MOVIE NEWS – The infamous Order 66 has a predecessor in the Star Wars Legends that would have allowed the Jedi Order to defeat Palpatine…

In the Star Wars prequels and stories, Palpatine’s sinister masterstroke in his plot to destroy the Jedi Order was Order 66. But its predecessor – now part of the unofficial canon, Legends – could have been used against him. In the Star Wars Legends continuity, Order 66 was one of the 150 known emergency orders. In the current official canon, however, it is a secret order. Only a few of the 150 Legends-era emergency orders are shown. But the immediate predecessor to Order 66, Order 65, could hypothetically have been used by the Jedi against Palpatine. Of course, the Sith overlord would, of course, have used obvious and potentially covert means to defend against this possibility.

The 150 emergency orders of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) were publicly known in the Legends continuum, and Republic politicians had the power to invoke and implement specific emergencies.

Since the Jedi Knights themselves are part of the GAR command structure (typically as generals and commanders), it can be assumed that they also had access to the 150 emergency orders. Order 66, which was essential to Palpatine’s coup, provides the perfect tool for a would-be despot to remove the greatest threats to his power. It orders the removal of the Jedi by lethal force. It also authorises the Chancellor-General to create a new command structure.

Star Wars Legends has unveiled Palpatine’s perfect antidote – Order 65

Command 65 was potentially the greatest threat to Palpatine’s power. It authorised the GAR to detain the High Chancellor (with lethal force if necessary). Order 65 could only be implemented if either a majority of the Senate or the Security Council declared him unfit to issue orders. If these conditions had been met and Order 65 had been carried out, Palpatine’s plot to exterminate the Jedi and to decay the Republic into a totalitarian Galactic Empire would have been thwarted by the very democracy Palpatine sought to destroy.

Why was Order 65 never used against Palpatine?

Of course, Palpatine was prepared for Order 65. The most apparent reason why Mace Windu and the other Jedi immediately tried to arrest Palpatine, rather than enact Order 65, was probably that they did not trust the Senate to declare Palpatine incompetent in the first place. The Senators would not have taken allegations that Palpatine was a Sith overlord seriously. They were presumably unaware of the existence or survival of the Sith Order. Or they simply would not have considered Palpatine’s possible religious affiliation a reasonable basis for declaring him unfit.

The Republic worshipped Palpatine, and even the “Delegation of 2000” (the opposition led by Senators Amidala and Mon Mothma) would not have been enough members to oppose him.

Another (much less likely) possibility is that Palpatine programmed the clone troopers not to follow command 65 when it is executed. The clone troopers of the Legends era have free will and are generally more benevolent than their canon counterparts. However, they are also brainwashed into following Order 66 (by unspecified means, while canon clones are brainwashed by implanting an inhibitory chip in their brains.) Given Palpatine’s power over the Senate and a line of dialogue from Karen Traviss’ novel Order 66, however, the clones would probably hypothetically have followed Order 65 if it had been successfully implemented in the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

Source: Wookieepedia