Poll of the Day > Why did the clone war go on so long in Star Wars?

(+) Yeah! (+)

they could have executed order 66 way before RotS
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Because Palpatine wanted absolute reign first? And a new apprentice perhaps?
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Part of it was turning Anakin into Vador

Basically had to wait for him to turn.
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so the jedi would be too distracted to know what's going on...that's how i see it

the longer the clone wars went on....the harder it would be for the jedi to notice palpatine's nefarious schemes

by the time order 66 was activated the jedi were too focused on other matters to see the danger in front of them
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Why did we even have the clone war? Nobody asks that question.
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Because he had to destablize the universe further. The longer the war went on, the greater the justification for emergency powers. Plus he needed the jedi to turn on him to justify the extermination.

Mead posted...

Why did we even have the clone war? Nobody asks that question.

Because it was answered by the films.
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Zeus posted...

Because it was answered by the films.

Why could that one not be worked out?

I mean, had Kylo Ren been a little later you wouldn't have had the Clone War....he had a big heart. He was really angry that he saw what was happening with regard to the Clone War.
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Mead posted...

Zeus posted...

Because it was answered by the films.

Why could that one not be worked out?

I mean, had Kylo Ren been a little later you wouldn't have had the Clone War....he had a big heart. He was really angry that he saw what was happening with regard to the Clone War.

Wait, what? Kylo Ren was born like 30 years after the Clone War ended. The clones were basically gone by that point, which is why they were kidnapping kids so they could have child soldier stormtroopers.
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NightMareBunny posted...

so the jedi would be too distracted to know what's going on...that's how i see it

the longer the clone wars went on....the harder it would be for the jedi to notice palpatine's nefarious schemes

by the time order 66 was activated the jedi were too focused on other matters to see the danger in front of them

That's how I tend to see it as well. With the way the war was setup Palpatine was bound to win regardless as he controlled both sides. The war itself was a trap for the Jedi and with them being so spread out and unable to mount a unified defense. If the Separatist had actually won the war and defeated the Jedi, Palpatine would still have achieved his goals.
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Zeus posted...

Mead posted...

Zeus posted...

Because it was answered by the films.

Why could that one not be worked out?

I mean, had Kylo Ren been a little later you wouldn't have had the Clone War....he had a big heart. He was really angry that he saw what was happening with regard to the Clone War.

Wait, what? Kylo Ren was born like 30 years after the Clone War ended. The clones were basically gone by that point, which is why they were kidnapping kids so they could have child soldier stormtroopers.

He's mocking how Donald Trump stated that Andrew Jackson would have prevented the civil war if he was president at the time.

As for the topic, Palpatine needed to secure his place of power before revealing himself to his enemies.
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I mean, why didn't they use bio warfare against clones?
Like, you just need to find (or make) one virus that targets those clones, and then they're dead.

Zeus posted...

Because he had to destablize the universe further. The longer the war went on, the greater the justification for emergency powers. Plus he needed the jedi to turn on him to justify the extermination.

This. This is pretty clearly spelled out for anyone who's actually paying attention to the films.

It's also implied that a large part of the plan was to encourage the Jedi to get used to the idea of fighting with/leading/relying on the clones, so they'd trust them implicitly, let their guard down, and leave themselves completely open to the ambush (in the novelization, it's also implied the specific reason for using clones at all is because they're not "natural" life, and because they're basically trained from "birth" to be obedient without questioning orders - which makes it even harder to detect their intentions with the Force ahead of time).

I mean, I'm one of the first people who will point out that Lucas is a terrible writer and that the writing for the Prequels had any number of plot holes or stupid moments, but this really isn't one of them.

shadowsword87 posted...

I mean, why didn't they use bio warfare against clones?
Like, you just need to find (or make) one virus that targets those clones, and then they're dead.

Because Palpatine was basically directing both sides of the war, and it didn't benefit him in any way to do so.

You could just as easily ask, since Palpatine clearly had the shut-down codes for the Separatist robots all along, why didn't he just shut them all down and win the war in about 20 minutes? And the answer is because winning was never the point.

All the fighting creates a political situation that allows him to seize power, distracts the Jedi from potentially stepping in to stop him, and blinds them to the ambush he's planning to wipe them out.

Again, the novelization also implies that the "rising of the Dark Side" that Yoda mentions in the films (that makes it hard to see the future using the Force) is mostly due to the constant fighting and thousands of clones dying (they're not natural life, but they're still LIFE). All of the death is basically empowering the Dark Side and clouding the Force.


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ParanoidObsessive posted...

This is pretty clearly spelled out for anyone who's actually paying attention to the films.

The problem being that paying enough attention to the prequels to extract the quality plot details tends to result in permanent brain damage.
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adjl posted...

The problem being that paying enough attention to the prequels to extract the quality plot details tends to result in permanent brain damage.

This is true. I withdraw my objection!


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I mean palpatine easily could have done what he did in RotS a few years earlier and save himself trillions of dollars, he might not have had Darth Vader but he would still have an apprentice and Luke would have never been born
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JessAFigNewton posted...

He's mocking how Donald Trump stated that Andrew Jackson would have prevented the civil war if he was president at the time.

The worst part is that the joke would've worked if he'd just used Qui-Gon Jinn instead.

SkynyrdRocker posted...

JessAFigNewton posted...

He's mocking how Donald Trump stated that Andrew Jackson would have prevented the civil war if he was president at the time.

The worst part is that the joke would've worked if he'd just used Qui-Gon Jinn instead.

I didn't want to be racist
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

This is pretty clearly spelled out for anyone who's actually paying attention to the films.

That implies I've watched the movies.

Muscles posted...

I mean palpatine easily could have done what he did in RotS a few years earlier and save himself trillions of dollars, he might not have had Darth Vader but he would still have an apprentice and Luke would have never been born

Getting Anakin to turn was his end game. He was able to groom the "Chosen One" that was born of the Force, and had the potential to be the most powerful force user of all time and turn it into a weapon against the Jedi.

The war wasn't long at all. It lasted only 3 years.
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thedeerzord posted...

The war wasn't long at all. It lasted only 3 years.

Wasn't it 5 years from AotC to RotS
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SkynyrdRocker posted...

JessAFigNewton posted...

He's mocking how Donald Trump stated that Andrew Jackson would have prevented the civil war if he was president at the time.

The worst part is that the joke would've worked if he'd just used Qui-Gon Jinn instead.

Yes, that would have made the reference work.
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DeathMagnetic80 posted...

Getting Anakin to turn was his end game.

I wonder how much longer Palpatine woulda kept Dooku if Anakain didn't turn. Dooku wasn't exactly that young. I am sure Palpatine woulda tried to stay in power as long as he can but I wouldn't find it that reassuring if my apprentice might die of old age despite whatever Sith secrets might extend their lives.
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thedeerzord posted...

The war wasn't long at all. It lasted only 3 years.

Three and a half, but yeah
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