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In Attack Of The Clones did Darth Sidious use some form of mind trick on Jar Jar?

Here, you can see the scene play out and then Jar Jar sort of looks like he had the idea. We know that he is weak minded so is it possible this was Sidious's attempt at a mind trick on Jar Jar and that he later continued to get Jar Jar to do as he wished? We know Sidious is powerful, Mas Amedda clearly knows Palpatine is Sidious and it seems like such a setup for a mind trick.

KutuluMike
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Bream Gaming and Trailers
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2 Answers2

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There's a few elements that stand against the idea of Jar-Jar having been mind-tricked.

Yoda and Windu were in the room when the decision was made. While Palpatine can evidently cloak his own capacity, mind-tricking someone right in front of a Jedi Master would have been an incredibly risky move.

“The Senate must vote the Chancellor emergency powers,” Mas Amedda suggested at last. “Then he could approve the use of the clones.”
War, you mean, Yoda thought sadly. What other use was there for an army? Not in centuries had Yoda so wanted to comment, to interfere in the politics playing out before him, but he had already said what was needed, and the Senators had not grasped his meaning. He held his peace. Jedi serve. Make laws, we do not. The Senators looked at one another. Plainly, they thought the idea was a good one, but none of them wanted to be the one to propose such a huge change in the way the government ran. Finally, Jar Jar Binks stepped forward. “Mesa proud to proposing the motion to give yousa honor emergency powers,” he said to Palpatine, and the matter was quickly settled. Jar Jar would bring the motion up, and the other Senators would support it. When it passed, Chancellor Palpatine would approve the emergency use of the clone army.

Attack of the Clones: Junior Novelisation

In the adult novelisation, it's made clear that Palpatine has maneuvered the Senators and the Jedi into a blind alleyway. Binks is merely the conduit of a decision that they've all come to and after some very slight prodding from Mas Amedda, he finally works out what he's supposed to do in the situation.

“Through negotiation the Jedi maintain peace,” Yoda replied. “To start a war, we do not intend.”

His continued calm only seemed to push the frantic Ask Aak over the edge. “The debate is over!” he cried. “Now we need that clone army.”

Yoda closed his eyes slowly, pained by the weight of reason behind the dreaded words.

...

“If only Senator Amidala was here,” Mas Amedda reasoned.

Without hesitation, Jar Jar Binks stepped forward again. “Mesa mosto Supreme Chancellor,” the Gungan said, squaring his sloping shoulders as much as possible. “Mesa gusto pallos,” he said deferentially to all the others. “Mesa proud to proposing the motion to give Yousa Honor emergency powers.”

Attack of the Clones: Official Novelisation

Valorum
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  • i dont see this is proof, I guess your agument is that the jedi wouldnt notice a mind trick? I will upvote on the reason that this is a good detailed answer. – Bream Gaming and Trailers May 05 '17 at 06:09
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    @BreamGamingandTrailers - It's more that Palpatine wouldn't risk a mind-trick. Plus, he doesn't need to. Plain old reverse psychology works just fine. – Valorum May 05 '17 at 06:12
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    Why use space magic, when old fashioned social engineering will do the job? Palpatine was a master of both. – T.J.L. May 05 '17 at 12:25
  • i do like this and on some level i do agree, but on another i am thinking what if it is a test, to see if the jedi picked up anything,Also, Jar Jar might have only thought it because he was tricked into it. – Bream Gaming and Trailers May 05 '17 at 13:59
  • Jar Jar is secretly a sith lord himself and this was all part of his master plan. – alemus May 05 '17 at 17:37
  • @alemus - Jar Jar isn't a Force user. – Valorum May 05 '17 at 18:54
  • https://www.buzzfeed.com/isaacfitzgerald/darth-jar-jar?utm_term=.mp8JzOpBPN#.jm8G6JbyrE – alemus May 05 '17 at 19:25
  • @alemus - http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/198?m=25386743#25386743 – Valorum May 05 '17 at 19:28
  • He was tricked, but not mind-tricked. The conversation was clearly set up to "inspire" him to be the one to step forward. He was played for a patsy. Which is why I have always maintained that if he'd gotten a third act, given the chance to realize what he'd done, and tried to make up for it, they might have been able to rehabilitate the character. Dying in the process might have helped, but even if it was as ineffectual as Neville Longbottom's attempt to stop his friends in the first Harry Potter book, it would have gone a way to turning him around. – VBartilucci Oct 05 '18 at 19:08
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Just speculating, but I think Jar-Jar was wanting to show he had the gumption to do something bold to help the Republic and he decided to follow through with what he had eavesdropped on. I don't think a mind trick was needed since Darth Sidious already knew that he was weak minded and just had to plant the correct seed to make his plan grow.

c8irish
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  • Thanks, that also came to me too but at the same point Jar jar didnt come up with a plan for obi-wan and Qui-gon to take him with them, Also found it odd they panned to him in the next shot. Your Reward is a moonwalking Quanri https://youtu.be/DXfRtnjMrMs – Bream Gaming and Trailers May 05 '17 at 05:37