It was often Master Windu's practice, when the Jedi Council wasn't in session, to sit alone in meditation. Occasionally he would allow someone to sit with him, usually an apprentice. Once in a while, I was given that honor.
Most of the time, these sessions were carried out in complete silence. One day, he deviated from this practice. What I'm about to tell you will probably sound like something I made up, but I'm only speaking what I experienced.
He told me:
"It wasn't easy, deceiving them for all those years. Master Yoda especially. He was the kindest soul the Force ever allowed me to encounter. He had no idea that I was his greatest enemy. I regret that. We would spend long hours discussing the prophecy, the weakening of the Force, the Sith, all of these matters that I could have revealed to him in great detail. I was Darth Sidious.
"In a few hours I am going to confront Chancellor Palpatine. I am going to fake my death. We have already discussed this, what must happen. The young Jedi Anakin Skywalker, who is the one who will bring balance to the Force, who will soon slaughter most of the Jedi. He is in emotional turmoil, as he has been most of his life. He will believe what we tell him to believe. Though the Force is strong in him, it blinds him, and in the void he is susceptible. I will stage my confrontation with Palpatine, and then I will go into exile.
"I've already discussed the idea of exile with Master Yoda. I believe he will do so himself, when the time is right. Soon. Very soon. He will understand the logic behind it.
"Many years ago, I realized what had to happen in order to reconcile the Force, to bring about the prophecy. This was before Skywalker was brought before us as a boy. I was among those who wanted to reject him even though he fit all the necessary criteria for the prophecy to be fulfilled, not because I was blind to what he was but because I needed Master Yoda, and the others, to continue to believe the fiction I had been weaving all along. Palpatine was useful in all of this. He was delusional. I knew of his obsession with Sith legend. He was always easy to control. He was also a consummate politician. He would believe anything that advanced his career.
"You won't breathe a word of this for the same reasons Palpatine and Skywalker will play their parts faithfully. You want to believe. You want to believe in the purity of the Jedi. That is the single conviction that driven me in all my plans. I saw the Jedi weakening. Not their abilities. If anything, their knowledge of the Force had grown too strong, even with the loss of Sith lore. Anything a Sith knew was insigificant compared to what a Jedi commanded.
"But the Jedi had become pawns. They were no longer sentinels but puppets. We were no longer guardians. I respected Master Yoda so much that I could never contradict him. I had to make him think that what's to happen was something he could understand. In a way that's exactly the truth.
"In exile, we will be stronger than we ever were. Skywalker's role in this will end. I suspect he will pass it on to his heirs, just as Jedi always have. This new generation will be free of all restraint, but will better understand their responsibility. I will watch all of this, as the Jedi did in the days of old, in the shadows. There grew a misconception that only the Sith operate in this manner, and so that was how I resurrected their name. This was a form of balance, too.
"The purple blade will fade into history. The new Jedi under the tradition Skywalker establishes will operate under their own rules, the way it should be. I sense greatness in our future once again.
"What would you say if you could warn them? That hope will exist again? That war and destruction will occur? These things have always happened. These are what the Jedi were always meant to shape, not cower from. We are guardians of destiny. This is destiny being reshaped, being put back on-course."
He lapsed back into silence just as unexpectedly, and I sat there beside him, afraid for myself. Yet I chose to embrace the same fate as his. Exile. Never to be heard from history again. Why am I telling you this now? The record won't change. No one will believe that Master Windu was Darth Sidious. It doesn't matter. Times are changing, though. I have a bad feeling about this.
I hope by speaking of these matters now, the Force will remind our kind once again what must be done.
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