My understanding is that ever since the Clone Wars began, the Jedi Order was doomed because Palpaltine could have invoked Order 66 at any time and the millions of Clone Troopers would obey and kill off the Jedi. Sure, not every moment would have been perfect for him. He wanted to set the stage where the Jedi are thinly dispersed and isolated, fighting on different worlds, and his big plan was to recruit Anakin. He also wanted a perfect political timing where the population of the Galaxy would buy the "Jedi Conspiracy". However, even if he'd been caught, surrounded, etc, as long as he could have time to invoke Order 66, 100000 clones would kill most of the Jedi. In other words, the moment Sidious stole the command of the Clones from Syfo Dias, probably a decade before ROTS, the Jedi were effectively doomed. So, if Ezra Bridger or any other hero were to use the time portal and travel back to the PT era, they would have had to assassinate Palpaltine and not give him a chance to ever use the comlink to contact the Clones.
If they had Time Travel, why only travel back to the PT? Just travel further back and warn the Jedi that the Sith are not extinct, or sonething.. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
The high ground could’ve saved them In all seriousness though, probably not. I’ve always thought it was kinda amazing how he devised a situation where he literally couldn’t lose.
"He was the best boyfriend in the galaxy and had beautiful hair." Luke: "So, how was I born?" Obi-Wan: "Well...have ya heard of a planet called Kamino?"
Good observation, but Sidious may have been pretending to lose to Windu for the sake of converting Anakin to the dark side. We will never know just like we won't know if Luke could have sliced him in the throne room had Vader not blocked his lightsaber.
If the Jedi had conducted a proper investigation into Sifo-Dyas's demise and his activities, no doubt they could have nipped it in the bud. But in fact Sidious's whole plan was a one-in-a-million high wire act which could have fallen apart at any moment had someone cottoned on. He's like Hitler, Julius Caesar, Napoleon - a high stakes political gambler who simply stays at the table betting bigger and bigger and never cashes his chips. All the Jedi had to do was arrest/assassinate him before he had the chance to give the order, after all. They were in and out of his office all the time. No doubt his ability to see the future came in handy - until it didn't any more.
The whole Clone Army/Order 66 aspect does make victory very difficult for the Jedi. If Mace or Anakin would've killed Sidious during ROTS, that would likely end it. I don't think Sidious had a contingency to send out the order to clones even if he died. If Palpatine didn't get emergency powers and the Republic/Jedi refused the Clone Army during AOTC, that would probably end it as well.
Maybe Sidious had a vision of Anakin joining him. He was counting on Anakin doing what he did. But if Anakin tried to kill Sidious he would have been prepared for it. He has Force lightning. No way he goes down with the ship. Shiv was 2 steps ahead of everyone, at least until Vader saved his son.
As powerful as he was, if Anakin decided to back Windu, Sidious would have been finished. Windu was powerful enough to hold his own against Palps and Anakin, by that point, was able to defeat Count Dooku in combat. This isn’t a knock on Sidious’ power at all given that both Windu and Anakin were top 3 Jedi by that point. It truly would’ve been unfair odds for him. Luckily, as you said, Sidious understood Anikan well enough to know the encounter would transpire in his favor.
Had Dooku not become disillusioned with the Jedi Order, Sidious would have had a much more difficult path to power. IIRC it was just as much Dooku's financial resources to fund the separatist army as it was his ability to organize and serve as their figurehead leader that made them such a problem for the Jedi.
Also, Dooku the Jedi would’ve been a strong mentor for both Obi Wan and Anikan after Qui Gon’s death. Perhaps he would’ve taken up the challenge of training Anakin like Yoda did with him. Though, similar to Anakin, his family was his greatest weakness.
Actually, I don't think finding out Palpatine is evil could've prevented what happened. Palpatine is the elected leader of the Republic, the guy in whom all the senators (and the people, presumably) trust to lead them in times of war. Palpatine's big plot wasn't just to create clones that would assassinate the Jedi; his goal was to be hailed as the Supreme Leader who would bring order and stability (justice can wait) to the galaxy. If they Jedi investigated the origin of the clones and conclude that Palpatine was behind it, and if they tried to arrest/assassinate him, the outcome would be the same: the Jedi would be framed as traitors to the Republic, and the senators (and the people) would turn against them.
He might have been the perfect mentor for Anakin. He knows his family is out there, yet he’s a Jedi (in this scenario where he didn’t turn.) He would’ve helped Anakin with his mother, I’m sure.
Framed by who? His less talented apprentices? His oblivious clones? The Jed Order's reputation might have been destroyed, but the outcome was the whole 'sith in charge of the galaxy' thing - that wouldn't have happened.
Oh no, I'm assuming that the Jedi would not be able to kill Palpatine at all! I mean, Palpatine had guards, clones, and was a Sith Lord. He was more than prepared to confront the Jedi at any moment. We did see what happened when the Jedi tried to arrest/assassinate Palpatine; if they had tried the same thing earlier, the result would've been the same (except, probably, Palpatine would've had them killed without even engaging them in a duel). If the Jedi had tried to arrest/assassinate Palpatine, that would be the equivalent of the army trying to arrest/assassinate the President of a democracy. A coup d'etat. The Jedi would be framed as traitors.