PT How could the Jedi not sense that palpatine was evil

I mean I know he was all-powerful but why couldn't the jedi council sense that he was evil.

 

It's a mystery to me

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The dark side clouds everything, I think even Yoda mentions it at some point.

If you're a Sith and you have been hiding forever, it does seem a good idea to develop your stealth techniques.

 

A combination of egotism and self-delusion. The Jedi were certain they could sense the Sith return, and if they did, thee's no way they could get anywhere near the seat of power. So, they didn't really look all that hard and were skeptical of Qui-Gon's suspicions. And, when they started looking in earnest, they looked outwards, not even realizing that the Sith were so close. Thus, it took them far too long to realize that Dooku was doing anything remotely bad, let alone be a Sith Lord. And when they decided that Palpatine might be corrupt, though not a Sith follower, they overreacted, giving Palpatine the opening he needed to wipe them out and get away with it.

Palpatine played on their weaknesses, and bamboozled them.

 

Palpatine was strong with the dark side and could hide his true nature. They clearly knew he was shady (I don't trust him...the dark side of the force surrounds the Chancellor) but didn't think he was flat out evil.

 

First time poster, Wasnt the Jedi Council built upon the sith shrine? I could be wrong but im pretty sure ive read it was built otop of the sith shrine

 

Plapy wore perfume to mask his scent. He smelled like cookies.

 

In Legends it’s called Force Stealth.
The Wookieepedia page says
“Darth Sidious was the most powerful and notorious user of this power, having hid his dark nature for over three decades from the Jedi High Council, even when in the same room.”

 

I was listening to that Dooku audiobook today and there was scene where a cloth was used in a ritual to mask dark side energy. Given that Palpatine was very into sorcery using the force, I wouldn’t be surprised if he were using some type of spell to mask his true nature.

 

Evil-sensing isn't a particularly reliable or valid force sensitivity anywhere in the GFFA.

 

pardon?

"the dark-side I sense in you"

"that place (the cave) is strong with the darkside of the force"

as to answer the OP because "plot"

my own theory is that Palpatine didn't use the force in front of the Jedi so they didn't have anything in front of them to 'detect'
I don't hold to the 'he was masking his true appearance' stuff.

 

.... which, logically, would render evil-sensing not particularly reliable or valid, would it now.

 

well I don't know, I'm not the creator that decided it be a thing and then conveniently ignore it on a whim was I?

 

I don't think it's that the Jedi were arrogant or blind. It's just that Palpatine was that good at hiding himself.

 

While I'm sure part of it was using his Dark Side powers to mask himself, or refraining from using them too much near the Jedi, I still think Palpatine didn't need to resort to such things all that much. All he had to do was play on the weaknesses and insecurities of those around him, and get them looking everywhere except towards him until it was far too late.

 

I've just reminded myself of Windu's line "the darkside of the force surrounds the chancellor"

so eh...I dunno anymore, too worn out to even try to rationalise this kind of stuff

it is what it is I guess.

 

There was definitely some amount of arrogance on their part. “I do not believe the Sith could have returned without us knowing”. Clearly that was not true.

 

You're right. The Jedi Temple on Coruscant was built on top of an ancient Sith Temple (one of the reasons Palps turns the Jedi Temple into his new throne room, not just because he wanted to rub it in the faces of the surviving Jedi, but he'd also travel down to the Sith Temple for meditation and rituals - as shown in the Tarkin novel). The Jedi built their temple on top of the Sith Temple, in hopes it suppressed the dark side; However, the dark side due to the sith temple, helped cloud the Jedi's judgments and views.

 

Palpatine was able to mask both his dark side force signature and his force presence entirely.

That’s probably one of the most impressive things about him-he was able to stand in the presence of great Jedi masters and fool them all.

 

Yeah, I really don't know what to make of that line. I can buy that Sidious is a super powerful Sith lord who can cloak his Force sensitivity around Jedi, but then Windu says stuff like that.

 

Why would anyone assume that the Jedi would be so easily be able to sense Palpatine's moral compass? The Jedi were not invincible. I don't think the Force was supposed to be some entity that anyone can easily label or sub-categorize.

Perhaps the Jedi's own arrogance and complacency blinded them from the evil around them. I feel that the idea of the Temple being built upon a Sith artifact is a bit too simplistic and it almost prevents the Jedi for taking responsibilities for their flaws and mistakes.

 

I’m assuming they could sense his moral compass because they say that the dark side surrounds the chancellor. Doesn’t that kinda suggest he’s evil, and possibly force sensitive?

 

It wasn't the sole reason, just ONE of the reasons. It's a mixed bag of tricks, and the joke was on them.

 

The "dark side surrounding" also could have meant one of his trusted advisors was the Sith (hmmm, current events - ah, off topic) - there was darkness, but the source was unclear.

 

The Jedi seemed to trust Palpatine in TPM and AOTC, and only started to become wary of him sometime during ROTS. Conveniently for Palpatine, the Jedi Council's distrust of him made them order Anakin to spy on him, which in turn made Anakin distrust the Council. My guess is that Sidious intentionally partially unveiled his darkness when the time was right.