Star Wars Has Revealed Palpatine NEEDED The Jedi Younglings

There’s a reason Palpatine wanted the Jedi Younglings slaughtered in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. With the benefit of hindsight, the slaughter of the Jedi Younglings in Revenge of the Sith seems extreme even for Palpatine. That’s particularly the case after Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 3, which has revealed young Force-sensitives were crucial to Palpatine’s Project Necromancer – his quest for immortality.

And yet, for all that’s the case, Palpatine still commanded Anakin Skywalker to kill every Jedi in the Coruscant temple as he initiated Order 66 – and that included the Jedi Younglings. This was one of the most harrowing scenes in all the Star Wars movies and shows, and it was the reason even Anakin’s friend and brother Obi-Wan Kenobi believed he had fallen too far. But there was a reason Palpatine saw the Jedi Younglings as a particular threat to his power.

Palpatine’s Plans Depended On His Hiding From The Jedi

Palpatine’s plans had always hinged on his ability to hide from the Jedi. Little is known about the Force power the Sith used to conceal their presence from the Jedi, but it must have been formidable; Palpatine was able to meet with members of the Jedi Council, to spend time with the Chosen One, and to regularly visit the Jedi Temple itself. E.K. Johnston’s Queen’s Peril suggests Palpatine somehow transformed himself into a void in the Force, an absence of some kind, and Yoda initially sensed Palpatine’s mysterious “nothing” – but couldn’t see through it.

All this means Palpatine had spent over a decade concealing himself from the Jedi, constantly watching for any hint they had seen through his illusions. The Jedi were always the biggest threat to Palpatine’s machinations, and he couldn’t afford for them to discover him before he was ready. This, surprisingly, meant the Sith Lord’s attention would have been focused in on the Jedi Younglings in particular.

Younger Force-Sensitives Seem To Have Been Able To See Through Palpatine’s Force Powers

Surprisingly, there’s some evidence Jedi Younglings and Padawans were able to sense Palpatine more than adult Jedi. In Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, it was the younger Obi-Wan Kenobi who sensed something evil lurking in the shadows behind the Trade Federation invasion of Naboo; the more skilled and experienced Qui-Gon Jinn didn’t sense anything. This is quite remarkable, given it is unlikely Obi-Wan was more sensitive than his master at this point in the Star Wars timeline (if ever).

There are other surprising examples, though. Star Wars comics have revealed many Jedi Younglings experienced nightmares in the build-up to the Clone Wars, with some even leaving the Jedi altogether. During the Clone Wars, the younger Jedi Barriss Offee sensed the darkness of Palpatine roaming the corridors of the Jedi Temple; Karen Strong’s short story, A Jedi’s Duty, reveals this was why she began to doubt the Jedi Order.

Why Were Younger Force-Sensitives Such A Threat To Palpatine?

This may seem strange at first glance; why should a younger, less skilled Jedi be able to sense the dark side better than a master with the wisdom and experience of Yoda? An answer is hinted at in Secrets of the Jedi, an in-universe book supposedly written by Luke Skywalker. There, Luke reveals that young Force-sensitives are not aligned to light or dark until they grow; it is implied they are linked to the balance of the Force itself, which the ancent Jedi believed to be a different aspect of the Force.

This would neatly explain why younger Jedi could perceive Palpatine in a way their masters could not. The dark side clouds the light, and vice versa; those who are unaligned to balance would be potentially unaffected by Palpatine’s concealment, or at the least they would be resistant to it. This meant that, for over a decade, the Jedi Younglings had been an existential threat to Palpatine.

Palpatine Chose To Have The Younglings Slaughtered For A Reason

Circling back, this seems to explain why Palpatine wanted the Jedi Younglings in particular to be killed. They had been a threat for too long, and he simply wanted them out of the way. While it is true they would have been a useful resource for Project Necromancer, it is reasonable to assume Palpatine’s hatred – a core character trait of the Sith – meant he simply wanted blood to be spilled. This was, after all, the revenge of the Sith, and it was fitting that the Jedi hero Anakin Skywalker should be the one to do the deed.

There is, of course, another aspect to this; unlike random Force-sensitive Younglings from across the galaxy, these had been taught rudimentary use of the Force. Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 3 has already confirmed it is possible for a determined and resourceful child to escape from even such a high-security facility as Mount Tantiss, and Jedi Younglings would have been at much greater risk of escaping. Meanwhile, Palpatine would fear some of their Jedi Masters surviving Order 66, and locating them through a Force bond.

This was not a baseless fear. The Mandalorian season 3 revealed Jedi Master Kelleran Beq had survived, and he had worked closely with the Younglings during the Clone Wars. It is entirely possible he possessed the training and Force-sensitivity to locate any who were being tortured, meaning Palpatine’s Project Necromancer – crucial to his future plans in Star Wars – would have been discovered by a Jedi Master. This, naturally, was a risk the new Emperor could not take; and so he would much rather the Jedi Younglings died than he had more test subjects.