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At the end of Revenge of the Sith, the Emperor knows thats Yoda is alive. Why would he not make that the first priority of the Empire? Yoda would be the one Jedi of all the Jedi you would not want alive, so why overlook this?

Null
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Sydenam
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1 Answers1

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The galaxy is a big place. Even the Empire can't overturn each stone, shake each bush, and question each person.

The search DID continue, but the Emperor knew better than to think it would succeed: Yoda is ancient, wise, and powerful with the Force. He's one of the few Jedi who escaped Order 66 by dealing with the clone troops instead of not being near them or evading them.

Throwing wave after wave of men into a search would have been fruitless - the only information on his whereabouts would come from which groups never returned.

The Emperor and Vader searched quietly, and Yoda just hid too well (being the only sentient on a planet and living next door to a veritable font of evil power being one of the more effective ways to hide I can imagine).

Jeff
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    When you see the trouble they had finding the rebels base in V, you can imagine how hard it would be for them to find a single person (one of the most powerful Jedi at that) – Loïc Wolff Oct 12 '11 at 14:21
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    @LoïcWolff: Exactly. Not to mention, even if someone DID find Yoda on Dagobah, Yoda would wave his hand and say, "Find me, you did not. Devoid of intelligent life, this planet is." – Jeff Oct 12 '11 at 14:28
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    Approve of this, I do. –  Oct 12 '11 at 20:05
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    I think there was a case where some Stormies landed on Dagobah... Lots of other people did too... – dkuntz2 Oct 13 '11 at 01:18
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    @Jeff's comment is spot on: you need to search an entirely galaxy using only strong-willed people who can resist mind tricks. There just aren't enough people. – Tynam Jan 03 '12 at 13:49
  • @Tynam And most of them are busy managing spice trades and owning giant monsters that they feed prisoners to for amusement. – Zibbobz Oct 20 '14 at 13:49
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    @Jeff Or he could probably just avoid contact with them completely. We're talking a planet here, and I doubt they threw down several armies per planet just to search. – jpmc26 May 01 '15 at 08:31
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    @Jeff, but when the trooper reported back with "Find him, I did not. Devoid of intelligent life, that planet is" it would have been a huge tip-off. – John Sensebe Mar 09 '16 at 18:47