"If an item does not appear in our records, it does not exist."

At first viewing, that statement, made by Madame Jocasta Nu, Jedi Archivist, struck me as nothing more than the arrogance of a mind narrowed by age and experience. Recently, however, as I read the works of Sophokles, one name in particular jumped out at me: Iokastê.

Iokastê (pronounced yo-KAS-tay), Queen of Thebes, was both mother and wife to Oedipus in Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannos. These, of course, are Greek names. Perhaps more familiar to some are the Latin versions, Oedipus Rex and Jocasta. Even more interesting is the fact that Madame Jocasta's last name, Nu, is also the twelfth letter of the Greek alphabet.

But there is far more here than meets the eye. As Oedipus draws nearer to the secret of his birth, Iokastê repeatedly begs him to leave off this search for the truth, for his own good. It is almost as though she somehow already knows his secret, and does not want him to find out.

In fact, when all the evidence is summed up, it is difficult to believe that, even if Iokastê did not recognize Oedipus at once, she did not at least suspect. For how long she suspected and why she did not immediately reveal his paternity are interesting topics to explore, but off the subject here. There are, however, interesting discussions of this matter elsewhere:

Jocasta's Shame
The Classics: Jocasta the Pawn

Let us now revisit our arrogant mistress of the Archives. Could it be that what seemed to be arrogance clouding her vision was rather Madame Nu intentionally clouding the vision of others to the true depths of her knowledge and involvement? In the novelization of Attack of the Clones, the scene between Obi-Wan and Madame Nu is further expanded, and insinuates that Jocasta Nu greatly respected Count Dooku and even sympathized with his cause. As the Archivist of the Jedi, she was in a perfect position to manipulate the Archives as she saw fit. I would at least expect her to be aware of any machinations on the part of another Jedi, in which case she was intentionally overlooking them.

It seems that both Iokastê and Jocasta may well have had their secrets. I could probably write an entire treatise elucidating the evidence that both women were aware of more than they let on and discussing their potential reasons for doing so. I notice, however, that perhaps the most creepy evidence lies in the Archivist's name. Don't believe me? Let me spell it out a little differently.

Jocasta Knew.