The Dumbest Jedi Decision in Every Skywalker Saga Movie, From Phantom Menace to Rise of Skywalker

The Jedi can sense danger, glimpse the future and move things with their minds, yet basic decision making still gives them problems. I went through all nine Skywalker movies and picked the dumbest Jedi decision in each one, starting with the Jedi Council's choice of teacher for Anakin and ending with Rey trying to exile herself.

I am judging every character by what they knew at the time, because blaming somebody for not knowing the ending is easy. Some of these people had plenty of warning. Anakin shows up more than once, and so does Obi-Wan's advice about Vader.

The Phantom Menace: The Council hands Anakin to a grieving, newly promoted Obi-Wan

My pick is not the decision to train Anakin at all. There is a very strong argument that this kid needs guidance, especially after discovering what he can do. Leaving him frightened, displaced and completely untrained doesn't sound like a great alternative. The problem is who the Council puts in charge.

Obi-Wan has just lost his master and is only now becoming a Jedi Knight. He promises Qui-Gon that he'll train Anakin, and he means it. But caring about somebody and being prepared to raise them are two different qualifications. "Basically, you just became dad."

Meanwhile, the Council has already identified Anakin as an unusually complicated case. They sense the fear and they're concerned about his attachments. Qui-Gon thinks he could be the chosen one. Whatever you believe about the prophecy, this is clearly not an ordinary Padawan. So, naturally, they hand him to the newly promoted guy who is grieving the person who asked him to do it.

Obi-Wan becomes a great Jedi and he loves Anakin, but that doesn't make this a sensible starting arrangement. Give him experienced support. Give Anakin somebody who understands what being separated from his mother has done to him. Make this a responsibility that the Jedi Order shares. Instead, they recognise the risk and then put an enormous amount of it on one young man. Apparently saving the galaxy counts as a job for a beginner these days.

Attack of the Clones: Anakin charges Count Dooku alone

Yes, the Tusken massacre is Anakin's worst act in this movie by an enormous distance, but that deserves a conversation about cruelty and moral failure. For sheer avoidable stupidity, I'm picking the fight where somebody explains the correct approach and Anakin immediately does the opposite.

Obi-Wan tells him they'll take Dooku together. So Anakin puts his head down and rushes, gets hit with Force Lightning and is thrown out of the fight before he accomplishes a single thing. That leaves Obi-Wan facing Dooku alone, and Obi-Wan gets injured. Anakin eventually gets another opportunity and loses an arm, and Yoda has to arrive to stop the situation becoming even worse.

Would fighting together guarantee a win? No. Dooku is exceptionally dangerous. But keeping two Jedi active gives them a better chance than volunteering to become the demonstration. Anakin knows Obi-Wan is experienced. He knows Dooku has been trained as a Jedi, and he has just survived an arena battle where acting alone was not exactly the winning strategy.

His anger is understandable. Padmé has fallen out of their transport, the battle has been chaos, and he wants to stop the man responsible. But understanding his emotions doesn't make his decision smarter. The frustrating part is how little he needed to do differently: wait a few seconds, coordinate, listen to the person standing beside you. Anakin can pilot through a battlefield, but asking him to wait his turn is apparently where the difficulty spikes.

Revenge of the Sith: Anakin saves Palpatine from Mace Windu

I know I'm picking on Anakin, and I'm sorry. By this point, Anakin knows Palpatine is the Sith Lord they have been looking for, and he knows this man has concealed his identity for years. He has heard the promise that the dark side might help him save Padmé, but he has not seen Palpatine demonstrate anything or prove anything that matters. He is gambling everything on a Palpatine sales pitch.

Mace's decision to kill Palpatine rather than arrest him is debatable. Anakin has a legitimate objection to executing a prisoner, but we also know protecting due process isn't what is driving him. He is terrified of losing the one person he believes might prevent Padmé's death. So he cuts off Mace's hand, and Palpatine immediately reveals how helpless he actually was by blasting Mace out the window.

Then comes the part that should have stopped this relationship cold once Anakin has committed himself. Palpatine tells him they can discover the secret of cheating death together. Together? A minute ago, Anakin was treating this man like he already had the answer. Now they are apparently starting a research project. That is the point where Anakin should realise he has been manipulated.

Instead, he keeps going, because admitting the truth would probably mean confronting what he just did. His first terrible decision became the reason he makes the next one. That is actually powerful tragedy. It is also a spectacular failure to reconsider the deal after the terms changed.

A New Hope: Obi-Wan tells Luke that Darth Vader murdered his father

I understand why Obi-Wan doesn't immediately explain that Luke's father became a Sith Lord, helped destroy the Jedi and currently works in a planetary demolition squad. Luke just met him, and there is a lot to put into that first conversation. But there is a difference between withholding a painful truth and replacing it with a specific story that creates a completely different motive and narrative for Luke.

Obi-Wan gives Luke a villain who killed his father. That frames Vader as somebody Luke has a personal reason to hate, while hiding the relationship that will eventually make confronting him much more complicated. And Vader isn't some distant historical figure Luke will never encounter. Obi-Wan is bringing Luke into the conflict where Vader is one of the most dangerous people on the other side. This lie comes with a fairly obvious expiration date.

Obi-Wan could say Luke's father fell. He could say the story is painful, or that Luke isn't ready to hear all of it. He could even acknowledge there are things they need to discuss when they have more time. Instead, he gives him an answer Vader can later destroy in one sentence. The mistake isn't that Obi-Wan struggles to discuss Anakin; of course he does. The mistake is making Luke's understanding depend on a version of events the enemy is uniquely positioned to correct.

The Empire Strikes Back: Luke leaves Dagobah before he is ready

This one actually hurts. His reason is good. He sees his friends suffering and wants to help, and sitting in a swamp while Han and Leia are in danger feels like the wrong decision to him. But Yoda warns him that the future is uncertain, and Obi-Wan warns him that he is not prepared to face Vader. Luke has barely started learning to manage his abilities, and he is heading towards somebody who has been doing this for decades. He goes anyway.

What does he actually accomplish at Cloud City? He doesn't prevent Han from being frozen. He doesn't rescue Leia. When his own situation falls apart, his friends have to come back and rescue him. He loses his hand, discovers the truth about his father under the worst possible circumstances and ends up hanging beneath the city. "The rescue mission becomes a request for a pickup."

Luke's arrival does give R2 the opportunity to help with the Falcon's escape, so I'm not saying the trip contributes absolutely nothing. But his decision to confront the danger himself goes almost exactly the way his teachers feared. That is what makes it a good character mistake. His compassion was real and his courage was real; his assessment of what he could handle was terrible. He confused caring enough to act with being ready to act effectively. That's a human problem, even when you can move rocks with your mind.

Return of the Jedi: Obi-Wan's certainty that Vader must die

We're back to Obi-Wan, because his advice about Vader still hasn't gotten any better. Luke says he can't kill his own father, and Obi-Wan responds that the Emperor has already won. That is an extraordinary thing to tell somebody whose defining strength is his belief that people can be better than they appear.

Obi-Wan has every reason to think Anakin is gone. He witnessed his fall, he fought it, and he knows what Vader has become. So I'm not criticising him for failing to feel optimistic. I'm criticising the certainty. He treats Luke's refusal to kill Vader as the end of the only possible solution. But Luke senses something in his father that Obi-Wan's assessment didn't account for, and the movie ultimately proves Luke right. Vader turns against the Emperor because his son refuses to give up on him.

That doesn't mean Luke had a safe plan; his faith nearly got him killed. But Obi-Wan's advice would have pushed him away from the relationship that actually changes the entire outcome. And no, throwing away his lightsaber is not my pick. That moment is Luke refusing to become what the Emperor wants, and calling it stupid because it leaves him physically vulnerable misses the decision he was making. I think the failure belongs to the teacher who assumes the only way forward is killing somebody the student might still reach.

The Force Awakens: Luke disappears while everyone needs him

We don't get the full explanation for Luke's disappearance until the next movie, but the consequences are everywhere. Leia is trying to find him. The First Order is growing and trying to find him. His former student has become Kylo Ren, and he is trying to find him too. People need help, and Luke has removed himself from the situation because he has turned into, as I'd put it, "an old brat baby."

I understand wanting distance after a catastrophe. His new Jedi Order didn't work out and he feels responsible. Returning immediately might not be healthy or useful. But there is a considerable gap between taking time to recover and becoming unavailable while other people face the consequences, people you love. Leia doesn't need him to arrive with a perfect new Jedi academy. She needs her brother. The Resistance could use his knowledge, and Ben's family could use somebody who understands what happened.

Luke decides his involvement makes things worse and then treats that conclusion as settled, while the people he leaves behind don't get to opt out. I think that's the mistake: turning personal guilt into a decision about what everyone else has to face without him. It feels especially painful because Luke once refused to abandon his father, and now, after another family disaster, he abandons the possibility that he might still help. His eventual return matters because he finally stops treating failure as proof that he should never act again.

The Last Jedi: Rey goes to Kylo Ren because she believes her vision means he'll turn

Rey has reasons to think there is conflict inside Kylo. Their connection lets her see a vulnerability she hasn't understood before, and she realises Luke's account of what happened with Ben wasn't complete. All of that justifies reconsidering what she thinks about Kylo, but it does not justify treating his redemption as a confirmed appointment. She places herself in enemy hands, expecting their connection and the future she glimpsed to lead him back to the light.

But Kylo is reading the same experience through his own expectations: he thinks she'll join him. They both see what they want to see. When they fight together after Snoke's death, Rey takes it as the opening she hoped for, while Kylo takes it as the opportunity to rule without his master. Those are very different conclusions to draw from the same teamwork.

Rey's mistake isn't compassion; Luke's story shows compassion can change somebody. I think her mistake is assuming she knows what another person will choose because the Force gave her a compelling glimpse. She puts enormous confidence in an interpretation she hasn't really tested. Kylo can hate Snoke without rejecting the dark side. "Getting rid of your boss doesn't automatically mean you've changed careers."

The Rise of Skywalker: Rey burns her ship and tries to exile herself on Ahch-To

Rey is frightened by her anger. She has learned Palpatine is her grandfather, she has nearly killed Kylo and then healed him. There is a lot going on, and I believe she would fear becoming dangerous to the people she loves. But look at what she already knows about this exact solution. She went to the island to bring Luke back, argued that the galaxy needed him, witnessed the cost of his withdrawal and saw him ultimately help the Resistance by choosing to act.

Then, when her own fear becomes overwhelming, she tries to repeat his mistake. She doesn't take a breath or seek Leia's guidance. She destroys her transportation and intends to remove herself permanently while Palpatine's threat is getting bigger. That is a pretty aggressive decision to make before having another conversation. Luke has to explain that he was wrong to hide, so the lesson Rey helped bring out of him is handed right back to her.

Her fear makes sense, but I don't think her conclusion does. Being related to Palpatine doesn't make every choice she made irrelevant, and struggling with anger doesn't mean isolation is the only responsible option. Fortunately, she finally listens, which already puts her ahead of several people on this list.

That's the thing about these decisions. The Jedi aren't interesting because they already know what to do. They're interesting because power doesn't remove the fear, the pride, the grief or the temptation to believe the answer you want. But some of these situations didn't require another prophecy. They required listening, asking another question, or waiting five seconds before charging Count Dooku.

Which of these decisions would you change, and am I being too harsh on Obi-Wan, or can his defenders make the case from a certain point of view?