The Jedi Temple’s secrets in Star Wars Legends make me think they knew more about Anakin than they let on

In Star Wars Legends, the Jedi Temple on Coruscant is far more mysterious than we often remember. It’s not just a place of learning and training—it’s also a structure filled with ancient secrets, restricted areas, and powerful artifacts. Unlike the version we see in the main Star Wars canon, the Legends material paints a deeper, darker picture.

And it’s that picture that makes me wonder: did the Jedi know more about Anakin Skywalker’s fate than they ever admitted?

The Legends' continuity gives us details that the films only hint at. The Jedi Temple was built on a dark side nexus. It housed Sith relics. And most importantly, it had layers of information and knowledge hidden from most Jedi. This makes the Council’s treatment of Anakin look even more suspicious.

He wasn’t just a difficult student—he was possibly the subject of more discussion and secrecy than we’ve ever been told.

While Star Wars never explicitly says the Council predicted Anakin’s fall, the evidence from Legends—especially the Temple’s hidden depths—suggests they were at least preparing for the possibility. Let’s explore why.

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The Jedi Temple was built on dark foundations

One of the biggest secrets from Legends is that the Jedi Temple was built over a Sith shrine. The Jedi thought they could suppress the dark side energy by placing the Temple above it. But the Force doesn’t work that way. The dark side still lingered.

This information is critical in the Star Wars Legends timeline. It means that the Temple, while a symbol of light, was also affected by shadow. Legends describe how the Sith shrine below corrupted Force perception. This may explain why the Jedi couldn’t see what Palpatine really was, even though he was operating right in the heart of the Republic.

The fact that this detail is part of the Star Wars Legends history tells us something important: the Temple’s very location was tied to conflict and danger. If the Jedi were aware of this darkness, it’s not unreasonable to assume they also suspected certain individuals, like Anakin, might be more vulnerable to it.

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The culture of secrecy within the Jedi Order

Throughout Star Wars, the Jedi are known for their discipline. But in Star Wars Legends, they take it a step further. The Temple held entire vaults of knowledge restricted even to the Masters. One such vault, the Bogan Vault, was said to contain dark-side relics and forbidden lore. These weren’t public resources. They were hidden—intentionally.

This culture of secrecy shaped how the Jedi dealt with threats. And it certainly shaped how they dealt with Anakin. From the moment Qui-Gon Jinn brought him to the Council in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, the Jedi were divided. They feared his attachments, power, and passion. But instead of being honest with him, they mostly observed from a distance.

This fits the pattern we see in Star Wars Legends: the Jedi avoided confrontation with uncomfortable truths. They preferred quiet monitoring over open communication. Anakin became a case study of that failure.

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Anakin Skywalker was always different

In both Star Wars canon and Legends, Anakin’s background made him stand out. He was older than most Padawans. He had strong attachments, emotional depth, and memories of a hard life on Tatooine. In Legends, his training was often supervised more closely than that of others, which suggests the Council considered him risky from the start.

Legends material even hints that the Jedi tracked Force-sensitive children across the galaxy with a special data system. If that’s true, then surely they kept records and reports about someone as powerful as Anakin. He wasn’t just another Jedi. He was the so-called Chosen One.

And yet, he was never trusted fully. In Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, the Council asks him to spy on the Chancellor but refuses to make him a Master. In Legends, this decision seems even more calculated, as if the Council had already started to fear what he could become.

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The Dark Side's influence was everywhere in Star Wars Legends

Another striking detail in Legends is the idea that the dark side didn’t just exist outside the Temple—it influenced things from within. The residual dark side energy from the Sith shrine beneath the Temple is said to have clouded the Jedi’s vision. That’s a major detail. It means the Jedi were trying to lead the galaxy from a spiritually compromised place.

This might explain how, in Star Wars, they failed to detect Palpatine’s true identity. But it also adds context to how they handled Anakin. If their Force sensitivity was weakened, then maybe their judgment was too. Or perhaps the lingering darkness made them more fearful, more reactive, and less open-minded.

In either case, this dark undercurrent, revealed in Legends, was an active threat. It influenced decisions, clouded foresight, and made the Jedi even more rigid in their control.

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Knowledge that was lost or hidden

After the Jedi fell in Star Wars: Episode III, the Temple became part of the Empire. Palpatine turned it into his palace. Much of the Jedi’s hidden knowledge was either destroyed or locked away. In Legends, it’s revealed that some Jedi artifacts were recovered by Luke decades later, but many were gone forever.

Among these artifacts were prophecy records, Force-sensitive relics, and possibly notes about the Chosen One. If the Jedi did have deeper knowledge about Anakin’s fate, it’s very possible it was lost in the purge or never shared, to begin with.

This idea—that Star Wars history includes entire rooms of forgotten knowledge—makes the Jedi’s actions feel even more cautious in hindsight. They weren’t just fighting the Sith. They were fighting against truths they didn’t want to confront.

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Legends show us that the Jedi Temple was far more than a building. It was a layered, mysterious place, full of locked doors and buried fears. Its construction on a dark side nexus, the presence of restricted vaults, and the Council’s behavior toward Anakin all suggest a pattern. The Jedi were holding back, not just from the galaxy, but from themselves.

In Star Wars, Anakin’s fall is tragic. But in Legends, it feels even more preventable. The Temple had secrets that could have helped—or at least warned—the Jedi about the risks he posed. Whether out of fear or pride, they chose not to share what they knew.

And that’s the real tragedy. Not just that Anakin turned to the dark side, but that the people who raised him may have seen it coming—and stayed silent anyway.