Books Heir to the Jedi by Kevin Hearne

It absolutely matters. If Palpatine wasn't Sidious, the Empire would be the legitimate government that stopped the traitorous Jedi and brought order to the galaxy.

Also, in the past != unimportant.

 

Uhhh, no. Luke learning Palpatine is Sidious serves no real purpose, and would really just be one more fact about Palpatine. It wouldn't change anything. Yoda could certainly tell him, but it doesn't matter.

 

Except it serves a major purpose, isn't just one more fact about Palpatine, and would change everything.

 

It really doesn't, and it really wouldn't.

 

It really does, and it really would.

 

"It seems we have reached an impasse." - Patrick Star

 

I was thinking the same thing, but was trying to think of a good joke

 

I tried to provide facts. DarthJenari responded with a substanceless rant.

 

Luke doesn't know anyone named Sidious and wouldn't care if someone told him that it was Palpatine. It simply doesn't matter. The person of the Emperor doesn't even enter into his mind until after he realizes that he's the one keeping his father leashed, which isn't until during or shortly before RotJ. Until then, his only thoughts are on helping the Rebellion survive and (post ESB) training to the point of being able to match Vader. It doesn't have anything to do with the Jedi, or the Old Republic. And he wouldn't care post-RotJ either, because Palpatine is dead, and he's more worried about cleaning up the mess he left behind than history lessons.

 

Later, ghost Yoda can sit down with him and give him all the history lessons he wants.

Or it could be like DNT, and R2 shows him Revenge of the Sith on Blu-Ray.

 

And here we go. Palpatine=Sidious. That's a fact. Luke finding out that Palpatine's Sith name doesn't matter, because he already knows Palpatine is a Sith Lord along with Vader. It therefore changes absolutely nothing whether Luke learns it or not. It doesn't change his motivation. It doesn't change anything in terms of his confrontation with the Emperor. And it doesn't change anything that comes after ROTJ. That's the real point that actually matters.

Furthermore, Palpatine being Sidious doesn't even play into the OT. The Rebel Alliance wasn't formed because he's Darth Sidious. No one knows that, and no one cares. The majority of the Galactic Empire's citizens weren't even aware the Emperor was a Force User at all, and by that same token its safe to assume the same for the members of the Rebel Alliance. Heck, they weren't even fighting against the Empire because of what happened to the Jedi Order, or the Old Republic. They were fighting against it because it was an oppressive government, where the leader allowed various acts of terror, torture, and general abuse and taxation of its citizens, all the while taking away the freedom of his citizens as he saw fit. Not even Luke was fighting against Palpatine because he was a Sith.

 

If Luke didn't know that Palpatine is Sidious, why didn't Palpatine say to Luke in the throne room, "I was elected fair and square. Mace Windu, in his lust for power, cruelly tried to assasinate me. Vader then heroically saved me and I brought order to the galaxy by eradicating the CIS and creating the Empire."

 

Luke isn't fighting Palps and his empire because of its perceived legitimacy or lack there of, hes fighting because they killed his aunt, uncle, crazy old guy mentor and turned his dad into Darth Vader. Therefore Palps pretending to be a victim or legitimate or whatever would have zero consequence.

Moreover, Luke isn't stupid, he wouldn't fall for that line even if palps dropped it on him anyways.

It comes down to this. Yoda doesn't have a whole lot of time to teach Luke, he has to stick to the essentials. It would probably be important to know that the emperor could shoot you in the face with lightning, the whole convoluted political process by which he came to power, less so. Luke doesn't need to know the sordid details of his rise to power that to know that Palps is evil.

 

Luke knowing Palpatine's Sith name is Sidious wouldn't be necessary, but knowing he was a Sith Lord would be. Yoda and Obi-Wan were expecting Lume to stop the Sith; he would be horribly unprepared if he didn't know Palpatine was one.

 

Where was Yoda shown to be in a rush prior to Luke's vision of Han and Leia suffering? And it doesn't take long to say, "Palpatine is Darth Sidious. He engineered the Clone Wars through his apprentice Count Dooku."

 

I've always thought of the part where Yoda is training Luke and the Falcon is crossing between systems without hyperspace as lasting several months.

 

this

 

Because the OT was filmed before the PT and can (and should) be fully enjoyed without it?

And because Luke would just say, "What does any of that even mean?" He knows that the Emperor is evil, there's nothing Palpatine can say to change Luke's course at that point, especially if all he does is drag up ancient history that Luke has no idea about and Palpatine's done his best to put behind him for two decades anyway.

 

20 years is ancient?

 

For Luke it is.

 

It is when everything Palpatine doesn't want publicized is suppressed with ruthless abandon. It's an entire generation. Luke was raised under the Empire on a dirty Outer Rim planet where politics are completely inconsequential, it might as well have happened a hundred years before.

 

I'm not really seeing any similarity to ancient history.

 

I think the point's already been made that Luke learning Palpatine is Darth Sidious isn't necessary.

Cynical_Ben Indeed, it's not as if Luke's some learned historian. Even the Clone Wars themselves are mentioned what? Once in the OT, with no other member ever bringing it up or comparing it to the current conflict.

Taking the old EU into account, it was always mentioned as a few weeks at most. Luke himself agreed with this, and I believe the Essential Atlas mentioned that it took the Falcon a few weeks to get to Cloud City with its hyperdrive at the time.

The New canon of course may change this.

 

Then you need to not take everything so literally.