Posted by Cyborg Stan of CyKoLaJx, Inc. (209.170.135.28) on June 29, 2002 at 21:23:32:
In Reply to: A few possibilities... posted by Nhik Rath on June 29, 2002 at 16:23:04:
A very high possibility, then, would be a witchhunt, by the Jedi, of the Senators whom they suspect to be Sith Lords. With their failing power in the Force, and Palpatine's growing might, they'll probably not be able to see the obviousness of Palpatine's role in it all.
I don't think that the Jedi would do something akin to a witchhunt as much as spying on them behind the scenes. This is mostly gut feeling of course. However, it is noted that the Rebels say stuff to the effect of 'May the Force Be With You' and so on and so forth. This would not make too much sense if the Jedi were openly aggressive against the Senators, some which became important Rebel leaders and such.
What if a Senator that the Jedi suspect (and who Palpatine/Sidious/Dooku frame) is Amidala? ( Do you think she suspects an attack?) Ok, now think about this:
: Amidala is framed, Jedi hunt her, Anakin protects her, then in a totally awesome confrontation, the Jedi KILL Amidala right in front of Anakin. Ooooooh. This will cause two things:
I doubt it. Leia was able to remember her real mother a little bit, enough to pick up on the fact she was sad. Also keep in mind, Vader didn't know he had kids until much later. Amidala dies after Luke and Leia are seperated, and Leia was old enough to remember her. This would push the timeframe in the movie quite a bit around.
One: The Jedi are doomed. The galaxy sees their arrogance and paranoia as dillusional and a general hazard to the populace. The galaxy is ripe for a Purge.
There doesn't seem too much popular support for the Jedi in the ANH times, but it seems more of an indifference. Han and Tarkin dismiss the Force out of hand, Owen seems to think of Obi-Wan as eccentric and slightly mad more than anything else. Jabba seems amused at the concept and tries the first thing to kill one. The Rebellion seem to be fond of the Jedi. If most of the common people saw the Jedi as an outright hazard, the prejudice would be hard to overcome in the Rebels recruited from the general populace.