Question: Every Sith apprentice is supposed to eventually kill their master and become the new master, if I'm correct. Isn't this quite risky to the survival of the Sith Order? What if an apprentice defeats their master and decides not to continue?
lionhead
13th Jun 2025
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
19th May 2024
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
Question: This is more of a general question for the franchise. What happens if Jedi discover children who have Force ability, but they are in stable, happy families? We see situations where Jedi were found as orphans, i.e. after battles, or a parent is glad to give their child a better life, as Shmi Skywalker did. But this can't be the case for everyone.
Answer: Jedi don't only go for the ones that are orphans, but they are the most likely to be taken in by the order, since they offer them a home and goal in life. When a child is showing he or she is force-sensitive, any legal guardian could or would contact the Jedi to find out more, possibly allow that child to be trained to become a Jedi, but it is not required. The order is basically a boarding school, or military school; the younglings can still see their parents, but not for too long. It's the choice of the parents, and later the child itself, whether or not to continue with the training. During the time of the Republic, the Jedi order even checked children for force-sensitivity and consulted the parents about training to gain new recruits.
30th Dec 2023
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
Question: Had Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan been able to both survive and defeat Maul, would this mean Sidious would not be able to manipulate Anakin anymore? Or would the Sith Lord have simply tried a different plan, besides emotional manipulation, to try to trick an Anakin trained under Qui-Gon into the dark side?
Answer: I don't think his plans would change. Qui-Gon is just another Jedi Master training Anakin, nothing much different because Obi-Wan was trained by him as well, after all. Plus, Qui-Gon much more believes Anakin is the chosen one, so he would probably allow Anakin a lot more than Obi-Wan would, including his relationships with Palpatine and Padme, which both are more important for Anakin's switch to the dark side.
I (not who submitted the question) wonder if Palpatine actually wanted Darth Maul to be killed by Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, or both. It seems like he mostly trained Maul to fight. Maul seemed to know little about the plotting, scheming, and political dealings. Dooku was capable in those areas, and was skilled at fighting. He was probably more useful while Palpatine waited to turn Anakin.
Not sure about that. I think he genuinely thought Darth Maul was properly trained to defeat Jedi. I don't think Palpatine planned ahead in terms of apprentices, except Anakin. But Darth Maul was before he knew Anakin. I don't think Sith are easy to find either, so Palpatine needed Maul for a lot of things more than just kill Jedi. It is too convenient however that every apprentice he had served his plans perfectly. Because I don't see Maul lead the separatists.
I was under the impression that Palpatine knew about Anakin ever since Shmi was chosen to be Anakin's mother. I might be wrong. This is an interesting discussion, though - I appreciate your response. Some think that Maul had limited use of the Force and was more of a trained assassin. But, if that were true, why call him a Sith apprentice? As you say, it's hard to imagine him being a Separatist leader.
I do not have any knowledge regarding any books written or other sources that might be considered canon, as have been mentioned in other comments here recently. My knowledge is purely the movies. As per the movies, Palpatine only learned of Anakin after the Battle of Naboo.
8th Apr 2022
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
Question: What did Anakin's torpedoes hit that caused the droid control ship to explode?
Answer: It was the main reactor of the ship, according to wookieepedia.
I have a problem with that because realistically would destroying a reactor be enough to cause whatever it powers to explode?
Not sure why you have a problem with that notion. It's a common sci-fi convention/trope that destroying the main reactor of a ship usually causes a chain-reaction that destroys the entire vessel. That's also what destroyed both Death Stars in the original trilogy. (Luke fires a missile into the reactor through an exhaust port/Lando and the others fly into the core and destroy the main reactor.) This is not a documentary... it can operate by nebulous sci-fi rules. Not to mention, none of these things actually exist, so who's to say destroying the main reactor WOULDN'T destroy the ship?
It destroyed the main reactor of the droid control ship itself, not what it powers. Anakin was inside the ship and blew it up from the inside.
If you go by official books put out you see lots of ships in Star Wars are powered by a gas type fuel source. Taking out a reactor could cause that fuel to explode as well. As you see in the movie it not one big boom but a lot of little ones at 1st. But once that fire gets to the main tanks it's all over.
12th Aug 2019
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
Question: Why would the Trade Federation need the queen to sign a treaty to make their invasion legal if they've already invaded the place and taken over anyway?
1st Jan 2018
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
Question: After R2-D2 helps fix the escaping ship, Queen Amidala thanks the droid in front of Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and her handmaidens, but Amidala's decoy refers to her handmaiden as Padme. Why doesn't she refer to her as Sabe? Doesn't everyone know that Queen Amidala's first name is Padme?
Answer: Padme was impersonating a handmaid, using her real name. Sabe was playing her role of Queen Amidala. This was unknown to Qui-Gon.
But the point is that using the queen's real name seems like it's giving the game away a bit.
Answer: They are not "supposed to" do that. In the Sith religion, there are no more than 2 Sith, a master and apprentice. Also, in the Sith religion is the embrace of greed, hatred, and selfishness. This basically encourages every apprentice to eventually kill their master, both convinced that they are more powerful than their master and no longer required, as well as wanting to become a master themselves and take on an apprentice, as part of their religious beliefs. It is a risky way to exist indeed, but that's what the Sith are all about, and it's better than before when there were a lot of them and they had devastating wars amongst themselves that indeed did almost manage to wipe them all out several times. Ironically, this system is better to maintain balance.
lionhead