Mini Series Master Yoda

He covered up Maul was a Sith lord to the public.

 

What was he supposed to do, call a galactic press conference? What purpose would that serve? Maul was somewhat of a mystery to the council up until his assumed death at the end of TPM. 10 years elapsed between TPM and Attack of the Clones. There was no reason to suspect much over that time. Between AOTC and Revenge of the Sith, Maul resurfaces as a gangster and the Clone Wars occur for which Grevious and Dooku are the presumed antagonists. Most of the post TPM events are public knowledge and after Dooku discloses to Kenobi that Sidious exists and controls much of the Senate already, the Jedi were wise to be cautious with the information. I'm failing to see the coverup.

 

He could have told the government and Senate. Thats one of the biggest flaws of the Jedi. 10 years could have gone and no Palpatine and Clone wars

 

What would the Senate make of the Sith? Would they perhaps just see them as Jedi turned evil?

 

I think two possibilities.

Nothing. For the reasons you say.
Mistrust/Panic.

It would further the notion that the Jedi failed their duty. Mistrust of the Jedi was already building in corners of the Senate and the galaxy. If the Galaxy found out that their biggest achievement - eradication of the Sith 1000 years ago - was false, it would raise questions, such as, did the Jedi know about this, did they cover it up, and what else have they failed at?

And then the Senate would likely vote for the creation of an army that they could control totally, and who wouldn't fail. They would push the Jedi out of 'intergalactic' matters and with role of protecting the Republic in all ways. The Republic/Senate would probably find a way to end the war much more quickly (thanks to the direct oversight and leadership of Palpatine, of course), and even blame the Jedi for the war in the first place - since they weren't up to the task. And since many probably don't even know what the distinction is between Jedi and Sith, and just want to be done with the lot of them.

With the war over, and the Jedi far out of the way with no real social authority or power any longer, a few might eventually figure out that Palpatine was the Sith all along. A few, maybe Yoda or Mace, no longer the protectors of peace and justice, would probably try to fight him. And its likely that Palpatine would use something like this to further his real plans.

Eventually the same charges would be brought against the Jed. They would be branded as traitors, and terrorists, and likely hunted down and killed all the same.

 

Maul wasn't a secret. Padme at a minimum knew about him and she was on the Senate. The battle between him and Qui-Gon/Kenobi was in the Naboo capital city in the Royal Palace. I really don't get where you're going here.

 

That it was a close held secret. Only few knew what Maul was.

 

She knew Maul was a Sith Lord? Really? Did he drop his business card?

She saw Maul once. In a door way. And then her Jedi protectors said "scram. We'll handle this". And she promptly left.

That's all she knew.

 

What is the source for the Jedi hiding the re-emergence of the Sith? This is the first I'm hearing of it.

 

If that concept exists at all, its just this show pretty much.

 

Which Jedi in the show even know that the Sith have re-emerged?

Rwoh knows her evil student is around. But that doesn't mean he has to be a Sith in her mind.
Sol heard the name, but didn't care, and then died without telling anyone.
Mae knows nothing. And may not even know Qimir was a Sith either.
Everyone else is dead.

It's been theorized that the Jedi would find out, and some members or lower council would hide the revelation from the high council so that the Senate wouldn't find out. But that didn't come to pass. None of the Jedi are aware of the Sith being around yet.

 

Aside from literally sitting on the ship looking out the window watching him and Qui-Gon battle on Tattooine obviously. I’m sure that never came up in casual conversation again over the next decade though.

 

I think we the audience put a lot more emphasis on the Sith then the normies of the SW galaxy do. There may be up-teen dozen kinds of dark siders out there. She might even hear the name and not make a connection that raises any alarms.

We do though. We care. Because we know the full story. We're watching it.

 

Fair enough, and the conversation has completely strayed from the initial point anyway, but I do think it’s reasonable that a person of great political importance would place some significance on seeing a being with Jedi like abilities attacking an actual Jedi. Enough to at least ask some follow up questions.

But to the original point, sure, Yoda keeps some information from the Senate but it’s quite the logic jump to say he was responsible for the downfall of the Republic IMO. Mostly I just hope that they don’t make him more of a politician going forward but Disney will do what they do.

 

Sorry, I meant in the PT. That is what was being discussed - if Yoda covered up the re-emergence of the Sith after Maul and before the Empire. Is that conjecture, or did some source state that the Jedi kept that a secret?

 

I see. I don't think he and Mace ever tell the Senate in the PT.

In TPM, they only know that Qui-gon fought a Sith, whom Obi-wan later killed, and didn't even know if he was the Master or Apprentice. They don't even have a body to examine here. So probably best not to go to the Senate yet, when they barely know anything. Since nothing Sith-like turns up, or shows up after, they probably figure the Sith are gone again, or at least not important or even involved anymore.. But are still wary.

In AOTC, they don't know that Dooku is a Sith, or even responsible for trying to kill Padme, or that the Sith are with the Separatists. There's already a lot of political intrigue going on, and the Jedi don't seem to trust politicians very much. And its not until that end that Obi-wan even discovers this. And he doesn't even believe him. However, its as this very moment that the Senate is in full blown war mode, and basically needs the Jedi to use the Clone to save the day.

in ROTS, it's far too late. The Jedi should have figured this out, but they were blind and arrogant. When they do figure it out, there's no real Senate to even warn.

So I don't think Yoda is responsible for the downfall, nor did he cover things up maliciously, even if he and the Order made mistakes along the way, in the same way that Obi-wan isn't responsible for Anakin going to the dark side. However, both feel responsible, because they're both good people, who had good intentions, but had weaknesses of their own, and yet failed to save the galaxy or their student before it fell.

 

All of this. Brilliantly put. Exactly my thinking. At the end of the acolyte all I could hear was Yoda saying...'failed..I have".. that phrase is so much more powerful now to me

 

I don't think anyone-least of all Yoda-was hiding the existence of the Sith. I think that from the events of Acolyte all the way to TPM they still believed the Sith to be extinct. Not to mention, anyone Qimir revealed himself as Sith to was killed before they could report anything. Of course there were always those over the years that used the Force for evil, which the Jedi presumably had to defeat now and again, but the Sith were a whole different thing. Especially when comparing the notion of Sith to the way they existed BEFORE they supposedly went extinct. Based on what Palpatine himself implies (not to mention Darth Bane in TCW), the Sith actually ruled the galaxy at one point. I believe THAT is what the Jedi are assuming are extinct. I don't think they assume "OMG the Sith have returned!" Every time over the centuries that they run across a random dark Force user. I mean, even the Witches are a thing as well.

Then by the time we get to the years following TPM, I think the Jedi high council SUSPECTS that something's not right (what with sensing Darkside disturbances and all), but that's all it is; a feeling at that point. They of course wouldn't want to generate fear and unnecessary debate by making a knee-jerk reaction and announcing "Hey everybody, the Sith are back!" just after fighting Darth Maul. I mean, they didn't really know much about him anyway. All they knew was that the Sith have returned, but they didn't even know whether Maul was the master or the apprentice. There was just too little detail to announce it to the Galaxy during the 10 years before AOTC. So for that 10 years the Jedi kept their eyes open, but during that time there wasn't much movement other than a general sense of the Darkside existing, and a growing political unrest. It seems it wasn't until Dooku revealed everything to Obi-Wan that they really started taking this whole Sith threat seriously.

By the time of ROTS, everything was blowing up in their face, and much of their focus was on managing the war-but the rest of what little availability their attention had was on finding this Darth Sidious that Dooku spoke of.

To me the way the Jedi handled it is perfectly normal-at least not neglectful or deceptive, given what little information they had to go on for so many years.

 

Very interesting take. Yoda's guilt sends him to exile. He knows they failed but not through malice, just hubris and arrogance

 

"Always two there are, no more, no less. A master and an apprentice."

How could Yoda have known about the Rule of Two if it was specifically begun in order to put the Sith under cover until their eventual reemergence in TPM? I think Yoda's clearly part of the cover up moving forward on The Acolyte, and I would have no issues with it. Of course, at the end of season 1, all Vernestra seems to know is that Qimir fell to the dark side, but I don't think she knows for sure that he became a Sith. But I think the reemergence of the Sith will hit Yoda's radar eventually in this series, thus lending credence to his knowledge of how only two exist at a time.

 

I would have issues with it. We have seen enough of "Jedi are flawed", we don't need more of it with Yoda doing a cover up.

Their is an easy way to have the Jedi know about the Rule of Two while thinking the Sith were extinct, an no mudding up the Jedi needed. In the early days of the Rule of Two, perhaps when Darth Bane was still alive, maybe the Jedi had an encounter with them. The outcome eventually leading to the Jedi thinking the master and apprentice were killed. They are of course mistaken and one of the Sith survived.......

Yoda already knew about Darth Bane in TCW and knew he created the Rule of Two.