A Star Wars comic has revealed how Palpatine forced the Jedi to allow him to connect to Anakin Skywalker, against their better judgment. Palpatine was undoubtedly curious when he learned the Jedi believed they had discovered the Chosen One. He knew the dark side was in ascendance, and he would surely have been concerned that a figure prophesied to restore balance to the Force had now appeared on the scene.
Chancellor Palpatine reinterprets the Chosen One prophecy in the most egotistical way. He concludes the Chosen One is the one he would choose, the tool through which he would destroy the Jedi. To that end, he wastes no time cultivating a relationship with Anakin Skywalker, seeking to become the father-figure he senses the boy needed. Surprisingly, Palpatine is able to do this even under the watchful eye of the Jedi - as revealed in Charles Soule and Marco Checchetto's Obi-Wan & Anakin miniseries.
According to this miniseries, Palpatine waits a few years before he begins to show interest in Anakin Skywalker, ensuring he won't draw suspicion. Finally, on one of his regular visits to the Jedi Temple as Chancellor of the Republic he observes Anakin in a training session, and he sees an opportunity when Anakin's emotions flare in response to a bully's taunts. Palpatine claims to feel a sense of kinship with Anakin because of his role in freeing his homeworld Naboo from the Trade Federation. Jedi Master Mace Windu resists, forcing Palpatine to push the issue by pointing out the Jedi are servants of the Republic - and he, as Chancellor, represents the will of the Republic. "Young Skywalker is a Jedi, is he not," Palpatine challenges. "The Jedi are under the Senate's jurisdiction. And as I am the Chancellor of the Senate..." Even Mace Windu can't resist the force of that argument.
This gives Palpatine a chance to interact with Anakin, and he immediately draws him into subterfuge by surreptitiously taking the boy to Coruscant's lower levels, where he exposes him to the corruption the Jedi has overlooked. It is the perfect strategy, undermining Anakin's faith in the Jedi while giving Palpatine plenty of opportunities to demonstrate himself as the one truly worried about the poor and downtrodden of the galaxy; he knows that Anakin - as a former slave - would be sympathetic with this approach. Initially Palpatine pushes the issue, hoping to persuade Anakin to leave the Jedi and become one of his personal guards, where he'd be able to manipulate the Chosen One with impunity. This attempt fails, however; although Anakin does come close to leaving the Jedi.
And so Palpatine moves to his second approach, cultivating the relationship with Anakin, continuing to undermine his trust in the Jedi and asking him to keep their expeditions into Coruscant's underworld secret. Anakin thinks himself taken into Palpatine's confidence, unaware the Sith Lord is hiding his greatest secrets - and his true purpose for Anakin Skywalker. And so the greatest hero of the Clone Wars was subtly set upon a dark path, leading to the tragedy that is the Star Wars saga.
