<< mmm, yeah, that's really interesting, I always just assumed that Sidious was Palpatine, but it's kind of weird that he could 'hide in broad daylight' as it were by being this Senator in the Republic without any of the Jedi finding out that he's actually a Sith Lord or even knowing that he had any Force powers. I mean, in the Republic, weren't the Jedi knights always looking for new Jedi? And wouldn't Palpatine's blood have been analyzed at one point in his career, just for some official reason? And wouldn't they have found the miticlorians (sp?) that clearly MUST be there in extremely huge quanitities if this guy is capable of being the most powerful Force-wielder in the universe? ... pretty damn sneaky of him. Damn dark siders! 😉 BTW I haven't read any of the newer books. Just ANH-ROTJ, plus Han Solo Trilogy, Timothy Zahn trilogy, and a couple more.... it's been about 8 years now since I was a hardcore fan 😀 >>
If you'd read the book I suggested (perhaps again - to refresh your memory?), you'd see why/how he hides himself from the Jedi. It's not all that hard, really. A jedi (or hordes of them) can't tell if there's a "disturbance" on the other side of the galaxy. Besides... that's one part of the DarkSide: deceit.
nik