History WMG / RevengeOfTheSith

* Jossed by {{Film/Solo}}, unless he's able to look several decades younger than Samuel L. Jackson using an even-audience-fooling Palpatine-esque glamour.

* Going by the description of Palpatine's origin in the Darth Plagueis novel, and because of course he wasn't ''born'' a Sith (nor, likely, evil straight out of the womb, and he would have had to mask it INSIDE the womb, to go to the logical extreme of this WMG) it's likely he had a normal face to begin with (note that he wasn't entirely shunned from Nubian society as he likely would have been with such a face). That doesn't preclude the possibility that his visage became uglier in private, during his Sith training, and then he gave up the glamour again after he fought Windu.

* "Absolute" means something different when Obi-Wan uses it. Specifically, it refers to alcohol, drugs, and slaves. And only Sith deal in them. Assuming it's a fact (who the hell knows at this point), it can only be expressed as a rhetorical absolute. Maybe there's total prohibition of alcohol in the Republic (so no dealing in [[http://web.archive.org/web/20101230094713/absolutnie.net/uploads/images/absolut_vodka_family.jpg Absolut]] either).
** Going by the scene in Attack Of The Clones, no, alcohol is not prohibited in the REpublic.

Given that Mace was so handily beaten that NoOneCouldSurviveThat, the theory that he survived opens up a couple of doors for other insane fan theories. First, the idea that it's possible for a Force user to survive a fall from a great height suggests that Darth Maul survived as well (which kinda ''did'' happen in the ExpandedUniverse). Second, if Windu survived and was so out of it that he never stepped in to aid the Rebellion, he must have been having some adventures elsewhere, which we may have seen in other media- maybe he was a [[Film/PulpFiction bounty hunter looking for a briefcase]], or [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse a one-eyed superhero manager]].

* Nice theory, but turns silly in the last sentence- this galaxy is one A Long Time Ago and Far Far Away, so crossovers into Earth-based franchises are outlandish.

* Was this one written prior to the release of the novel named for that Sith and going into his motivations, civilian front/cover, machinations etc? If so, Jossed.

* Because the Jedi had thought the Sith were long extinct, little emphasis was placed on lightsaber combat. For generations, the Jedi had long assumed their enemy would be firing blasters at them, and they would have trained in deflecting blaster bolts. It would have come as quite a shock to the three hapless Jedi (Tiin, Kolar, and Fisto) to see Palpatine suddenly pull a lightsaber and attack them that way. Here's a guy whom they thought was a physically frail politician suddenly turning into the kind of enemy they equated with the Boogeyman. Only Windu was ready for that.
** It's silly to suggest that they were thinking that this prime candidate for the elusive Sith Lord they had been searching for for years would draw a blaster on them instead. All Jedi have been trained to expect any Sith to be carrying lightsabers, and to draw on their friendly sparring experience drilled in for just this eventuality. Further, these three Jedi Masters which Windu took as backup were the best they had on Coruscant, and he may have been concerned that taking more would impede them for space/safety reasons (and it's not like you need to bring more lightsabers to bare against a multi-wielding opponent as you may have to for Grievous). It's more other factors, like the psychic Force manoeuvre you mention below, which wrongfooted them.

* And from [[WatsonianVersusDoylist a Doylist perspective]], this is one of ''five'' on-screen lightsaber duels in the film. Most of the lightsaber fighting work was devoted to the massive climactic duel between Vader and Obi-Wan. Ian [=McDiarmid=] admitted that learning the choreography was difficult for him, so many of Palpatine's movements during the fight come across as slow and stilted. The fight was probably supposed to be a lot faster-paced than what we got, with the other Jedi hanging in there longer and forcing Palpatine to make more of an effort.
** In summary: Palpatine is simply in a league above the Jedi confronting him, but the film doesn't do a great job of capturing that.

* Palpatine may be doing some other Dark Side stuff in addition to swinging his lightsaber, perhaps a psychic Force manoeuver to disorient the other Jedi. It might be his bizarre "constipated gargling" noise that he makes while barrel rolling up to the ledge where the Jedi are standing; UnnecessaryCombatRoll, or Psychic Force Scream?
* Kit Fisto does better than the other two[[note]]he's got a little more experience; he [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS1E10LairOfGrievous once fought General Grievous]][[/note]], but Palpatine herds the other two into close quarters and isolates them, getting rid of them first. Fisto is forced to fight one-on-one with Palpatine, whose superior blade work makes quick work of him.

Anakin pleads with Mace not to kill Palpatine because it's not the Jedi way (and therefore it's a Sith-like thing to do), and IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim. Anakin himself fell to the Dark Side partly because he executed Count Dooku, and Luke would have fallen to the Dark Side if he had killed Vader. If Mace killed an unarmed Palpatine, he would have become evil, since he's already closer to the Dark Side than most Jedi are (notice how he killed Jango Fett); Anakin might have ended up having to kill him after all, but remained good.

Not because he was suffering from [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone a bout of conscience]], but because the slaughter of ''all'' the Jedi -- even the young Padawans -- turned out not to be a great idea after all. Had he had the foresight to spare the younglings, he would have had an excellent pool of potential replacement apprentices. Instead, he's stuck with Vader, a single DarkLordOnLifeSupport whose powers were probably diminished by his injurious. Vader turned out to be [[MightyGlacier powerful but ponderous]], often a step or two behind the Rebel Alliance, and prone to wasteful brute force tactics which led to [[WeHaveReserves needlessly high attrition]] (''e.g.'' all those Star Destroyers that got wrecked chasing the ''Millennium Falcon'' through that AsteroidThicket).

[[WMG: The Clones that shot Aayla Secura had their Blasters on Stun to try and hide her.]]
They didn't want to kill her, but knew they had to lest other Troopers come and do it. So they decided to merely stun her and claim they had killed her. They disguised their Stun shots as real shots (they don't look like the circular bolts that were fired at Leia in ''Film/ANewHope''), and there was video footage that would have backed them up. But they screwed up, because ''all'' of them fired on her, and that was enough to kill her, albeit somewhat more humanely than killing her the "traditional" way. That would explain why there are no burn marks on her.

First, Anakin's visions lead directly into his paranoia that Padme would die and the Jedi would do nothing to save them. Second, it seems unlikely that the Force itself would have any reason to induce ''those'' visions and nothing else. Third, Palpatine seems to be well aware of Anakin's premonitions without being told about them, which would be consistent with him having induced them. Palpatine would use those visions to get Anakin curious about how to save her with Sith powers. (It doesn't even work; he has to ''tell'' Anakin "I know how to save your girl" for him to cotton on.)

Palpatine engineered it so that Dooku would lose to the Jedi, either before the battle in the middle of it. Dooku was doing pretty well early on in the battle, despite being outmanned -- he knocks out Obi-Wan and sets himself up one-on-one with Anakin, and he likely could have won had Anakin not channeled the Dark Side and gotten the upper hand. Palpatine intervened to disrupt Dooku's Force ability, or perhaps even clouded his mind so that he would taunt Anakin into tapping into the Dark Side. After all, Dooku was always expendable in Palpatine's grand scheme to take over the Galaxy. The novelisation even posits that Dooku was planning to throw the fight at first, then started fighting for real, so he may have pre-arranged something with Palpatine and found himself betrayed -- Dooku's expression when Palpatine tells Anakin to finish him seems to support that theory.

Given that Mace was so handily beaten that NoOneCouldSurviveThat, the theory that he survived opens up a couple of doors for other insane fan theories. First, the idea that it's possible for a Force user to survive a fall from a great height suggests that Darth Maul survived as well (which kinda ''did'' happen in the ExpandedUniverse). Second, if Windu survived and was so out of it that he never stepped in to aid the Rebellion, he must have been having some adventures elsewhere, which we may have seen in other media -- maybe he was a [[Film/PulpFiction bounty hunter looking for a briefcase]], or [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse a one-eyed superhero manager]].

* However, the point in the second paragraph could be countered as follows: perhaps Luke was using all of his Force power to protect against the lightning and while it was intensely painful, any scarring was minimal. But Palpatine ''wanted'' to be scarred and took pleasure in his own pain, using his own lightning and Windu's lightsaber as a conduit for that.

* Guri. We all thought she was an android or Human Replica Droid. Turns out that ''Star Wars'' cybernetics and bioscence are a lot more advance than we thought.

* Obi-Wan is NotSoDifferent. The narrative is trying to emphasise that the Sith and the Jedi really ''are'' "similar in almost every way." Obi-Wan rails against the Sith for dealing in absolutes, and unwittingly does it himself. The Jedi Order has been shown to be extraordinarily rigid, and a lot of its strict rules (such as those regarding emotional attachments) are directly responsible for Anakin's path to the Dark Side. Obi-Wan himself may have realised this later and sought to distance himself from the Jedi, but he was so ingrained in its teachings that he found it difficult. His training of Luke, on the other hand, was ''masterful'' in this respect, as Luke rejected the dogma of both Jedi and Sith and sought simply to use the Force for good however he could (although he identified as "Jedi" for historical reasons).

* Kit Fisto does better than the other two[[note]]he's got a little more experience; he [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS1E10LairOfGrievous once fought General Grievous]][[/note]], but Palpatine herds the other two into close quarters and isolates them, getting rid of them first. Fisto is forced to fight one-on-one with Palpatine, whose superior bladework makes quick work of him.
* And from [[WatsonianVersusDoylist a Doylist perspective]], this is one of ''five'' on-screen lightsaber duels in the film. Most of the lightsaber fighting work was devoted to the massive climactic duel between Vader and Obi-Wan. Ian [=McDiarmid=] admitted that learning the choreography was difficult for him, so many of Palpatine's movements during the fight come across as slow and stilted. The fight was probably supposed to be a lot fasted-paced than what we got, with the other Jedi hanging in there longer and forcing Palpatine to make more of an effort.

It's not just [[DeathByDespair death from a broken heart]] -- it can be explained by the Force. She may have been Force sensitive and not known it, or perhaps her relationship with Anakin just made use of Anakin's prodigious power with the Force. The film doesn't say this explicitly, but it does imply a metaphysical bond. Maybe Anakin's turn to the Dark Side was too much for Padme to handle, or maybe Padme was so distraught by Anakin's betrayal that she effectively committed "suicide by Force".

* Palpatine had no reason to believe that Anakin to actually show up. He'd been hinting for damn near the entire movie to Anakin that he could help him save Padme if Anakin were willing to work with him, but Anakin is so thick that Palpatine eventually has to tell him outright. He knows that the Jedi were planning to arrest him ''and'' had told Anakin not to intervene, so he has to consider the possibility that Anakin would be dumb enough to listen to his superiors after he spent the whole movie railing about how they were holding him back.

Plagueis did discover immortality...sort of. Palpatine killed Plagueis, however the latter was able to stay on the material plane. Unfortunately for Plagueis, his attempts were incomplete (or CompleteImmortality is just plain impossible), reducing him to an immaterial being. [[Franchise/HarryPotter Like Voldemort]], he's trying to get his physical body back, while Palpatine believes he's dead. Or Palpatine [[SealedEvilInACan sealed him away]], which'll be plot-important later on.

[[WMG: Anakin did not actually, ''personally'' kill the younglings.]]
Rather, he led them into the guns of the clone troopers. Like so many things Anakin does in his fall it gives him someone ''else'' to blame for his own misdeeds and failings.
** When Yoda and Obi-Wan break into the Temple and see the carnage from the clone attack, they come across a group of dead Padawans and Yoda points out that some of them were killed by a lightsaber. Obi-Wan then searches the security footage and sees Anakin fighting other Jedi. Since Palpatine wasn't there and none of the other Jedi would have ever done that, it could only have been Anakin who killed them. Also, there is a VillainyDiscretionShot that shows Anakin walk into the Council chamber and ignite his lightsaber in front of a bunch of kids. There are no clone troopers with him, so it's obvious he's about to kill them all. (This scene is actually the page image for that trope.) So there's no direct evidence he did in the movie, but plenty of strong circumstantial evidence.

It would have cost him his position as Jedi, yes. But he'd have his fellow Jedi to help him through his Padme dilemma, he and Obi-Wan would be on a better speaking basis, and he could easily get a job like a Jedi. He'd know where to turn from with his Force Nightmares, focus on a family and complicate things for Sidious. In his attempt to have his cake and eat it too, Anakin could only confide in [[TheSociopath Palpatine]] and it all went down from there.
* He might not even have lost his position as a Jedi. They might have just looked the other way and told him to keep it quiet.

We have been told that Jedi were forbidden from marrying, but were permitted to have sex. Probably many Jedi had serious long-term relationships, with children and something like normal family life, even if without legal or religious solemnization, and probably a non-trivial number had secret, or even open-secret, marriages. If Anakin had grown up in the Jedi Order, or had just had more of an opportunity to spend time with other Jedi, he might have realized this and relaxed about his relationship with Padme.
** Although it's all stuff of the old EU, there were a few Jedi with secret relationships and families; one example was Etain Tur-Mukan, a female knight who had a son with her clone commander. Kit Fisto and Aayla Secura were also shown to be very close, to the point of looking more than friends at times - in a comic, other Jedi even scolded Aayla for that.

He may not have saved himself, but he could save those he cared about from dying. While being a Sith probably made it hard to find loved ones, [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes he could've had one]]. Ironically, the person he cared for was Palpatine(or [[PragmaticVillainy just needed him alive for a grander plan]]). It's heavily implied that the withered old ghoul from Episode III onwards is his true appearance, not the result of his Force Lightning backfiring. He looks far more decrepit that any Sith no matter how much they immersed themselves in the Dark Side-even Maul, who's been trained since infancy only had the ScaryTeeth and bloodshot yellow eyes to show for it.

The real reason he looks so decrepit is because he really is a ghoul of sorts; Plagueis used his powers to save him from death, however since it's an unnatural dark side power [[CameBackWrong it physically warped him]] ala [[Literature/HarryPotter Voldemort's horcruxes]]. While the glaring yellow eyes and paleness was something he already had from being a Sith Lord, he wasn't nearly as ObviouslyEvil until this happened. [[UngratefulBastard Palpatine would later repay him by killing Plagueis]], and the rest was history.

If they ever make it so "Snoke=Plagueis" or some other way to bring Palpatine's master back. His death is [[MetaphoricallyTrue a half-truth]]; Plagueis' physical body died, however his consciousness survived as a virus stream going from host to host. He hasn't done anything yet because in this weakened state he needs to reclaim his power back, but it does make the galaxy(and more importantly his apprentice) think he's not a problem anymore. It'd also [[MeaningfulName give new meaning to his Sith name]].

[[WMG: Palpatine wears a hood in order to hide his identity from subordinates.]]
The fact that the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic is also manipulating the Separtists would be likely to cause a great deal of confusion for the latter. Not only that, them knowing his true identity would likley have ruined his entire scheme since, if they were ever captured, they could tell the Republic Sidious' identity. Hence, only Palpatine's most loyal subordinates (i.e. Count Dooku) are aware of his actual identity as the puppet master of the entire conflict, and it's likely even they were unaware of his ultimate master plan.

Anakin pleads with Mace not to kill Palpatine because it's not the Jedi way (and therefore it's a Sith-like thing to do). Anakin himself fell to the Dark Side partly because he executed Count Dooku, and Luke would have fallen to the Dark Side if he had killed Vader. If Mace killed an unarmed Palpatine, he would have become evil, since he's already closer to the Dark Side than most Jedi are (notice how he killed Jango Fett) and Anakin might have ended up having to kill him after all, but remained good.

[[WMG: Padme entered a relationship with Anakin on behalf of the Jedi Council]]
Both fans and detractors often argue about how Padme, shown to be a strong-willed woman otherwise, could have accepted the awkward, stalker-ish, somewhat creepy avances of Anakin. What if it was a big ruse to keep tabs on him? The Council, or at least part of them (Obi-Wan wasn't informed, and even if he was already in the council at the time of ''Episode II'', they'd have kept secret to him anyway), had already noticed Anakin's attachment to Padme, so they secretly talked with her, revealing the importance of Anakin in the prophecies and asking her to get as close to him as possible to keep him under control. Out of a sense of duty, Padme accepted - her affection towards Anakin wasn't all fake, but she didn't love him. To avoid suspicion, contact between her and the Council was kept to a minimum. However, it all backfired horribily the moment she became pregnant - we all know how it went down from there.

As for her death, of course it was mostly due to internal injuries caused by Anakin's Force-choke; the medical droid, however, wasn't completely wrong, as the loss of her will to live didn't help (it can happen in real life). It could be argued that her newborn twins should have been more than enough of a motivation to keep on living, but what if they weren't in this context? Mind you: it doesn't mean Padme would hate them or be a bad mother to them had she lived, but right that moment, the babies were the living proof of her greatest failure - her mission was to keep Anakin away from the Dark Side, instead she became the main reason of his turn.

[[WMG: The Jedi who went to arrest Palpatine with Mace Windu didn't really suck, as fans like to joke about.]]

They were just woefully underprepared. Consider:

* ''Very'' few (living) Jedi have fought an honest to goodness Sith Lord. None of the three who accompany Mace have [[note]] the closest is [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS1E10LairOfGrievous Kit Fisto once dueling General Grievous]], but Sidious in another league [[/note]] and the others who have besides Mace and Anakin themselves [[note]] Obi-Wan, Yoda, [[Literature/DarkDisciple Quinlan Vos]], and [[ComicBook/DarthMaulSonOfDathomir Aayla Secura]] [[/note]] are all off-world when Palpatine springs his trap, almost as if someone with a ton of power in the government planned for that... The Sith were believed to be extinct for thousands of years, and lightsaber methods taught to Jedi moved past focusing on saber-to-saber combat, and instead focused on deflecting energy weapons. When the Sith revealed themselves again, the focus of training likely changed somewhat, but there's only so much friendly sparring against other Jedi on a similar power level can do.
* Out-of-universe, the duel in Palpatine's office is one of FIVE lightsaber duels in the film, and the majority of time for actors to prepare was given to the massive climactic duel between Vader and Obi-Wan. Ian [=McDiarmid=] admitted that learning the choreography was difficult for him, so many of Palpatine's movements during the fight come across as slow and stilted. The fight was probably supposed to be a lot faster-paced than what we got, and show off Palpatine's blistering speed and ability to kill Jedi before they can even move.
* Palpatine has surprise on his side. The three Jedi with Windu (Tiin, Kolar and Fisto) had heard thirdhand that Palpatine was a Sith Lord but it's one thing to hear something and another to believe it. Even if they believed he was a Sith Lord, Palpatine had done so well of playing the part of a frail and affable politician that three of the Jedi weren't really prepared for a fight.
* Palpatine makes a bizarre noise while barrel rolling up onto the ledge where the Jedi are standing, that sounds kind of like he's gargling while constipated. There's no real reason for him to do this unless it's some kind of psychic Force scream to disorient the Jedi and disrupt their concentration and he takes down the weaker two Jedi in an instant while Windu and Fisto are recovering.
* Fisto fares a little better, but Palpatine intentionally backs the two Jedi into close quarters, where the advantages of outnumbering him are somewhat mitigated. Palpatine's stronger bladework prevails and Fisto falls too. Windu only makes it as long as he does because Vapaad has special strengths against dark side users and Windu is one of the most gifted knights in the Order.
TLDR: Palpatine is simply in a league way beyond the Jedi sent to arrest him, but the film doesn't do a great job of capturing that.

[[WMG: Anakin and Padme had a real [[PsychicLink Force-bond]] like the one in ''Film/TheLastJedi'']]

In ''The Last Jedi'', we see that [[spoiler: Kylo Ren and Rey]]  - two Force-sensitives - could see and hear each other from across the galaxy via a Force-bond. During the scene 'Padme's Ruminations', Padme and Anakin both seem to sense each other whilst she's in her apartment and he's in the Jedi Temple. Padme herself is not Force-sensitive, but her unborn children are, possibly increasing her Force-sensitivity during her pregnancy; thus, whilst she and Anakin cannot see each other as clearly as [[spoiler: Rey and Kylo]] or talk to each other, they still shared a brief psychic connection through the Force.

[[WMG: Why Obi-Wan hides a laugh when he says Anakin killed the younglings]]

No, it’s not because Ewan couldn’t deliver that writing with a straight face. A lot of people, this troper included, involuntarily giggle when faced with huge, horrible news or when telling someone else that news. Obi-Wan was experiencing this kind of reaction to Anakin’s fall to the dark side. (Or maybe it’s just Ewan not being able to deliver that writing with a straight face).
[[WMG: Jar-Jar actually is not a sith lord, Revenge of the Sith]]
Frankly, this is the sith lord's golden moment. The ideal time to drop his act...well, there would have been a lot of them, but generally, if you never drop the act, indicate any hidden motives...well then it is likely not an act.
And why on earth would he be at Padme's funeral instead of meeting with Palpatine?

* Jar-Jar ''claims'' to be "clumsy", and he certainly flails around a lot, but he's also seen perfectly executing some precise acrobatics, including in the battle in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace''. (He may also have had the benefit of the battle droids being programmed not to hit him.)

* Public relations. A lot of these people aren't given ''actual'' responsibility, but the various militaries want people to think they're important for whatever reason.all of these generals if it failed.

[[WMG: Palpatine used the Force to weaken Dooku]]
He only lasted like five minutes. Why? He was alone with Palpatine, he could do something to Dooku before the battle (or ''in the middle of the battle'') to made Dooku lose. Why? Because it was his plan all along, with Dooku defeated, the Jedis showed just ''how powerful they are'', Palpatine was able to use it against them. Specially since Dooku was a Jedi, once. He knew that the only way to defeat them is make them look like a public menace. Of course, since ''The Phantom Menace'' his objective was to have Anakin as his disciple and Dooku was only a puppet.
** If we go by only the movie, it's clear that Dooku was actually doing pretty well in, all things considered, a one-on-two fight by incapacitating one of his opponents and largely keeping Anakin at bay - until he taunted him, at which point Anakin channeled the Dark Side and promptly severed both of Dooku's hands. I don't think Palpatine did much at all during the actual battle, he set everything up so that Dooku could be conveniently removed (among many other steps he took to neatly wrap up the Clone Wars and start the Empire), his greatest role in the battle was in making absolutely sure that Anakin finished Dooku. Then we get into the theory that Dooku threw the fight as posed by the ROTS novelization, though that's almost a disputable thing.
*** In the book, he started fully intending to throw the fight. Then Anakin and Obi-Wan quit playing around after he taunted them, and started to ''actually'' beat him like a power drum. Then he managed to knock out Obi-Wan, at which point Anakin beat him straight-up.

[[WMG: Mace Windu didn't die.]]
In the lightsaber battle he only lost a hand, and we [[NeverFoundTheBody never saw his body]] after he was thrown out of the window. Jedis have telekinetic powers, which he used to slow down his fall. It took him a while to heal and escape Coruscant, and during that time Obi-Wan and Yoda already gone into hiding, so he didn't know where they were. As far as he knew, they, as well as all the other Jedis, were dead. He decided to go to exile to some remote planet. The planet was so remote that he only heard about the Rebel Alliance and Luke Skywalker once they'd already beaten the Empire, which is why he didn't join them during episodes IV, V, and VI.
* Mace Windu is [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse Nick Fury]]. Search your feeling, you know it to be true.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HctikPdPRpw You don't say...]]
** Alternatively, he went into exile as a bounty hunter, eventually getting a job to [[Film/PulpFiction reclaim a briefcase]].
* Even Mace can't survive being thrown out of a window on the thousandth floor of a building. If he had lived, he would have doubtlessly tried to help the Rebellion against the Empire. He was probably dead before he hit the ground, having been severely electrocuted.
** [[spoiler:Maul]] survived being cut in half and falling into a reactor pit. Vader willed himself to live after being dismembered and burned alive. Granted, both used ThePowerOfHate to keep going, but a)Mace has some knowledge of the Dark Side (Vaapad) and b)he's played by [[MemeticBadass Samuel L Jackson.]]
* Windu stops screaming and has a blank look on his face for the last second before he goes out the window, In any case, that building is DAMN HIGH. Never mind the speed at which he was thrown which looked like enough to break his neck from the velocity, he then fell at least a couple of hundred floors down to the ground. So by my count, that's enough to kill two times over.
** He might have been rendered unconscious, which unlike movies or tv usually only lasts a few seconds to minutes (in fact, [[TapontheHead being unconscious for longer than that]] [[JustForFun/TelevisionIsTryingToKillUs can and will cause severe brain damage]]. Theoretically, he could have woken up a few seconds after being thrown out and found a way to safely land. Also Disney/Lucasfilm could easily retcon that part of the novel (Its not like they haven't done this kind of thing before.)

* According to the Law of Conservation of Skin Colour, only one prominent black person is allowed in the Star Wars galaxy at one time. After surviving his fall from the Chancellor's office, Mace got fitted with a prosthetic hand, stopped shaving his head and grew a mustache. He then used a Jedi mind trick to become the baron administrator of a mining facility on a backwater gas giant in the Outer Rim called Bespin. As part of his deep cover operation to undermine the Empire by supplying the Rebellion with tibanna gas, he assumed the name of a dead smuggler named Lando and affected the personality of a suave gambler and ladies' man because nobody would ever take him for the serious, blunt and cynical Mace Windu.

[[WMG:Wiping C-3PO's memory was not only in everyone ''else's'' best interest. It was for his own.]]
We know that C-3PO is not the best droid at keeping his mouth shut. No one wanted him spilling the beans about Luke and Leia or anything else important. That knowledge could make him a rather important target for the Empire eventually if anyone figured out he knew this stuff (of course, so would R2-D2, but he can acutally keep a secret). But anyone who still complains about how unfair that would be for him, there's another aspect to remember.

He was built by Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. He was literally made by the enemy. Even if he was made years before the guy went to the DarkSide, that is still a rather concerning tidbit of information for the random Rebel member. They'd likely worry about ideas like C-3PO being a [[TheMole traitor]] passing on information to his "Maker" or that his whole personality was simply an act to disguise his true competence as a credible threat. Undoubtedly, anyone who figured that out would likely prefer to blast the possible threat and replace him with a droid with a less unnerving origin. The only way to prevent this type of situation would be to prevent the knowledge of C-3PO's connection to Darth Vader from being known.

This also explains why R2-D2, at no point in the original trilogy, gives any indication that he or C-3PO have ever dealt with or know anything about several characters. The closest he ever comes is [[Film/ANewHope claiming that he used to belong to Obi-Wan]] in order to pass on Leia's message, which leads to Obi-Wan instantly denies ever owning him (and is correct [[MetaphoricallyTrue technically]]). The two droids might argue and insult each other (at least, it sounds like R2-D2 returns some of C-3PO's comments...), but they [[HeterosexualLifePartners are best friends]] at the end of the day. The little droid is not going to let C-3PO get destroyed by a trigger-happy Rebel if he can help it, so he keeps quiet about any information that could be used to connect the protocol droid to Darth Vader. Hence, R2-D2 acts ignorant of Yoda's identity and why he never points out "Hey, Luke. By the way, I used to hang out with your dad and he's actually the evil guy on the Death Star." Because digging around in R2-D2's past could lead to questions about C-3PO's.
* To follow up on the point about it being in C-3PO's best interest: the knowledge he'd been built by Anakin, only for his maker to go evil, kill the woman he loved, become a hated enforcer of the galactic tyrant, and there was nothing he could do to stop this, would have to be horribly guilt-inducing. Bail at least, as well as Obi-Wan (whose initial dismissal of droids [[CharacterDevelopment has faded]] into camaraderie and understanding thanks to working with R2-D2, thus explaining his friendliness toward him in ''New Hope'') would have wanted to spare C-3PO this pain as an additional reason on top of the others already named.
[[WMG: Palpatine threw the fight with Windu.]]
The fact that Palpatine was able to kill 2 Jedi Masters in less than 30 seconds and being outnumbered 4-to-one (including Windu) shows just how powerful he is. Notice that during the fight that Palpatine actually has Windu by the saberpoint for a good few seconds whilst Windu is unable to block. Palpatine could have easily killed Windu at this point if he showed earlier that he can kill Jedi Masters as easily as Jedi cut through droids. Then there is the fact that Palpatine pretends to be weak when Anakin arrives and then moments later, shouts "POWER! Unlimited POWER!" all whilst delivering a massive blast of force lightning so strong that it throws Windu into the air. After this duel he recovers very quickly and starts talking and moving like his classic Emperor self. The only explanation as to how Windu even managed to survive let alone get the better of him was that Palpatine, a skillful manipulator, master planner and powerful prescient was actually toying with Windu until Anakin arrived so that he could convert him to the dark side.
* This is not a guess.
** It's pretty clear in the movie that he's playing possum when Windu has him cornered because Anakin has just arrived at the scene and he wants Anakin to help him kill Windu. There's no reason to believe Mace didn't defeat him during the duel, though. Sidious is too powerful for ordinary Jedi Masters to defeat (Yoda says even Obi-Wan isn't strong enough to take him on) but Mace is badass enough because he's second only to Yoda in the order's hierarchy. Sidious knew the Jedi were coming because Anakin told him so. He couldn't flee because that would practically be an admission of guilt, and the Jedi would catch up with him sooner or later. So he took a gamble that a) Anakin would intervene even though he was told not to and b) if push came to shove, Anakin would side with him. In classic Sidious style, it was a "heads I win, tails you lose" scenario: if Anakin arrives and Sidious has killed Mace and all the other Jedi, he can claim they tried to assassinate him and get Anakin to believe the Jedi have gone rogue, so they must be exterminated (which he does get him to believe). If Anakin arrives and he's still fighting Mace, or Mace has him at swordpoint, he can still get Anakin to side with him and help kill Windu to protect him, which means Anakin falls to the Dark Side (which is indeed exactly what happened). Sidious can always find a way to twist things to his advantage, because he's just that good at manipulating people.
*** I'd like to think that initially, Palpatine was planning to throw the fight, but a few seconds into getting lightning deflected into his face he legitimately started to lose, and that Windu very well could have killed him if Anakin hadn't intervened. After all, Palpatine is very likely out of practice, having spent the previous decade as the Supreme Chancellor, and prior to that as a Senator. He has to keep all of his Sith activities under the table (hence the perpetual cloak) and as such probably doesn't have much time to practice lightsaber dueling, force attacks and the like. In that moment, as he was lying there with Windu's saber inches from his throat, his cries for help were genuine. He legitimately didn't have any means to defend himself, so he stalled by forcing Anakin and Windu into an argument over the ethics of killing him, thus giving him enough time to recharge and deliver a finishing blow. When Anakin cut off Windu's hand, Palpatine likely had a moment in his head where he was thinking "wow, I can't believe that actually worked," hence the hammy cackling.

[[WMG: Padme committed suicide.]]
Through "losing the will to live", which is more likely some sort of latent Force power/elaborate poison. Or simply sabotaged her medical health. Padme Amidala knew that if she survived, Palpatine and/or Vader would no doubt get to her for information about the Skywalkers. And even if Palps didn't know, she'd still be a major political enemy that he'd try to kill as soon as possible. Not wanting to die disgraced as a political prisoner, Padme Amidala willed herself to die shortly after giving worth, in order to help Yoda and Obi-Wan's gambit, and possibly force Vader to reap what he sowed.

[[WMG: Mace Windu dies but not in Episode 3.]]
Mace Windu is much too badass to die that easily. Here's what really happened:

He survived the fall and went into hiding. What planet did he hide on? [[DoomedByCanon Alderaan]].

[[WMG: General Grievous ''knew'' what Palpatine's actual plan was.]]
The BadassDecay Grievous went through? [[ObfuscatingStupidity He was being intentional.]] Grievous knew the extent of Palpatine's actions, and was willing to go through with it in order to ensure absolute vengeance against the Jedi. Why would Palpatine tell him this? First, Grievous [[ItsPersonal has a personal vendetta against the Jedi]], and would have no issues with [[MoralEventHorizon Order 66]]. Second, Grievous is little more than a head on a droid, and as such is very easy to control. Third, Palpatine would probably find it [[ItAmusedMe funny]] if a supposed pawn knew more than his esteemed apprentice knew. Fourth, Grievous hates being a cyborg, so [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness being eliminated when no longer usefull]] [[DeathSeeker wouldn't be a problem]], especially if it made sure [[ThanatosGambit his death would lead to the destruction of the Jedi.]]

[[WMG: Palpatine wasn't Bantha Foddering about Darth Plagueis]]
His real plan was to work with Anakin to discover how Plagueis was able to prevent death, then Kill Anakin so he would have the knowledge to himself and live forever as the Galactic Emperor.

[[WMG: Mace Windu survived the battle with Palpatine.]]
In the climax of his battle with Palpatine, we are led to believe that Mace Windu was killed. However, they NeverFoundTheBody, and while the injuries he sustained look serious, they're much less than initially thought. I'll be breaking it down into three parts: His hand getting sliced off, getting shocked by Force lightning and getting tossed off the building.

* '''His hand:''' So Anakin sliced his hand off. Big deal. It may have looked serious at the time, but remember that both Anakin and Luke had their hands sliced off. Hell, Anakin had ''his entire lower body and his other arm'' cut and he still survived, although he required a cybernetic suit. [[spoiler:Darth Maul is an other example of someone who survived getting his lower body sliced off.]] It's a minor injury at best.
** Weren't Lightsabers also confirmed to cauterize wounds?
* '''Force lightning:''' Force lightning hurts. However, that doesn't mean that it instantly kills people. Luke survived being shocked by lightning by Palpatine for several minutes and didn't look much worse for the wear. Vader succumbed to Force lightning, but it wasn't because of the lightning itself more that his life support systems were destroyed. Palpatine also survived getting shocked with his own Force lightning while using it on Mace Windu for an extended period of time, although with a permanent disfigurement. Mace Windu was shocked for less than a minute before being thrown off the building, which gets me to my next point.
* '''Tossed off the Senate building:''' Mace Windu was tossed off the Senate building from Palpatine's office. It may seem like inevitable death, but remember that [[spoiler:Darth Maul survived both getting sliced in half and his drop down the Naboo reactor shaft]]. In addition, Coruscant's skylanes use repulsor lifts that could slow down his fall or simply stop it. We also don't know what happened after he fell out the window. For all we know, he could have been hit by an airspeeder or held onto a ledge with his remaining hand.

* He will appear in Star Wars Rebels, as a good equivalent to [[spoiler:Darth Maul.]]

[[WMG: The Jedi, being a religious order, are big into faith healing.]]
It's the only explanation for [[WhatAnIdiot Obi-Wan's idiocy]] when it came to Padme's death. He ''saw'' her getting Force Choked, and saw her collapse into unconsciousness when Anakin let her go. Yet he (and Yoda) simply accept her death as her having "lost the will to live", as opposed to the more common sense cause of having just given birth, ''to twins'', while suffering from a respiratory injury! Their religious inclination may be to believe that if someone ''really'' wants to live then they will draw upon the Force and ''make'' it happen. Since Padme was dying, to their minds she clearly lacked the necessary will to survive.

[[WMG: Palpatine never stopped regretting Order 66]]
Not because he was suffering from a bout of conscience or anything like that. But because ordering the total slaughter of ''all'' the Jedi, even very young Padawan's, [[ForWantOfANail left him stuck with Vader]]. Had he at least had the foresight to spare the younglings, which he could have done and made it look magnanimous to the Senate, then he would have had an excellent pool of potential replacement apprentices instead of one DarkLordOnLifeSupport whose powers were permanently diminished by his injuries. A more [[LightningBruiser vigorous apprentice]] would have been a huge help in ferreting out the Rebels. Instead he had the [[MightyGlacier powerful, but ponderous]], Vader who was typically a step or two behind the Rebel Alliance and often favored wasteful, brute force tactics that caused [[WeHaveReserves needlessly high attrition]] (e.g. How many Star Destroyers got wrecked chasing the Millennium Falcon through that AsteroidThicket?).

The sheer grandeur and mystery of Plagueis [[TakeOurWordForIt probably can't be given enough justice.]] Instead of giving him a definitive origin, there will be [[MultipleChoicePast many stories about him]], with hints in canon to suggest if they are true but nothing concrete.

[[WMG: Palpatine and Darth Sidious WERE two different people until Episode III.]]
This one obviously requires going by the films only. Palpatine was a well-intentioned leader, doing his best to hold the Republic together. He was as much a puppet of Sidous as any of the Republic's other leaders, and fully intended to step down once the Separatist crisis was resolved, as he had already been required to stay in power longer than the normal term limits.

Sidious' plan was more-or-less exactly the same as generally understood, with one exception: the real reason for the attack on Coruscant and the capture of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine was so that Sidious could replace him. The real Palpatine was disintegrated minutes after being brought on board the ''Invisible Hand'', and Darth Sidious altered his appearance (using Sith alchemy) to mimic Palpatine. This disguise was ruined when Mace Windu reflected Sidious' Force Lightning back onto him, but Sidious realized that, rather than have to go through the process of altering his appearance again, he could use his "scarred" appearance for sympathy with the Senate.
** Man I wish this was true. It would have been a fantastic twist that nobody saw coming and would have explained some of the ridiculous plot holes...maybe.

This explains why Palapatine goes from "kindly Grandpa" in Episodes I and II to "scheming, barely-secret villain" in Episode III. All of his ObviouslyEvil behavior occurs ''after'' being captured by the Separatists and being replaced by Sidious.
* This theory completely undermines the subtle nuances of Palpatine's political maneuvering (again, just going by the films). We see Palpatine pulling strings from the beginning, telling Padmé (then Queen of Naboo) that the Senate would get bogged down in bureaucracy and never give Naboo the help it needed. At least, not in time. He'd set up the invasion as Sidious, got sympathy vote as Palpatine to become Chancellor and continued with his merry little plot. In Episode II, he gets Padmé out of the way with a little assassination attempt and advising her to hide (which she accepts, since Palps is a kind of mentor figure, as both politicians came from Naboo), leaving behind the dumbest character in the entire galaxy to be manipulated, much like Padmé ten years before, into giving Palpatine more power, which he "begrudgingly" accepts, with his promise to return said power once the war (that he got started on both sides) comes to an end. He immediately goes and acts against what Padmé was advocating for: the creation of a Grand Army of the Republic. And he just so happens to know some people who have stumbled upon a vast clone army, and those clones just so happen to be programmed to kill Jedi when a certain order is given. In the meantime, he keeps on sowing seeds of obvious deception with Anakin, trying to get the young man to disconnect more and more with the Jedi Order. Suggesting he isn't the MagnificentBastard behind it all takes away from the ChessMaster aspect of the character and seems to be ComicallyMissingThePoint. This troper believes that Palpatine is only ObviouslyEvil in Episode III to the Jedi after he's revealed himself (and, of course, those of us in the audience), where the galaxy at large has his media portrayal garnering him sympathy from being attacked by Jedi. Basically, the façade is dropped only for the people who already know his true nature.



[[WMG: "Once more, the Sith will rule the galaxy"]]
Palpatine claims that the Sith ruled the galaxy after knighting Anakin as Darth Vader. While he's a ConsummateLiar, there's no reason for him to lie about the fact. And since the EU isn't canon anymore, the possibility exists: a thousand years ago, the Sith took over the galaxy. It explains how the Republic is both 1000 years old and been protected for "a thousand generations"-the Sith took over and made their Sith Empire long ago, and when thwarted it became the Republic again. This would give the Jedi a lot of motivation to fear and hate the Sith, and may even explain why Palpatine wants to rule the galaxy(well, asides from power lust); as the Sith ruled the galaxy, he believes it is his birthright.

[[WMG: "Into exile, I must go. Failed, I have."]]
Yoda said this for reasons beyond merely losing a duel to Emperor Palpatine. If that were all there was to it, he could've come back to settle the matter anytime he wanted once he retrieved his lightsabre or constructed a replacement. A big part of it was that it was beginning to dawn on Yoda that Anakin coming to him seeking counseling was an opportunity to steer the young Jedi knight away from the the path of darkness and throw a spanner in Palpatine's works; an opportunity he pissed away by saying something monumentally asinine. He could've prevented the Chosen One from being corrupted into a Sith, but he failed. Obviously, such a horrible realization would be enough to shake up anyone.

[[WMG: General Grievous was supposed to turn out to be Jar Jar Binks, but Lucas chickened out at the last minute]]
If you assume that Jar-Jar was [[ObfuscatingStupidity just pretending to be stupid,]] then this is horribly plausible.

Jar Jar was an alien general, and he DID help Palpatine. The only InUniverse explanation for Jar-Jar surviving the battle with the battle droids is if they were programmed not to hit him.

Jar Jar has a cameo at the end of Star Wars 3... explainable as Lucas chickened out of the ultimate Fan mind-screw. That, or it was his Force Ghost.
* Storywise, this would make more sense if Jar-Jar had had more screen time and more of a friendship with Obi-wan.
* Dubious as Jar-Jar is never shown corroborating with the Sith Lords. The original theory was mainly based off of Jar-Jar's hidden martial prowess.
[[WMG: Padme's death was caused by the severing of a strong Force Bond with Anakin.]]
Well, it's better than a broken heart, and a metaphysical bond was implied earlier in the film.
* In reality, she had the Force. Since she never attempted to use it, it probably just flowed with Anakin's Force at the moment he choked her; thus, it was an accidental "suicide by Force".
* This, and the hypothesis below, also mesh well with the "Force Roofie" [=WMG=].
** The shock of the broken bond/"Force Roofie" theory gets even ''more'' plausible if you're a KOTOR 2 player. Even the most scrupulous version of the Exile is pulling a massive Force Whammy on ''all'' the party members, save Canderous/Mandalore and the droids ''without realizing it.'' (Kreia's the one manipulating the Exile, making the whole thing one hell of a MindRape conga line - gotta love that misplaced Reverend Mother). Gets {{Lampshaded}} in a massive way if you're playing a MagnificentBastard Exile, as you have your party committing cold blooded murder, snapping out of it long enough to go "what are you making me do?!" only to keep following you anyway. Closet-case Sensitives like the majority of Exile's party, have all the disadvantages and almost none of the advantages. If Padme was an untrained Sensitive, and Anakin imposed a force Bond, that would explain just about everything, including why she died and the doctors couldn't explain why - a multiple-birth pregnancy, losing ''everything'' she fought to defend (the Republic and rule of law) would be stress enough. An undetected Force Bond transmitting the insane levels of pain Anakin was in, and essentially draining her life so that he could live? That would explain the rest, including some impressions that she left on Leia. (ROTJ)
** Or it ''could'' have had something to do with her being strangled and slammed onto a rock. Just tossing it out there.
* This also explains why Jedi aren't supposed to form romantic bonds; doing so risks a hazardous force bond.
[[WMG: Alternatively, Padme's death was caused by the strong Force Bond ''not'' breaking.]]
Padme didn't die because the bond was broken, she died because it ''wasn't''. All the pain and agony that Anakin was going through when he 1)Got his arm and legs chopped off 2)Burned into a crispy critter 3)and was apparently operated on without anesthetic when he got his Darth Vader suit, was all reciprocated onto Padme through the Force Bond. And since Padme had already been roughed up by Anakin and she was probably in a more vulnerable condition being at the end of her pregnancy term, the psychic shock was enough to kill her.
[[WMG: The reason Order 66 proceeded so quickly and smoothly was ''because'' of the Clones' loyalty to the Republic, rather than in spite of it, in a process otherwise referred to as ''fragging''.]]
The Jedi were astonishingly bad leaders; every battle with Clones, Jedi, and Separatists seems to involve Clones getting massacred en-masse and the Jedi walking away unscathed.
* One example off the top of this troper's head from the ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars'' cartoon would be the Battle of Munnilist, where the elite elite Arc Troopers kick ass and capture the HQ. Then the Jedi show up, and then the Clones die horribly.
* Later, in Mygeeto, the attitude seemed to be "Hey everyone! Let's charge across a narrow bridge with no cover at a fortified heavy weapons position", made worse by the fact that the commander ordering the charge is the only one who can survive being shot at.
* And who can blame them? It's not like they were trained for it. To sling another theory out there: Palpatine knew it was natural for them to fall into that role, and knew they would prove incompetent at it. That little plot would basically have written itself.
* Or maybe it had more to do with them actually liking the Jedi. Many times over, the Clones go out of their way to save the Jedi, and a lot of the Jedi feel guilty about using them and when they die. It's like every General has an emotional twinge every time any of the soldiers die or get hurt severely. Especially the ones they always work with.
** Further WMG: The soldiers are trained to serve the Republic, just like the Jedi. When 66 goes out, the Jedi are now enemies of the Republic. The fact that they earned the trust of the Jedi made it that much easier to take them out swiftly.
** All of the above can be jossed because in Episode II, it was explained that the clones are genetically engineered to be obedient. That plus spending literally their entire lives being trained to serve the Republic means that when an order comes from the head of state himself, they follow it without question. None of them are shown defying the order or even hesitating in the movie. They just receive the order and go through with it.
[[WMG:Padme died of medical malpractice]]
Come on, who in the civilized world dies of childbirth?
* And it was actually was key component of Palpatine's gambit, as he rose to power based on the war, the Jedi revolt, and a platform of strong healthcare reform.
* No it's made very clear that she died of a broken heart.
** It's made very clear ''by the doctors'', who of course would grab any excuse to cover their own asses.
*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR6clCBcd6Q Doctor Ball Agrees]]. ''What's your degree in? Poetry?''
*** Their degrees were in archeology. They didn't even have time to change out of their digging clothes.
*** That, and what do the Polis Massan doctors know about human biology, especially obstetrics?
** Two problems with all of the above: Padme wasn't anywhere near civilization (she was in the sickbay of some mining colony somewhere) and there weren't any doctors, just a couple of medical droids.

[[WMG:Padme died of respiratory complications.]]
Trying to ''give birth'' after having her trachea crushed? Broken heart, my ass...
* The Jedi seem almost ludicrously untrained in basic first aid. Obi-Wan ''saw'' Anakin Force Choke Padme, and saw her collapse when he got Anakin to stop. A person with a brain and basic knowledge of first aid would have ''assumed'' right away that she probably had some kind of neck injuries, if not a damaged trachea. But at no point does anybody give her oxygen--even while she is straining to squeeze out twin babies! Instead they wax poetic and assume that "She's lost the will to live."
* This troper wonders if they don't know basic first aid because they're all [[MadeOfIron ridiculously fit Jedi knights]] with PsychicPowers and they don't NEED it too often. For a group of warriors who run around policing a galaxy, very few are disabled or seriously scarred. Remember Obi-Wan's brutal lightsaber fight with Anakin? They spent a LONG-ASS time throwing everything they had at each other, and when they were both exhausted, Obi-Wan still needed ''to hack off three of Anakin's limbs and leave him with ungodly burn wounds'' for Anakin to be ''close'' to dying. And guess what, he still lived for twenty years! (In constant emotional and physical pain, but "living in agony and shame" is still living.) Padme is a BadassNormal diplomat, but a woman of her size who lacks PsychicPowers couldn't handle ''nearly'' as much damage as her six-foot Jedi husband, especially while pregnant. The Jedi recruit people from infancy and early childhood to the point where Anakin, who started ''late,'' can use the Force for [[MundaneUtility cutting up fruit and feeding it to his wife,]] so it's very likely they use the Force to keep from getting internal injuries in case they get in a crash or fall from heights. Obi-Wan wouldn't have realized that Padme got hurt from getting Force-choked and slammed against a rock, because ''that's not serious for a Jedi.''

[[WMG: Palpatine's un-scarred human face was a disguise]]
As we thought from the days of ''Return Of The Jedi'', Palpatine's pale, craggy face is the real him after decades of Dark Side mastery. He didn't have the power to fight off Mace Windu and maintain the illusion, so he just used the attack as an excuse to drop it for good.
* Palpatine's databank entry specifically states that he was disfigured by his Force lightning.
** Then why didn't it happen to Luke when Palpatine blasted him full-on in the face with it? Aside from being in horrible pain at the time, he was no worse for wear afterwards.
*** Two things: first, Palpatine was very blatantly making a point of torturing Luke to death in that scene, so he would have been deliberately using a low voltage, and therefore it would have a slower effect. Second: it's possible that Mace's saber beam increased the effect of the force lightning when it made it ricochet, added some juice to it with its own heat or energy.
*** Plus, Palpatine was taking 100% of it right in the face from a few inches away. The lightning Luke got hit by was distributed all over the place.
* I think it was just Palpatine overdrawing on his power. He could have shut the lightning off, but he keep it going so Anakin would feel sorry for him being "beat up by big bad Mace Windu". However, to keep the lightning going for so long, he needed to draw on his own lifeforce. Kind of idiotical, but Anakin fell for it and Palpatine probably considered his own looks secondary to gaining a powerful apprentice.
* It's implied in the novelization that because Mace Windu's customized lightsaber technique draws him uncomfortably close to the Dark Side, he was able to redirect Palpatine's lightning back at him, causing them both to become stuck in a loop that could only be broken when one of them won the "battle of wills," if you will. Thus, Palpatine ended up drawing much more than he had originally thought to, causing the scarring.
* I took it as Palpatine *deliberately* scarring himself. Both to appear sympathetic to Anakin, so he would step in. And to appear sympathetic to the Senate. "Look at what those evil Jedi did to me, we should get rid of them." His own physical appearance concerned him less than the power he could get by exploiting it.
* My personal theory is that Palpatine, at least for a second, legitimately was on the verge of losing the battle, and that Mace Windu very easily could have killed him if Anakin hadn't intervened. Palpatine's hammy cackling when killing Windu were more out of relief then out of pure malice, like a sort of "I can't believe I just survived that."

[[WMG: Palpatine's Deformation was caused by CASTING the Force Lightning]]
Related to the above theory. My own understanding has always been that his unscarred face was not a disguise ''per se'', but that his later appearance wasn't just scarring from being blasted by his own lightning, either. If nothing else, that fails to explain why it suddenly causes him to have the golden Sith eyes. My theory is that, while he had theoretical ''knowledge'' of it thanks to Darth Plagueis's teachings, Palpatine had had very little hands-on experience up to that point with using the more obscure Dark Side techniques. He knew ''how'' to cast some Force Lightning, and had probably tried it once or twice before, but this was the first time he had to hold it for so long, and drawing on so much power suddenly is what caused him to go through the physical transformation. This also neatly explains his otherwise [[CardCarryingVillain incredibly]] [[EvilIsHammy over-the-top]] "POWER! UNLIMITED POWER!" scream. He was genuinely thrilled to, at last, let it all out and throw his everything into the Force Lightning after being forced to hold his power in for years.

[[WMG: Absolutes are drugs or illegal slaves.]]
Thus why Obi-Wan was able to say "only the sith deal in absolutes." Nothing ironic about that.
** Except that "[If you think the Jedi are evil] THEN YOU ARE LOST!" is an absolute.
*** ...as is "only the Sith deal in absolutes".
* [[http://web.archive.org/web/20101230094713/absolutnie.net/uploads/images/absolut_vodka_family.jpg By the Force, you have a point!]] Apparently Galactic Republic is into prohibition.
[[WMG: Palpatine killed Padme by exploiting her Force Bond, not Anakin]]
Palpatine just told Vader he killed her to make him angrier and more hateful. Palpatine really used Sith Alchemy to heal Vader partially using Force Drain to drain Padme of her remaining strength and transferring it in order to prevent Vader from any potential uprisings. The neck wound was just a mask.
* Or on a lighter, sweeter note; Padme sacrificed herself to save Anakin by transferring her remaining strength to Anakin through their Force Bond.
[[WMG: Darth Plagueis never existed]]
Palpatine made the whole thing about creating life up just to tempt Anakin to the dark side. Furthermore, Anakin was not immaculately conceived, rather Palpatine used the [[PowerPerversionPotential Jedi Mind Trick]] to force Shmi to sleep with him and then forget about it. Anakin's high midichlorian count is a result of Shmi's own (average human) midichlorians being in a state of excitation (from the mind trick) at the point of conception. Palpatine probably did this loads, bedding random women left right and centre just because he could. There's probably dozens of chosen ones out there, Anakin's just the one that happened to be found.
* There's a canon picture of Plagueis.
* This troper has come to believe Darth Plagueis never existed too. Palpatine/Sidious is a master liar/manipulator. He tells people what they want to hear, how they want to hear it. And Anakin is no different. He wants Anakin on his side. So he tells this tale to earn Anakin's trust.
** Well, he probably ''existed''; I mean, someone has to have taught Palpatine how to use the Force. That doesn't mean he had the power over life and death that Palpatine claimed he did.
*** Excactly, it's even possible that he "created" Anakin by using the Midichlorians but that the stuff about him being able to prevent death was just bait for Anakin to trick him into obeying Palpatine.
** Canon shmanon. The films are in their own continuity: WordOfGod has confirmed that. The idea that Darth Plagueis might never have existed occurred to me too. It might also be that someone by that name existed and maybe even trained Palpatine (after all, ''someone'' must have taught him, though Palpatine makes it sound like the story is older than he is) but everything else about the guy is made up. As for Anakin's birth, we have only Shmi's word to go by that he was immaculately conceived. We don't know if it's true. And if it is, it might have nothing to do with either Plagueis or Palpatine. Really, the whole thing is a mystery, and Lucas explicitly said that's what it's meant to be.
*** It does bear mentioning that when Anakin finally falls and asks Palpatine to teach him Darth Plagueis' secrets, Palpatine's answer is basically "If we work together, we can figure it out," which would imply that, contrary to hints he dropped earlier, he doesn't know any of said secrets.
*** WordOfGod my butt. George Lucas has [[FlipFlopOfGod contradicted himself]] on the Expanded Universe/film continuity relationship more times than one can count. The fact is, that Lucas has had a ''direct role'' in the story writing for stories such as the ''Literature/NewJediOrder'' series, the ''Literature/DarthBane'' trilogy (in fact, the character of Darth Bane was created by Lucas himself), and ''VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed''. And WordOfGod has confirmed that Darth Plagueis did exist, and that he did create Anakin.

[[WMG: ''Padme'' Lives!]]
As stated before, who the hell dies in childbirth? No...
* Being known as "Vader's Moll" probably isn't very good for someone look to advance her career as a rebel. No, she went on to become...
** Some ex-Senator from some nothing world called Chandrilla. I think her new identity was Mon Mothma.
*** Deleted scenes in Episode 3 show Mon Mothma and Padme together. The book has them work together, too.
** Handmaiden to the Queen of Alderaan. It's not like she doesn't have a lot of experience with that disguise. And it lets her keep an eye on Leia.
*** Ah sweet {{Irony}}; looks like Vader managed to kill her twice.
*** Not necessarily; some of the household staff and retainers were offworld when the attack occurred, such as Winter. (Winter herself is too young and Padme probably doesn't have her eidetic memory.) She could still live. Creepily enough, with the medical technology on hand, it's possible she's around well into the New Jedi Order...
* Being a Rebel is for losers. The crushing fist of the Empire is more the style of...
** Admiral Daala. Turns out the crushing fist of the Empire is rather sexist.
* You know what, screw politics. Independent operator is the way to go for...
** Guri. We all though she was an android/Human Replica Droid. Turns out Franchise/StarWars cybernetics and bioscience is a lot more advanced than we thought.
* Or, all of the above. Took her a while to figure out what she wanted.
* Which was fishing on some backwater world, far away from all that galactic power politics. Why get burned again?
* She could have stayed on Tatooine, where it was almost certain Darth Vader would never return to. She could even check on Luke in disguise.
** So that means she was Aunt Beru! Fortunately, she still had one of her stunt double retainers hanging around, allowing her to slip away in the disguise of a Twi'Lek dancer, before getting another Twi'Lek to cover her shift at Jabba's palace so she could go to Anchorhead to find some paint to brighten up that garish Han Solo carbonite statue Jabba had put in.
[[WMG:"General" is actually a fairly low rank in the Star Wars universe.]]
I mean, seriously, the Republic and the Alliance hand out this rank like flyers for a strip club, regardless of military experience. Any young Jedi fresh out of apprenticeship? General. A drug smuggler indebted to a gangster? General. An oily con artist who ''sold his best friend to the Empire'' and only switched sides because Vader went back on his deal? General! Generally, there's too many generals in the good-guy organizations of the Galaxy. The actual leaders must have like [[{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}} twenty-five stars]].
** Compare to the historical practice of handing out the rank of "Colonel" casually in various state militias in the US. Do something good for the Rebels, get known as a person their core membership can rely on to get things done? The Rebels' central command always needs reliable agents they can send around the galaxy to keep the local rebel cells on the same page. But to do that, they have to give you a high enough rank to overawe the guerilla movement on Backwater Planet #52038. Boom! You're a general.
*** Bringing troops, supplies, warships, or finances with you could be part of it too - as was often the case in the US Civil War when some men with no military experience were appointed General for having political connections and recruiting a large number of troops to join the cause. Lando may have some political connections and a decent amount of money too for all we know. Han Solo is implied to have some military experience in his backstory and he's bringing to the cause a very versatile ship with value as a speedy blockade runner, an anti-fighter platform, and carries powerful anti-structual missiles as well.
*** There's also the fact that Han Solo had proven himself in the Rebellion for the three years between Episodes IV and V.
** Alternately, it seems that Generals get front-line duty for suicide missions a lot. Maybe Rebel Generals have similar life expectancies to Imperial Admirals. I can imagine Ackbar and Madine going down the line of long-term rebels offering them the job. Lando and Han were the last on the list. The just happened to be badass enough to survive.
** We must also remember that both armies, during the Clone Wars ''and'' during the Rebellion, were spread incredibly thin throughout the galaxy. They needed people in charge, and one of the fastest ways to ensure that was probably to grant them a high rank that the clones (and people on Backwater Planet #52038, after the fall of the Republic) were expected to follow.
** "General" may very likely be handed out as a rank for PR reasons; they weren't seemingly being given any particular duties in managing forces, but they were named generals for their accomplishments and to promote their names in media to encourage morale and build broader support. Once the Rebel Alliance had something close to a bona-fide Jedi on their hands, the son of famous hero Anakin no less, they couldn't easily avoid giving him the same sort of rank Jedi were expected to have in warfare due to the Clone Wars' precedent.
* Let's look at some career progression real quick:
** Luke starts as a fighter pilot, surely not the bottom of the ladder, but he did just grab the Alliance leadership's attention by resuing Princess Leia, securing the Death Star plans, and having been hand-picked by General Obi-Wan Kenobi to come along to begin with. Through the course of the battle, most of the front-line leadership is killed, and Luke takes charge of what is left of the Rebel forces, showing his leadership skills before successfully destroying the Death Star and saving the Rebel base on Yavin. The next time we see him, he holds the rank of Commander and leads Rogue Squadron into combat before going off on his own to train as a Jedi Knight (I mean, that sounds like going AWOL, bordering on desertion, but he catches up with the Fleet later and we don't know what everyone's orders were regarding how long they should wait before meeting up again). When we see him again after that, allowing for some time to recuperate, we see no particular sign of Luke having a promotion, but he seems to have been training his unique skillset further, and leads a small team to rescue Han Solo. Luke signs on with Solo's mission (see below) before striking out on his own again. Luke's military career seems to stall out because he's become more akin to [[OneRiotOneRanger a secret agent than a military leader.]]
** Han starts out as what you could charitably define as a free agent, a ship captain who is hired by Kenobi for his discretion in getting Obi-Wan, Luke, the droids, and unknown to Han, the Death Star plans, to Alderaan. Han ends up getting ensnared in the ensuing developments and helps rescue Princess Leia from the Death Star before successfully getting the Death Star plans to Yavin (more than he signed on for, but it's shown the Alliance at least honors Kenobi's financial arrangement). At this point he could bug out, his accounts with the Alliance balanced and closed, but he comes back of his own accord to help destroy the Death Star before committing to the Rebellion. The next we see him, he is a Captain with some authority at Echo Base on Hoth, and gets a leave of absence to settle his accounts with Jabba. Before he can do so, he again gets ensnared in ensuing developments and rescues Leia (again) by getting her away from the Empire (at least until they are captured and he is delivered to Jabba the Hutt). He gets appointed as a General by the third film, evidently both as recognition for his accomplishments and to show the importance of his mission (the team he leads would probably be lead by something closer to a Captain or Lieutenant normally).
** Lando's situation is dicier. He basically sells several of the Rebellion's heroes out to the Empire and the Hutts. He switches sides, partly because of how badly this backfires on him, and rescues Leia, Chewie, Luke, R2-D2, and C-3PO. His signing on to rescue Han could be seen as him completing his redemption in their eyes (he could have argued, truthfully, that he was backed into a corner when the Empire showed up to begin with, giving him at least the chance to prove himself). His experience as a city administrator and overseeing mining operations at least suggests he has leadership and management skills the Rebellion could use. It does seem to be a bit of a stretch that he is placed in command of the attack force, given that there are other pilots like Wedge who have served with the Alliance for considerably longer, but he does mention playing a part at the Battle of Taanab, so he's evidently not lacking in battlefield experience either. Either way, his title of General seems to indicate the importance of his part in the mission as well. The Battle of Endor was a Hail Mary operation anyways, so it's not like the Rebellion would have to worry about what to do with all of these generals if it failed.

[[WMG: Padme did die of a broken heart]]
Or rather more accurately the strain from being force choked and childbirth aggravated a preexisting congenital heart defect. As a result she suffered from a massive heart attack and died. The broken heart bit was just cause the medical droids were programed to talk weird like half the stuff in Star Wars.
* There's also the shock from realizing her own husband has turned evil.
* Depression and other such negative emotions ''do'' have a strong negative impact on the immune system; its possible that by "no will to live" Doctor Ball meant "her immune system and ability to recover from was so weakened by her depression that she succumbed to wounds she would otherwise have easily recovered from".
** Then why did they say that medically she was completely healthy?
** A peculiarity of how diagnostic categories are classified in the Star Wars universe. Emotionally, she's on the breaking point. Medically, she's healthy. The doctorbot didn't feel the need to specify this, as it was patently obvious even to him.
* A stress-induced arrhythmia can kill you and leave the heart looking completely normal.

Bail Organa offered to adopt one of them, and the other got sent to the next of kin. Simple as that.
* How is this not canon?
** What the OP probably meant was "Luke was sent to Tatooine because Obi-Wan and Yoda assumed Vader was dead, therefore there was no chance he would come looking there, and it was a safe place for him to grow up. If they'd known Vader had survived his injuries, they would've sent him elsewhere, because they would be afraid Vader might come back to his home planet someday".
** The bigger question is how ''stupid'' they had to be to think that Tatooine was a "safe" place for Luke! Remember, his grandmother was dragged off screaming and kicking from that exact same farm by Sand People and slowly tortured to death! Presumably, the reason Obi-Wan could not spend the subsequent two decades making himself useful to the emerging Rebellion was because he was on perpetual standby in case the Sand People made off with Luke! Notice how promptly he showed up, ''on foot'', when Luke actually ''did'' get into trouble with the Sand People?
** This raises the interesting question of when exactly Obi-Wan found out Anakin/Vader was still alive. Conceivably this could be as late as when he ended up on the Death Star in ''Film/ANewHope''. So maybe he actually ''wasn't'' lying to Luke when he told him that his father was dead. In fact, the "certain point of view" that "Vader betrayed and murdered your father" actually makes a whole lot more sense if you assume Obi-Wan thought at the time that Anakin/Vader had died on Mustafar. It was probably easier for Obi-Wan to tell Luke this half-truth than explain the whole story of how he himself ended up killing Luke's father (or so he thought).
** It is canon. Obi-Wan doesn't find out until the epilogue of ''Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader'', set a few months after [=RoTS=], when he hears a news report about Vader's recent doings in the Mos Eisley cantina. He immediately panics for Luke's safety, until Qui-Gon appears and reassures him that Vader will never be able to return to his homeworld.
[[WMG: Palpatine used Mind-Affecting powers to make Anakin kill Padme.]]
Palpatine already knew of Anakin's plot to overthrow him and rule with Padme, so therefore he used his deep skill in manipulation to Mind Trick Anakin to killing Padme, even unintentionally.
* Better yet, he also used mind-affecting powers to brainwash Anakin into Darth Vader; This explains why Anakin's shift in personality is so sudden.
[[WMG: Palpatine suffered brain damage during the battle with Mace Windu.]]
Seriously: in the last two and a half films leading up to the event, Palpatine was - at least in this troper's eyes - a reasonable and fairly benevolent leader who just happened to see his underhanded schemes and the Dark Side of the Force as the best ways of securing peace. Obviously, when Mace Windu reflected his blast of lightning back in his face, his brain also sustained damage, for he transforms into a cackling megalomaniac with no subtlety or patience. Of course, he spends the next few decades trying to recover, hence his more subdued performance in Return of the Jedi - but by then it's too late for the countless innocents that have died in the meantime. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Nice job breaking it, Windu.]]
* Another possibility: Palpatine's extensive use of the Dark Side causes him to suffer from a severe case of ThisIsYourBrainOnEvil. Over time, his power corrupts him and turns him into a cackling sadistic fiend.
* What's the evidence that Palpatine was benevolent? He was scheming to sell out his homeworld to the Trade Federation and lay the groundwork for a major galactic civil war ''ten years'' before he got into a fight with Windu. He may have claimed to want peace and seemed like a good guy, but his entire strategy revolved around making everyone in the Republic think he was a good guy to begin with. And if he could fool the galaxy, is it any wonder he can fool the audience?
* For what its worth, Thrawn thinks at least part of his motivation was to be able to build up the millitary to prepare for the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. If Palpatine wasn't fooling Thrawn, then he was corrupted by either the dark side or the lightning brain damage. But chances are, Palpatine was just using the impending invasion to lure the galaxy's greatest tactician to his service.
* Thus,Palpatine used to be a WellIntentionedExtremist,who wanted to bring order and stability,and believed the Jedi were a threat to that.He saw himself as NecessarilyEvil, and even held Anakin as a sort of MoralityPet.When Mace lightning zapped him,it caused him to become DrunkOnTheDarkSide.Trying to stop the Yuuzhan Vong is the only thing left of his humanity
** If Palpatine gave a damn about the incoming Vong invasion, why did he allow the massive anti-alien sentiment? I would imagine having as many species united would serve the interests of the Galaxy if only to have as many warm bodies pointed at the incoming invasion instead of most likely joining them out of bitterness caused by 40 years of oppression.
** the retcon that Palpatine and Thrawn knew the Vong where coming and told no-one makes no sense. The Empire was established in several books to have an elebrate propaganda department and the propaganda value of a race of sadomasocistic fanatics who don't even have a word for peace is spectacular. Think about it "I need to be in charge so I can get us ready to stop these people that are so obviously evil that I look cuddly by comparasion if I stand next to them." He didn't know they were coming and people need to stop retconing the Vong into every aspect of the Galaxy Far Far Away.
*** Look at Vader and Caedus. The time between "starts to use Dark Side for good purposes" and "so utterly DrunkOnTheDarkSide and [[TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget forgetful]] that you're a caricature of yourself doing everything solely ForTheEvulz" ranges from three weeks to three minutes. By the time he was actually in a position of power, even if he had had good intentions at some point, they were long gone and replaced by evil nuttiness. And if this guess is right, he was severely brain damaged shortly before making those xenophobic policies, which explains his ''atrocious'' long-term planning skills.
** The Darth Plaguies novel would seem to joss this, showing that Palpatine was basically pure evil since conception and essentially TheAntichrist of the Dark Side. Though that doesn't mean he suffered brain damage-the blast may not have made him eviller, but less rational and more DrunkOnTheDarkSide. Trying to turn Luke is an example of this: Palpatine was trying to seduce Luke [[EvilCannotComprehendGood with simple power]], instead of using the "will help save family members" that worked so well on Luke's dad.

[[WMG: "Only the Sith deal in absolutes!"]]
Was just Obi-Wan being being [[{{Irony}} ironic]]. It kinda fits his subtly amused persona in the original series.
* Either that, or it was a big LateToThePunchline moment for him; "Oh! Hey, now I-" * lightsaber*
* Might as well bring it up, Obi-Wan isn't saying "Only Sith use absolutes" he's saying "Only Sith ''deal'' in absolutes." Anakin had made the unambigious statement that any opposition would be met with as an enemy. Obi-Wan, while certainly anticipating his DuelToTheDeath with Anakin, still made an attempt at negotiation and bring his friend back to the light side. Obi-Wan is smart enough to know there are some people you can't negotiate with and you can't let yourself become a victim of their violence, but the entire conversation wasn't Anakin resigning to kill Obi-Wan, but the other way around. Anakin had already made his choice.
* Although the Jedi Order also deals in absolutes. The Force should only be used according to ''their'' teachings (this is more strongly emphasized in the Expanded Universe), Jedi must ''not'' marry or form intimate personal attachments to other people (Ki-Adi-Mundi was allowed to marry because his species has a population crisis, but he obviously did not live with his wives), the will of the Council ''must'' be obeyed (despite being mostly a self-selecting group of like-minded Masters), etc. The Jedi were really a very dogmatic organization, not receptive to other points of view and rarely willing to consult with others. Heck, they planned to depose the Chancellor without even bothering to consult with the Senate (which led to their downfall)!
** Therefore, this line is an unintentional example of FridgeBrilliance because it shows how the Jedi had become arrogant and corrupt and that's why the Sith were able to destroy them. Or, it shows that Obi-Wan's kind of a hypocrite. We know from the original trilogy that he blamed himself for Vader's downfall and spent a long time coming to terms with his hubris here.

[[WMG: Anakin fulfilled the Prophecy by carrying out the attack on the Temple]]
The Prophecy stated that the Chosen One would bring balance to the force, during the prequels there were only two Sith while there were significantly more Jedi. By killing the Jedi at the temple and hunting down survivors of the purge, Anakin did bring balance to the force, from a certain point of view.
** While the meaning of 'balance to the force' has been discussed endlessly it's worth pointing out that even after Anakin/Vader's purges the jedi numbers never dropped below at least 3 (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Great_Jedi_Purge#Known_survivors_or_unaccounted_Jedi_as_of_the_end_of_the_Purge.3B_1_BBY). Ignoring EU this explanation might work (though the balance is disrupted as soon as obi/yoda die, leaving it 2 sith to 1 jedi, then 1 jedi to 0 sith later) but any hint of balance = same number goes out the window as soon as the EU is included as a large number survive from the clone wars to the NJO.
* Welcome to a very dramatic misinterpretation of the Force and the whole issue with the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil. The Jedi religion is based on Taoism; the code of the Jedi is essentially Taoism with the serial numbers filed off. The Dark Side is not literally a matter of yin or yang (to use the classical terms); it is an ''imbalance'' in the natural balance. The Jedi, by contrast, represent the proper balance, not an extreme of one side or another.
** But the ''old'' Jedi ''were'' out of balance. They had become stagnant, inflexible, corrupt, and tyranical. To bring proper balance to the force, ''both'' the old Jedi ''and'' the Sith had to be destroyed, ''and'' a new, in-balance, Jedi Order had to be established. Anakin's ''entire'' life is the fulfillment of the prophecy, in stages. He destroys the old Jedi and the Sith, and produces the two children who establisht he new Jedi Order.
* Anakin/Darth Vader throws Sidious into the bottomless pit, kills him, stops being Sith and thereby destroys the Sith, fulfilling the prophecy. It's as simple as that. Lucas just went with the interpretation that came up later because it made him look more sophisticated.
** It's attitudes like that which makes Franchise/StarWars a BrokenBase. None of the above theories on what "Balance to the Force" means (2 Sith / 2 Jedi or the revised Jedi Order) has been expressly stated by Lucas, but extrapolated from what was actually in the movies and related comments. He was actually pretty tight lipped on most every major plot point during the filming of the prequels including the prophecy of the chosen one, which was never brought up in the original trilogy (One of the few things he spoke out on was that Qui-Gon not fading away would be a plot point). The novelization of ''Literature/RevengeOfTheSith'' supports the theory that balance required the Jedi to evolve, as Yoda realized the Sith evolved in order to survive and for there to be any hope for the Jedi Order they must do the same thing. The Old Jedi Order may not have needed to be as completely destroyed for such an act to happen, but without something as drastic [[StatusQuoIsGod there would be no reason to change]].
** The RotS novelization offers another explanation, that neatly ties both options together. The Sith unbalance the Force because ''darkness is the natural state of all sentient life''. The Jedi have to be around to "create light", and balance out the darkness created by the entire population of the galaxy. The Sith using the darkness as a weapon unbalance that, even though they don't create darkness as the Jedi create light.

[[WMG:Anakin balanced the force by wiping out all Sith and Jedi.]]
Ignoring Lucas and his WordOfGod, we enter the prologue with a Dragonlance situation much like right before the Cataclsym. The world was heavily unbalanced in favor of the Jedi who were damaging in their actions if even unintentional. Anakin turns Sith and destroys, effectively, all Jedi. This disrupts the order, again, massively in favor of the Sith. Luke, we see in the Prologues, may be a force user after Yoda's training, but far from a Jedi. He takes the Jedi name up, but he is something new. Vader kills Palpatine and in the process dies removing the last two Sith. In short, Vader wiped out all of the old order himself, save Yoda, leaving something new to form.
* See objection above.

[[WMG:Anakin fulfilled the Prophecy by erasing the Jedi Order, specifically the Jedi Code.]]
We know Force sensitivity is innate and inherited. More so, Force sensitive genes seem to be dominant: whenever a person who is not Force sensitive has a child with a Force sensitive person, the offspring is almost always Force sensitive as seen with the children of Padme Amidala and Han Solo. We know that there are populations with a much higher concentration of Force sensitive individuals than the rest of the galaxy (ancient Sith, the flora and fauna of Myrkr, the population of Dathomir, the Rakatan Infinite Empire etc.) So what is stopping Force sensitive genes from freely spreading throughout the galaxy? The Jedi Order enforcing celibacy. This probably developed as a mechanism for the Jedi Order to maintain its monopoly. If more and more people were born with Force sensitivity, rivaling institution would likely emerge as it would be impossible to keep everything under a single roof. In fact we can already see a few smaller rivaling orders: Dagoyan Order, Nightsisters, the Sith... This is also the reason Clone Wars era jedi are so weak compared to sith and ancient jedi. The Jedi Order brain-drained Republic territory from potent Force users, while the sith recruit mostly from outside the jurisdiction of the Jedi Order. And this is why the Jedi Order had to go per the prophecy of the Chosen One. Yoda warns the prophecy might have been misread suggesting that it is at least vaguely worded. I think he was right. The “balance” that the prophecy mentions could be the balance between the Force and people. Anakin fulfilled the prophecy by eliminating the Jedi Order. He was most likely possessed by the Force itself which would explain how he goes so quickly from cutting of Windu’s hand in a split second decision out of fear for his wife to murdering younglings. Anakin also had children of his own paving the way for a new practice. It would be hypocritical, after all, of Luke to demand celibacy from jedi, considering that he himself was the son of a famous jedi. Yes, Anakin did temporary decrease the Force sensitive population by killing all the jedi, but remember, none of them would procreate anyway so it doesn’t really matter on the long run. They had to go to erase the legacy of the old corrupt Jedi Order. And during his Empire days, Vader continued to destroy all records of the old Jedi Order to the point the jedi were considered a myth in the post Empire era. There is nothing now standing in the way of the galactic population slowly becoming Force sensitive. It was all the will of the Force.

[[WMG:Either Yoda or Obi-Wan killed Padme.]]
Force-killing somebody wouldn't leave detectable damage, right? Let's take into account that she still believes there's some good in Anakin left. What if she went after him again with her two Force-sensitive kids? No, it's better she dies now, for the greater good.
* ''[[Film/HotFuzz The greater]]'' ''[[MemeticMutation good]]''.
[[WMG: Padmé died because of the birth of the twins.]]
It´s not like this has never happened before in the real world. The doctor droid giving this stupid explanation of no will to live probably was an attempt to be friendly to the Jedi and their beliefs, but because he was a medical droid he knew nothing of that and simply made something up.

[[WMG:The Clones that shot Aayla Secura had their Blasters on Stun to try and hide her.]]
They didn't want to kill her, but knew they had to lest other troopers come and do it. So they decided to merely stun her and claim they had done it, as would be shown on camera and thus not looked into. The Stun Shots at the time resembled regular shots because when they wished to capture someone, it would look like they had been shot and killed and thus dissuade anyone else from rescuing them, allowing the Troops to encounter no resistance when they collected 'the corpse'. The shots wouldn't leave blast marks on them, explaining her lack of burn marks. However, they hadn't figured how many of them would stun her, too many stunners being fatal, thus when the first guy shot, the rest followed suite and accidentally killed her anyway, albeit painlessly, unlike just shooting her. Or, if you like her, the plan succeeded and she's still alive. I dunno, I'm just trying to [[HandWave Hand Wave]] the lack of marks for them.
* No, because stun settings have a distinctly different appearance of beam, as we saw in A New Hope when the Stormtroopers stunned Leia. The Clones' shots were clearly the same ones they use for killing droids.

[[WMG:Anakin's dreams of Padme's death were induced by Palpatine.]]
Padme wouldn't have died without the visions, and Anakin wouldn't have turned. TheForce itself, being nominally good or at least neutral, wouldn't have any reason to induce them, but Palpatine certainly would.
* Palpatine is shown to be aware of the dreams, but there is no indication that Anakin ever told him on or off-screen.

[[WMG: Padme subconsciously used the Force to kill herself after giving birth.]]
She knew Anakin would ''never'' stop looking for her if she survived, and that Palpatine would either corrupt or kill their kids if he ever learned of their existence. Only if Vader and the Emperor heard she was dead, and imperial agents confirmed it was her actual body at the funeral, would infant Luke and Leia ever be safe. Weighing her own broken-hearted future against such a threat to the twins, she tapped into her children's own Force gifts and channeled it to assault her birth-weakened body, committing suicide by a means the medical droid couldn't perceive or diagnose.
* Or it may truly have been subconscious: after everything that's happened, she really did lose the will to live. It's been stated further up the page that severe depression does affect your physical health, and either her latent Force sensitivity or her children's intensified that effect due to her mental/emotional distress. While she probably would have survived (albeit after a serious HeroicBSOD), her having just given birth to twins weakened her to the point where this could push her over the edge. So in effect, she was so depressed that [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor she wished she was dead, and the Force granted that wish.]]

[[WMG:Mace Windu was not just reflecting Force Lightning back at Palpatine.]]
He was using Drain Life on Palpatine as well.

* This troper wonders if they don't know basic first aid because they're all [[MadeOfIron ridiculously fit Jedi knights]] with PsychicPowers and they don't NEED it too often. For a group of warriors who run around policing a galaxy, very few of them are crippled or seriously scarred. Remember Obi-Wan's brutal lightsaber fight with Anakin? They spent a LONG-ASS time throwing everything they had at each other, and when they were both exhausted, Obi-Wan still needed ''to hack off three of Anakin's limbs and leave him with ungodly burn wounds'' for Anakin to be ''close'' to dying. And guess what, he still lived for twenty years! (In constant emotional and physical pain, but "living in agony and shame" is still living.) Padme is a BadassNormal diplomat, but a woman of her size who lacks PsychicPowers couldn't handle ''nearly'' as much damage as her six-foot Jedi husband, especially while pregnant. The Jedi recruit people from infancy and early childhood to the point where Anakin, who started ''late,'' can use the Force for [[MundaneUtility cutting up fruit and feeding it to his wife,]] so it's very likely they use the Force to keep from getting internal injuries in case they get in a crash or fall from heights. Obi-Wan wouldn't have realized that Padme got hurt from getting Force-choked and slammed against a rock, because ''that's not serious for a Jedi.''

* This troper wonders if they don't know basic first aid because they're all [[MadeOfIron ridiculously fit Jedi knights]] with PsychicPowers and they don't NEED first aid too often. For a group of warriors who run around policing a galaxy, very few of them are crippled or seriously scarred. Remember Obi-Wan's brutal lightsaber fight with Anakin? They spent a LONG-ASS time throwing everything they had at each other, and when they were both exhausted, Obi-Wan still needed ''to hack off three of Anakin's limbs and leave him with ungodly burn wounds'' for Anakin to be ''close'' to dying. And guess what, he still lived for twenty years! (In constant emotional and physical pain, but "living in agony and shame" is still living.) Padme is a BadassNormal diplomat, but a woman of her size who lacks PsychicPowers couldn't handle ''nearly'' as much damage as her six-foot Jedi husband, especially while pregnant. The Jedi recruit people from infancy and early childhood to the point where Anakin, who started ''late,'' can use the Force for things like [[MundaneUtility cutting up fruit and feeding it to his wife]], so it's very likely they use the Force to keep from getting internal injuries in case they get in a crash or fall from heights. Obi-Wan wouldn't have realized that Padme got hurt from getting Force-choked and slammed against a rock because ''that's not serious for a Jedi.''

This also explains why R2-D2, at no point in the original trilogy, gives any indication that he or C-3PO have ever dealt with or know anything about several characters. The closest he ever comes is [[Film/ANewHope claiming that he used to belong to Obi-Wan]] in order to pass on Leia's message, which leads to Obi-Wan instantly denies ever owning him (and is correct [[HalfTruth technically]]). The two droids might argue and insult each other (at least, it sounds like R2-D2 returns some of C-3PO's comments...), but they [[HeterosexualLifePartners are best friends]] at the end of the day. The little droid is not going to let C-3PO get destroyed by a trigger-happy Rebel if he can help it, so he keeps quiet about any information that could be used to connect the protocol droid to Darth Vader. Hence, R2-D2 acts ignorant of Yoda's identity and why he never points out "Hey, Luke. By the way, I used to hang out with your dad and he's actually the evil guy on the Death Star." Because digging around in R2-D2's past could lead to questions about C-3PO's.

* Mace stops screaming and has a blank look on his face for the last second before he goes out the window, and that's because he's dead. The book confirms that Mace is killed by the lightning and his body is thrown out of the window. In any case, that building is DAMN HIGH. Never mind the speed at which he was thrown which looked like enough to break his neck from the velocity, he then fell at least a couple of hundred floors down to the ground. So by my count, that's enough to kill three times over.

* Palpatine has surprise on his side. The three Jedi with Mace (Tiin, Kolar, and Fisto) had heard thirdhand that Palpatine was a Sith Lord, but it's one thing to hear something and another to believe it. Even if they believed he was a Sith Lord, Palpatine had done so well of playing the part of a frail and affable politician that three of the Jedi weren't really prepared for a fight.
* Palpatine makes a bizarre noise while barrel rolling up onto the ledge where the Jedi are standing, that sounds kind of like he's gargling while constipated. There's no real reason for him to do this unless it's some kind of psychic Force scream to disorient the Jedi and disrupt their concentration, and he takes down the weaker two Jedi in an instant while Windu and Fisto are recovering.
* Fisto fares a little better, but Palpatine intentionally backs the two Jedi into close quarters, where the advantages of outnumbering him are somewhat mitigated. Palpatine's stronger bladework prevails, and Fisto falls too. Mace only makes it as long as he does because Vapaad has special strengths against dark side users, and Mace is one of the most gifted knights in the Order.

** [[Film/HotFuzz SHUT IT!!!]]

** He might have been rendered unconscious, which unlike movies or tv usually only lasts a few seconds to minutes (in fact, [[TapontheHead being unconscious for longer than that]] [[TelevisionIsTryingtoKillUs can and will cause severe brain damage]]. Theoretically, he could have woken up a few seconds after being thrown out and found a way to safely land. Also Disney/Lucasfilm could easily retcon that part of the novel (Its not like they haven't done this kind of thing before.)