Republic didn't declare war until Obi-Wan reported back that he'd overheard Dooku's conference, where he specifically stated that they were going to use the droid army to attack the Republic. In other words, it was self defense.
330** In addition the Republic was perfectly willing to allow some planets to secede peacefully (although they did everything in their power to prevent it, including sending Jedi to each hotspot) until it became clear that the seceding planets were going to attack the Republic. See The Approaching Storm where Obi-Wan and another Jedi (along with their padawans) are dispatched to try and prevent a planet from leaving the Republic through peaceful means, and it's mentioned that if the planet votes to leave the Republic will let it.
331** Did you even watch the movies? The separatists are the ones that started the war. In TPM, it was the Trade Federation that held the blockade on Naboo. In AOTC, the Geonosians were putting Jedi in gladiatorial arenas to be killed, and they're only crime was just visiting the planet. If the separatists were civilized about what they did, then perhaps the Republic would've listened to them and resolved it peacefully. However, the CIS's first order of business was to kill two Jedi and a senator.
332*** Obi-Wan and Anakin were sneaking around inside secret government facilities, that could hardly be considered 'just visiting'. About the best you can say for the Republic is that they were reacting in self-defense (sort of), but it does look an awful lot like the start of the Six-Day-War.
333*** And that justifies the Geonosians sentenceing them to a cruel execution by bloodthirsty monsters?
334*** Actually, their crime was killing those Geonosian workers.
335** Why shouldn't we bring up the American Civil War? It seems extremely applicable to me. The American Civil War officially began when Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter, forcing the Union to strike back against them. Similarly, the Republic Civil War began when the Republic found out about a pending attack by the Separatists, not to mention the profoundly stupid action of attempting to ''assassinate'' two Jedi and a Republic Senator.
336** I think the biggest answer to this question is that Sidious is pulling the strings on both sides, ensuring that the Separatists do stupidly villainous things like try to assassinate said Jedi and Republic Senator, spin the Jedi response (to the Separatists) as unprovoked and disproportionate, all to stoke fear on both sides so that any kind of peaceful, civilized solution becomes impossible.
337[[/folder]]
338
339[[folder: Tyrannus Army]]
340* Jango claims that he was recruited by "a man called Tyrannus" to be the template for the Clone Army. Tyrannus is of course, Dooku's Sith name. So why, later on, when the clones are attacking Geonosis, does Dooku ask how the Republic assembled an army so quickly? That's what happens when you leave the army you commissioned ten years ago lying around Count.
341** Wasn't he just playing dumb? If anybody on either side of the war realized it was nothing more than a game to gain support for Palpatine to become ultimate ruler, then the Sith would be in big trouble.
342** Most likely Dooku didn't count on the Jedi discovering the secret army so fast. It's not like he left signs around the Temple saying, "GO HERE, GET ARMY!"
343*** Except that Dooku pretty much already knew they'd found it, what with Fett turning up, followed not long after by Obi-Wan.
344[[/folder]]
345
346[[folder: The flaws of the second attempt on Padme's life]]
347* Several questions involving the Padme assassination plot:
348** 1) Why did Padme sleep in a room with a huge window despite being targeted?
349*** It was a ploy on her part to draw out the killer. Anakin said so himself. She had two Jedi sensing everything that was happening in the room.
350*** And Obi-Wan went along with this insane idea despite being in charge of her security and opposed to the idea of assassin-hunting because...?
351*** He ''didn't'' go along with it. He stepped out to check on the building's security and by the time he got back, Padme and Anakin had already planned things out. He even states that it's too risky, but probably ultimately agreed reluctantly. Remember, both he and Anakin could sense what was happening in the room and we clearly see it pay off when they sense the insects.
352*** So a Master Jedi and a chief bodyguard allowed his apprentice and his defendee to plan out an obviously flawed defense strategy and didn't insist (if necessary, even enforced) that the things are done the right way because...? As for their keen senses, if Jango and Zam weren't such dumbheads and had armed the droid with a gun or explosives, their senses would've done squat.
353*** Padme wants to learn who her assassin is, so she makes herself the live bait?!? Have the decoys do that while she remains safe! That's what a smart person would do! That's what Corde died for! Seems pretty pointless for you to suddenly denounce this strategy NOW ''Padme!''
354*** Corde had just died along with apparently everyone else on the senatorial transport. This may have wiped out other decoys and left Padme at a shortage of them. It'll probably take some time before they can get round to hiring more, and to convince them that it'll be safe(r) what with the senator's life now in constant risk. And it takes a long time after that to establish a bond and trust between Padme and her decoys.
355** 2) Why wasn't anybody or anything patrolling the exterior of the building and why wasn't there any outer surveillance over the Senator's room?
356*** Again, probably part of Padme's plan. Patrolling guards would discourage the assassin from trying. She felt safe enough with two Jedi watching out for her.
357*** That's asking them to just shoot you. Plus, that's assuming that the bounty hunters are so incompetent they can't get past security.
358** 3) How could R2-D2 not see a droid cutting a hole in the window?
359*** R2-D2 was using laser grid sensor, not the camera thing. This allowed him to survey the entire room at once, with the drawback of missing small things, like poisonous bugs.
360*** And he didn't use both a sensor and ''and'' a camera because...?
361*** We don't know the camera would've been effective in that lighting; keep in mind that room is much darker than what we see on account of we're the audience.
362*** I doubt that a room with lighted by a huge bustling city through a semi-shaded top-to-floor window would've been especially dark, but regardless, were there no night-vision optics in that wretched universe? R2-D2 could lack those but we're talking about pre-planned security measures and they didn't care about efficient surveillance? And please, don't mention that "draw-out plan", it's not funny any more.
363*** It probably wouldn't make sense to blind R2, but the plan itself is just kinda part of the movie. Obi-Wan actually calls Anakin out on it. So...no, that isn't a joke. Anyway, as the thinking goes, why bother when you have that laser grid sensor? They weren't exactly counting on death by bug, and you can't honestly say you would've expected that in that situation.
364*** Why are there no droids outside?
365*** Who's to say there aren't?
366** 4) Why did Jango need an accomplice for? Neither he nor her were involved in the plan personally, so what's the point?
367*** If you're gonna break the law, it doesn't hurt to have someone else do it for you.
368*** "Breaking the law" on her part consisted of purchasing a droid, receiving a can of worms from Jango, putting it into the droid and programming it with a delivery mission. Which exactly part of this devious plan Jango couldn't carry out personally without risk of compromise? Since Jango'd already obtained the much more conspicuous venomous worms, I doubt he'd get into much trouble with a humble droid. He only had to add that magic "droid self-destructs" part into the plan and Jedi would've been left with no leads whatsoever.
369*** It seems he and Zam had some sort of partnership for years, via expanded universe. Why he needed Zam for this one is still a valid question.
370*** If he had risked doing it himself, he would have put his life in jeaporady (and actually likely gotten killed or arrested due to Jedi involvement in her bodyguard detail). He probably figured, given his central role in the conspiracy along with his love for Boba, it wasn't worth the usual bounty hunting risks.
371** 5) Why did they use such an impossibly convoluted and unreliable weapon as venomous centipedes? Why not equip the droid with a gun, a missile or poison gas? Hell, use a bigger droid and ram the window and then have the droid explode!
372*** A gun or a missile would have attracted attention. Even if Padme was killed, the Jedi would have been alerted and Jango would risk capture. Poison gas would have taken longer, they probably wanted to be as quick as possible.
373*** Attracted attention HOW? Droid comes, droid shoots (even if they don't have silenced weapons, it could use one of those wonderful darts), droid self-destructs. Done. Padme is dead, no evidence, no leads, Jedi are in shit. Viceroy is very happy.
374*** Maybe Nute Gunray and his associates specified a cruel and unusual death in their contract on her head, involving poison or specifically the centipedes themselves. For revenge, right?
375*** You know, if these bugs were injected into this room what makes anybody think that their first reaction is look for Padme? Are these sentient?
376*** From the official wiki, "Though omnivorous, kouhuns were predatory, detecting their prey by its body heat and then attacking it, often choosing between prey simply on the basis of which victim was closest". So they aren't sentient, but they would very much have that reaction, to hunt her down.
377*** Zam used the centipedes because that’s what she was ordered to do, and she’s not one to question orders. Jango ordered the use of the centipedes because ultimately the real goal wasn’t to kill Padmé, it was to lead Obi-Wan to Kamino. That’s also why he killed Zam with a weapon that could easily be tracked back to Kamino.
378** 6) How did they know where Padme's room was?
379*** She's a former queen and Republic senator, her home is probably a well known location.
380*** And Obi-Wan didn't think of relocating her because...?
381*** Obi-Wan was in charge of the security. Obi-Wan was not into hunting assassins. Obi-Wan should've turned thumb down on that drawing-out charade and relocate Padme to a safer chamber.
382*** The guards and Obi-Wan had no idea this was the case until Anakin was confronted about it at the last possible moment.
383** 7) Why didn't the droid self-destruct immediately upon completion of the task but instead returned back to the assassin?
384*** Droids are expensive. You don't want to destroy it unless you have to.
385*** They are hired assassins. They can just include the price of the droid in the bill. And Zam could at least program it to go to some other place she could collect it from after she made sure it wasn't followed (or accompanied by a hanging Jedi).
386*** Wasn't part of this whole argument "why didn't the droid record its progress so Jango could make sure it succeeded?" Pick one. It's perfectly feasible they didn't want to risk a remote feed of a stealth assassination.
387*** I pick self-destruction. There are other means to monitor the scene (Zam apparently watched over the landing pad since the bomb only exploded when "Padme" emerged from the ship). But destroying evidence and a possible lead is crucial. It just is.
388*** On this note, why didn't Zam just shoot Obi-Wan when he was hanging onto the droid?
389*** Again from the wiki, "Meanwhile, Wesell, seeing this, was forced to shoot her own droid down, knowing full well that if she tried to shoot Kenobi directly, the autopsy would find the bullet in his body and thus trace it back to her, and that the Jedi Knight's fall would seem less suspicious".
390** 8) Why did both Jedi leave Padme although the assassination attempt could've been a distraction?
391*** Obi-Wan acted on a reflex, probably trusting Anakin to stay behind. Anakin of course, acted without thinking.
392*** There was also the Nubian bodyguards.
393** 9) Why didn't Jango use the first assassination attempt as a distraction and finish the job?
394*** He had no way of knowing the first attempt was botched.
395*** And he didn't oversee the assassination attempt to confirm that it was successful because...?
396*** Because he didn't think he had to micro-manage when Zam was presumably one of the best?
397*** For a galaxy-class hitman that's just sloppy, Lord Voldemort-type sloppy. I could buy that if Zam made a hit personally, but she relied on a droid. Droids malfunction, they can be scrammed or EMP'd or whatever, they won't be able to skew from the program in unforeseen situations (like NOT return to the sender with a Jedi stowaway). Long story short, they require oversight, and anyway how difficult could it be to put a camera somewhere near the building to keep an eye on things?
398*** Two things here: one, Zam was overseeing the droid; if you argue Jango HAS to oversee her, you risk going into a "Turtles all the Way Down" argument. Two, who says it wasn't recorded?
399*** One, she didn't. In the novel she admits that she has no idea if the droid succeeded. Two, they are trying to kill a senator. Some redundancy and back-up plans are simply called for.
400*** Jango does oversee her, because when Anakin and Obi-Wan chased after Zam he had the chance to just storm the building Padme was in and kill all the guards Mando style, but instead he went out of his way to kill the person he hired.
401** 10) Why did Zam try to kill Obi-Wan instead of just leaving? She had a nice head start and they were obviously very dangerous.
402*** She had no way of knowing that Anakin was on the way. As far as she knew, Obi-Wan was as good as dead.
403*** But she just saw him trying to hitch a ride on her speeder.
404*** The question is ''why'' would she try to kill him. For all she knows he's just a bodyguard and bodyguards are replaceable. Why take the risk?
405*** The bodyguard who might follow her and expose her. Best to leave no witnesses.
406*** That doesn't matter because 1) Killing him would leave a whole bar full of witnesses and attract Anakin's attention. 2) Unlike Anakin, Obi-Wan never saw her face to face and was just sitting there at the counter swizzling. 3) The duo arrived to the bar about a minute after Zam. More then enough time to walk through the back door (such joints ought to have one), shape shift, maybe grab some rags to conceal herself, maybe tell Jango (who's nearby) to come and pick her up - ANYTHING would've been smarter then what she did.
407*** She's a shapeshifter. She can just hide her identity and slip away.
408** 11) After the Jedi took the assassin out of the joint why didn't Jango fire a missile at them or at least a gun, but instead used a unique dart that would allow tracking him back to a particular planet?
409*** Firing a dart that moves faster than the human eye can see is much better than firing a missile that moves much slower. Considering the people he's shooting at, firing a missile would likely be pointless. As for why not use a blaster, I guess he figured the poisonous dart was safer. People can survive getting shot with a laser, but the poison spreads through your body pretty fast.
410*** Jango killed a huge beast with a single shot from his handgun (admittedly, point-blank) and the assassin blasted a droid with her rifle. Even if Jango absolutely had to use a dart, why did it have to be a dart custom-made on the very planet he resided on?
411*** Firstly a shot from a Star Wars laser gun is relatively slow. If the Jedi sensed it coming, they would have enough time to deflect it. Secondly, Jango probably knew the analysis droids wouldn't be able to trace his dart, he just didn't count on Obi-Wan having an old friend who knew about it. Plus he probably knew that Dooku had erased Kamino's location from the archive.
412*** Why he didn't just shoot at the Jedi with the darts. He could clip Obi-Wan and probably kill Anakin afterwards.
413*** Even if the Jedi can't bat back darts like blaster bolts, they can still surely move fast enough to dodge them.
414** 12) After they see Jango flying away, why don't they hurry to Obi's speeder and chase him? Anakin managed to pinpoint the assassin girl in the middle of busy traffic, dozens of meters away with enough precision to literally drop on her head so why do they suddenly let Jango escape?
415*** Obi-Wan's speeder is on the other side of the cantina with a large crowd of people creating numerous obstacles. By the time they got to it, Jango would be far away. He's much smaller than a speeder and would make a much less distinctive sound.
416*** Consider that Jedi are "keepers of the peace." Assassin or no, it doesn't reflect well on the Order to force push a bunch of civilians out of the way. Consider they were on the ground, no vehicle around them, and Jango was in fact flying away. They're really good at chasing people; they can't just fly under their own power, however.
417*** They had their Jedi senses, they could contact the local law enforcers.
418*** RuleOfCool, RuleOfDrama and HollywoodTactics. Bounty Hunters/assassins are expected to dispatch their targets in sneaky and exotic way, regardless of practicality. A simple blaster is too simple, and bombs only work if they're in your briefcase or car or something. Poison darts and animals are much cooler (the centipedes are a ShoutOut to Film/Dr. No), are less reliable so that plot-important characters can survive, and leave easily followable trails for heroes.
419*** They looked up and saw Jango flying away. They couldn't just use the Force to restrain him and pull him back? She said 'bounty hunter', they see a Mandalorian (known bounty hunters) nearby. Use the Force. They don't need to push through a bar to get to their ship.
420*** I don't think we're often shown in canon the ability to use the Force like a net, to lock someone's limbs and pull them back. That is likely much harder than a pushing or lifting action, especially when the subject is already in motion and retreating. Furthermore, Obi Wan may have noticed the missile on Jango's jetpack and been concerned for the possibility of further collateral damage and casualties. A lead from the dart would be good enough according to his rapid Jedi reactions and gut instinct.
421[[/folder]]
422
423[[folder: Geonosian Defense]]
424* How did the clone army manage to invade Geonosis without alerting their defenses whatsoever? It looks as though the intervention of the gunboats in the middle of the arena took the bad guys completely by surprise. So are we to assume they just sprang out of Warp ten meters away? Or that all the planetary guards took a day off to watch the "Eat the Jedi" show and turned the automatics off so that it doesn't disturb them? Or that massive ships carrying thousands of soldiers simply...slipped through to the surface like the Jedi did before them?
425** There's a space battle occurring in orbit during the Battle of Geonosis. The Republic forces simply outnumbered the Separatist forces enough for them to engage them on both fronts.
426*** I guessed that much. The question is how come nobody warned Dooku and the others. Bypassing planetary defenses of a major industrial world should take ''some'' time even despite superior numbers. Certainly if Dooku knew that an imperial strike force was on its way he wouldn't have wasted time offering them to surrender and instead would've just let the droids gun them down. Also, why are there no geonosian and/or Federation air forces?
427*** There are? The air battle is happening off-screen. Mobility of Star Wars forces are excellent, and a major part of combat involves jamming of communications and sensors. It's not impossible that there was a failure of communications between the early warning systems and the arena.
428*** It's all fine except that immediately afterwards, in the underground headquarters, we see a holoscreen pinpointing the descending clone troops and vessels. So nope, no jamming there.
429*** Perhaps the Seperatist forces were able to block the jamming and resume their surveilance by the time the leadership arrived to observe the screen.
430** If you played the Star Wars: Clone Wars game for the [=GameCube=], in the first few missions, Mace and Luminara led the Jedi strike force along with the clones, but there was a shield covering the planet, which the Clone Forces couldn't get through. They had to use Tanks to destroy the shield generator to let the clones land, while the Jedi snuck into the arena. Anyway, I always assumed that possibly Dooku was expecting the Jedi and clones to show up and had Nute Gunray and the others occupied. Also, I assumed that the battles across the planet had started immediately alongside the Jedi battle within the arena, but Yoda and the clones couldn't get to the arena in time because they had to first pinpoint the arena.
431[[/folder]]
432
433[[folder: Who's investigating if not Obi Wan?]]
434* When Padme asks Obi-wan about the investigation of her ship blowing up, he protests that it isn't in their mandate. Fair enough, he was assigned to guard her. But at no point does he or anybody else state that an investigation is being handled by anyone else. Doesn't Coruscant have a law enforcement agency? Isn't anyone interested in finding out how an assassin could target an important figure like her twice (even if both sides really botched it the second time)?
435** I think another section of the Jedi Order was carrying out the investigation at first. When Padme first meets with the council, she asks if they have any ideas who was behind the attack and Mace says their intelligence pointed to spice miners on Naboo, indicated that they were carrying out an investigation.
436*** Fair enough, but why doesn't Obi-wan just say that? He never once says 'a different section of the Order is handling that', his only response to her request is to state that it isn't his job. Considering that he's a respected Jedi Knight guarding a VIP you would think he would have been properly briefed by the Council.
437*** Because there's no reason for him ''to'' say it..? He says it isn't his job. Fair enough. The implication then is that it's someone else's job and one can assume they're doing that job while Obi-Wan and Anakin do theirs. Considering how much people criticise the entire franchise for constantly making obvious statements, it's quite ironic that one of the rare times the viewer is allowed to join up the dots is apparently not being clear...
438[[/folder]]
439
440[[folder: The Purpose of Sending That Many Jedi]]
441* I know for movies sake that Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme had to be rescued, but why did Mace take over 200 Jedi just to rescue 2 Jedi and a senator? Are their lives that important?
442** They were part of the advance force. The Clone Army followed behind them, and they were hoping to capture the Separatist leadership as well.
443** Plus, Anakin is the "chosen one", at least as far as certain people believe.
444** What makes this worse is how many Jedi end up getting killed. You know how many survive? '''30!''' Yes, Windu got over a hundred and seventy Jedi killed just because he wanted to save one. Mind you, he didn't anticipate Anakin being there. So he willingly did all of this just to save Obi-Wan.
445** Except you must have missed the point made above where they were also serving as the tip of the spear to try and capture the enemy's major-domos and end the war before it had properly begun. With that goal in mind, the death count is tragic but perhaps a worthy sacrifice (they came reasonably close to accomplishing the goal), as opposed to just dumb overkill.
446** No they didn't. They were just hanging out in that arena as they were facing down waves upon waves of troops. What exactly was the great strategy of Mace Windu? Step 1, get to Geonosis with a ton of Jedi. Step 2, threaten Dooku with the Jedi and presumably order Dooku to surrender. Step 3, fight in the arena down to the last Jedi? That one Jedi tries to attack Dooku only to get gunned down by Jango but no attempts are made after that one. Why aren't they trying to flee afterwards? How did they all get down there to begin with? Transports? Well get back in those transports. You don't capture a dome like that by jumping down into it and waiting for the droids to rush you. Basic logic should dictate otherwise.
447[[/folder]]
448
449[[folder: Yoda vs Dooku's Finale]]
450* Yoda starts fighting Dooku. Dooku grabs some heavy shit and throws at Yoda. Yoda grabs the shit back and tosses it...somewhere aside. All this time Dooku's ship, his only possible mean of escape, is standing ten meters away. So why not fling some of the debris at the ship? Or at Dooku himself. Or at Dooku and his ship and see how well he can deal with two separate projectiles. Yes, I know Dooku could probably stop them - it's not an excuse not to try.
451** Further, why would Dooku not attack while Yoda is struggling with the heavy object, as I doubt he would have had the energy to both fight Dooku and keep the object afloat.
452*** Apparently throwing heavy shit was tiresome, so Dooku couldn't attack immediately afterwards and needed time to recharge. Even more reasons to throw debris at him.
453*** However this whole exchange becomes ridiculous when you factor in feats done by Jedi and Sith done in the Expanded Universe. Yoda has been shown throwing entire star ships around like they were nothing, that piece of the ceiling Dooku threw at him should have been child's play. I am not trying to spark an Expanded universe vs Films canon debate here, just saying that I don't like how inconsistent the power levels are between stories.
454*** They're inconsistent because entirely different people planned, wrote, and published them. That's why it is frivolous to apply anything in the Expanded canon to the Traditional canon, as the Traditional was never written with the Expanded in mind, and the Expanded tends to act like anything in the Traditional didn't happen or, at the very least, is only one version of the events.
455** Do or do not. There is no try.
456[[/folder]]
457
458[[folder: Mas disappointment problem]]
459* Mas Amedda expresses disappointment that Padme isn't there to propose giving Palpatine emergency powers. Why did he think that the person who was vehemently opposed to the creation of an army and was the leader of the opposition against the Military Creation Act would support allowing the Chancellor to unilaterally create an army?
460** At the time Padme opposed the Military Creation Act, the Republic had no clear need for an army, and Padme's stance could've been seen as just one wanting to avoid warmongering. However, not only had the proposal for Palpatine to get emergency powers been made after war had begun, Padme had also been involved in the beginning of the war. So it's likely that Amedda was hoping that the events that Padme had been involved in had changed her mind.
461** Given the significant glances in that scene, it was likely that Mas Amedda's plan had nothing to do with convincing Padme or hoping that she would be convinced herself and everything to do with convincing the poor fool who was left in her place that this was a wise course of action because it's "what she would have done". It worked.
462[[/folder]]
463
464[[folder: Padme's Dislike of the War]]
465* Why exactly Padme was so vehemently opposed to the creation of a Republic Army? True, she was no warmonger, but the events in TPM would likely had not happened if only there was such an army. Actually Padme should vote in favor of such army, probably with the amendment that it would be use for defensive purposes only, but still.
466** The issue with this is that Padme has already seen that the senate has corrupt people inside it, and a manufactured army is exactly what was used to terrorize her homeworld. Even if she added amendments that restrict it to defensive purposes, that kind of army could possibly be abused to set up blockades on planets by senators insisting that they are there for the planet's defense.
467** Up until this point in the story, the Republic had no need for a permanent standing army. (In EU Legends, there had been galactic armies before, but one had not been needed for centuries.) As I understand it, the central government was more ceremonial than anything else; each planet had the authority to defend itself. Federal authority was limited to dealing with issues between member systems and protecting the personal rights of all citizens. In extreme cases, the Jedi could get involved to restore order, but as Mace Windu explained, they were "keepers of the peace, not soldiers." The conflict in TPM was localized to the Naboo system, but perhaps Amidala had hoped the Senate would penalize the Trade Federation with fines and embargoes until they were no longer in a financial position to prey on systems like hers. Although nothing like that happened, she still had hope that under Palpatine's government disagreements between planets could be resolved with administrative and diplomatic pressure, rather than by military force. As for the Separatists, their intentions were not clear at first; until the attempt on Padme's life, there was no clear proof that they were preparing for war against the Republic. She may have believed diplomatic reconciliation was still possible with the planets that had left.
468[[/folder]]
469
470[[folder: Kenobi's Mastership]]
471* The contentious relationship between Anakin and Obi-Wan was an inevitable side effect of them being relatively close together in age, yet Obi-Wan being given the "master" role immediately after being promoted from Padawan to Jedi Knight. Anakin has a hard time looking up to Obi-Wan as an authority figure because they're really only about a decade apart in age and Obi-Wan is thus more of a big brother than a father figure. Likewise, over the course of the decade between ''The Phantom Menace'' and ''Attack of the Clones'', Obi-Wan has been promoted yet again, this time to Jedi Master. This leads to multiple problems. Obi-Wan is often condescending, referring to Anakin as "my young apprentice" or even "my ''very'' young apprentice" despite the fact that he is not much older. Anakin, as TheChosenOne, has advanced in his Jedi skills to a point where he is now comparable to where Obi-Wan was at the same age, despite not having been raised from infancy among the Jedi as Obi-Wan was. But Obi-Wan shows Anakin ''much'' less respect than Qui-Gon showed ''him'' when he was a talented Padawan. The entire plot problem arises because the age difference between Obi-Wan and Anakin was a lot less than it was implied to have been in the original trilogy. Finally, Anakin expects to advance rapidly exactly because Obi-Wan did. Obi-Wan jumped from Padawan to Knight to Master in just a little more than a decade! Considering that they are almost precisely equal in ability, and the fact that Anakin expects his abilities to continue growing at an extremely rapid pace, he has every reason to use Obi-Wan's rapid advancement as a baseline for his own career. Attempts to humble him by demeaning him both publicly and privately only serves to sour their sibling-like relationship. This would be even more apparent in ''Revenge of the Sith'', where Anakin has become very angry over not being promoted to Master, and where he also begins to suspect that Obi-Wan has been having an affair with Padme, something he would probably not have suspected in the case of an older master. So basically what was he thinking in his treatment of Anakin?
472** Obi-Wan's inexperience as a mentor was precisely what Palpatine hoped to gain by having Qui-Gon killed. Obi-Wan takes an apprentice when he is freshly knighted and for the first time without a mentor by his side. He has the task of not only getting used to being unsupervised, but teaching an already headstrong boy, likely also dealing with the grief over his master (the "what would Qui-Gon do" questions probably didn't help either). His insecurities are likely the reason for Anakin never having too much respect from him. Besides, having no time to learn how to teach, Obi-Wan's lectures sound much like recited textbook phrases with little personal attitude ("This weapon is your life!") and he resorts to reminding Anakin of his place because he lacks the experience to deal properly with his apprentice's frustrations. Anakin would inevitably look for another, more understanding mentor, and Palpatine is readily waiting to answer...
473** Obi-Wan's inexperience shined at the end of TPM when he told 9-year old Anakin "You will be a Jedi, I promise." He's about to undergo one of the most difficult training regimens in the galaxy and he's already told he's a special snowflake predestined for greatness. It's no wonder Anakin was insubordinate and had ego problems.
474** It's possibly worth pointing out a couple more things: Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon were shown being almost completely different to each other in Episode I - Qui-Gon is much more willing to relax and bend the rules of the Jedi Order in order to achieve what he thinks is right, whereas Obi-Wan sticks fairly rigidly to following what the Council says, hence their brief argument about Anakin (seriously, Obi-Wan spends about half his screen time arguing to some degree with Qui-Gon). He's loosened up a little by the end, as pointed out by Yoda (who then immediately tells him to stop acting out), but not nearly enough to be as flexible as he should be with Anakin. His natural tendency to stick to the rules combined with his total lack of experience as a mentor combine to make him as harsh as he is towards Anakin. And let's be honest, there's probably a small amount of residual jealousy there as well. Also, Anakin's not necessarily just basing his path through the Order on Obi-Wan, but he's got Palpatine there who is established to be feeding his already-inflated ego at every opportunity, probably doing so through the 10 year time-gap between films as well.
475** Sure, there wasn't much of an age gap between the two, and Obi-Wan did move up the ranks faster. However, Obi-Wan was trained as an orthodox Jedi from infancy. He ate, slept, and breathed it. His master was a maverick, true, but Obi-Wan clearly respected the Jedi Council and their discipline. Anakin, on the other hand, was a bundle of raw energy. He had more potential with the Force, but he didn't know how to handle himself. Even Obi-Wan didn't know how to handle Anakin. No one had ever trained a student conceived by the Force itself. Anakin didn't have the benefit of regimented training from infancy, and all the mainstream Jedi were reluctant to let him become too powerful too quickly. Plus, Anakin had mommy issues (I don't want to go all Sigmund Freud here, but he felt strongly about his mother from what they'd been through together in his early life. When Anakin was torn away from his mom, Padme, being a somewhat older female, filled the void in his heart. Many years later, his mom died in his arms and he snapped. Again, Padme was there to comfort him. Anakin was afraid of losing her the way he lost his mom, and he was desperate.) The Jedi didn't know the extent and context of all that inner turmoil in Anakin's soul, but they--especially Obi-Wan and Mace Windu--knew enough about this kid to realize he couldn't be fully trusted.
476[[/folder]]
477
478[[folder: Shmi Conspiracy]]
479* Shmi's death. According to Cliegg Lars she's been missing for a month, but she dies in Anakin's arms seconds after he found her? Is it possible that Dooku or Palpatine himself orchestrated her death at that precise time in order to break Anakin?
480** Extremely unlikely and it would be '''''incredibly''''' contrived.
481** When she realises it's grown up Anakin she says "I am complete" before dying, it's likely she just felt fulfilled having got to see him again and just let go. The Tuskens have clearly been torturing or otherwise physically abusing her, considering the cuts on her face. It's perhaps a bit coincidental that Ani got there right before she died, but force visions we see in canon are effectively self fulfilling prophecies (Anakin's at the least come true because he tries to stop them), Anakin goes there because of visions of her dying and she dies because he was there.
482[[/folder]]
483
484[[folder: Weakening Jedi Powers]]
485* At one point Yoda says the Jedi's powers are weakening and the Sith will take advantage of that. Why are the Jedi's powers weakening, and how would the Sith even know that?
486** The Sith are Force users, I think they can sense it.
487** Yoda is speaking metaphorically; he’s not referring to their Force powers, but rather the Jedi’s role in the Galaxy at large. For several years, the Jedi have been peacekeepers, stopping wars before they happen through diplomacy and surgical use of necessary force. For a while, the Jedi really were at the top of their game. Now, the Republic is going to enter a bloody civil war, a certified Sith Lord is manipulating pawns on both sides, and Yoda can’t see a solution through the fog. He’s basically saying that the Jedi as a whole are going to go through a very rough patch, and they better brace themselves.
488** Under the Jedi temple was a trove of Sith artifacts. It was a restricted level that only advanced masters could enter, lest the forbidden knowledge fall into the wrong hands. Even so, the presence of that weakened the Jedi Council's ability to perceive where and whom the Sith threat was really coming from.
489[[/folder]]
490
491[[folder: Karma Houdini Trade Federation]]
492* One thing that always surprised me was how forgiving Naboo was of the Republic and the Senate for basically abandoning it to the wolves in TPM. Valorum had to basically jump through multiple loopholes to get them help and even then it wasn’t enough. The Senate still debated over what was ‘’clearly’’ a planetary invasion by a foreign enemy. Honestly, you’d think they’d be the one pushing to leave the Republic in this movie — after all, why stick around when the Republic made it abundantly clear they won’t act when a core planet gets invaded?
493** You have to remember, Palpatine was a Naboo Senator before he was elected Chancellor. He probably "explained" that the entire mess was solely the fault of the former Chancellor, not the Republic as a whole, and that now that ''he'' was Chancellor he would never allow such a thing to happen, and because of his history of service and his visible actions during the crisis (and the fact that their own Queen did in fact call for a Vote of No Confidence in said former Chancellor in direct response to his handling of the crisis), the Naboo were willing to believe his version of events.
494[[/folder]]
495
496[[folder: Grappling hook save]]
497* One thing that doesn't make sense is how Obi-Wan Kenobi, after falling off the side of the Kaminoan platform, is able to get his hands free, expertly throw the coil (which is somehow magnetized) to a random railing AND hold onto it. This doesn't seem remotely possible, even for a Jedi, and feels like an AssPull to ensure Obi-Wan can't die.
498** Force users have been capable of much greater and incredible things in other works in the series. A Jedi has the capacity to use superhuman speed and reflexes to quickly untie that knot even while perilously and rapidly falling from that great height, not to mention chuck it at a target to be able to hang on and save their own life. As for the magnetic properties of the coil, why not? This would be of great use to a bounty hunter for bringing in targets which may be part or wholly metallic, such as droids and armoured organics. It also allows for the interaction with and possible restraint of a range of vehicles. Also, if one were to quickly throw it at a metal pipe to create a tripwire, that could prevent a getaway too. It has a whole range of potential uses.
499[[/folder]]
500
501[[folder: Why is Zam a shapeshifter?]]
502* What is the purpose of Zam Wessel being shapeshifter? Does it actually come into play? Does she utilize it to impact the story to a major capacity? Nope.
503** Even when they are at the bar, where there is a huge plethora of aliens to potentially disguise herself as, why not utilize it to her advantage? If the excuse is that her suit doesn't change...why is that the case? Why would a bounty hunter, no matter how skilled, not have some premeditation done beforehand. Why not utilize some sort of camo armor that changes with the wearer? Feels like a missed opportunity.
504** Pure speculation on my part, but it may be possible that Zam may have had a larger role in an earlier version of the script (possibly working alongside Jango) and her shapeshifter abilities would’ve been put to good use. For whatever reason, the writers/producers/director/etc. decided to cut or rewrite that plot, and Zam was leftover as a disposable henchwoman with a neat power.
505[[/folder]]
506
507[[folder: Padme's reaction to massacre]]
508* When Anakin confesses to killing the Tusken Raiders, slaughtering them for that matter, Padme reacts...calmly? It sure sounds like she is totally okay with the fact that in a fit of rage Anakin just massacred an entire village. Granted they were Sand People and they are pretty savage but still. Shouldn't Padme at least show some concern for what Anakin has done? Especially if Padme is a pacifist, Anakin's actions should scream as red flags. Later in Revenge of the Sith, she seems pretty opposed to the idea that Anakin could murder children...even though he confessed to doing this against the Tuskens three years beforehand. It seems the power of love has no limits.
509** Gonna have to play Devil’s advocate here...it could be that Padmé may have been trying to play a ‘too late to do anything now’ approach. Chewing him out won’t bring the sand people back to life, so she’s going with the ‘soothe him and make sure he doesn’t go crazy again’ thought that’d make her seem a lot more manipulative. As for Revenge, it could be the concept of Anakin specifically targeting the children, rather than the children being in the way. She could interpret Anakin’s first killing as finding his mother tortured and dead, and then going berserk and killing EVERYONE without paying any attention to who was on the other side of his lightsaber. The attack on the Temple involved Anakin acknowledging he was going to kill children and carrying the order out in a calm manner. The former is still dangerous, but MIGHT not be MoralEventHorizon worthy, the latter is much more premeditated, and something Padmé may not believe is in Anakin’s nature.
510** I think her reaction in ‘Revenge’ was more like she couldn’t believe he’d go on a killing spree *again*, especially against his own family/comrades. She probably believed/trusted that he learnt his lesson about flying into psychotic rampages.
511** You also have to remember that Padme grew up in Naboo where humans were constantly at odds with the Gungans, whom they viewed as a lesser species. It's likely that either: she didn't consider the Sand People to be sentient (considering how Cliegg Lars described them), or she genuinely didn't ''know'' that they were sentient. Though considering she almost certainly received a top notch education back on Naboo, you'd think she would've at least heard of this species.
512** This point, would work, if it weren't for the fact that Anakin specifically refers to "men" "women" and "children." It just seems way too far fetched that Padme couldn't infer a sense of sentience or autonomy from this species. It seems unlikely that a pacifist would be okay with Anakin's actions and that he "learned" his lesson after blowing off some steam.
513** I doubt she's OKAY with the fact that Anakin just killed a whole sentient tribe. She understands why he did it, but isn't going to try to be hostile about it because (1) screaming at him won't undo the carnage, and (2) she's having to focus on the wider mission as a whole. She likely doesn't think she has any time to confront Anakin or immediately tell Obi-Wan what had happened. Besides, he clearly looked grief-stricken and disgusted by what he did "I'm a Jedi, I know I'm better than this!" So perhaps she hoped he learnt his lesson and won't do it again.
514** Padme is not a pacifist. She smiles at the idea of "aggressive negotiations", and later she personally picks up a blaster and shoots people. She believes that violence is sometimes necessary. Having said that, yes, Padme ''is'' opposed to slaughtering children. But she forgives Anakin because she loves him. It's supposed to be a character flaw on her part. She was much too forgiving. She should have reported Anakin to his superiors and had him arrested. Sadly, there are plenty of real-life killers who likewise had friends and family who made lame excuses for them and helped to cover their tracks for awhile before the authorities finally got involved.
515[[/folder]]
516
517[[folder: The Tuskens keeping Shmi as a captive]]
518* The Tuskens don't seem to want to ransom her or use her as a hostage to extort her family or anything, considering Cliegg, Owen and Beru don't even know she's alive, so why did they leave her alive at all instead of just killing her when they captured her?
519** This one is never given a straight up answer. The only answers I can think of is that Palpatine was doing some long distance Force voodoo to enhance their more sadistic urges and create a ‘fall’ moment for Anakin. Or, they may have intended to induct Shmi into their tribe, and the ‘torture’ was more of an initiation ritual (IRL, there’s tribes in Africa that require prospective men to wear gloves made of leaves with bullet ants woven in stinger-first). It could simply be physiological differences that led to Shmi’s death.
520** ForTheEvulz. It may be a ritual in their culture. Rituals don't always make sense.
521** She could still be used as a hostage in the event that anybody attacks them. Some humans decide that they hate sandpeople and raid a random camp, and then a Sandperson jumps out of a tent with Shmi in tow, holding a knife to her throat. That could persuade attackers to retreat. Maybe it's a cycle where humans step up their attacks on Sandpeople and then Sandpeople start abducting humans in response, which reduces the number of attacks which in turn reduces the number of kidnappings.
522[[/folder]]
523
524[[folder: Pushing 3PO over the edge]]
525* In the droid factory scene, why does R2 push 3PO so that he falls over the edge and into the droid assembly line? If the idea was to get 3PO to help Padme and Anakin, it doesn't seem to work very well, since 3PO is immediately put to danger as well... And as we soon see, R2 is better equipped to help them anyway with his flight capability.
526** The only thing I can figure is that A) R2 wanted him to get out of the way, B) R2 thought it would be amusing to knock him off the edge and forgot that he couldn't fly like R2, or C) He thought there would be something below for him to land on.
527[[/folder]]
528
529[[folder: Using Jango for everything]]
530* Why do Dooku and/or Palpatine hire the same guy to arrange the assassination Padme who also served as the template for the clone army? Aren't they afraid someone might uncover Jango's role in both of these, and realise the Sith are playing both sides of the conflict? Wouldn't it make more sense to hire some other bounty hunter, of which there is no shortage in the galaxy?
531** It’s a given by the end that the Sith are involved. Maul gave it away that the Sith were still around. Yoda basically admits they’re going into their plans, but have their hands tied protecting the Republic. Jango doesn’t really give anything away that Obi Wan and Yoda didn’t piece together on their own.
532** Sidious, or Dooku, could have easily hired another bounty hunter so that Jango was not involved. Actually, if you think about it, why don't they use Zam Wessel without Jango?
533** It seems safe to presume that you don't mean Wessel should be the template for the clone army, because if they're helmeted all the time, then shapeshifting doesn't confer many advantages (and may in fact lead to disadvantages if the form shapeshifted to is too small or too large for the armour's build). So for the other option, the assassination, a) Jango did subcontract the hit to her, and in ordinary circumstances she may have been successful. But these weren't ordinary circumstances since the Jedi became involved, which leads to b) Wessel wasn't quite up there in combat ability to be able to take on one, let alone two Jedi. As Jango shows in his fight with Obi-Wan, he's more up to the task.
534[[/folder]]
535
536[[folder: Dooku's motives during the duel]]
537* After Dooku defeats Obi-Wan, he prepares the killing blow and is only stopped by Anakin. Yet, after finishing off Anakin, all he does is look sadly at the two Jedi he just defeated. So what was his motive? Was it to kill them? That would have been a prime opportunity to do so before Yoda arrived. Additionally, didn't he prefer Obi-Wan to Anakin because the former was Qui-Gon's apprentice?
538** Could depend on your interpretation of his character. If he is a tragic, well meaning AntiVillain, then the regret on his face is legitimate and he feels bad about having to kill both the last apprentice of Qui-Gon ''and'' the Chosen One. Albeit, Palpatine had surely ordered him ''under no uncertain terms do NOT kill Skywalker'' even at this early stage. So perhaps the look of regret was because he would have to kill Obi-Wan. Given he didn't show this before when preparing the killing blow, perhaps there he had steeled himself to do it, but when he had both of them at his mercy, having to actually do it without resistance upset him, and so he hesitated. Note that he offered for Kenobi to "back down" before drawing his weapon; not many hardcore, pure Sith Lords would offer that option, if any. This is probably the first time he's been presented with the opportunity to kill Jedi, and it would be a tough proposition for one once so strongly a part of the Order. On the other hand, if he's truly evil and just faking the regret, he's probably presenting it to Obi-Wan (who is still conscious at this point) so as to keep them guessing as to his motivations, should they be lucky enough to escape the execution.
539** Consider this: he had tried before to turn Obi-Wan. Since he knew having him as an ally would be useful--after all, Obi-wan was trained by his own late student--Dooku may still have entertained that possibility. Having Anakin would also have been priceless, either for his own purposes or Palpatine's. At any rate, the Sith were trying to get a galactic war going to weaken the Jedi. Killing one or both Jedi would have been premature at that stage.
540** There is perhaps five seconds between Dooku switching off his lightsaber and Yoda entering. It's perfectly reasonable for Dooku to be catching his breath for a moment after having defeated two much younger opponents. Yoda simply interrupts whatever he would have been about to do to dispatch the pair.
541[[/folder]]
542
543[[folder: How did the droids get back?]]
544* 3PO and R2 are left in the arena after the clones rescue the Jedi and don't appear again until the wedding at the very end. How did two slow moving droids manage to reunite with their allies, who had to be miles away on an enemy planet?
545** They may have made it through the droid factory, since the battle droids were directed elsewhere.
546[[/folder]]
547
548[[folder:”I failed”]]
549* What did Corde mean when she said that she failed? The bombing wasn’t her fault and there’s not much else she could have done.
550** She was mortally injured, barely conscious and dying. It's rather unrealistic to expect her to think rationally.
551** She figures it was her job to prevent bombings in the first place. She obviously failed to detect this particular bomb, so in that sense she failed. She also figures that it's her job to ''stay alive'' so she can continue protecting Padme indefinitely. Death means that she can't do her job anymore, thus she has failed at her job.
552[[/folder]]
553
554[[folder: Why didn't Anakin get in trouble for killing the camp of Tusken Raiders?]]
555* Did Padme just not tell? Is it not illegal to kill Tusken Raiders? Given they seem to be AlwaysChaoticEvil, maybe it isn't considered murder.
556** It’s implied that the only other person he told was Palpatine, who obviously wouldn’t prosecute him because he wants to turn him to the Dark Side. It's unlikely that any Tatooine authorities would prosecute him, given that the planet's a wretched hive of scum and villainy ruled by crime lords.
557*** And anyone living on Tatooine who knew would either (a) not care, or (b) actually cheer Anakin's actions seeing as the settlers are always at odds with the Tuskens.
558** Tatooine is gangland. The Republic had no control over its people; they were in the Hutts' pocket. Unless Jabba and his cronies cared about a band of desert-dwelling nomads--not likely--the Tusken Raiders lived and died on their own. Consider too; if that particular group of Tuskens had made trouble for the Hutts before and Jabba found out what Anakin did, he might have seen it as welcome news.
559[[/folder]]
560
561[[folder: Why not use a Force-sensitive person as the cloning "template"?]]
562* Why know that Force-sensitivity has at least somewhat of a hereditary basis, so why not do this? Even if only, say, a tenth or a hundredth of the clones ended up actually being force-sensitive, wouldn't it still be worth it (they could probably just make a regiment of [[EliteMooks "super clones"]] to put them in for emergencies)?
563** Force-sensitives tend to have minds of their own. This is a template that’s being tweaked for obedience.
564*** Exactly. That's the last thing the Sith needed. Recall what happened later on during the Jedi Purge to Force sensitives around the galaxy.
565[[/folder]]
566
567[[folder: Why does Jango call Boba his son?]]
568* If Boba is a ''clone'' of him, doesn't that make him his little brother, rather than his son?
569** Biologically? Sort of. But Jango isn't talking biologically, he's talking about the fact that he raised Boba from birth to be his son.
570** It’s like asking why Bail Organa calls Leia his daughter, or why Cut Lawquane calls Suu’s children his own, or why C1-10P calls Hera his mother. There’s more to this stuff than just biology.
571** Adoption is a thing, OP. Even if Boba was a 'clone' of Jango, he's still a kid, and Jango wanted to be a dad. Sure, is it weird to ask to please be allowed to raise a clone of you from infancy, when he could've gone to an orphanage and adopted someone? Yeah, a little, but y'know, perhaps we should suspend judgement on that one.
572[[/folder]]
573
574[[folder: No telescopes?]]
575* Kamino and the star it orbits have been removed from the Jedi Archive. Obi-Wan is faced with a contradiction: he’s been told about the system, and nearby systems react to its gravity, but the Archive says it’s not there. Yoda tells him: go there, and you’ll find the system. Seems to me there’s a much easier way to resolve the contradiction without having to bother Yoda and the younglings: just point a telescope at it and see whether there’s a star there or not. And if a star is visible in the sky but not the Archive, how could this situation have persisted for ten years without anybody noticing the discrepancy?
576** Couldn't a star be visually obscured (from the viewpoint of an observation made from Coruscant) behind other clusters of stars, nebulae, supernova, etc? A telescope would be no use to confirm the existence of the star system in this case. Perhaps the 3D hologram data of the galaxy would be able to confirm this under analysis, just as they may have for the fact that nearby systems react to its gravity.
577*** A star cannot be realistically hidden in that way, not in the context of a civilization that spans most of the galaxy and probably has millions of telescopes. Presumably the star is visible but Palpatine programmed the archives to continuously delete that star every time somebody adds it back in to the database. Of course the real question is why he would do that in the first place, since the hidden star is ''still'' detectable via gravity. Much more plausible to just corrupt the database to say that the star exists but its planets are uninhabitable and uninteresting.
578** Just how relativity physics works in Star Wars--e.g., light from distant objects that may no longer exist but can still be seen by some gazers, hyperspace travel across parsecs in a short time span, apparent lack of time dilation--seems unclear, anyway, but that's another conversation. Kamino was beyond a satellite galaxy called the Rishi Maze. Clearly, not many people in the galactic core knew about the system; the few who did know may not have considered it to be part of the main galaxy, at all. Besides, I'm guessing that the Jedi Archives was off-limits to virtually everyone who would have known. Even if the Jedi were missing such a planet from the database, it wouldn't have been as noticeable as say, a missing Alderaan.
579[[/folder]]
580

Top