One line in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith has me fairly convinced that Mace Windu may have fallen to the dark side, and we all missed it. Mace Windu is one of the most fascinating Jedi in Star Wars movies and TV shows, and he arguably hasn’t gotten the attention he deserved. Throughout the prequels, Mace Windu came across as an incredibly respected Jedi among the other Council members, although it was also clear that he was one of the harshest towards Anakin (even when he was a child).

That difficult relationship continued through to Revenge of the Sith, which ultimately ended with one of the most important moments in Anakin Skywalker’s Star Wars timeline: his confrontation with Mace Windu in Palpatine’s office. It was in this scene that Anakin ultimately chose Palpatine over the Jedi, sealing the fate of the galaxy and the Republic. Before he was sent flying out the window, Mace Windu delivered one shocking, easy-to-miss line in Revenge of the Sith that has me really questioning whether he had fallen to the dark side.

Mace Windu’s Logic Echoes Palpatine’s Own With Dooku

Mace Windu Used The Very Same Language Palpatine Had About Count Dooku

While it may seem impossible that a Jedi as well-respected and powerful as Mace Windu could have fallen to the dark side, one jarring line in Revenge of the Sith suggests that, at the very least, Mace had blurred the lines between the light and the dark. When Mace Windu was attempting to convince Anakin that killing Palpatine was the only solution, he told Anakin, “He’s too dangerous to be kept alive.”

This logic from Mace Windu echoed the exact same language Palpatine had used earlier in Revenge of the Sith about Count Dooku. Anakin was distressed about having killed Dooku when Dooku was weaponless, as that wasn’t the way of the Jedi. To reᴀssure him he had done the right thing, Palpatine told Anakin, “He was too dangerous to be left alive.” The issue is, Anakin had been right; killing an unarmed opponent was against the way of the Jedi.

Now, knowing Palpatine was one of Star Wars’ most powerful Sith makes it rather difficult to blame Mace at this moment. However, this was not the first time Mace Windu had argued that someone needed to be killed because of the threat they posed. In the canon book Star Wars: Dark Disciple, written by Christie Golden, it is Mace Windu’s idea for the Jedi Council to have Count Dooku ᴀssᴀssinated at the height of the Clone Wars—and they even hired former Sith ᴀssᴀssin Asajj Ventress to do it.

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The Master Of The Order Proved The Jedi Had Fallen

The Jedi Order Just Wasn’t What It Once Was (But They Didn’t Deserve To Die)

This raises questions about what consтιтutes the dark side and ‘falling’ to the dark side, although, when approached without bias in favor of Mace Windu, it’s not a good look that, on multiple occasions, he was arguing in favor of killing the Jedi’s adversaries. This is also indicative of a larger issue that had emerged within the Jedi at the time. The Jedi of course did not deserve Order 66, nor were they ‘the bad guys.’ Yet, it’s clear that at some point they had abandoned their core values.

After all, the Jedi had gone from peacekeepers to soldiers who were fighting along political lines. This is precisely why so many Jedi ultimately became disillusioned with the Jedi Order and turned to the dark side, from Barriss Offee to Anakin Skywalker. It’s particularly alarming in Mace’s case, as he was the Master of the Order. If he had fallen, then so too had the Jedi Order. While Mace Windu certainly wasn’t a full-fledged Sith Lord, this Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith moment suggests he briefly did tap into the dark side.