PT Did Palpatine think Yoda had died?

Did Palpatine think that Yoda had died? It doesn't seem that yay, since he orders the clones to double their search. But he never seems to make any effort to hunt down Yoda, even when it is apparent that the young Luke Skywalker has been recovering Jedi training from an unknown source.

 

By the time Palpatine is aware of Luke's presence, he is more interested in the latter than Yoda. He views Luke as being just as powerful as Anakin . . . and a real threat.

 

After their fight, Palpatine's attention turned toward Anakin being in danger. The clones would have continued searching for Yoda, and they likely reported back to him that his body was not found. I don't think it's too far of a stretch to guess that Palpatine had clones on the pursuit of Yoda for a long time after ROTS, and that may largely have contributed to him sequestering himself further from regular contact with senators and the public. Yoda infiltrated and contronted him once, and he could do it again. By ROTJ, we see how well-guarded Palpatine is.

 

He does comment on Yoda's training Luke in the RoTJ novelization:

“So tell me, young Skywalker—who continued your training?”
That smile, again, like a knife. Luke held silent, struggling to regain his composure.
The Emperor tapped his fingers on the arm of the throne, recalling. “There was one called … Yoda. An aged Master Jedi … Ah, I see by your countenance I have hit a chord, a resonant chord indeed. Yoda, then.”
"This Yoda," the Emperor mused. "Lives he still?"

Luke focused on the emptiness of space beyond window behind the Emperor's chair. The deep void, where nothing was. Nothing. He filled his mind with this black nothing. Opaque, save for the occasional flickering of starlight that filtered through the ether.

"Ah," cried Emperor Palpatine. "He lives not. Very good, young Skywalker, you almost hid this from me. But you could not. And you cannot. Your deepest flickerings are to me apparent. Your nakedest soul. That is my first lesson to you."

 

He knew that Yoda had not died from their duel,
"Then he's not dead. Double your search."

But he was more focused on the fate of Vader on Mustafar, he could sense it,
"I sense Lord Vader is in danger..."

 

True, but that was written back before the PT was made. In the earliest drafts of ROTJ, Palpatine did know Yoda. The novelization indicates that he didn't know that he even existed, which also fit in with Lucas's other intent which was that Yoda wasn't a field Jedi. Given that the film only has Obi-wan referred to as Luke's teacher and Palpatine never asks, it is implied that they didn't know he was alive as long as he was.

 

On the contrary.

 

The novelization indicates that Palpatine knew of Yoda - but leaves it vague as to how much he knew.

 

I think it's clear he knew Yoda was alive after the fight, I think that Amedda said "Then he's not dead" and then Palps said "Double your efforts/search" or something along those lines. So there's a clear reason to think Palps knew he wasn't dead. But after that it becomes difficult, I would assume that he would think that Yoda is alive until he has received information otherwise, Like from one of the clones or from Vader saying that he had been killed. So if that is the case then he would still think that Yoda is alive and well.

Also can anyone tell me when Sidious said to Vader that "The son of Skywalker must not become a Jedi"?, Because this leads me to think Sidious knew Yoda was still alive. You would need training to become a Jedi it's not something you can do yourself. So if Sidious said that line after Kenobi had been killed then he knew Yoda was still alive and could train him.

 

That is in Empire Strikes Back when Vader and the Emperor have their holo-meeting. But I don't think that proves that he knew yoda was alive, there could be other ways Luke train perhaps? He doesn't have proof that all the Jedi were eliminated.

 

It's stated that by that point, Palpatine decided that the jedi could now be considered a non-threat and had ended the purge.

 

I think Palpatine thought by the time the Empire was gaining power throughout the galaxy that things were too far along for Yoda (or anyone) to defeat them, bring things back to the way they were-too far to even be a disruption to the growing Imperial forces. It's possible Palpatine assumed Yoda was still alive, but with Vader killing off all the Jedi and having turned the galaxy against them, what could Yoda possibly do by himself!? Palpatine probably assumed Yoda went into exile, and figured "good riddance." He didn't know about Luke, so the idea that Yoda might train him and try to defeat the Empire never crossed his mind.

 

It's in the wording. Sidious says "The son of Skywalker must not become a Jedi". It's clear at this point, from that sentence that Sidious does not consider Luke a Jedi. But like I say you need training to become a Jedi (You can't do it by yourself). Yes I suppose he had some training from Kenobi and Kenobi's ghost, but Vader and Sidious know he's had training from Kenobi, but they do not know about force ghosts. I don't think I've explained this very well, but if people don't get it I'll come back to it another time because I want to talk about something else as well.

Also the Jedi purge didn't happen overnight it took years (Possibly, not sure how long). Sidious would have knowledge of all the Jedi from the archives from the Jedi Temple, He would also have accounts from Clones and Vader himself of which Jedi where killed on different planets and when these events occurred. So he would have been able to make like a checklist of Jedi which had been killed and which hadn't. This would also have been wise so he could know for sure if there where any Jedi that could have been a threat to him and Vader.

Yoda was a grand master Jedi who went toe to toe with Sidious in the Senate, so I think it's reasonable to assume he considered Yoda a threat to him and Vader which for me means that Yoda would have been on top of that list as regards to which Jedi to hunt down, it's also reasonable to assume that if nobody had reported Yoda's death then it's believable that Sidious knew he was still alive all along.

Obviously as time wore on there's less reason to believe he is a threat, ANH is 20 years later he knows if Yoda is still alive he has had to live in isolation from the galaxy (Otherwise somebody would have knowledge of his whereabouts) so as far as Sidious is concerned he's too old and isolated to be a threat.

 

I always thought Sidious assumed yoda had died since

1. Yoda never tried to rebel against him or face him again
2. Yoda masked himself while hiding on Dagobah (a planet that has areas strong in both sides of the Force).

 

Not just that, but the Sith never go on a hunt for Luke once they sense the disturbance. The only thing that they know of is that Luke is growing stronger with each day. They don't know that Yoda is still alive or not. They never question who is helping Luke. Palpatine's just worried and Vader keeps referring to Obi-wan.

VADER: "He's just a boy. Obi-wan can no longer help him." (The Executor)

VADER: "Obi-wan has taught you well. You have learned to control your fear...now release your anger. Only your hatred can destroy me." (Carbonite Chamber)

VADER: "Obi-wan has taught you well." (Throne Room)

 

Wasn't that the entire plot of The Empire Strikes Back? Vader hunts down Luke to turn him to the Dark Side and help kill Palpatine. But yeah, they weren't too worried about who was helping Luke, I'll give you that. Methinks it's a combination of:

++ As far as Vader knew, Obi-Wan was dead, so how can he still be helping Luke?

++ Palpatine didn't care about Yoda, as he figured if the little green muppet confronted him again, he'd wipe his butt on the floor like he did in their last duel.

++ Vader may have secretly hoped Luke *was* getting some form of training, as a weak Luke Skywalker is a weak Sith apprentice. What he didn't count on was Luke training to resist the Dark Side completely.

 

Vader is hunting for Luke at the start of the film, but once he leaves Hoth, he decides to go after the Falcon in order to lure Luke to him. Palpatine never sends Imperials out for Luke and the origin of this disturbance.

 

I don't think that Palpatine ever considered Yoda to be very much of a threat. He was very arrogant.

 

Awesome deleted scene.

 

It is said in the moive that Yoda isn't dead right next to Palpatine (after the clone says they didn't find a body). But Palpatine never wanted to fight Yoda, so why hunt him? He has minions for that or let Yoda run and hide and live out his life knowing that everything Yoda dedicated his life to is now dead gone and is crushed.

 

In the EU, he was obsessed with making certain that every Jedi survivor, including Yoda, had perished.



Interesting way to handle it, and I wish it had been in the movie. He prolly was disappointed that he had been unable to be the one to end Yoda.

 

That is not correct though.
In Dark Lord Rise of Darth Vader he is very pointedly uninterested in the remaining jedi, even saying it is better that they lived 'humbled'.

Also nothing in the video you posted gives a view on Palpatines view of the jedi.

 

Sidious originally didn't want to risk a fight with Yoda because he wasn't sure if he could win. But after the duel, he knows he can so he wants to finish him off (which is why he got the clones to search for Yoda). He just never got a chance because the clones never found Yoda.
As time went on, he still couldn't locate Yoda, but Yoda wasn't causing any more trouble for him anyways, so he probably didn't make it a priority to keep hunting him down for decades.

 

Tangentially related, Tarkin directly states in the film, and the EU generally portrays Palpatine as assuming that Obi-Wan is dead one way or the other by the time ANH (Made all the more curious by the Kenobi series but I digress).
It may be that Palpatine knowing the average lifespan of Yoda's species assumed he had passed at some points as well, but clearly, he didn't regard the elder Grand Master as a threat by the OT I'd say.

 

Well Palpatine has no reason to risk himself. He won. I also don't think he planned to fight Yoda if the Clones found him. I think he was just going to throw Clones at Yoda until one got him.