Was Mace Windu's mistake leaving Anakin behind?

I understand the logic: The Emperor may have some control over Anakin, so leave him behind.

But....Anakin is the best aid that Mace Windu could bring. Anakin had already defeated Dooku. The ones he brought with him may as well have been wearing red enterprise security guard uniforms for all the help they were.

The Emperor would not have so easily been able to pull his weapon and charge Windu if Anakin were there to defend the Jedi.

Perhaps things would not have changed, Anakin and Windu disarm the Emperor, Windu then decides to execute him rather than accept the surrender.....

 

Mace's mistake was not looking for Anakin's shatterpoint because if he knew, as Obi-wan did, that Anakin had deep feelings for Padme, he would have realized that Anakin was ready to absolutely ANYTHING in the name of love.

 

Maces mistake was rushing. He should have waited until Yoda, and other Jedi that knew how to fight, returned. Then they should have collectively thought of a good PLAN.

 

That too. He should have waited until Yoda and Obi-wan could be recalled to the Temple and THEN go after Sidious.

 

There is no clear answer to this question. Anakin could have turned against Mace whether the latter had left him behind or not. Which leads me to believe that it is irrevelant to criticize Mace for leaving Anakin behind. And criticizing Mace for not bothering to wait until Yoda's return to Coruscant seems like another irrevelant criticism, since no one doesn't really know what would have happened.

 

in fairness,i think mace did the right thing in leaving anakin behind.he didnt entirely trust him,and if you are going to take out a bad ass sith lor you need to know that the team you are with are watching your back.
i know,i know, for all the good it did them i hear you all say.but from his point of view it seems a reasonable course of action to take at the time.he figured takin three jedi masters along with him was more than enough to take care of sidious.

 

I agree. There's just absolutely no way of knowing. Orginally, Lucas planned to have Anakin walk in while both Mace and Palpatine dueled. Anakin flows them around and watches for a bit and then Mace disarms Palpatine and everything goes down the same way. I don't think it really mattered if Mace left Anakin behind or not. He didn't want Palpatine to die. If he showed up with the posse, would Palpatine even break out the lightsaber? Would he attempt to force Anakin to kill all 4 Jedi? Who knows. The only thing you can count on is that Anakin was not going to let Palpatine die. So it probably ends up being the same way in the end.

In the RotS novel, Yoda and the Council decide it's best for Yoda to leave so it makes the Jedi look weak and hopefully draw out Sidious. Also in the RotS novel, the posse is all nervous going to arrest Palpatine. One Master comments that they wish Yoda was with them. I don't think Palpatine reveals himself to Anakin if he can turn around and talk to Obiwan. Other than that, Palpatine reveals himself to Anakin no matter what other Jedi are on Coruscant.

 

In the RotS novel, Yoda and the Council decide it's best for Yoda to leave so it makes the Jedi look weak and hopefully draw out Sidious.

Oh yeah, great plan. In that case, Mace and all the other Jedi should have left too, leaving only the padawans. That would have drawn out Sidious even quicker.


Another silly plan along those lines:

The Jedi should have marched to the Senate backwards, to fool Sidious into thinking the Jedi were retreating.

 

Oh yeah, great plan. In that case, Mace and all the other Jedi should have left too, leaving only the padawans. That would have drawn out Sidious even quicker.

Why laugh about it? Even if Sidious was capable of taking out Kit Fisto and the other two Jedi Masters, Palpatine would still have to deal with Mace. And whether you want to admit this or not, Lucas and his people have confirmed that Mace was one of three members of the Jedi who were quite capable and powerful enough to take on Palpatine.

 

I think had Anakin gone with the Jedi initially, and he had seen how Palpatine/Sidious reacted, I think the outcome would have been different. Seeing Palpatine slaughter Kolar, Tiin, and Fisto, for no real reason other then to get them out of the way, should've shown Anakin that Palpatine really is evil. They Jedi were not there to kill Palpatine, but he killed them anyway. I think Anakin may have thought differently, because as how it went down in the film, he walks in with Palpatine cornered and unarmed by Windu, and Palpatine tells him the Jedi just barged in and tried to take over. But if Anakin had gone with them and saw that that wasn't the case, I think he would've helped disarm Palpatine, or even kill him, and fulfilled the prophecy. Despite that Palpatine may or may not be able to save his wife.

 

Bottom line, Anakin turns because Palpatine is the only one that can help him. Palpatine claims that it is possible for a Sith Lord to save someone from dying. Palpatine has knowledge of the dark side. He can help Anakin to save Padme. Ergo, he was going to betray the Jedi no matter what. He only wanted Palpatine to live so that he could pump him for information. It didn't matter that Palpatine was evil, he knew that he was. That isn't what drives him. What drives him is the fear of losing Padme and not being able to do a damn thing about it. So he will make a deal with the devil to obtain ultimate power, which is the power to cheat death. It's either the Jedi or Padme and he will choose Padme.

 

If Anakin had gone with Mace, Palpatine would have had him killing his fellow Jedi in 30 seconds. Mace did the right thing; he realized that the Chancellor had an unwholesome influence on Anakin and ordered him to stay behind accordingly.

 

Mace's crew was supposedly some of the best saberists of the Order.

 

I agree, as it had been stated before that the 3 Jedi that went with Mace to palpatines office were indeed some of the better swordsmen in the order.

But thats not to say they were better than Yoda, Mace or Anakin. Also they didnt have the same potential or connection to the force as the other 3. This seems to have an effect on the outcome of most duels. Darth Sidious was one of the most powerful force users in the entire galaxy, maybe even the most powerful.

As for Mace leaving Anakin behind, it may have been better for Mace to bring Anakin. Well it couldnt get much worse than it did. I agree with what Darth Sinister said that anakin really only wanted to save Padme, and that he already knew Sidious was evil. However i think his time reflecting in the Jedi council chambers, knowing that Padme would die is what really confirmed in Ankins own head that Sidious would have to be kept alive. Maybe if he hadnt been left behind, Anakins mind would have been clear. Since he would want Mace seeing his thoughts

 

Leaving Anakin behind was not a mistake at all.

Everything in that office went down the best possible way it could have.
(Anakin just couldnt control his emotions)

Anakin knew Sidious was evil before he informed Mace, so if Anakin was going to turn he would have turned no matter what.

Being in the office during the arrest wouldnt have mattered.

Mace did everything he was supposed to do.
(defeat Sidious)

Sidious did what's in his nature to do.

Anakin was the ONLY one who made a mistake.

 

Well Mace has that whole shatterpoint ability and he screwed up with it. When Anakin, Obiwan and Palpatine came back from the Invisible Hand, Mace saw that they were all connected like in a web. That whatever happened counted on those three, then when Anakin tells him Palpatine is a Sith Lord, Mace sees everything depends on Anakin. The fate of the whole damn galaxy. And then from the films we see Mace, almost casually, tell Anakin to say behind because he senses confusion in him. Which seems to think that Anakin is simply torn up because he and Palpatine have been friends for a while. Mace didn't look to find Anakin's shatterpoint, Padme for reasons unknown. If he had, he should have locked Anakin up in the Temple basement,because regardless, Anakin was going to find his way to the Chancellor's office and not let Palpatine die.

 

No.
Mace's only real mistake was misjudging where Skywalker's loyalty was.

 

I think it is risky to wait for any more Jedi to return to assist Mace and Co. There is no time, Mace just found out that Palpatine is a bad guy. He probably thought the longer they wait, the more dangerous and risky the situation is, who knows what the sith lord was upto. Yeah I heard it wasn't a great idea for Mace to bring only 3 people (arrogance or whatever), but it feels like the sort of thing where you would think 4 Jedi can arrest one bad guy. Meaning in the worst case, if the dark lord is powerful, 4 can deal with him. I don't remember, I thought there were no other skilled enough Jedi to help Mace and them there at the time. It was better to leave Anakin behind and away from the action than to bring him along, the confusion in Anakin would not help. When Anakin did arrive, Mace was a little surprised at first but reassured Anakin that the situation is under control. He made a hand gesture to Anakin signaling "it's all right, it's cool, wait" So I don't believe it was Mace's mistake to leave Anakin behind. I love that look Anakin gives Palpatine when Palpatine said "anakin i told you it would come to this.." . Anakin looks down thinking "youre full of it"

 

Only in their minds before they walked into Palpatines office. None of them had any experience dealing with a Sith. As seen in TPM and AOTC, initially meeting a Sith the Jedi are always surprised by the first moves the Sith makes. Quite possibly, Obi-Wan and Anakin never put that they were initially surprised in their report, or downplayed it.

 

One of Anakins biggest flaws in the prequels is his ignorance. Even though Palpataine is obviously a sketchy power hungry character Anakin continues to admire him not only for his power and position but because he can give Anakin what he wants deep down.

Power to save Padme.

Maybe if Anakin had come he would see Palpataines straight up attack at the master, but Anakin knew he was a sith lord right before the attempted arrest. I don't think anything could be considered a mistake besides Anakins obvious growing attatchment to Padme for the past 10 years.

 

Well as has been pointed out previously, in the original version of the scene Anakin was there. He didn't tell the Jedi about Palpatine. Obi-wan did after hearing Greivous talk to Sidious, which allowed him to find out the truth. From there the Jedi Posse had come to chew bubblegum and kick ass. But Palpatine was waiting and fought back, while Anakin watched the whole time. He only got involved when Mace knocked Palpatine down and was going in for the kill. So seeing how evil Palpatine was, didn't change matters. When Lucas redid the scene at his friends request, he just had Anakin struggle with his situation. But the end result was still the same. He chose Palpatine for what he could gain, rather than trust fate.

 

Anakin should have went along, or said **** you to Mace and drove himself there instead of sitting around the temple and getting there after most of the fun was over. I also think that Obi Wan would have lasted longer than all of Mace's crew as well, since he one of the few that has fought Sith on several occasions.

 

Windu's mistakes were great in number as was his overconfidence.

In short, he got what he had coming.

 

Exactly.

 

I think that Mace did make a mistake he allowed his fear for the the Jedi order to overshadow his reason. Much the same way that Luke did in TESB when he felt Leia and Han in danger. He went to face Sidious on his terms instead of having patience and ordering a recall of the more senior Masters. Cheif being Master Yoda