During Episode three, Mace Windu took it upon himself to lead a group of four Jedi Masters to confront Darth Sidious when it became apparent that he had been masquerading as Chancellor of the Galactic Republic for 15 years.
A question that many Star Wars have pondered is why Mace Windu didn’t wait for Yoda before confronting Palpatine.
Here’s what you need to know.
Why didn’t Mace Windu wait for Yoda before confronting Palpatine?
When Anakin Skywalker revealed to Mace Windu that he had discovered the truth about Palpatine’s true identity, Mace Windu was somewhat taken back but not completely stunned. The Jedi had been investigating Palpatine for some time and had their suspicions about his involvement with the Sith, with the confirmation from Anakin realising their worst fears.
It isn’t out of the question that the Jedi Council had set up a plan of action for if this exact scenario played out which would explain the swiftness of their actions. Mace Windu, Kit Fisto, Saesee Tiin, and Agen Kola boarded a transport immediately to arrest Palpatine upon hearing the news from Anakin, suggesting they all knew what they had to do without any further discussion.
The reason why they went ahead with the confrontation without Yoda was that he was on Kashyyyk looking to help end the Clone Wars alongside the Wookies. If Windu had contacted Yoda to tell him of this revelation, he would then have had to wait for Yoda to return back to Coruscant, at which point Sidious may have escaped.
There are some other reasons why Mace Windu acted immediately, though, including:
- He believed four Jedi Masters would be enough to arrest Palpatine
- He could sense the conflict in Anakin so wanted a swift resolution
- He knew that Palpatine would move against the Jedi quickly if they didn’t make the first move quickly
Mace Windu believed that four Jedi Masters would be enough to arrest Palpatine
The Jedi had been searching for Darth Sidious for several years and were wary of the power that he could potentially possess. However, Mace Windu was still confident that himself and three other Jedi Masters would be enough to take him down.
On one hand, it’s easy to understand Mace’s confidence. To reach the rank of Master you had to be a highly skilled Jedi with fantastic battle skills and sound knowledge of the Force. Windu himself was second in rank only to Yoda on the Council and the other three Masters were all well-respected Jedi. Surely in a four-on-one battle, they couldn’t lose?
On the other hand, it is symbolic of the arrogance displayed by the Jedi of the prequel era. They had become far too sure of themselves and refused to acknowledge the power of the dark side. Ultimately, this blindness was a huge factor in their downfall.
Although Sidious did dispose of Fisto, Tiin and Kola with ease, Windu managed to defeat Sidious and would have destroyed him if it wasn’t for Anakin intervening right at the end of the duel.
While some people have speculated in the past that Sidious had “allowed” Windu to beat him to further manipulate Anakin, George Lucas has since confirmed that Windu won the duel fair and square.
Mace Windu could sense the conflict in Anakin so wanted a swift resolution
It’s fair to say that Anakin Skywalker and Mace Windu had a turbulent relationship throughout the former’s life as a Jedi. Some fans even theorise that if Mace had been nicer to Anakin then the Chosen One’s turn to the dark side might not have happened.
Despite that, Anakin’s first port of call when he discovered that Palpatine was a Sith Lord was to go straight to Windu with the news. Anakin pleaded with Mace to take him with him to confront Sidious as he knew how powerful the Dark Lord was. However, Windu refused to take Anakin and instructed him to wait for him in the Council chambers.
He did this because he could sense how conflicted Anakin was during this time. He knew how close Anakin was to Palpatine and he was ultimately going there to either arrest or kill him. He may also have sensed that Palpatine had promised Anakin something if he joined him, meaning it would have been far too dangerous to take Skywalker with the group.
By immediately going to arrest Sidious, Mace could have swiftly dealt with the root cause of Anakin’s conflict, which would have hugely benefited both Anakin and the Jedi Order. Ultimately, Mace was right not to trust Anakin with this mission as he ended up showing up anyway to help Sidious defeat the Jedi Master.
Mace Windu knew that Palpatine would move against the Jedi quickly if they didn’t make the first move
As a battle-hardened general throughout the Clone Wars, Mace Windu had learnt how to think tactically when it came to war. Palpatine knew that it was only a matter of time before the Jedi Council knew of his true identity because Anakin told him as much when he left his office.
Mace also knew this, meaning he was probably rushed into making an immediate decision to confront Palpatine because if he’d waited it out then Palpatine could have either used his dark side powers to launch an attack on the Jedi directly or use his political position to get ahead of the game and to spin an anti-Jedi rhetoric to the Senate and people within the Republic.
Mace believed that by acting directly, the Jedi Council could prevent either of those two things from happening. Ultimately, though, the move backfired and the two things he was trying to protect the Jedi from happened as soon as he was killed by Sidious.
In the actual duel, you can find out whether Palpatine purposely lost to Mace Windu here.
Final thoughts
To summarise, there are a number of reasons why Mace Windu acted immediately to confront Palpatine after learning that he was a Dark Lord of the Sith. It was a very intense time in the Star Wars timeline and he had just seconds to make a decision.
In hindsight, perhaps if he had trusted Anakin more over the years, it would have all played out differently!
You can find out why Mace Windu killed Jango Fett here.
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