Stravo wrote:ANH
Vader is able to detect his old master who he has not seen in a generation yet cannot detect his own children (Leia and Later Luke) throughout this movie. Yet in ROTJ Vader can detect Luke who is presumably much better skilled at hiding his presence than the untrained Luke in ANH over a large distance, even better than the Emperor.
Does Force detection require some concrete knowldege of a connection? In ESB Vader can detect Luke fairly easily (in one instance over lightyears while watching a videoclip of Hoth) only after learning that Luke is his son. Sort of a weird limitation especially in light of Yoda and Obi Wan's concerns in ROTS that the Sith may be able to detect the children.
Vader in ANH is not looking for anyone, and if he senses anything on the Death Star its mostly the presence of Obi-wan. Later in the trench he does notice that "the Force is strong with this one," but how is that supposed to tell him anything about Luke?
ESB
Always in motion is the future. Yoda cannot detect the fate of Luke's friends yet Palpatine can see the entire length and breadth of a Galactic War throughout the prequels and manipulates events from ESB onward to his advantage.
Some powerful ally you got there Yoda.
It
should be easier to sense broad patterns in galactic politics than to sense the precise fates of specific individuals, especially when you have been manipulating those broad patterns for years.
ESB
C'mon. Vader can detect Luke over planetary distances and suddenly when he needs that abilty most he 'thinks' Luke's on the Millenium Falcon? His 'mistake' allows Luke time to be trained.
Once again, you would think that it would be easier to identify that a person is on Planet X than to figure out where exactly on Planet X they are.
ROTJ/Prequel Era
Palpatine is able to coordinate the destruction of the Jedi Order and the Fall of the Republic with near perfect precision through the use of his far seeing ability. He is able to out see such masters as Yoda, Mace Windu and the collective Jedi High Council.
YET
When the chips are down his far seeing fails him precisely when he needs it most - in regards to his hold over Anakin and Luke. He sees just far enough to get Luke on the DSII and place everything in position for his defeat at the hands of Anakin. As if the Force had manipulated the Sith and the Jedi - granting a single Sith lord the ability to see better than the Jedi and even cloud their vision yet pulls back just in time to see Palpatine fall.
"Your overconfidence is your weakness." - Luke Skywalker
Palpatine's fall seems more like a dramatic device than the Will of the Force to me. Throughout his entire life up to that point he had carefully, expertly manipulated others using fake personas that fooled Jedi Masters. Now, at the moment of what appears to be his ultimate victory, he allows himself a single, triumphan moment of indulgence - torturing Luke to death - and fatefully, that moment is when Vader finally decides that enough is enough. He seemed to be doing the same thing in the duel with Yoda, cackling gleefully as he hurled Senate pods against the one he had had to pretend to respect for so long. And it almost cost him, too - watch the duel between those two again, at the moment when Yoda was about to reflect the Force lightning back at Palpatine. For a second, Palpatine's expression turns from one of cackling glee to one of fear, and they are both blasted out of the Senate pod. It seems almost like pure chance that Yoda ended up in the more disadvantageous position.
... or maybe
that was the Will of the Force.
ROTS
Anakin's precog, presumbaly better than Obi Wan's cannot tell him jumping at Obi Wan is a BAD idea at this point in the duel?
Anakin was an overconfident sonuvabitch; we all know this. Some of the Zahn books, if I recall, speculate that the more you use the Force for personal power, the less you can use it for perception, and in that final duel Vader certainly appeared to be going nuts with his Force usage. I don't know if the rest of the EU debunks this, though.
Prequel Era
Veil of the Darkside. One Sith Lord can dampen 10,000 Jedi including masters like Yoda and Mace Windu. The Jedi outnumbering the Sith cannot seem to do the same in reverse. Yoda in fact resorts to probing the darkside (AOTC) for answers.
The Veil of the Darkside seemed almost to be allegory for a Veil of Ignorance to me. Sidious knew who the Jedi were and what kind of dogmas they followed, and he could predict their behavior. The Jedi, on the other hand, knew next to nothing about the way the Sith worked, and as such they could not counter their methods, they could only dance to the tune of those with greater understanding than themselves.
