Jedi Knight Discussion 9/24/11: Did Yoda do the right thing?

[Nwahs]

During the Battle of Geonosis, there is a pause in the battle when Yoda and Darth Tyrannus end up in a saber-lock. It is revealed that Dooku was a Padawan of Yoda, which is interesting in itself, but things get more interesting for me right after this. Dooku is obviously exhausted from facing 3 of the most powerful Jedi in the order, one after the other, especially the crazy flipping Yoda. He creates a diversion by dropping a big tube thing on top of Anakin and Obi-Wan, and Yoda uses the Force to save his Jedi.

Did Yoda do the right thing?

Did his action show a bit of Attachment, which is forbidden to a Jedi? Yoda must have known that Dooku was tiring, and in that moment when Dooku was running away, or let his guard down, Yoda should have been able to finish Dooku off and put an early end to the entire Clone Wars, saving millions if not billions of lives, but he chooses instead to save Obi-Wan and the Chosen One.

Perhaps he knew the importance of Anakin's survival for the Force?


I'd love to hear your thoughts

[FullMetalSeraph]

Well there is a difference between attachment and compassion. That is what defines the difference between Sith and Jedi, compassion for others. Yoda acted to protect others who were unable to protect themselves. Would it have been more beneficial to the universe if Dooku had been done there at the cost of Obi Wan and Anakin's lives? Maybe. But a lot of Jedi make the call to save people immediately that they are able to and leave the bigger picture up to the Force.

It is very easy to save someone now and know you protected someone. For all Yoda knew, Dooku's ship may have blown up on the departure from Geonosis. I believe he made the right call since he knew he could protect the two of them and couldn't see the exactly how the future would pan out.

[Dorobbo]

Personally i would have destroyed the sith if it were a guarantee i could. Countless lives saved over 2 of your friends is a worthy sacrifice. He was also supposed to be the leader of this movement that would have died with his death. No more war etc... Its decisions like that which shape the future of the galaxy. And with 20/20 hind sight anakin dead would have been a good thing haha.

[FullMetalSeraph]

Ah, but if Anakin had died, would anyone have ever been able to kill palpatine? Yoda couldn't even take down a weakened Palpatine. Just sayin for the sake of difficult arguments O

[Dorobbo]

yea but mace could have if anakin didnt interfere ^^ thats what the movie led to believe i think.

[Nwahs]

Dorobbo wrote:

yea but mace could have if anakin didnt interfere ^^ thats what the movie led to believe i think.

I've always interpreted that scene to think that no, Mace could not have defeated Palpatine... Palpatine just made it look like he was weakened, to put himself in that position so that Anakin thought the Jedi were taking over. Remember... he says "Unlimited power!" He wasn't weak... he was just pretending. And I'm pretty sure that the full canon explanation of Anakin was the Chosen One (confirmed by Lucas on one of the DVD commentaries), but the prophecy was misread (they all thought he would just defeat all the Sith and everyone would live happily ever after, but the truth is he had to fall first and defeat his own darkness as well as Palpatine's). In other words, only Anakin could defeat Palpatine, destroy the Sith altogether and bring Balance, and to do it he had to fall first.

However, the great thing about discussing cinema is you can interpret it anyway you want! Sadly you can't do the same if you discuss the movies as a question of canonicity and stuff, which is where a lot of discussions get heated.

[Cmelt]

Yoda had no knowledge of the extent of the separatist movement's strength. At that moment he believed they had just ended the threat and Dooku could be easily hunted down now that they knew of his existence. He made the right call with the knowledge he had at that period of time. Also Dorobbo at the time everyone thought Dooku was a rogue fallen jedi and never imagined the Sith they thought were wiped out could have returned.

[Lord Marvel]

CmeltTheBoss wrote:

Also Dorobbo at the time everyone thought Dooku was a rogue fallen jedi and never imagined the Sith they thought were wiped out could have returned.

Actually Yoda knew that there were Sith in galaxy, since Episode I revealed them and it was Yoda who was said:
"Always two there are, no more, no less: a master and an apprentice." And they were wondering if they killed master or apprentice.



In my opinion Yoda did the right thing, Jedi first and most primary objective is to preserve life, specially those that are defenseless.
Beside there was no guarantee that he would be able to catch/kill Dooku, and he saved two of most pestering Jedi who were always on Dooku/Grevious tail :D

Maybe it wasn`t his choice maybe it was will of the force ;) we`ll never know

[mrmarko]

I agree, the Mace Windu could not have beaten Palpatine - the speed in which he killed all of the other jedi who came to arrest him was incredible.

He was simply holding out & waiting for anakin to come to "save" him - I doubt he was in any real danger.

Yoda knew of the prophecy of him bringing balance to the force, which I assume he put great value in.

Also - landing a killing blow on Dooku may not have ended the war for sure, it could simply be trading two very important jedi for one sith.

[Nwahs]

Good points!

I will point out though that I think Yoda did indeed know the extent of the Seperatists strength... remember that at the very beginning of Episode 2 members of the Jedi Council are speaking with Palpatine about the issue of how will the Jedi protect the galaxy from this increasing threat of the Seperatists. I'm sure Republic intelligence knew about these grand droid armies being built... war just hadn't broke out yet and the Republic was unsure of how they were going to defend themselves, especially with the Jedi saying they are not soldiers, just keepers of the peace. Aside from all that, as soon as Yoda got involved in the Battle of Geonosis, he would have instantly seen the scale of the Droid Army, on just one planet.

This is why I enjoy these discussions, even if they are looking "too deep" into the material

[Rebmac!]

Re watching the clip, I see this as another example of running away. Dooku was just a pawn for pappa palpi as was the entire galaxy it seemed. I think the choice to save the two he did at the moment, was the right decision since there's no way he could have known the extent or the future with out meditating on it for hours. The dark side was always cloaking the future, and in the true meaning of the prophesy Anakin Skywalker did bring about the balance of the force, by spawning two children who then lead the rebels to defeat the empire. Everybody always thinks and mentions that him being the chosen one meant he was going to be the change directly, while I think he was the change indirectly.

[Cmelt]

My logic has been defeated handily

[AstralProjection]

I think this situation is being made more difficult than it was by our omniscience...hindsight always being 20/20 and all. Even the greatest of Jedi make mistakes, that seems to be a clear lesson from at least the Lucas Trilogies.

As others said, I don't think Yoda's decision to protect the defenseless necessarily signified attachment. I think he would've done that for just about anyone. Dooku being a former padawan, Yoda like most Jedi felt a personal responsibility toward stopping him...and not letting him cause any more harm to innocent bystanders.

It certainly would've changed how things unfolded, but with Palpatine being the true puppet master, and Yoda completely bamboozled by him all along, I doubt it would've changed the end result. Don't F with Palpatine is the moral of today's story.

[Davi Jones]

I think Yoda should have saved them with one hand and chucked the lightsaber at Dooku with the other XD that would have been funny lol

[Nwahs]

AstralProjection wrote:

I think this situation is being made more difficult than it was by our omniscience...hindsight always being 20/20 and all. Don't F with Palpatine is the moral of today's story.

Lol, great points!