In Revenge of the Sith, Palpatine’s office is decorated with Sith artifacts. Yet, the Jedi seem oblivious to what they are. Puzzling…but we can answer this question by looking into the dark side.
Reasons Why the Jedi Didn’t Notice the Sith Artifacts
One idea to consider to explain this discrepancy is that the artifacts were so “obscure” that the Jedi didn’t recognize them. After all, these objects do “just look like vases,” and it would have required more of an expert level of knowledge to identify them correctly.
Or, similarly, the Jedi just thought of Palpatine as an avid collector of mysterious items. We can remember that the Sith were a threat from the ancient past. By the events of Revenge of the Sith, the Sith themselves were considered “just legends”, and the Jedi may have thought that “Palpatine’s decor” was merely “a collection held by an archaeology enthusiast.”
These answers are appealing, but more probable, though, is the idea that “the dark side clouds everything”, including Sith artifacts, as a post on the above Reddit forum suggested. We know that Yoda felt that their Force senses were being blocked, but he didn’t take any action. This was because Yoda’s mental state became clouded by Palpatine’s use of the dark side.
We also know from Star Wars: Complete Locations that Palpatine liked to hide Sith operations behind innocent fronts. The book describes how “heavily shielded to avoid electromagnetic detection, Palpatine’s secret Sith facility sits openly atop the EmPal SuRecon hospital tower.” In other words, he literally built a Sith stronghold on top of a hospital because enemies like the Jedi would hesitate to target a medical center. If he was willing to cloak an entire facility that way, it’s not a stretch to imagine him using similar shielding and misdirection to hide a few “harmless” artifacts in his office, too.
Palpatine became infamous for orchestrating the dark side. As another forum offered, “Palpatine was an expert at masking his own presence.” In the prequels, he demonstrated how he could “easily cloud the Jedi’s Force sense” and thereby conceal his true identity. That’s why the Jedi couldn’t identify him.
We know that Sidious excelled at Force Clouding to conceal his dark side powers around the Jedi. He could very well extend this cloaking ability to artifacts too. Sidious probably drew on the second of two forms of Force Clouding to conceal the nature of the objects in his office. That is, he used Sith Sorcery to cast a spell over the room and make it seem like the artifacts and he were harmless.
This explanation coincides with James Luceno’s novel Labyrinths of Evil, which reflected how Mace Windu felt a Sith presence that permeated the room, but Palpatine was able to explain it away. As recounted in this short video, as Palpatine provided an elaborate backstory for the artifacts, he most likely intensified his clouding too.
Our previous article about Palpatine’s Sith artifacts analyzes this moment further, providing details about Mace Windu’s questioning of Sidious about them. It also points out the multiplicity of objects in his office, not only Sith spirit urns, but also statues of the Four Sages of Dwartii.
Sidious’s storytelling and cloaking, however, combined to conceal these objects. Like Yoda, Windu suspected something, but couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
More to the Cloaking
As this video explores, Palpatine purposely decorated his office with these artifacts to insult the Jedi. While their rarity helps partially obscure what they are, Palpatine’s cloaking completes the purposeful humiliation.
Yet, it wasn’t just Sidious’s power alone that enabled him to pull off this task. Coinciding with our previous article, Palpatine had the residual power of a buried Sith Temple. We know that he resurrected it after the fall of the Jedi Order, but he also could have drawn on its power for his Force Clouding.
This Shrine in the Depths of Coruscant helped fuel the rise of the Sith because the Jedi never completely nullified its powers. Among other things, Palpatine drew on it to help conceal his Sith presence. Afterward, as the Emperor erected his Palace on Jedi Temple grounds, he formally excavated the shrine.
The Jedi Didn’t Notice the Sith Artifacts
The mysterious workings of the Sith and dark side power occluded both persons and objects. Although the Sith artifacts were rare and difficult to recognize as such, they had the added concealment of Palpatine’s power. The Jedi didn’t stand a chance against it.