As all Star Wars fans know, Mace Windu bravely stood up to Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith, but he was tragically killed in his battle with the villain. With the Master of the Jedi Council out of the way, Darth Sidious had virtually no one left to stop him from seizing control of the galaxy. The prequels may paint Samuel L. Jackson’s war hero in a positive light, then, but this wild fan theory wonders whether Windu was actually just another bad guy waiting to happen.
Reddit user u/ImpulsiveBeetle has argued that, much like Palpatine, Windu secretly wanted all the power for himself. The theorist points to the Jedi Master advocating for the Council to take charge over the Senate when Palpatine is relieved from his position. While Yoda is the Jedi Grandmaster, Windu holds all the real power and so he would effectively have been a similar figure to the Emperor if this played out.
ImpulsiveBeetle points to the discussion in The Clone Wars about how the Jedi were once galactic peacekeepers but transformed into soldiers during the final days of the Republic. So, what if Windu deliberately manipulated the situation to give the Jedi higher authority than they had before, all to put him closer to his own goals? We do know that Mace studied both the light and dark sides of the Force, so what’s to say he didn’t lose sight of Jedi ideology along the way?
There’s even a neat parallel that this fan points out. When Palpatine kills Dooku, he tells Anakin he was too dangerous to be kept alive. When attempting to assassinate Palpatine himself later on in Revenge, Windu says much the same thing to Skywalker. Maybe this was a clue that the pair aren’t so different, after all?
This is certainly a fun Star Wars theory to consider, though I think that most fans will agree that while Mace Windu is a flawed Jedi, for sure, he’s not driven by personal gain.