By: Dominic Jones
One of the many questions fans have about Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens is what is the state of the galaxy during the sequel trilogy era? Books like Star Wars: Aftermath and Star Wars: Lost Stars, as well as video games like Star Wars: Uprising and comics like Star Wars: Shattered Empire, have given us our first glimpse as to what the galaxy is like after the destruction of the second Death Star. Now, our friends over MakingStarWars.net have some very interesting details about the political state of the galaxy before, during, and after The Force Awakens. As usual, there is a chance this may not be true so if you are trying to avoid all The Force Awakens spoilers then stop reading now. This is your SPOILER ALERT!
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To set this up, recall that after the fall of the Death Star II the Rebel Alliance established the New Republic with a new senate with Mon Mothma as Chancellor (as seen in Aftermath). While this may have started as a more idealistic body than the Old Republic or Imperial Senates, based on MakingStarWars.net's report, it didn't stay that way. According to MSW,
- Well before the events of The Force Awakens, Supreme Leader Snoke began corrupting the Republic senate set up after Return of the Jedi.
- Senators in the Republic remember the opulence of the Imperial Senate before Emperor Palpatine stabbed them in the back and Snoke’s allure is rather seductive for the greedy politicians.
- Treaties were signed stopping the Republic from attacking the First Order as long as they remained in the Outer Rim, well beyond the Republic territories.
- General Organa started the secret Resistance as she felt the First Order would one day attack and she would need a force to thwart their advancements while the Republic gained its senses.
- These corrupt and old Imperial Senators (now Republic senators) want the First Order to prevail so they can reinstate the Imperial Senate under which they once prospered.
- After the events of The Force Awakens, the First Order is known to be a threat because of the use of the Starkiller and the treaty is effectively broken.
- The Republic is ripped apart as Senators side with Snoke and others side with democracy.
- The Galactic Civil War returns and the Galaxy can no longer pretend like it solved the crisis after Palpatine’s death.
I like these ideas, and they sound like there is a bit of repetition of the past but not a direct copy of what happened in the prequel trilogy. We also know that the leadership of the Rebel Alliance want peace and may be willing to make a pact with the devil (like The First Order) to end the fighting. It also leaves the door open for their to be smaller conflicts throughout the time between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens without having a galaxy wide war. That being said, I wouldn't expect much of this to play out on screen, but rather be brought up through expository dialogue by main characters.
As always, this is just a rumor until confirmed or denied by Lucasfilm or Disney.
Follow The Star Wars Underworld on Twitter @TheSWU for more updates about this story and other breaking Star Wars news.
Complete nonsenses with the existing extented universe... At the beginning I was afraid about Disney, and now I understand that J. J. Abrams will kill Star Wars.
ReplyDeleteKinda sad that new republic was corrupt from the start. So many rebels died to make it.
ReplyDeleteeh, this rumor has a lot of holes in it...why, if the senate was disbanded before the Battle of Yavin, would the same people all be chosen as senators 4+ years later, and why, assuming they're mostly in their 30s & 40s, would they still be senators during TFA in their 60s & 70s? I'm sure what happens is some kind of political discord like that, but if Snoke turns out to be just some politician who's secretly a powerful Force user (just like Palpatine), I'll be disappointed...
ReplyDeleteYou do realize that even in real life people remain senators into their 80s and 90s. It's ridiculous.
Deletemeh, i call bullshit on this rumor. it's really poor writing and doesn't really align with much of what people (reputable "star wars" people, even) that have been involved with the project have been saying about the new movie being the BOMBIZZLE basically. this would be very non-bombizzle like
ReplyDeletethere's certainly an element of realism in the notion that history repeats itself but i'm lookin for somethin new here in star wars.
Couldn't agree more dude. All that subversive political nonsense is what put people to sleep during the prequels. From what little we know of Snoke and the Knights of Ren just seem like a bunch of badass's. The idea that they'd be sneaking and skulking around the Senate manipulating people just turns them into a bunch of whining little bitches. We need this trilogy to have some balls.
DeleteThe galaxy has, in essence, gone into a cold war period with the Republic and Empire fighting with proxy armies. This is real history. As well as the current political climate in the Middle East.
ReplyDeleteFanboys who whine about this premise must have no concept of how geopolitics work.
What is the STARKILLER
ReplyDeleteBoris, the EU is dead...get over it.
ReplyDeleteSounds quite like Europe after WWI and barely 20 years later, WWII.
ReplyDeleteI like it!
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ReplyDeleteBrigadeiro Besame, no, it has nothing to do with having a concept of geopolitics and nice of you to throw a grenade at "fanboys" like you're at starwarsunderworld.com because you're something else lol
ReplyDeleteBesides, it just doesn't make sense that the same senate that was ineffective even before the fall of the old republic and even more so during the 1st galactic empire before being dissolved entirely, would then be readily reinstated three decades later. The rebellion was spearheaded by the younger generation and they will have, barring a few exceptions, wanted an overhaul of the previous system. That is infinitely more logical than digging up a bunch of retired, deposed senators older than dirt and have them represent an entirely different population than the last one they represented.
As far as some senators still serving in office into their 80s and 90s... sure, but they aren't elected in their 80s and 90s and certainly not by young revolutionaries. That does NOT happen in the real world, either.
The higher likelihood is that the post-Endor fallout will resemble the fall of the Roman Empire with many separate systems or groups vying for control in the ensuing power vacuum... but perhaps also with the added wrinkle of entire planets/systems deciding to foot it on their own independent of central rule (aka Germania, Gaul, etc). The New Republic and its new senate will basically have their hands full fighting multiple factions on multiple fronts while trying to appease contingents of folks who don't see how "joining up" with the New Republic serves their best interest and are taking this opportunity to skip out. But it is highly unlikely the New Republic will have the same senators who failed the galaxy three, four decades prior back in their seats to fail it again. That literally doesn't make any sense lol
It is possible, however, that Snoke himself IS a rogue senator (or a former now deposed senator), corrupted somehow by a powerful dark side force in the galaxy (Snoke may not be the master sith here. that entity may yet be revealed in EP VIII)...
wait...there's a faction of the governing body that wants to "take the galaxy back" to the way they used to be? They are willing to secede perhaps? There's a segment that have given their 'oath' to that idea and is militarized? ...'murica?
ReplyDeleteSounds allot like the Australia government at the moment lol but seriously no matter who is in power after ROTJ there will always be those who were going to want things back the way they used to be and even in real world politics in the erecent past(Saddam Hussein Kofi Ahnan etc) even though they were dictators same as Emperor Palpatine they were still stable to a point and once the rebels took control the empire was left in disarray and there was always going to be former governors/politicians who wanted control and order.
ReplyDelete