Summary

• The ancestors of the Trade Federation's droidekas have been revealed, showing why Palpatine envisioned an army of droids to rival the Jedi.
• Droids do not exist in the Force, making them difficult for Jedi to sense, leading to the Jedi's struggle against them in the Battle of Geonosis.
• The Nihil space pirates used droids in the High Republic Era, foreshadowing the strategies of the Sith and the Trade Federation.

Star Wars has just revealed what are clearly the ancestors of the Trade Federation's droidekas, the ultimate Jedi killer droids. It's easy to see why Palpatine envisioned an army of droids as a rival for the Jedi; droids do not exist in the Force, which means they do not give off any intentions for a Jedi's Force powers to sense. Although the Jedi won the Battle of Geonosis in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, when they first faced the Separatists, they did so only because of backup from the clone army. Some 200 Jedi died in the arena at Geonosis, leaving the entire order reeling.
The Sith and the Trade Federation were not the first to use droids against the Jedi. This is made abundantly clear in Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures, with the episode "An Adventure With Master Yoda" revealing the space pirates known as the Nihil used droids during the High Republic Era, some 200 years before the events of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. Surprisingly, the Nihil strategies seemed to foreshadow those of the Sith and the Trade Federation.

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