Star Wars Officially Confirms Palpatine Didn’t Even TRY To Hide Being a Sith From the Jedi

Most viewers think of Revenge of the Sith as the moment when the Republic fell, but there’s a sense in which that happened over a decade earlier, when Palpatine became chancellor in The Phantom Menace. It didn’t take him long to wrest control of the Republic away from the senate, and the Clone Wars formed a convenient excuse to grant himself emergency powers. Mace Windu wasn’t wrong to believe it was impossible for Palpatine to face a fair trial, because the Sith Lord really did control the courts, too.

Looking back, it’s quite staggering that the Jedi failed to recognize the Sith Lord in their midst. Ironically, Count Dooku even explicitly warned them; in Attack of the Clones, he told Obi-Wan that the senate was under the control of a Sith Lord. The Jedi discounted Dooku’s warning, perhaps believing it to be a double-bluff from someone who now openly wielded a red lightsaber. But their ignorance is even more incredible after the latest Star Wars reveals.

Palpatine Openly Demonstrated His Sith Allegiance

In E.K. Johnston’s novel “Queen’s Shadow,” set shortly before The Phantom Menace, Palpatine attended a meeting in Chancellor Valorum’s quarters. Apparently bored, he shared a hushed conversation with one member of the Jedi Council, complaining about the colors of those quarters and openly speculating about what they would look like in red. As soon as he gained power, Palpatine began refashioning the chambers according to those designs. He even recruited highly-trained guardsmen, who he clad in sweeping red robes. Red, it seems, was his favorite color.

It was not an innocent choice. Adam Christopher’s new book, “Master of Evil,” reveals that red is in fact the traditional color of the Sith. Palpatine’s fashion choices, the clothing he had his guards wear, and even the red robes he occasionally wore himself… all were ways of openly demonstrating his Sith allegiance. As we saw in Revenge of the Sith, his offices were full of Sith relics, with an ancient mural honoring the war between the Jedi and the Sith. Palpatine wasn’t exactly subtle.

Why Didn’t the Jedi Recognize Palpatine as Sith?

All this makes the Jedi appear rather foolish for failing to realize Palpatine was the Sith Lord they were hunting. But there’s a reason they discounted him, as revealed in Matt Stover’s phenomenal novelization of Revenge of the Sith. The Jedi rightly realized that, if Palpatine was a Sith Lord, they had already lost. He had already maneuvered himself into position as an enemy too powerful to be defeated, meaning he could flaunt his Sith nature without fear of exposure.

This, perhaps, is why Mace Windu seemed so panicked in Revenge of the Sith – even shunning the Jedi ways in deciding to execute a defeated foe. Palpatine had become too powerful, taking control of the courts and the senate, making him utterly unassailable. Unable to figure out what to do if Palpatine was a Sith, the Jedi instead chose to blind themselves to Palpatine’s true nature. It was to be their undoing.