Too Dangerous To Be Left Alive

Hey..watching ROTS again today I noticed that both Palpatine and Mace say this about a character. It's interesting that Palpatine tries to console Anakin for killing Dooku by telling him he was too dangerous to be left alive. Anakin seems to accept this but when Mace says it about Palpatine, it's a unacceptable rationale. What do you think of that??

Maybe it finally cemented how hypocritical the Jedi were in the mind of Anakin-the fact that a Sith Lord and a Master Jedi would use the same logic to attack someone while they were down. What would be the point of staying a Jedi if the rules of combat could be bent depending on the prisoner?

 

Even though Palpatine tells Anakin that Dooku was too dangerous to be left alive, Anakin still knows it was the wrong thing to do despite what Palpatine told him. The only reason killing Palpatine is unacceptable to Anakin is because Anakin is very selfish at the time. He needs Palpatine alive to save Padmè. If Padmè's life wasn't in danger Anakin would go along with Mace because Palpatine WAS really too dangerous to be left alive. Much more dangerous than Dooku.

I've said this time and time again - Anakin killing Dooku and Mace trying to kill Palpatine are completely different situations. Dooku was unarmed (literally), Anakin could've just brought him into the Jedi without a question, but he didn't and that was the wrong thing to do. Now Mace and Palpatine, like I said, is different. Palpatine controls everything; he's proven himself to be a very dangerous Sith Lord that needs to be killed in order to bring balance back to the Force, and he wasn?t unarmed. Would you make the same decision that Mace did? It wasn't a hypocrisy, it's what needed to be done.

 

Anakin also says "It's not the jedi way." in both scenes too

 

If Mace killed Palpatine that is wrong as well regardless if he was a Sith Lord. Mace had the situation under control and chose to try to execute the Chancellor. Mace would be no better then a Sith

 

I personally don't think it was hypocrisy...but I think that Anakin may have viewed as so. I think Palpatine was too dangerous but Anakin seems a little naive about how much Palpatine has manipulated this whole thing at this point in the story and he doesn't seem to trust the Jedi, particularly Mace very much at this point. Using the logic he did may have unknowingly confirmed Anakin's doubts about the Jedi.

 

He had the situation under control, yes, but he knew Palpatine was very dangerous and unpredictable. I think that if any other Jedi, Obi-Wan, Yoda, or whoever else would?ve been in Mace's position would've tried the same thing. The Jedi have to destroy the Sith and Palpatine isn't just a Sith, he's THE Sith. Keeping him alive was not an option, not Palpatine.

Why did he do it? Palpatine is why. Palpatine gets into Anakin's head, makes him believe what he's doing is right, and then pressures him into giving into his hate and anger. He didn't think things through, he just gave into his hate for Dooku.

Mace is trying to save the Jedi Order, the Republic, and the Galaxy. What was Anakin trying to save or do when he killed Dooku? Absolutely nothing, which makes these two situations, as I?ve said before, completely different.

 

I bet if Mace had trusted Anakin in the first place, the OT would've never happened and Palps would be dead. Palps trusted Anakin, so Anakin trusted Palps, and believed his judgement that Dooku was too dangerous to be left alive. Mace was uneasy about Anakin.

 

True..but he says it after-the-fact when killing Dooku almost like an after thought.

 

Do you really think Mace had the situation under control? I'm really wondering how he and Anakin would have escorted the Emperor out of the office after he had killed three Master Jedi.

 

How could Mace trust Anakin when he was thinking bad stuff about the Jedi. That boy was destined to mess up and Mace knew it. Yoda didn't even really trust Anakin and Obi Wan really didn't trust him either until Qui Gon died. "He's dangerous, they all sense it Master. Why don't you?".

 

This doesn't hold water with me. So Obi Wan shouldn't have killed Maul? Oh well he was holding a weapon so it's different?

How about this. You are presented with a situation where if you don't kill your enemy, he will kill you. It would be stupid not to kill him and I don't think the Jedi are portrayed as being absolute pacifists.


Dooku could not kill Anakin or ruin the republic as quickly as Sid's could.

Palps could easily kill Mace and destroy the universe, without a doubt. He had to go.

 

I've always looked at it to mean something entirely different. When Palpatine says something, he means it. Count Dooku was in fact a danger only to HIM. According to the ROTS novel Dooku was looking forward to retirement. But Palpatine couldn't take any chances with Dooku because he could come back out of retirement and cause him problems later on. All along I don't think Palpatine totally trusted Dooku and knew he wasn't a real Sith. It was better to make sure that Dooku was out of the way along with the other Jedi.

THE JEDI PURGE STARTED WITH THE EXECUTION OF COUNT DOOKU.

 

Oh you bet Palps didn't trust him. Though the only reason why you think Count Dooku is really some Jedi on some idealistic crusade, is that he is known as Dooku because if people knew he was Tyranus they would know that the Sith recruited the clone army.


"I was recruited by a man named Tyranus on one of the moons of Bogden" <--- Jengo Fett


So he exudes this darkjedi character beautifully but at the end, he comes home to master. He's a classic Sith, he even tries to get Obi Wan to join him, destroy his master.


I compare it to when Qui Gon tries to pull a mindtrick on Wattu.

 

There have been a lot of comments concerning whether or not Palpatine really was too dangerous to be kept alive (and Dooku, for that matter).
I personally think that Dooku and Palpatine were both too dangerous to be left alive. I personally think that Anakin's execution of Dooku was justifiable, as Mace's intended slaying of Palpatine would have been.

However...Here's the thing: There's definitely a part of Anakin that was not okay with it. He was primarily driven to kill Dooku out of revenge, and there was a part of him that knew it was an unworthy motivation. (And that is ultimately why Luke pulled back from striking Vader dead later on.) You could definitely see Mace hesitate before attempting to strike down Palpatine, as though he was weighing the moral and ethical implications in his own mind. However, unlike Anakin, Mace did not have a Sith Lord over his shoulder attemping to subvert his sense of morality and encourage his worst instincts.

So, were Dooku and Palpatine really "too dangerous to be left alive"? From a certain point of view...
After all, as many others have pointed out, Obi-Wan had no problem splitting Maul in two (and he was certainly prepared to do what he had to in order to deal with Anakin on Mustafar!). So the problem is not that a Jedi deals out death to a powerful Sith Lord who poses a powerful threat. The issue primarily has to do with a Jedi's motivation in doing so, and whether or not they act out of a sense of anger or revenge.

 

So, were Dooku and Palpatine really "too dangerous to be left alive"? From a certain point of view... After all, as many others have pointed out, Obi-Wan had no problem splitting Maul in two (and he was certainly prepared to do what he had to in order to deal with Anakin on Mustafar!). So the problem is not that a Jedi deals out death to a powerful Sith Lord who poses a powerful threat. The issue primarily has to do with a Jedi's motivation in doing so, and whether or not they act out of a sense of anger or revenge.

Great post, good thoughts, I enjoyed that.

 

those who are comparing mace wanting to kill palps with obi wan killing maul are completely missing the point.maul didnt have conections in political terms.had mace done that there is no way they can prove to the senate that palps was a traitor,padme and her girlfriends would buy it but no one else.they would be seen as traitors by the republic.i dont think mace should have kept himself from trying to kill palps because is the "jedi way" but because it was the smart thing to do.whatever mace chose the jedi were screwed,palpatine had already made sure of that.

 

I really despise Mace Windu's arrogance. I hated the Jedi philosophy in Episode 3, they weren't kind and considerate like Qui-Gon or Ben (Ep4). I hated them all, they deserved to die. Mace sux.

I reckon that Obi-Wan was so callous for chopping Anakin up and leaving him there. Sure, Anakin killed younglings, but why leave him there to burn? He was helpless.

The Jedi are hypocrites, they never care for fragile people. I don't despise Obi-Wan for killing Maul, but Palpatine was surrendering to Mace! Leave Palpatine alone, you fruit! What did he do? Mace is a jerk, why not strike Palpatine instantly, why did he delay, why did he hesitate if he thought it was right? Jerk.

Luke is the best, he didn't hurt anyone.

 

.i normally suport mace but im feeling kinda fickle this days

about luke i really like him but i have 2 guards from jabba's palace who can testify against your statement and dont forget about the rancor.

 

Episode 3 has such a horrible feeling about it. I enjoy watching the action, but the whole Jedi thing, I don't feel sympathetic, I actually believe Palpatine is a great man.

 

you are not the only one.i hate the jedi and love the sith

the only jedi i like are the skywalkers because all the anger and dark sdie issues that they have,specially anakin.and yoda because he was enormously powerful.

 

Didn't you see Luke's killing spree on the sail barge? Anyways Palps wasn't really surrendering. He was just trying to get Anakin to do something foolish by distracting Mace, and then cutting off his arm when Mace went for the kill.

 

Luke is the best, he didn't hurt anyone.

Luke blows up the entire first Death Star.
Luke is responsible for the fall of Jabba's outfit.

Not arguing morality here, simply that Luke actually kills
more people than anyone else in the entire saga.

EDIT. And yes, I know GL joked that there were mostly Geonisians
on the DS in response to CLERKS.

EDIT, part deux: Lest you doubt Luke as having the most blood
on his hands, chew on this:

From the SW.com databank on the first Death Star:

"The station carried a crew of 265,675, plus 52,276 gunners, 607,360 troops,
25,984 stormtroopers, 42,782 ship support staff,
and 167,216 pilots and support crew "

Grand total: 1,161,293

 

no Tarkin killed the most, he fricking blew up alderaan! A whole planet! if that's like earth in terms of population that's in the billions!

 

Sorry, I should have specified, I thought the destruction of
an entire planet was self-evident. Not to mention that
we have no hard numbers about the population of Alderaan,
of which I am aware.

Update, per the databank on Alderaan:
With a single blast, Alderaan was reduced to rubble,
and its population, numbering in the millions, was killed in the blast.