After seeing the most recent Star Wars film, I posted to my local friends private email list a random assortment of things that I noticed.

One of the things that people have been critical of during the prequels (or so I percieve) is that the Jedi are apparently blind to the manipulations of a Sith Lord that many of them have actually met in person. One of the things I posted was my take on that situation:

The first thing to keep in mind is that Yoda and Mace explicitly talk about their ability to use the Force being diminished due to the growing inflience of the Dark Side. So, in general terms, the Force is less effective for seeing stuff.

The second thing is that the Jedi can't just look at Palpatine and realize he's a Sith Lord (otherwise the movies would've been much briefer). Apparently, it's somewhat like being jammed. People like Palpatine who use the Dark Side are mostly invisible to Jedi, unless they are actively using their powers in their presence. Maybe it's because actively looking for the Dark Side is a bit like exposing yourself to its temptations. More likely, unlike Anakin, who is actively angry and such, Palpatine is so cool and collected and puts forth such a sympathetic face that he simply doesn't register as angry, hateful, etc.

Yoda is a bit suspicious of Palpatine even as far back as the beginning of Episode II, but apparently no Jedi actually senses the Dark Side around Palpatine until Mace brings it up in Episode III … and even then, he isn't sure about it until Anakin tells him.

The Jedi have known about the machinations of the Sith for something like fifteen years by the time of Episode III. They aren't idiots. They just couldn't pin down who was behind it all exactly using the Force, so they were forced to rely on other sources of information. And that's what Palpatine can control. Look at the story of the Sith from the Jedi perspective:

• First the Sith are thought extinct.

• Maul shows up, proving they aren't. The Jedi know there are always two Sith, a master and an apprentice, but don't really know which Maul was. However, the fact that Maul was defeated (by a Padawan no less) suggests that Maul was the apprentice. So the Master is still out there, somewhere.

• Then, a former Jedi, Count Dooku turns up. Fine and dandy, the Jedi say he's not a murderer … until he demonstrates his grasp of Dark Side powers and tries to convince Obi-wan to join him. This suggests to the Jedi that Dooku was the Master that trained Maul, having fallen when he became convinced that he was the chosen one and started trying to use both sides of the Force. He even fends off Master Yoda long enough to escape. And here he is, trying to recruit Obi-wan as his new apprentice. The Sith would love the irony of corrupting the Jedi that took out Maul into Maul's successor.

• Then Ventriss shows up, wielding lightsabers very much like Dooku's and tries to take on Anakin (and fails). Clearly, Ventriss was Dooku's new apprentice. After all, Dooku is still known to be out there.

• Then General Grievous shows up and takes out a number of Jedi. Obviously he's had some sort of training, probably by Dooku. Certainly a non-traditional choice for an apprentice, but the Sith can hardly be expected to play by the rules…

• Once Dooku dies, Grievous apparently becomes the new de facto Sith Master … and not a very impressive one from the Jedi perspective. He's dangerous, but a coward, and not actually capable of using the Force, it would seem. Effectively, the Jedi probably think the real Sith died with Dooku, and all they have left is a cleanup action…

• … until they realize things are getting worse, not better, and grow suspicious of Palpatine. Mace can finally sense the Dark Side “around” Palpatine, but doesn't actually accuse him of being a Sith, so clearly this isn't quite the same thing as knowing what he's facing. Anakin's revelation to Mace finally confirmed who was behind it the whole time.

So, it's not that the Jedi were bad at seeing through deception … it's that Palpatine is VERY, VERY GOOD at misdirection.