# Star Wars prequels, did Palpatine know about Anakin? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 12, 2012, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-prequels-did-palpatine-know-about-anakin/612597 "2012-02-12T07:02:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-prequels-did-palpatine-know-about-anakin/612597/41 "2012-02-17T01:50:12Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > …Watto owned them at the time of the movie, but prior to Watto they were owned by Gardula the Hutt. How did Gardula treat them? And how or why did Watto get them? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-prequels-did-palpatine-know-about-anakin/612597/42 "2012-02-17T02:54:48Z")
> [@markdash](#): > > Please post these in spoiler tags, if you would. [spoiler]At about roughly the time that Anakin was conceived, Plageius and Sideious used the dark side to tear a hole in the fabric of the force so that the dark side began to infect everything. The force itself engaged in a reaction beyond the observation of the two sith lords by bringing into being a life that would repair this rip. That life was Annakin. When Sideious turns Annakin he does not prevent the force from repairing itself, but simply delays it. Plageius was obsessed with using the midichlorians to control life, and would make the midichlorians flow in and out of a person to kill them and bring them back to life. Including over and over again. (Explicitly stated.) It was this fine control over the midichlorians that enabled Plageius and Sideious to tear a hole in the fabric of the force to allow the dark side to become predominate. The midichlorians are not the force themselves, but an intermediary to the force. Thus, the dark side seeks to force the midichlorians to manipulate the force, while the light side serves the will of the force itself. None of this is explicitly stated, but all implied. [/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![ricksummon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ricksummon/32/3333_2.png) [@ricksummon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricksummon)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-prequels-did-palpatine-know-about-anakin/612597/43 "2012-02-17T04:26:41Z")
> [@Trepa\_Mayfield](#): > > But surely the Jedi are not so robotic that they cannot understand metaphor? The use of “there was no father” to mean ‘I don’t know the father and he never did anything to raise the child’ is a fairly well-known cultural metaphor. Yes, but Shmi followed that up with, “I carried him, I gave birth, I raised him… **I can’t explain what happened.** ” If Anakin’s dad was just some deadbeat, what is there to explain? ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-prequels-did-palpatine-know-about-anakin/612597/44 "2012-02-17T16:33:37Z")
> [@ricksummon](#): > > Yes, but Shmi followed that up with, “I carried him, I gave birth, I raised him… **I can’t explain what happened.** ” If Anakin’s dad was just some deadbeat, what is there to explain? She was under a gag order/non-disclosure agreement? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-prequels-did-palpatine-know-about-anakin/612597/45 "2012-02-17T17:44:37Z")
It was her way of saying “George, you can type this shit, but you sure as hell can’t say it”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-prequels-did-palpatine-know-about-anakin/612597.md?page=2)