LogFAQs > #895921594

It's nice to see how much thought you've put into it, Distant_Rainbow.

I'm a pretty big fan of the pre-Disney EU and folks tend to give it less weight than others, so you can take it or leave it, but some of it fleshes out how deep Sidious's plans are. As far as Palps and Ani goes, we're told that Sidious and Plagueis are made aware of Anakin's existence, his massive presence in the force, but Sidious doesn't encounter it until the end of TPM (Plagueis had already been murdered by that point). So I agree, Sidious would probably seek him out to capitalize on his power whether he was with the Jedi or not.

Obi-Wan pledged to Qui-Gon while he was near death that he would train Anakin. Just as well, Yoda feels an obligation to his old apprentice and that influenced his decision to let Obi-Wan go along with Qui-Gon's wishes. There's an EU comic (released by Disney) where Anakin expresses his desire to quit, and Obi-Wan tells Yoda that he would be obligated to follow Anakin and train him outside of the Jedi Order. "Extreme loyalty" is one of the themes of Star Wars and I think true blue Obi would have stuck to it no matter what.

From what we know of Darth Maul's background, he was snatched up as a child by Sidious, kept isolated and alone, and trained in the Sith ways behind the scenes while Palpatine was playing Naboo senator. I think Anakin would have suffered roughly the same fate, and his anger, alienation and lack of agency would have grown much in the same way that Maul's did. He would have become a lapdog much sooner than how he ended up in the OT and I don't think Padme would have entered into it at all. Sidious used their relationship to grow Anakin's dark side because he couldn't fully dominate the boy while he was with the Jedi. If he was training him directly, he could take a more direct approach.

Dooku was being "worked" by Palpatine before and during the events of TPM, and he already used him to murder the Jedi who commissioned the clone army and take over the project for themselves. Order 66 was in the works before Anakin entered the picture, and I think Sidious would have pulled it off later regardless of Ani's involvement. With the Jedi thrown into the middle of war and tethered to all the dicey decisions of Palpatine's republic, he could have framed them any number of ways.

You're right in the end though; without Luke and Leia, the galaxy would be totally fucked in the OT.
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He might be the president, but it's not his country.