There is something that has always perplexed me, at least ever since I saw episode iii in the movie theater; why did Yoda and Obi-Wan go into hiding for ~20 years? I understand that they desired to protect Anakin's children but certainly that could have been done by others, like Senator Organa, who in fact raised Leia.

It seems silly to me that the two, who by a large degree formed an extremely potent force together, could not as such unite and try and undermine, and eventually, destroy Vader and the Emperor. Instead they left it to Luke and Leia, who by definition would be inferior to the two of them.

At least seems pretty peculiar to me.

IITS – It’s In The Script. We saw where they ended up in A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. Revenge of the Sith decided to show us them headed there, for whatever reason.

Why would Obi-Wan and Yoda be THAT demoralized? Kenobi nearly killed Vader with his attack. There is no reason to assume that, with Yoda and Kenobi working together, they couldn’t manage to kill the Emperor and/or Vader.

Yoda came close to stopping Palpatine on his own, and Obi-Wan was clearly the victor over Anakin/Vader. Together, they could very possibly have won.

Now, as for the hearts and minds of the public, already swayed into thinking the Jedi were traitors, it would have been problematic. That is to say, they could win the battle but possibly not the war, and plunge the galaxy into another civil war as a consequence.

Now, had the characters SAID something to this effect, that a pure victory was unlikely in the here and now, that it could have done more harm than good overall after what had already happened, and it would have made more sense. Throw in a comment about a Force Vision, and you have something.

As the movies stand by themselves, it does look like Yoda and Obi-Wan give up, split up the kids in the worst possible way (Leia lives in luxury with the Organas, and Luke not only keeps his father’s name, making him easy to potentially find, but they leave him ON HIS FATHER”S HOMEWORLD!), and just hope things will eventually work out somehow.

I know that the books, and some of the games (The Force Unleashed) try to address some of this, but going solely by the films, the idea only works because Vader and Palpatine are even stupider than Yoda, Obi-Wan, and Bail Organa (who agreed to their awful, awful plan).

Take it and run

They didnt just go into hiding. They both went off to kill the emperor and vader. They failed, why make a 2nd attempt when you have only gotten weaker and they have only gotten stronger. I imagine they would be pretty demoralized after seeing their entire order destroyed along with everything they had ever known.

Not entirely true. Yoda failed to kill the emperor yes, but Obi-wan successfully beat Vader. The only reason Vader survived was because Obi-wan wasn't thorough enough. Besides, their mistake was to divide their forces. They could have banded together and neither Vader or Palpatine could have survived them.

So in essence, they kinda quite too soon. Besides, what was the alternative to try again, hide for two decades and hope a young acolyte would do better than they did? Pretty wacky thinking.

They don't really give up. What Yoda says on the Tantive IV is they need to split up and find a way to defeat Vader and the Emperor. There may be some doubt in Yoda yes, and because doubt can lead to the dark side, Yoda may believe that by splitting up, if he does fall, he won't take Obi-wan with him. Plus with all these Order 66 clones after them, splitting up would mean that they wouldn't get caught together -- it works in Scooby Doo anyway.

They say that if Vader knew that luke and Leia lived, they could help or destroy him. That all hinges on if either/both twins are gifted with the Force.

I think the fact that they hid goes against both of their forward thinking characters.

The best time to strike was right now! I don't care if they failed once...try again! What are you going to wait until the Emperor's power is secured and he's able to amass even MORE political power.

Though lets not forget who he easily convinced 1 bagilliion Senators that fascism is the way to go!

I HATE HATE THE PREQUELS!

I'm more inclined tot hinkt hat of Obi-wan and Yoda had taken on Sidious, Obi-wan would have been killed and Yoda would still be in hiding.

Sidious did take out most of the Jedi Mace brought with him and seemed to come out of his battle with Yoda in a much better position that Yoda did.

It's not just the Emperor and Vader they have to be stronger than to win. It's the entire republic army, which as you see with Order 66, can take out a hell of a lot of Jedi. They split up and went for Vader and Palpatine because they still had the element of surprise. They didn't kill either, and there was not yet a rebellion to back them up if they tried again.

This is more speculation/opinion on my part, but there's also a parallel in their hiding. The Sith (Bane through Sidious) had an entire galactic regime (the Republic) opposed to them, so they hid, in small numbers, biding their time and waiting for the right moment to strike. To beat the Emperor and his forces, the Jedi do the same, though much quicker.

Kenobi nearly killed Vader with his attack. There is no reason to assume that, with Yoda and Kenobi working together, they couldn’t manage to kill the Emperor and/or Vader.

 

Yoda came close to stopping Palpatine on his own, and Obi-Wan was clearly the victor over Anakin/Vader. Together, they could very possibly have won.

They had a better plan. Take a 20 year old man who does not even know what force is, train him for a one week or so (even though Jedi are supposed to start training as infants) and let him go alone to do the job on their behalf.

Makes sense.

As much as I agree that it doesn't make sense, the "real" answer in GL's head is probably that Yoda could see the various futures their actions could create, and knew the "right" one (which just happened to lead them into episodes IV-VI). And probably something about how it had to unfold that way to "bring balance to the Force."

There was another thread on what bringing balance to the Force meant. I always suspected it was Vader's turning back to the light side by killing Sidious that caused the balance to be returned, but that we never got to see the results for the Force. Maybe its power was going to increase again in episodes VII-IX (which GL now says he never really planned to do, but we know back in the day he said he would).

What I really need explained is how did Obiwan and Yoda age so freaking much in 20 years? If you look at the last prequel Obiwan is young and vital, 20 years later he is OLD and frail??? What the heck happened in those 20 years to do that to a Jedi?

Same thing for Yoda...young and vital and 20 years later he's old and dying?? WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED???

What I really need explained is how did Obiwan and Yoda age so freaking much in 20 years? If you look at the last prequel Obiwan is young and vital, 20 years later he is OLD and frail??? What the heck happened in those 20 years to do that to a Jedi?

 

Same thing for Yoda...young and vital and 20 years later he's old and dying?? WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED???

You go from living in the metropolitan heart of civilization to living in a hut in a swamp or desert and see how great you look in 20 years.

As much as I agree that it doesn't make sense, the "real" answer in GL's head is probably that Yoda could see the various futures their actions could create, and knew the "right" one (which just happened to lead them into episodes IV-VI). And probably something about how it had to unfold that way to "bring balance to the Force."

 

There was another thread on what bringing balance to the Force meant. I always suspected it was Vader's turning back to the light side by killing Sidious that caused the balance to be returned, but that we never got to see the results for the Force. Maybe its power was going to increase again in episodes VII-IX (which GL now says he never really planned to do, but we know back in the day he said he would).

This is pretty damn close, actually. A while ago I was noticing hugely glaring plot holes in quite a few movies/books/etc.

So I decided to see if I could look up reasons why, and to put it simply Yoda had a vision of the future and that he wasn't supposed to defeat the Emperor now... even though he could have defeated Sidious, it mentioned him being one of the few who could defeat Sidious in a straight up fight IIRC.

So basically, Yoda could have killed Sidious. Anakin would have died on Mustafar. The surviving Jedi could congregate and replenish their numbers. No immediate threats from the Sith, only have to worry about an army of killer clones who have lost their immediate forms of direction...

Heck, probably could have even exposed Palpatine as a Sith Lord and gotten the Jedi Order cleared of all that hate...

But instead, plot hole happens and Yoda goes to Dagobah. He allows the entirety of the galaxy to be plunged into totalitarian rule and a living hell for pretty much everyone not directly working in the Imperial Military.

This is pretty damn close, actually. A while ago I was noticing hugely glaring plot holes in quite a few movies/books/etc.

 

So I decided to see if I could look up reasons why, and to put it simply Yoda had a vision of the future and that he wasn't supposed to defeat the Emperor now... even though he could have defeated Sidious, it mentioned him being one of the few who could defeat Sidious in a straight up fight IIRC.

 

So basically, Yoda could have killed Sidious. Anakin would have died on Mustafar. The surviving Jedi could congregate and replenish their numbers. No immediate threats from the Sith, only have to worry about an army of killer clones who have lost their immediate forms of direction...

 

Heck, probably could have even exposed Palpatine as a Sith Lord and gotten the Jedi Order cleared of all that hate...

 

But instead, plot hole happens and Yoda goes to Dagobah. He allows the entirety of the galaxy to be plunged into totalitarian rule and a living hell for pretty much everyone not directly working in the Imperial Military.

I may not be 100% correct on this, but the reasoning they split up was very simple. From Episode 1 to 3, Yoda mentioned something clouded his vision of the Force.

Upon approaching the confrontation with Sidious, after Order 66, Yoda broke through that fog. He saw that Sidious was too strong, and Yoda entered the battle knowing he would be unable to overcome the Dark Lord.

Yoda knew the Sith had a thousand years of power built up into one extremely intelligent individual. Sidious had plans for nearly every outcome ready, alongside the fact he was one of the most skilled swordsman in the galaxy coupled with nearly unparalleled power in the Force, at the time.

They split up to avoid being completely exterminated. If Sidious encountered them together, the Jedi would have been entirely destroyed. The Jedi split up, in hopes of being able to survive long enough to defeat Sidious. They could not win in an up-front confrontation.

The RotS novel actually explains this really well. During the fight with Sidious, Yoda realizes something. It's not really a vision in the Force or anything like that, it's just a mundane epiphany, that he cannot win. That Jedi Master Yoda, the oldest and most powerful of the Jedi Council, the paragon of what it means to be a Jedi, just does not have what it takes.

The Sith, he realizes, have changed. More than just the Rule of Two philosophy, they have completely altered how they go about doing things, have in essence completely changed what it means to be Sith, with the only constants still the name, Dark Side power, and red lightsabers (and the lightsabers, in a very real way, are more of an afterthought. Sidious certainly didn't need a lightsaber to become the highest-scoring Jedi killer in history.) The Sith had, over the last thousand years, changed the very rules of the ancient Jedi vs. Sith war. In the meantime, the Jedi had been retraining to fight the LAST war.

Yoda, and his Jedi Order, simply weren't able to face these new Sith in any meaningful way, and would be utterly destroyed by them if they tried. Yoda knew this, and also knew that, if he fell before Sidious, he would be unable to pass on what he had just figured out.

This is also why Obi-Wan doesn't raise Luke himself, training him from infancy as Anakin SHOULD have been trained. Because, to combat these new Sith, a new kind of Jedi is needed.

The ridiculous outcome of putting Yoda in the prequels as some kind of urbanite on Coruscant. There is no logical way to resolve this and the way they chose to do it, while no more illogical than any other option, is still profoundly illogical.

In fairness, the original trilogy doesn't have a very sensible background. How Luke has escaped Vader's notice is already perplexing in light of Vader being his father (further evidence that in the original, he wasn't). So yeah, the insanity began right in the second movie, which was great, but still introduced plot holes.

Why did they hide? For the same reason Obi-Wan tells Vader "You can't win, I have the higher ground" in the 3rd movie, while the first movie Darth Maul has the higher ground and simple force push would end things, but the EVIL guy doesn't seem to want to kill Obi-Wan.

The movies don't follow logic, or even really remember the past well. They were written quickly and to make money. I am sure GL put alot of thought into so many concepts of how things could have happened, and then lost track of things while writing the script and having it passed around to editors, etc.

The problem really is they were so busy pleasing the fans and making the Hero's look cool, so people wouldn't claim Yoda was better than that..... that the forgot to do a convincing job of showing Yoda lose... looks like he was winning when I watch it. I mean they should have had him break a leg or something to explain the limp and rapid decline in ability in the later movies... explaining why an immediate combined attack couldn't happen.

Sadly, this is too much conversation put into a movie where some dies from losing the will to live and having no injury, but something losing all their limbs and left in a pool of lava isn't even a major health concern.

Why did they hide? For the same reason Obi-Wan tells Vader "You can't win, I have the higher ground" in the 3rd movie, while the first movie Darth Maul has the higher ground and simple force push would end things, but the EVIL guy doesn't seem to want to kill Obi-Wan.

 

The movies don't follow logic, or even really remember the past well. They were written quickly and to make money. I am sure GL put alot of thought into so many concepts of how things could have happened, and then lost track of things while writing the script and having it passed around to editors, etc.

 

The problem really is they were so busy pleasing the fans and making the Hero's look cool, so people wouldn't claim Yoda was better than that..... that the forgot to do a convincing job of showing Yoda lose... looks like he was winning when I watch it. I mean they should have had him break a leg or something to explain the limp and rapid decline in ability in the later movies... explaining why an immediate combined attack couldn't happen.

 

Sadly, this is too much conversation put into a movie where some dies from losing the will to live and having no injury, but something losing all their limbs and left in a pool of lava isn't even a major health concern.

Darth Maul was arrogant though, as was Vader. Obi-wan survived Maul on nothing but pure luck.

You know...

I saw very good reviews about the Prequel movies. It really opened my eyes, and ever since i saw them I understood everything about Star Wars.

Though, they are a bit long.

You can find them at this website.

http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/star-wars/

Why were the actions taken by some of the principal characters so unbelievable and, well, out of character?

Because Lucas was a lousy writer, that's why. Let's face facts. Something like that would never have gotten past the editors at any of the Big Three SF Mags like Analog, Asimov's or Fantasy and Science Fiction. Plot holes like that just weaken the movies even more, imo.

The one movie that stands up is The Empire Strikes Back because it was written by Leigh Brackett, a real SF writer who understood the importance of a structured story line built upon characterization.

So I am never surprised to see these kinds of embarrassing and awkward mistakes in Lucas's work. Frankly, he's just not that good when it comes to writing a script.

They had a better plan. Take a 20 year old man who does not even know what force is, train him for a one week or so (even though Jedi are supposed to start training as infants) and let him go alone to do the job on their behalf.

 

Makes sense.

trololol? Bane was in his 20's before he started his training and he became one of the strogest Sith there was.

What I really need explained is how did Obiwan and Yoda age so freaking much in 20 years? If you look at the last prequel Obiwan is young and vital, 20 years later he is OLD and frail??? What the heck happened in those 20 years to do that to a Jedi?

 

Same thing for Yoda...young and vital and 20 years later he's old and dying?? WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED???

Ehm i don't think Obi-wan was in his 20's in Revenge of the Sith. He was older definitely late 30's.

And i am pretty sure if they wouldn't go in hiding and go on a attack again, they would lose. Like mentioned a couple of times, Yoda couldn't beat Sidious.

You go from living in the metropolitan heart of civilization to living in a hut in a swamp or desert and see how great you look in 20 years.

Seriously, look what a few years in Africa did to Angelina Jolie She's still hot, but not getting a back to the top of any Maxim lists again.