How come the Jedi can't sense the darkness in Senator Palpatine

Okay we know that Yoda is the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy.... how is it that the Jedi or even Yoda can't sense the dark side in him??

Okay people may suggest that the "dark side clouds everything!" but it just doesn't seem logical! The Jedi are in distance of Palpatine and should feel his dark side aura (as Luke does when on Dagobah and is about to enter the cave!) but they don't!

One possible solution I thought was we know that in the EU of Star Wars Palpatine had himself cloned (I'm not too familiar with the details about this) but could Senator Palpatine be a clone with no force ability, where as the original Darth Sidious (Emperor Palpatine) is plotting for the galaxy.

Any thoughts??

 

He is so powerful that he cloak himself, he can mask the dark side presense in himself.

 

The Jedi has their assumptions, but they don't know it.

 

Palpatine is blocking his presence in the Force. He is making his presence in the Force small.

 

I think he's also applying some sort of a great charming spell to make himself seem much nicer, and kinder than he really is.

 

The popular theory seems to be that Palpatine isn't using his powers much at all, so there's no big bursts of Dark Side energy for the Jedi to pick up on.

When he's not doing that, the only way would be for them to specifically be studying him for Force presence...and he gets away from that due to a combination of not being noticed by the Jedi, and damping down his powers.

Gotta wonder if Yoda picks up on a bit of Dark Side energy in AOTC, though. Even if he isn't quite sure what to make of it.

 

He is clouding their vision.

 

Oh, that's a good point, too.

Mace mentioned that the Jedi's ability to use the Force has been diminished, thanks to the 'tipping of the scale' in favour of the Dark Side. Palpatine's careful manipulations over the years would also help to hinder the Jedi's senses.

 

The idea is that Palpatine is incredibly good at disguising himself and is a master manipulator. Even the Jedi council doesn?t have the ability to see through his smokescreen. I wish Yoda wasn?t on the Jedi council though. Yoda is supposed to be the one guy who cannot be fooled, yet here he stumbles right into Palpatine?s trap with only a few vague comments to show he suspects maybe something might be up. If Yoda really couldn?t see what is going on because the dark side clouded the force, he would have sat back and analysed the situation without the force and figured out who is benefiting from the war. It would be cooler if Yoda were a legend, a rogue Jedi master living on Dagoba most Jedi don?t even believe in. Then Obi Wan could have gone to him and learned the truth about the situation, only to come back and find Anakin turned to the dark side and Palpatine made emperor in his absence.

 

The Jedi are blinded by Palpatine's brilliance. Even Yoda worships Palpatine!

 

It's because palpatine can mask it so well that the Jedi can't even sence it.He's what the Jedi call a "Void".It says in the AOTC novel that Yoda can't sence anything about him when he around.

The Dark side clouds everything.

 

YOu're right it doesn't make any sense, but that's what the storyline gives us. It just gives an excuse to cover any plot holes. How did Yoda sense Anakin on Tatooine slaughtering the Tuskens? Wasn't Anakin tapping the Dark Side? Shouldn't Yoda have been "clouded" from it?

 

Major use of Dark Side power - Anakin chopping up Tuskens in a rage.
Small to zero use of Dark Side power - Palpatine chatting to the Jedi.

 

I do not think this is a hole in the story. I think it has to do that he has more knowledge of the dark side of the Force and/or is more powerful in the Force than anyone else. Yoda was able to sense the dark side in Dooku. He said so in the movie himself. If their inability to sense Palpatine's darkness was because their ability to use the Force had diminished, Yoda wouldn't have sensed it in Dooku, either. Palpatine's ability to mask the darkness in him must be explained by the fact that he is the greatest Sith of all.

 

YOu're right it doesn't make any sense, but that's what the storyline gives us. It just gives an excuse to cover any plot holes.

Yep, there IS a big hole in the plot. It's called Episode III.

-Otis

 

"It says in the AOTC novel that Yoda can't sence anything about him when he around."

Then you think Yoda would be like "A minute wait, nothing I can sense about him." In other words if they can't sense anything shouldn't that perk their attention.

 

Dooku's dialogue is meant to explain this point. The dark side clouds the Jedi's vision. That is why they cannot detect Sidious/Palps. Well...

[image=http://www.episode-x.com/galleries/EpisodeII/chronological/Coruscant/5yoda.jpg]

 

One of Palps ability is the ability to cloak himself, and not be detected. Just think back to ep i, where he is arround the Jedi, before they realize the Sith is back, and they are stunned that they couldn't sense a tremor in the darkside of the force.

However, I do think Yoda suspects something, but nothing that he can prove to himself or the other Jede.

 

i wonder what would have happened if Dooku told the council that palpy is in fact sidious....

will the council believe him? call him a traitor or sumthin? it's kinda funny how the "dark lord" HIMSELF is amongst the council and yet THEY CAN'T EVEN SENSE IT!!!

man, them jedis need something to see through palpy's facade x.x! actually, if dooku didn't fall into the darkside and decided to fight against the dark lord (like what he told obiwan), he wouldn't really be that bad.

DIE, PALPY!!! DIIIEEEE!!!

 

Mace brings up a good point that Yoda was able to sense the dark side around Dooku so he still possessed the ability to sense the dark side.

If Palpatine is indeed Sidious (which we presume he is), then certainly Yoda of all Jedi would be aware of this.

Many people who contributed to this post, claimed that in the book Yoda says he can't sense anything around Palpatine, but the movie neglects to show this.... maybe Yoda turning to look at Palpatine in that suspicious way (at the beginning when we first see Padme and Bail Organa) could be a way of showing that he suspects something but it would seem that Obi Wan is the only Jedi who sees Palpatine for what he really is!

 

The answer is given in the film. The Dark Side clouds everything and it further establishes the power of Palpatine and his use of the Force.

 

I think we'll find out in Episode III.

In the meantime, the Force is so clouded, that right now it's tough to see. It's all muddy and messed up.

The Jedi are like, 'Hell with this!' by now!

 

YOu're right it doesn't make any sense

Actually it makes perfect sense. Consider what Yoda said in TPM:

"Hard to see, the dark side is."

And here is the key exchange in AOTC that answers the question of this thread:

DOOKU: "What if I told you that the Republic was under the control of the Dark Lords of the Sith?"

OBI-WAN: "No, that's not possible. The Jedi would be aware of it."

DOOKU: "The dark side of the Force has clouded their vision, my friend."

 

I don't think there's anything to find out in Episode III in terms of this topic. The Supreme Chancellor, if you believe he is Darth Sidious, has grown extremely powerful and his use of the Dark Side of the Force is so powerful that he can completly hide himself from the Jedi while even standing surrounded by the most powerful of the Order in the same room.

 

Well, there is clearly some finite way that Palpatine can mask his precence from the Jedi. With all the times that Yoda has been just a few feet from him and never suspected a thing has to have a finite explanation.

I would suggest of course that in the TALES OF THE JEDI saga, the ancient Sith were able to construct amulets that could mask their precence in the Force, but I can already hear the Star Wars purists tearing this down..............