why couldn't mace wait to arrest Palpatine?

in my honest opinion i think Mace Windu was a fool. Immediately charging into his office mere hours or even minutes after General Grievous was killed just made them look bad. It makes them look like they wanted power, and they weren't gonna wait.

even If Palpatine was a good man, i am sure he wouldn't immediately remember his promise to throw down his power.

Also he said "when the crisis has abated." The crisis had not gone away.

They still had to deal with the last of the separatists and the power vacuum. Things would take time to get back to normal.

But Mace charging head first Anakin style let them get so easily framed.

Oh well. Fools are Fools.

I feel Mace could have at least waited a day or even a week to arrest Palpatine. Coming in there with a nasty tone and lightsabers drawn would leave a bad taste in my mouth if i was Palps.

But yeah feel free to discuss.

This is also disregarding Anakin telling Mace that Palps was a sith. Mace was going there even before he knew this and he probably didn't even believe Anakin. He was just in some frenzy due to paranoia and the war.

 

They played right into Palpatine's hand, but even Palpatine thought they arrived quickly.

Ideally the Jedi should've waited, petition the senate pressure Palpatine to relinquish his emergency powers, and if that doesn't work release the evidence that Palpatine is a traitor and the leader of the Seperatists. I'm sure the words of Anakin Skywalker would carry weight with the public. And if all else fails and after every legal attempt to remove Palpatine fails issue Order 65.

 

Because Palpatine would have escaped.

That's the simple answer. Palpatine deliberately revealed information to Anakin that made it clear what he was, and then Anakin went to the Jedi Council. Palpatine was aware of Anakin's movements and would have found this out very quickly. Mace Windu failed to anticipate Palpatine seizing on a solution to kill all the Jedi, so his logical assumption is that a Sith Lord with cover blown makes a run for it, probably to some secret location or simply a loyalist Star Destroyer with no Jedi aboard where he can issue orders via the HoloNet and start another civil war before the old one has even ended. So the Jedi had a short window of opportunity to act and chose to use it.

And if Anakin had taken just a little longer soul-searching before deciding to betray the galaxy, it would have worked too.

 

he was going to arrest palpatine regardless of what anakin said.

Anakin telling him a sith changed little, especially since Mace didn't really believe him. It only effected Anakin, who saw Mace was trying to keep him out yet again.

 

What makes you think Mace planned to arrest Palpatine before Anakin told him he was a Sith?

The plan was to inform the chancellor that Grievous was dead, to see whether he would relinquish his emergency powers, not to arrest him. The book is quite clear on this, as is it on the influence Anakin's words have on Mace, which, contrary to what you say, effected Mace quite a lot.

It does seem weird to expect the chancellor to relinquish the emergency powers immediately, as killing the leader of the seperatists isn't somehow shutting down all the droids. I guess that bit was added for dramatic purposes.

 

No they weren't. They were discussing options and what would need to be done to ensure a peaceful transition to a new legal Chancellor if Palpatine didn't give up his emergency power. Saying they were already planning to take over the Senate makes it seem like no matter the outcome with Grevious or asking Palpatine to give up his powers, the Jedi were still going to take over. What reason would they have for taking over if Palpatine did give up the emergency powers? Answer, none.

 

When Anakin told Mace Windu that Palpatine was a Sith Lord, the four masters were already prepping up to go see Palpatine and tell him Grievous was dead. Why were four masters necessary to do this? There's an implication that the Jedi were going to remove him from power before Anakin told Mace he was a Sith Lord, and the novelization makes this more explicit.

 

Why face him face-to-face, though? Why not do asymmetrically? They're in charge of the military! Find some high-yield explosives and blow him to hell.

 

And didnt the Jedi think that Palpatine was under the influence of the Sith Lord they were looking for? They were reasonably certain he wouldnt relinquish the powers like he said he would, which would mean they would need to remove him. And i would guess they had really bad feelings in the Force throughout, which makes it reasonable for someone to not go alone. They thought that the Sith Lord was behind it all in some way, which makes removing Palpatine, even if he wasnt Force sensitive, a dangerous mission.

but as for why he didnt wait a bit, that was stupid on his part, since it then just looks like the Jedi are going to attack Palpatine without much reason. Had they decided to wait a little bit, they could have made an announcement to the Senate that Grevious was dead and the war was over, and that it was time for Palpatine to relinquish his emergency powers. That would have forced Palpatine to admit he wasnt giving up his power, and perhaps gotten more of the people against him, rather than have the entire Senate have no real choice but to believe they attacked to kill the current Chancelor, which they did.

Given the lack of political savvy from the Jedi though, I wouldnt be surprised if Palpatine just turned it all around on them anyway.

 

Earthworm Jimmy Smits?

 

Because that's not how you arrest someone, or even how you conduct a high-end political assassination. High-yield explosives leave a bunch of debris that makes it pretty darned hard to prove you did what you set out to do. Obama sent the Seals in to take out Osama Bin Laden rather than having a few drones hit the compound with Hellfire missiles, and it's the same decision making structure here. Besides, the Jedi originally intended to simply arrest Palpatine the Sith Lord, and potentially have him stand trial (and if Mace Windu had, in the moment, agreed to allow Palpatine to live who knows what might have happened).

Four Jedi Masters can handle a whole lot, no doubt Mace thought that sufficient for almost any contingency, and in all honesty, Palpatine swiftly dispatching said council members is quite possibly the weakest sequence in ROTS.

 

LMAO....when was the last time a Sith Master was arrested? Why didn't the US Navy SEALs try to arrest Bin Laden? This is a humorous thread.

 

Why did it take them ten years?!

There are plenty of legitimate reasons to remove him from office besides him being a Sith Lord. Once it's revealed that he is, then they shouldn't have tried to take him in private - witnesses would be absolutely key in this case.

 

They could have used Order 65.

 

They should have brought a floating camera droid.

 

I doubt it. I'm wondering how many people actually knew about these contingencies, they don't seem like common knowledge even among the highest ranking officials. Secondly, Order 65 required a majority vote of the Senate or Security Council. I don't know anything about the Security Council but the Senate was in Palpatine's pocket.

 

Cause Mace Windu is the dumbest high ranking Jedi in ever. IN EVER!

Near the end of ROTS to Yoda, "I sense a plot to destroy the Jedi."-Mace Windu.

Brainwave.

 

If I were a Jedi in charge of the Anti-Palpatine Task Force these are the plans I would have, in order of most likely to succeed.

1. Institute Order 65, since it would be unlikely to get a majority in the Senate since it is filled with people under Palpatines pay I'd use the Security Council. If the Security Council won't issue the Order I'm sure a bunch of Jedi Masters using force persuasion could get them to change their votes. Then with the GAR arrest and or kill Palpatine.

2. Release all evidence of Palpatine being a Sith Lord and the leader of the CIS to the Senate while in session and on the HoloNet live. Even if the Senate doesn't vote out Palpatine it will make the Republic too divided for Palpatine to do anything. If he issues Order 66 it would cause an immediate revolt against him.

3. Make up a threat against Palpatine's life, hustle Palpatine deep into the Jedi Temple to 'protect' him. Then 'take care of him' and say an assassin broke through.

4. Confront Palpatine as he is making a live HoloNet address to the Republic, confront him over being a Sith and leading the CIS. He'll tell you his whole plan and how he will kill you so no one will ever no. At that point reveal to him he left his microphone on and the whole galaxy heard what he said. It works every time on villains, they never turn off the microphone.

5. Immediately confront Palpatine with no prior consultation with the Senate, the Security Council, and leave no alert to the other Jedi about the possibility of failure. (This is the one Mace decided to use)

 

I'm not so certain that the Kaminoans knew anything about the contingency orders, or that they would have neglected to inform the Jedi about them if they did know.

Also, some clones in that book didn't seem to know anything about Order 66.

 

I can't believe the Jedi wouldn't know about those Orders. I mean regular troopers probably wouldn't tell but the Commandos, the ARCs and the Commanders were close with a lot of Jedi and would likely have told them the contingency plans if they asked. Which any intelligent person would. I mean that's intel 101. Besides the Security Council and the Senate would have to know about the Order in order to issue the Order, otherwise how would it work? So if Bail was a member of the Security Council he should know about the Order. So Mace and the Jedi missed a golden opportunity to get him to issue Order 65.

But even with the whole 501st behind Mace and the whole Jedi High Council I'd still put money on Palpatine escaping, but he would no longer be a real threat. The Rule of Two would have to start all over.

 

Why would they tell the Jedi? The clones are loyal to Palpatine above all else, even their own lives. None of the contingency orders we know about involve the Jedi as allies, so it's possible they were specifically ordered by Palpatine to not discuss the contingency orders with anyone. I don't think (m)any of the clones were that close to the Jedi, seeing how just about all them carried out Order 66. Why would the Jedi ask? "Um, have you been given any extra special super secret contingency orders that I should know about?

They don't need to know until they need to know, when it comes time to vote. Palpatine could explain the Order, give them a short period of time to think about it, and then call for a vote. With as much influence as Palpatine had, I'm sure he had his cronies in the Security Council.

It makes more sense if nobody knows about the contingency orders because if the Jedi or any of their friends in the Senate knew it would make them all look even dumber.

 

"Cor'ika, we've got a hundred and fifty shabla contingency rules, everything from arresting the Chancellor if he goes gaga to reducing key allied worlds to slag if they switch sides?" RC-3222, to RC-5108/8843 and Jedi General Etain Tur-Mukan

A few clones, mostly Commandos and ARCs saved their Jedi commanders. And with the above quote I'm pretty sure some Clones would've told their Jedi Commanders if they asked. And if the Jedi had any ounce of common sense they would be sure to check those Orders.

I don't think the guy who is being removed from office should be the guy explaining the only way he can be removed from office. I mean if he's the only one that knows how to legally remove himself from office how is anyone therefore going to legally remove him from office? I mean Palpatine is smart enough to know that if he makes the system so unbeatable that he has complete and total control everyone will be suspicious of him. The only way to fight that suspicion is to have things like Order 65 so he can say, "Hey look I may have all these Orders to kill Jedi, the Senate, Base Delta Zero Coruscant, but I also have one to kill me too. I'm just being prepared for any possible situation."

Palpatine was a mastermind, one of the greatest. And he knew the best way to avoid suspicion wasn't to appear all powerful and unbeatable, but to look only as powerful as he needed and to look beatable.