Star Wars Reveals How Bold The Sith Really Were… Just A Year Before The Phantom Menace

Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Star Wars: The Living Force by John Jackson Miller

Star Wars confirms that the Sith were far bolder in the canon than one might have expected right before the events of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Having plans within plans, Senator Palpatine/Darth Sidious was prepared to begin his manipulations of the Republic in earnest with a Trade Federation blockade over the world of Naboo. However, it’s recently been revealed that he and his apprentice Darth Maul took some major risks the year prior in the Star Wars timeline.

In the new novel The Living Force by John Jackson Miller, the entire Jedi Council decides to visit one of the largest Jedi outposts on the Mid Rim world of Kwenn. Thanks to incredibly wise Jedi Master Qu-Gon Jinn, the Council’s motivated to focus on the Living Force and the individuals who make up those they’re called to serve, rather than the galaxy at large. The result is the Jedi Council getting to help Kwenn’s citizens in ways they seldom get the opportunity to do from Coruscant’s Jedi Temple, though the bold moves of the Sith a year before The Phantom Menace are revealed as well.

Palpatine Successfully Infiltrated The Jedi Order

Agents And Informants Reporting In Secret

As seen in The Living Force, the Jedi outpost on Kwenn known as Sanctuary Mount had long been cared for by the elderly Seneschal Voh, despite the fact that visits from the Jedi had become increasingly rare preceding the Jedi Council’s unique visit. Although Voh had been a dutiful and loyal caretaker, he did find the Jedi Council’s ultimate decision to open up the outpost to all thee people of Kwenn distasteful, feeling as though it mitigated his years of service (though the Jedi had assumed that he was seeking retirement).

Although each member of the Jedi Council found new ways to help individuals on Kwenn, Voh’s situation was unfortunately overlooked. Furthermore, one of the book’s final chapters reveals that Voh had long been meeting with none other than Senator Palpatine, who’d taken a keen interest in Voh and his library on Sanctuary Mount. Palpatine had even convinced Voh to send him Jedi records and forbidden tomes via secret methods that would escape the notice of the rarely present Jedi.

Voh is hardly the only agent Palpatine had at his disposal. Another one of Palpatine’s informants named Heezo worked as a droid technician within the walls of the Jedi Temple itself. Not only did Heezo secretly report on the Jedi’s dealings to Palpatine, but he also pinpointed key members of the Jedi Order who’d be ripe for future corruption (many of whom would become Palpatine’s Imperial Inquisitors). As such, Palaptine clearly had plenty of agents and informants working for him against the Jedi Order (both named and unnamed).

Darth Maul Used The Dark Side… With No Fear Of The Entire Jedi Council

In Close Proximity To Major Jedi Masters (Including Yoda)

Palpatine determines via holo-recording at the end of The Living Force that he no longer has a use for Seneschal Voh. Noting the caretaker’s old age, Palpatine is also displeased that Voh left an evidence trail that could have led back to Palpatine himself and the theft of Jedi records had Eeth Koth only looked deeper into the outpost library’s missing items. As such, Palpatine orders none other than Darth Maul to kill Voh, his Sith apprentice who was physically on Kwenn. Not only that, but Maul also used the dark side of the Force before killing the seneschal.

What makes this move so surprising is that while most of the Jedi Council had already departed Kwenn, Darth Maul used the dark side of the Force while Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and even Yoda were still on Kwenn (and nearby). With a ticket to Corellia in Voh’s name having been found by Yoda, it’s made to appear as though the seneschal took his assumed retirement. In truth, Palpatine and his Sith apprentice took a major risk considering all that had happened with the Jedi Council, having reignited a new hope for Kwenn (and preventing a massive pirate insurrection).

Both Sith Lords were incredibly bold in their actions a year before The Phantom Menace. They could have very easily been caught despite their years operating in the shadows of the Star Wars canon. That said, it does point to the Jedi Order’s growing pride and hubris ahead of the prequel trilogy, despite all the genuine good the Jedi Council was able to achieve in John Jackson Miller’s exciting new Star Wars novel.