Only two there are, a master and an apprentice....

[87FOXGT]

If this is so then assuming that the theory that Palpatine "engineered" Anakin and hid him on Tatooine why did he do so when he already had Maul as his apprentice. If maul were not defeated by obi wan then he would have remained as palpatines apprentice for a long time to come which would leave Anakin out of the picture as far as becoming Palpatines next apprentice. This makes me wonder if the theory that Palpy engineered anakin is really true. Perhaps he didnt engineer him and infact he didnt even know of anakin until the end of ep 1. Any thoughts or comments?

[Bromine]

Could've planned on keeping Maul around until Anakin was ready, then offing him.

[Darth McBain]

I don't know... I haven't put too much thought into this, but I think it is a bit of a stretch to say that Palpatine "engineered" Anakin. I'm not saying its out of the realm of possibility, but I think that that assumption would be placing an awful lot of forethought in Palpatine's hands. Now granted, he has the ability of premonitions ("Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen"), but they are not infallible ("Strange that I have not [felt Luke's presence]"). The amount of planning and forethought on his part needed to support the "engineering" theory just seems to great to me. Personally, I don't think that Palpatine has _everything_ planned out from Ep 1 - 6. While he's got a general plan in mind, I think he also responds to situations as they arise, and I think his meeting with Anakin is just that - an unplanned situation that he will use to his advantage...

[Jedi Master Kyle]

palpy would have pitted anakin and maul against each other to see who the number 1 contender for apprentice would be. I wonder if palpy had ani manufactured or cloned. that's kind of interesting to think about...

[Bromine]

I don't thin engineering Anakin would require an extreme amount of forethought. Palpy had obviously been planning his rise to power for a long time. He didn't have to have every last detail mapped out before thinking that having a super-powerful apprentice would come in handy.

[DarthAce]

maybe!