The Curious Case of Mace Windu

Mace Windu. You either love him or hate him. As one of the most powerful Jedi alive, he sat on the high council and was the elected leader of the Order. Mace had the unusual ability to detect shatterpoints, which are faults or weaknesses. However, as the Clone Wars dragged on, I believe he missed one of the most pivotal shatterpoints in the galaxy: himself.

While it seems that many things about the old EU are no more, Mace Windu's past has stayed the same. So, before we focus on his choices during the films, let's know all the facts, shall we?

The novel Shatterpoint covers Mace's background. Mace was born on Haruun Kal to the Korunnai people. The entirety of those people are Force-sensitive to a degree. There's a reason for that, but I won't ruin the book. The Korunnai people had never had a child trained before, so the Order asked if they could train a child. Mace, an orphan, was given to the Order for training as a sort of experiment. Many guessed that a Korunnai Jedi would be powerful, but they had no idea.

Now that we know that, let's take a closer look at Mace.

First of all, understand that Mace had the ability to sense shatterpoints. Shatterpoints are weak points, faults in a person, situation, or thing. To sense them is a rare gift and that gift ties directly into his decision making.

"The Force shows me strengths and weaknesses; hidden flaws and unexpected uses. It shows me vectors of stress that squeeze or stretch, torque or shear; it shows me how patterns of these vectors intersect to form the matrix of reality. Put simply: when I look at you through the Force, I can see where you break." -Shatterpoint

At the first battle of Geonosis Mace had the chance to kill Dooku. Mace saw Dooku as the shatterpoint in the war, the possible ending before the beginning. When blastershots are fired by Jango Fett, Mace blames himself for blocking the shots instead of dying and taking Dooku with him.

During his time in the Order, Mace reinvented the 7th and most deadly form of lightsaber combat called Vaapad. It was a form during the old republic, but it was so restricted that it basically died out. Here's the problem, it required the user to channel certain aspects of the dark side. "Vaapad was explained as being a state of mind rather than just a fighting style, allowing the wielder to channel his own inner darkness into the duel, and accept the fury of the opponent." I believe this shows how blinded the council had become. To allow the leader of the Order to create a fighting style that used emotions like fury and darkness is alarming.

Mace made several bad decisions during the war. He obviously never liked Anakin, which there were probably several reasons for.

Anakin was brought forward by Qui-Gon who was obviously no friend of Mace. Anakin was arrogant, stubborn, willful, and sarcastic growing up. These are traits I doubt Mace saw as desirable. I believe this dislike came to a head the night of Order 66. Mace saw Anakin as the Chancellor's shatterpoint. That's why he didn't allow Anakin to accompany him to arrest Palpatine. However, just because you can see shatterpoints doesn't mean you always know what to do about them. It's just like any other problem. You can see it, but you still have to invent the solution. His solution was to leave Anakin behind, and personally, I believe he was wrong. What would have happened if Anakin had gone along?

Palpatine would have been more hesitant to kill the Jedi who came to arrest him. It would have played his vicious hand in front of Anakin, who would have seen the fight as nothing but a slaughter. He was a fit Sith at this point. Being cruel would have hurt Palpatine's chances. Mace also may have gained perspective. Palpatine killing the 2 other Jedi probably caused Mace to go into Vaapad. He was channeling Palpatine's anger. He knew Anakin's sight was "clouded". He told him that before he left. Mace would have been more careful and would have time to read the situation more.

Bottom line? I believe there was a shatterpoint that Mace never saw: himself. I believe he was Anakin's shatterpoint. He could have been what pushed Anakin overboard by yelling that Palpatine needed to be killed without a trial. By lowering his lightsaber, calming down, and attempting to briefly see Anakin's point of view, Mace might have been able to hold the republic together a little bit longer.

Agree? Disagree? Let me know! @ForceKnowledge