SPECULATION Luke isn't the last jedi

Just because you love quotes so much:

The Force breaks into two sides: the living Force and a greater, cosmic Force. "The living Force makes you sensitive to other living things, makes you intuitive, and allows you to read other people's minds, et cetera. "But the greater Force has to do with destiny. In working with the Force, you can find your destiny and you can choose to either follow it, or not." - GL

Kenobi is referring to the danger the Gungans are in, yes. But his dialogue is also a reference to this key Star Wars theme.

Uh, how do you know what this dude heard or foresaw? The vision was likely very vague.

Wrong again.
In EP I - Sidious is influencing the Trade Federation. Getting them to invade Naboo in return for promises he made them.
In EP II - Dooku is the leader of the Separatists. He formed them. And is getting them to start the war so the Sith plan of bringing about the Clone Wars take place.
In EP III - Grievous is the leader of the Separatists. He is Sidious' puppet.
The Separatists are not all evil but they are being played by the Sith.

If you don't think the Sith are behind the Separatist movement then you really do need to watch the films again.

 

Clone wars season 3 epsiode 10: Hereoes on both sides. Watch it. Obviously the Separatists are pupets of Sidious, but they arent created by him. He just ignited the fire that was already there.

Again, stop quoting anything outside the movies or canon (which is movie+clone wars+ rebels, but I dont watch rebels sadly).

Why do the jedi even need prophecies? Yoda clearly made sure that the future is always in motion, its unpredictable, and most important: Its changeable (as it happened in ESB). So not even a couple of hours of foreshadowing can be sure, so why would fckin 1000 years?

Some random dude has seen a vision 1000 years before the actual problem? Just even mentioning the problem will casue the future to change, its butterfly effect. And besides. I dont follow the Expanded Universe, but clearly the Repulic was never in peace. There were sith lords like Revan who almost destroyed the whole universe in Kotor. Now that game was a prefect example of a galaxy in unbalance. It was perfectly shown there, unlike in the movies.
All you need for a sith lord is some midichlorians and training. Its nothing unusual according to prequel canon.

Im gonna show you a perfect example of a good movie (and books) with unbalance: Lord of the Rings. When Sauron emerged everything is blasted. Besides the shire nothing is in balance. The place where the Eye is is only dust and darkness. The forests are dying, ancient evil creatures (like the giant spider) come out again. Elves have to flee. Orks, war, desturction everywhere. Even the light of the sun is fading. Its a perfect example of great visioning of a place with evil and unbalance without plot elements like 1000 years old prophecies which make absolutely no sense and is very false (as the chosen one rather destoryed everything than bringing balance).
Star Wars was just world war 2 in space. If Lucas's original idea was the chosen one and unbalace (which I really doubt) than he really failed in visioning that. Even in the prequels!

Just watch epsiode 3! Even in the pike of the war Pade just combs her hair, smiles and planing where to raise her baby. There is active nightlife in Coruscant, people are going to theaters, drinking and having fun. And where is supposed to be slavery, there is a well fed well combed blonde kid who has enough time and money to build robots and pod racers. Her mother is at home smiling and looking like every other single mother. What was he helping Watto, cleaning the dishes or what?

 

No I stick to the movies...
If you can't see how Sidious corrupted the Republic to create the Separatists and then controlled the Separatists to start a war with the Republic then you have spectacularly missed the plot of the Prequel Trilogy.

Are you suggesting Lucas isn't canon?

I took it as the Jedi not actually giving much thought to the prophesy - only Qui Gon seems interested by it. That is, until the Sith emerge. Then the Jedi see that it was perhaps a relevant prophesy. But the future is always in motion. Things change. The prophesy might never have been executed. But it was. And balance was restored.

And the Force was likely out of balance when the Sith were around back in the day. Then there was balance. Then the Sith began to enact their 1000yr plan and the Force went out of balance again.

The prophesy is intentionally vague. We don't know what they foresaw or why.

From Lucas' original Star Wars script and journal of the Whills in 1975: “And in the time of greatest despair there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as: THE SON OF THE SUNS.”

Star Wars is a different world to LOTR. No, because the Force is out of balance, planets didn't suddenly explode, plant life didn't die and clouds didn't block out the sun(s). But that isn't how Star Wars works. It is the other way around. People suffered and died And it is life that creates the Force. So the imbalance in the Force is the indicator that bad things have aleady happened and are happening.

Lucas didn't do a good job of showing the galaxy in crisis in certain parts, for sure. Take TPM and Naboo. We are told people are suffering but we should've been shown it. And yes, it would've worked a lot better if Coruscant had been under siege. Nevertheless, the Clone Wars has been raging. A galactic wide war, orchestrated by the Sith, that has caused galaxy wide suffering. And this suffering, brought about when evil is everywhere, is shown in the imbalance in the Force.

Again, I think you look at it backwards.
The Sith don't put the Force out of balance and then cause suffering.
They cause suffering and then the Force goes out of balance.
The Force is simply the collective consciousness of the galaxy.

 

Everything you wrote down was kinda supposed to be the plot but it was executed damn poorly. There was no need for planets to destruct and other extremes, just creative visioning. And since Star Wars has the Force as a plotpoint it could've been very easy to do so. But in the OT nothing happened besides world war 2 in space with death stars instead of nuclear bombs.

The Force showed no sign of unbalance. Every jedi use it just as they did before. The sith also had the exact same powers they didnt become stronger or weaker. Yes, some people were suffering and some not (im pretty sure there are a lot of people who supported the Empire). But only that would't cause the gigantic energy-field to be unbalanced. As I said, Luke is on Tatooine with his friends, wants to go to college, working on the moisture farm as normal as possible. He hates the empire, but maybe he dosent even know why, it might be just the rebellious prowess that every teenager feels.
People on bespin made a deal with the Empire, they might even make a lot of money out of that deal, they maybe live a happier life than they did before. Lando looks pretty tempred to me. On Endor, the ewoks live the life of the average teddy bear on the most beautiful forest-planet I've ever seen.

The situation in the prequels is about an upcoming war but it looks rather like a parody. Every jedi looks like they are bored to death, slaves on Tatooine have own flat and room, are well fed, well combed and have time and money to build robots and podracers. His mom does nothing except cleaning dishes. Their lives as a ,,slave" is much better than like 80% of the people on earth. And even during the pike of the war, Padmé just smiles, combs her hair think about where to move to raise her children. People on Corusant have active nighlife (again all this during the pike of the allegedly terrible war), including going to thatres and drinking. That dosent sound too bad to me, every war on earth was a lot worse.

Yoda does not mention anything about unbalance (khm, nor about midicholians). And when Luke has his vision, its about his inner darkness and the danger of becoming like his father, but nothing about unbalance. And they are on a planet which is very strong with the Force.
Luke supposed to be the strongest jedi according to Lucas's canon and the future he foresees changes a couple of hours later. That alone contradicts with the possibility of a 1000 years old prophecy. Yoda clearly says the future is always in motion and its unpredictable. With other words: prophecies cant exist in the SW lore. Its was just a terrible plotpint Lucas made up during the making of the preuqels to make Anakin important somehow. It was stupid and unnecessary. The audience can figure out there are problems in the OT without the stupid prophecy.

And besides, Vader redeemed and turned to the light side again because of his inner confilct caused by the suffering of his son, and not because of some idiot prophecy. That alone degrades Vader's great sacrifice to something which ,,has to be or supposed to be happen" which ruins the brilliance of that scene.

Actually TFA showed a lot better the unbalance what Lucas supposed to show according to you. Rey's vision was already a lot more interessting than anything which happened about the Force in the prequels. I think the Force is becoming unpredictable in the new trilogy.

Clone wars is canon and its a very good series I strongly recommend you to watch it. Its thousand times better than the prequels and it tells a lot more detalied and realistic version of the Republic's story. And most important, it shows that the Separatists arent created by SIdious. The Rebulic had problems long before the sith started to do anything. Sidious orchestrated it, but didnt create it.

From Lucas' original Star Wars script and journal of the Whills in 1975: “And in the time of greatest despair there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as: THE SON OF THE SUNS.”

That article refers to Luke. You have to be drinking cactus juice to think othervise. Lucas didnt even make Vader as Luke' s father back then. If you watch epsiode IV its pretty easy to figure out.

 

Were we watching the same movies? The Separatist movement was orchestrated by Sidious along with Dooku and Anakin grew to be the most powerful Sith Lord who ever lived in the form of Darth Vader. Vader and Sidious controlled an entire galaxy. How is that not being stronger? Hell, Anakin single-handedly massacred the entire Jedi temple.

To push this discussion back on-topic because it's really been derailed, I think Luke was able to hide students from Kylo. If not students, I think at the very least he has supporters like Lor San Tekka who will back him. But I really do think he took Rey and some others and hid them away, giving them new identities and temporarily blocking their awareness of the ability to use the Force.

However, I think Kylo has been hunting people down. Obviously he's gotten to Lor, who wasn't a Jedi but is a member of the Church of the Force and thus strongly supports the Jedi. There may have been others, too, and in Episode VIII we may see Kylo go after even more on his way to getting to Luke Skywalker.

 

I agree with you wholeheartedly. Though I can definitely see how the Mortis arc of the Clone Wars added a bit to the confusion on this topic. The Force will always exist with both sides. The imbalance is in the way the Sith / KOR? use the Force. They are like a cancer, not following the will of the Force and causing imbalance through overuse of the Darkside. However, on Mortis, the Father said that both light and dark must exist. I think this confused people. We talked about it a bit on the first Can(on)tina podcast. The Force-wielders on Mortis were more like physical representations of the Force. I don't think the Father was inferring that equal numbers of Force-users must exist on both sides, he was simply saying that both sides must exist in balance for life to flourish in the galaxy, it was a meta-physical thing. The Father kept this natural balance. The Father could almost be viewed as the Will of the Force. The Jedi open themselves up to the Force in a natural way (the "lightside") and use it preserve life, the Darkside-users harness the darkness for their own wills.

You've listed all the on-screen formats of canon, yet there's a lot more to it than just that. There are the new novels, comics, etc. That being said, everybody has the right to form their own version of what is "canon" in their minds. Still, for a discussion with other people, where facts are being debated ... it seems like a good idea to include all official canon. Imagine how a discussion would go when two people don't include all canon, while supporting their arguments with these facts.

Example - A: Well, in Tarkin it's shown that ...
B: I don't consider Tarkin canon, so you're wrong. I do consider Lords of the Sith canon, though and it said ...
A: Nice point, but in my world that book isn't in the canon.

It's funny though, that the thread has gone from "Luke isn't the Last Jedi" to "Balance of the Force and what it means". I guess it does connect to the original topic from a certain point of view.

Regardless of where you stand, I like the discussion going on here.

 

That was I meant to say there. If we are discussing something we need to settle the source, which for me is the canon. Go and read the whole discussion its pretty interessting. I was trying to say that if we rely only on what we know and saw only from the movies, there cant be unbalance in the Force. As nothing really changed about the Force after the sith took over. And also I was trying to disprove the possibilty of a 1000 years old prophecy in the SW lore. As Yoda clearly mentioned that the future is always in motion and is unpredictable. And the future Luke saw in ep V changed a couple of hours later. And also just mentioning the problem would lead to a butterfly effect causing the future to change drastically.

 

That is why you should never quote anything out of its context. Thats exactly like lying. I also said it was orchestrated by Sidious. But it wasnt created by him. The Rebulic was filled with corruption thats why the Separatists were trying to separate, as it was clearly explained in the clone wars series (season 3, episode 10 heroes on both sides). Sidious just ignited the flame.

Its not being stronger by the aspect of their Force powers. As the Force is supposed to be in some kind of unbalance. But it works just as before the sith took over. Its not the Force what is in unbalance, but the Republic.
As for Anakin single handedly destroying the jedi temple. That always bugged me a bit. Even with that huge army it should not supposed to be that easy. And also does nobody really care in the Republic that they are wiping out the guardians of peace and justice for a 1000 years? They even burn down their temple and kill their younglings without any trial, whatsoever. And the representatives applaude to this before the Empire was even declared? Either Palpatine controlled everybody in the Senate or this is also not very well written (most likely the latter).

 

Just to try and tie the recent discussion on with the thread, I'd say that Luke is the last Jedi for all intent and purposes. The Force has clearly gone out of balance again and this has resulted in an awakening - I would suggest that this is something similar to the creation of Anakin, in being a reaction by the Force.

I think the cosmic force awakening occurred (not sure which point) as a reaction to the dark side taking over. My thoughts are that had there been other Jedi, such as Luke's order, it wouldn't have got to this point. But because Luke is out of the way and essentially dormant like the Force, The force awakened in Rey and made it her destiny to find Luke and rebuild the Jedi.

As a side note, I would say Rey isn't Luke's child - but likely had a link considering all the pieces of the puzzle ended up on Jakku.

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 7, 2016, Original Post Date: Jan 7, 2016 ---

So you missed the bit where Palpatine made the senate believe the Jedi were traitors?

You have to get it into your head that the Force is an energy field created by all living things and that it connects everyone and everything. So when evil is everywhere and a great deal of the life that makes the energy is living under darkness this creates imbalance.

 

Buckle up 'cause this post is gonna be a doozie.

I'm beginning to entertain the notion that Rey is not a Skywalker. A lot of people are certain that she is because otherwise how would the Skywalker line continue. But what if this is the end for them? What if the Skywalker line has only one purpose, to bring balance to the Force? Every time a Skywalker has accomplished bringing balance to the Force something bad happens. It's been argued that Anakin's first fulfillment of the prophecy is when he destroys the entire Jedi Order and opens the door for Sidious to rule the galaxy. So then his kids grow up and work together to bring down the Empire. So was Luke the Chosen One when he convinced Vader to show compassion? Or was it Anakin when he destroyed the Emperor? He says to Luke "Tell your sister you were right about me." That tells me that Anakin renounced his mantle as Darth Vader when he killed Palpatine and he did fulfill his destiny as the Chosen One.

Then his grandson comes along and screws everything up and gets himself seduced by some old decrepit geezer. Not only that, he betrays his uncle, kills all the Jedi Luke had been training, and kills his dad. That definitely throws everything off-balance, but what does it all mean concerning the prophecy of the Chosen One? Does it mean that Anakin was the Chosen One but since he's dead there has to be a new one? Does it mean that Luke was actually the Chosen One since he was the catalyst for Anakin's redemption? Does it mean that Ben Solo/Kylo Ren will be the Chosen One but he will have to redeem himself? Does it mean that none of the Skywalkers so far have been the Chosen One? Or does it mean that the Skywalkers just keep screwing things up and the Chosen One will come from outside the family?

I think we can agree that the Skywalkers have a curse of sorts, and perhaps the only way to break the curse is to go outside of the family. Enter a scrappy scavenger who has no connection to the Skywalkers beyond the fact that Luke was training her as a Jedi before he was betrayed by his own nephew. There is also the very small possibility that she was, like Anakin, conceived by the Force. If Plagueis learned how to manipulate life, what's to say someone else does not have that knowledge? Or, if you buy into the theory that Snoke is Plagueis, what's to say he hasn't done what he did with Anakin again?

 

I literally came through this thread and my head hurt scrolling through each novel .

 

To return to the original topic I hope Luke isnt the last jedi again. It would be great to see new and interessting jedi.

And do every representative belive that the monster looking guy who screams about creating a dictatorship is telling the truth? I mean thats not even regular stupid, thats brain damage stupid. Everyone applaude to that and just accept it. Bravo Lucas, you nailed it.
And even if the jedi (the guardians of peace and justice for a 1000 years) did become traitors, the solution is that all of them should be killed (even the children!!!) and their temple should be burned, without any trial or even a better look on the case. Just trust the horrible monster who wants to enslave everybody, bravo. This is why I always hated epsiode 3 the most out of the preuqels. If you take a better look on it, its the worst (story-wise).

 

Is it unlike the monster Hitler being applauded for creating a fascist state that called for the annihilation of Jews and other minority groups? I think it was a superb retelling of the age old story of how democracies become a dictatorship.

 

The two situations were completly different.
1, The German Empire was never a democracy. Modern day democracy only started in the 20th century in Germany.
The Republic is a 1000 years (or generations before Lucas fcked up the continuity) old democracy, where everybody seems to adore and protect it (except Anakin) as in a Society with that long traditions, even the attempt to destroy it would cause instant civil war and the assassination of Palpatine.
2, The Republic is a superpower which dosent need and want to expand (Germany wasnt, the reason behind ww1 was that Germany wanted to take its share from the colonisation as a newcoming superpower)
3, The outbreak a second ww was inevitable, as the western sanctions towards Germany only temporary weakend it, if not Hitler than someone else would've orchestrated it.
4, Fear of communism was even stronger than the fear of another war during the two wws.
There is no such thing in the Republic.
5, Hitler was only legally elected to the parlaiment. Than with slow and cunning political decisions he demolished the mulit-party system, mostly by claming that the other parties are communists.
Palpatine just stood there and screamed, that from tomorrow you are slaves. Deal with it.
6, The rise to the power of Hitler was BEFORE the war and during the great economical crisis, where crazy things can happen.
The rise to the power of Palpatine was at the ENDING of the war (where nobody would support his madness)
7, Hitler and fascism had a lot of followers back then and not just in Germany.
Palpatine seems to be alone, and he clearly lacks any ideology. He even lies to the people's face as he clearly mentioned he loves and spports democracy.

Lucas never wanted to recreate the rise to the power of Hitler in ep 3, as the two situations are too different.
Lucas rather wanted to ,,warn" the american people, as The Republic is pretty much the US.
“How do democracies get turned into dictatorships? The democracies aren’t overthrown; they’re given away…
Star Wars was really about the Vietnam War."– George Lucas

“The (Star Wars)Empire is like America ten years from now.” Lucas, 73

Who is the emperror?
,,He was a politician. Richard M. Nixon was his name.
He subverted the senate and finally took over and became an imperial guy and he was really evil." – George Lucas, 1981


What Lucas really wanted to tell is what can happen to the US.
But it was exectued so poorly in ep 3 thats its almost laughable. No country ever will just simply accept with applause the subvertion of the democracy just because a crazy guy says so. Especially because they didnt even have any reason to it. The war was ending, Couscant didnt even experience the war on it streets except for a space battle so why would it be good for them to throw away everything they belived for a 1000 years (generations)? There was really no reason. The representatives should've just laughed when he held his crazy speech. Or if he's serious than just simply repeal his rights.
There is no way that only Padme disagreed with that crazy monster.

What also always bugged me, that not even a single jedi realised that Palpatine is trying to take over till Anakin told them, despite they've been looking for a sith lord. Who were they thinking can it be? Shmi Skywalker? Or Dexter Jetster? Or the crazy guy who tries to vote himself more and more power...

Im a physicist not a politologist, but I really doubt destroying the democracy in a 1000 years (generations) old futuristic, advanced society would only need 3 years of war far away from the center and a power hungry crazy guy.
If the destruction of democracy is even possible in such society than it would need dozens, if not hundreds of years of different crisies (political, economical, identical, ideological). And even after it the Republic would probably disintegrate into fractions. How did Palpatine even kept the power without the death star for so long? The empire of Alexander the Great falled appart just after he died, because he couldnt consolidate it...

I might be thinking too much into this fairy tale which is the prequels, but these things always bugged me a lot.

 

@General_Tarkin

In Ep1 Palpatine became Chancellor and from then on (and before tbh) corrupted the senate from within.
By Ep2 he was very popular and had a lot of senators in his pocket. Then he is granted EMERGENCY POWERS because of the Clone Wars.
Now, history shows us, time and time again how in the name of security, democracies willingly become dictatorships.
This is what happens in ROTS. There is likely widespread condemnation of it but by then it is too late. The corrupt senators have ok'd it and the people are then oppressed. Alongside this the Jedi are shown as warmongering traitors who want to control the Republic themselves.
My dissertation believe it or not was about how the Star Wars movies depict the US' "fall to the Dark Side", so I know all about the similarities there.
But do not doubt for a second that Lucas went beyond that. He has worked in historical events from all over - and the Hitler/Nazism element cannot be denied.
Palpatine, in his whole demeanor in ROTS is very much like Hitler. And you can see with them both how their charisma is a big factor in how they won support from the people.

The fact that Palpatine created the Empire at the end of the war makes even more sense. People just want peace and security (Hitler engineered false flag attacks against Germany to create this kind of fear mongering) after a long war. So when the trusted and loved Chancellor is telling you the Jedi are corrupt, have attacked him and looking to take over - you're going to go along with what he says - especially the corrupt senators who have gained a lot from his ten or so years in rule.

 

When was it shown that he became popular after he was elected Chancellor? Please link me the scene. The only supporters he seems to be having is Anakin and that blue guy.
In episode 3 some politican-like guys seems to be following him, but we dont know who they are and what do they do or want. He didnt hold any speeches in the front of people or anything like that (except at the end of ep 3 but that was in the Senate).
And besides the jedi seem to be rather opposing to the war, but definitely not warmongers. Just because Windu mentions once (in a close meeting that noone heard) that they might restore the order after the war that dosent mean they want to take over (and why would they?).
And even if they would (lets say), still burning down their temple and killing their younglings without any trial or even a look at the case, and applauding to it is just not possible imo.

And besides how did the jedi not know that Palpatine is the sith lord? They mentioned they were looking for one. Who did they think it might be? Dexter Jetster? Or the crazy guy who keeps voting more rights for himself. But I guess the dark side made the become unable to figure out things even a 5 years would easely do so. If Sidious is so powerful than why cant he physically weaken the jedi?

Hitler acted in a period when there was an upcoming war, an economical crysis, indeological crysis, fear from communism, the balance of the powers in Europe was broken (as both UK and France became weaker after ww1 and Austria-Hungary wasnt there to hold up aswell).
Nothing like that was in the Republic. Some separatist movement wanted to be separated from the Republic. Deal with them fast and go forward.
Palpatine had no ideology and was just a simple liar.

Only 3 years of war far away from the center would not cause any change in the life of a 1000 years old advanced democratic society.

 

Anakin said: The Senate demanded that he stay longer.
There are also chants of "Palpatine" when he announces Emergency Powers and becomes Emperor.
That evidence enough?

The Republic was already corrupt before Palpatine became Chancellor. This was evident in TPM. During his term, the Separatist Movement and Clone Wars lead to years of instability in the Republic all the while the senate became more and more corrupt. Again, we see this playing out clearly on screen. This is what happens.

I would agree that Lucas' could've gone further in showing the affect of war on the Republic. It was a bit sterile in that respect. But it's clear to see how things played out. We saw the corruption. We saw the war. We saw Palpatine influence and popularity.

It was quite easy for him to present the Jedi as a threat, the Separatist planets as a potential on-going threat (even with the war over) and use his influence on the corrupt senators to create a dictatorship.

 

That evidence enough?
Not really. Was that the visualisation of the great dictator? Some chants and a minor conversation? And besided obviously some supported him at the beginning of the war as he promised (and its pretty clear that everybody is brain damage level stupid in the Senate) he would resign.


,,The Republic was already corrupt before Palpatine became Chancellor. This was evident in TPM. During his term, the Separatist Movement and Clone Wars lead to years of instability in the Republic all the while the senate became more and more corrupt. Again, we see this playing out clearly on screen. This is what happens.

I would agree that Lucas' could've gone further in showing the affect of war on the Republic. It was a bit sterile in that respect. But it's clear to see how things played out. We saw the corruption. We saw the war. We saw Palpatine influence and popularity.

It was quite easy for him to present the Jedi as a threat, the Separatist planets as a potential on-going threat (even with the war over) and use his influence on the corrupt senators to create a dictatorship."



May I ask where was it shown that the Republic is corrupt? A scene please in the movies. The only one that refers to that is in epsiode 2 when Dooku talks with Obi-wan. And all of those could be lies.

And still even if the jedi are threat (despite the 1000 years of service) burning down their temple and killing their youngling without any trial and applause to that is just not possible.

And how did Palpatine even keep his power for so long without the Death Star? Considering Alexander the Great's empire falled apart right after he died, because he couldn't consolidate it, Palpatine's would fall apart the next day he established it. Enslaving thousands of star systems with trillions of people seems pretty expensive to me. Just how many soliders did he have? Billions?

And I think you still dont get it. Turning a society (especially a 1000 years old one) into dictatorship is not equal with deceiving Seantors.

 

What more do you want? You ask for evidence, there it is! Palpatine is shown to be loved! People are chanting his name like he is the Messiah! And Anakin tells us the senate DEMANDED he stay on. Why would that happen if he wasn't admired?

Palpatine tells Padme in TPM and she doesn't argue against it.

"…the Chancellor has little real power. He is mired by baseless accusations of corruption. The bureaucrats are in charge now."
―Senator Palpatine, to Padmé Amidala
"Enter the bureaucrats, the true rulers of the Republic—and on the payroll of the Trade Federation, I might add. This is where Chancellor Valorum's strength will disappear."
―Senator Palpatine, to Queen Amidala
"If this body is not capable of action, I suggest new leadership is needed. I move for a Vote of No Confidence in Chancellor Valorum's leadership."
―Queen Padmé Amidala of Naboo

Palpatine said it was in self defence. He said the Jedi were trying to take over. No one knew he just marched in there and killed them all.

But he had already won. He had taken over. And all the powerful people were in his pocket. He kept the senate and the senators, who were aligned with him, continued to rule their systems - until ANH when he dissolved the council permanently and put his own governors in charge. How does anyone keep their Empire together whether they be a dictator or crime boss? Money and power. No one dared go against him.

It is when you factor in a long, hard war, rebelling systems and evil Jedi taking over.