Why did the Jedi allow Anakin to have the relationship he had with Palpatine?

I don't know about many of you, but I have asked myself so often in my thoughts on the Prequels, "Why did the Jedi allow Anakin to have the relationship he had with Palpatine"?

When you really think about their relationship in light of Anakin being a Jedi and all that it entails you would think that Anakin would not have had time for this relationship, particularly with the time he had to have for training, education and time with Obi-Wan.

How could Obi-Wan and the Jedi Council even allow for this relationship to begin in the first place? Didn't they think that it was odd for the Supreme Chancellor to take such an interest in this one Jedi. This relationship would be like the President of the U.S. having a close relationship with just one soldier per se in the Marines. How odd would that would be??!

Of course we know that Palpatine used his position as the Supreme Chancellor to create this relationship with Anakin; however I find it hard to believe that Obi-Wan and the Jedi allow their relationship to flourish as it did. Even if Palpatine had had good intentions for Anakin, it seems that this relationship would have interfered with his Jedi training and mentoring under Obi-Wan.

By the time of ROTS, Anakin's relationship with Palpatine had reached a level that no other person had, to the point that Padme, a senator said to Anakin, "You are the closest person to the Chancellor, you can persuade him to end this war"(something like this she said). And when it came to Anakin receiving his seat on the Council, Obi-Wan even had to admit that Anakin's relationship with the Chancellor had paid off with Palpatine wanting him to be his personal representative on the Jedi Council.

So again, how and why did Obi-Wan and the Jedi allow for Anakin to have this relationship with Palpatine when no other Jedi was afforded such a privilege? Surely they had to have said to themselves this is not a good thing. But it seems that Obi-Wan and the Jedi Council allowed their relationship to grow as it did without questioning it. You would think that of anyone, Obi-Wan should have been upset that Palpatine was having as much influence over Anakin as he did as his master.

Because Anakin was allowed to have this close relationship with the Supreme Chancellor, this also had to have fed his ego and made him arrogant that he was the only Jedi that had a personal audience with the Supreme Chancellor. Anakin referred to Palpatine in ROTS as a mentor and a friend when he was told he had to spy on him.

The Jedi were blind in this regard allowing for this relationship, because in the end their relationship was a main reason and the difference as to why Anakin trusted Palpatine so much even after he learned he was a Sith.


Darth Sin!

 

Well at that moment in time, the Jedi believed Palpatine to be under the alliegence of a Sith Lord.

 

Well Anakin also hung out a lot with Padme, another extremely powerful politician in her own right, so I guess the Jedi order doesn't restrict contact with people who are presumed good. It's probably up to the individual jedi I bet.

 

You would think that the jedi would be under strict watch of Anakin at all times. When Yoda made Kenobi Anakin's master, he should have put a stipulation on him that said Anakin was to be with another jedi master at ALL times. Then his frollick off to Naboo might have been quelled and they wouldn't be in that mess. More poor decision making by Yoda.

 

MASTER_DOODOO
You would think that the jedi would be under strict watch of Anakin at all times. When Yoda made Kenobi Anakin's master, he should have put a stipulation on him that said Anakin was to be with another jedi master at ALL times. Then his frollick off to Naboo might have been quelled and they wouldn't be in that mess. More poor decision making by Yoda.

Anakin needs to be self-reliant. Having Obi-Wan constantly watch over Anakin (who wants to be a jedi-master) is no answer. Anakin messed up, not Yoda. Plus, the choices Yoda made allowed Sidious to be overthrown later by Vader.

 

yah, that's one way to look at it!

 

Didn't they think that it was odd for the Supreme Chancellor to take such an interest in this one Jedi. This relationship would be like the President of the U.S. having a close relationship with just one soldier per se in the Marines. How odd would that would be??!


Actually, its odder than that. It like the President of the U.S. having a close relationship with just one boy scout. (or intern. ) But a lot of things in SW are odd, ie the supreme ruler of a planet is a 14 year old girl.

 

Okay we can cover for the Jedi on just about everything if we want to. The reality is Anakin was married to Padme for 3 years without their knowledge, and Palpatine was the sith lord right under their noses for how long?? 13 odd years.

I know..... the darkside clouds your judgement.

My point is they were a bit naive as an overall. Both Anakin and Palpatine deceived them.

 

The Jedi encourage relationships. See Obi-wan's relationship with Dex and Yoda's good relations with the Wookiees of Kashyyyk. And since the Chancellor is grateful towards Anakin for saving his planet, they saw no harm in letting them be friends. Anakin went to see him between training sessions and later, between missions. Often, Palpatine would call for Anakin and it would look poor if they refused to let him go. Had they realized the truth, they wouldn't have let him go alone. Probably even at all.

 

MASTER_DOODOO
yah, that's one way to look at it!

well, i have to defend yoda, its just a natural reaction.

 

Well, there is also the fact that Palpatine is the Supreme Chancellor and thus will hang out with whom he wants to.

And, as for the analogy, I think you are slightly off.

Palpatine's friendship with Anakin is more like the President spending alot of time with a War Hero-General who, since entering the service, had been known as a Savant and perhaps the most skilled military man in history. Most people, Jedi and Commoner alike, probably assume that Anakin-Palpatine has to do with Anakin being a sort of Jedi/Military Advisor to Palpatine. Like a Chief of Staff or something.

 

Their relationship seems to be seen as something like a "family friend." Anakin grew up under Palpatine's eye, and so I'm sure it didn't seem that strange later on that Anakin would spend time with him. I do agree that perhaps it fed his ego too much and should have been kept a little more in check, but perhaps the Jedi thought he could learn something from Palpatine, that he especially would benefit from someone who wasn't a Jedi. However, as soon as Dooku said the Senate was being controlled by a Sith Lord, they should have been more cautious. Anakin was in a much too vulnerable state and too important to the war and to the Force. Of course, they can't babysit him all the time, and he does become a Knight, but these are desperate times, unfortunately no one seemed to put two and two together.

 

When you think of it, Palpatine was actually training Anakin to be a Sith(unknown to him and the Jedi)at the same time he was training to be a Jedi in this relationship.

When the time was ripe for the revelation, the seeds that had been planted during this time made it easier for Anakin to side with Palpatine even when he learned he was a Sith.

Darth Sin!

 

I've always thought that as well. A little here, a little there over the years, but nothing that would cause alarm until it was too late to remedy the situation(hindsight is 20/20).

 

The fact that the Jedi allowed him to have a relationship with Palps never sat well with me, either. If you think about it, Anakin is just a small boy when he starts visiting him. It is a little odd for a 9 year old boy to visit a 40+ year old man? Think about , nothing good can come from that kind of relationship. Think if it were your 9 year old boy visiting an older man of no relation. A little strange to say the least. But the fact that Palps filled his head with nonsense from such a young age, telling him what he wanted, not needed to hear. Kind of creepy. You can see now why Palps doesn't have the same effect on Luke, no time to cultivate the relationship and Palps was arrogant. He thought, "I turned your father and I can turn you too!" NOT!!!

 

Well it's not like they knew Palpatine was a Sith lord at the time and they may not have really seen it at first as a bad thing. Also though as the war went on and they were finding that is was not ending they wanted to use that relationship to find out what was going on with Palpatine.

 

That's an exceptionally sensible and eloquent analogy. Thank you for making it.

Why not?

Modern hysteria regarding pedophilia shouldn't -- and doesn't -- taint Star Wars. Its story is much bigger than that. Star Wars isn't shackled by current social trends and anxieties.

 

there is truth to both those arguments, that later durring the clone wars the jedi probably thought their relationship was beneficial to the war efford and that pedophelia has nothing to do with star wars and any mention of it is out of place.

still there is something very odd about this however not completely odd.

i think it passes this way, palpantine is the chancelor but he was the senator from naboo. This boy saved his planet and in a way is alone on corruscant with just the jedi to raise him. It is possible the jedi thought that palpantine befriended anankin for 3 reasons, he had an amazing potential for power (this was not a secret i assume), he saved naboo, and perhaps palpantine wanted to help anakin adjust as he came to live with the jedi.

I don't really understand the tolerance for this relationship either however. I can only assume the council didn't know or it doesn't make sense, it does however make sense if only obi-wan knew, and he allowed it because he saw no harm in it.

in a way the jedi always answered to the senate and chancellor even before the moves in rots that put them under control of the chancellor so i guess if they denied letting them visit they'd have to give a reason.

i don't think "cause we say so" would fly as a reason with the chancellor nor would it be wise for the jedi council or a master to give this reason so i guess they just allowed it because they saw no harm.

yoda made alot of mistakes in the PT i won't bash him for this one because all of them share in the blame here.

 

I was mentioning the awkward relationship as a joke(hence the funny faces). I agree that this has nothing to do with pedophilia.

If you read in the history of the Republic, then you will see that after the Ruusan Reformations(1000 years before the Battle of Yavin), the Jedi stopped leading armies and became a part of the Republic(they were a part of the Judicial Forces who you see flying the ship that brings Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan to the Trade Federation ship in TPM). They were technically a seperate entity and consulted on by the Republic. Palps is the first chancellor in 1000 years to buck that tradition, it should have generated suspicion. I think the Jedi could have refused any request that Palps gives but Palps would have made them look bad because he had control of many of the senators by that time.

 

You might want to try using more apropos and precise faces in the future.

I read so many absurd things on these forums, and elsewhere, that you might want to encode the sarcasm clearly in your language, or else use relevant emoticons, otherwise I and others are likely to assume you mean what you say.

 

sorry didn't mean to make it sound like a jab at you, just wanted to reject the in universe notion of it.

i agree with you that he jedi could refuse, but it would have been a bad idea.

i'm sure they get funding and a lot of their athority from the senate and palpantine controled it they knew that.

he probably had a good hold on the media, a leader like him would have to in order to remain very popular, the jedi would not win this fight. Not with Mace Window or worse yet Yoda as spokesmen.

 

Actually, I think it's obvious that the Council knows of their relationship. Mace points it out that Anakin should be the one to speak to Palpatine about Padme.

Mace: "Anakin, go to the Senate and ask Chancellor Palpatine to speak with her."

Anakin is sent. Not Obi-wan. Not Yoda or even Mace himself contacting Palpatine. But Anakin. Not to mention they're well aware of it in ROTS. No, I think it is plenty obvious they knew of their relationship and just saw no harm in it. Any awareness they had of Anakin's recklessness and defiant attitude they would chalk up to his being unlike the other Padawans. Not found by birth and all that.

 

I still never sat well with me that the Jedi Council would let some one who was supposed to be a mere Padawan hang out with the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic. Something is definately out of place here.

 

The Jedi didn't have any problems with Anakin and Palpatine as friends. Obiwan was probably let it go to make Anakin happy. Obiwan also pretended he didn't know about Padme to make Anakin happy. I doubt the council knew how close Anakin was to Palpatine. But as the viewers, we see Palpatine seducing Anakin, Obiwan/Jedi only saw Palpatine treating Anakin like the son he never had.

 

well put.

the first thought i had was "that's insidious" uppon reading this, LOL Sidious is well named isn't he?