ST State of the Galaxy?

The Aftermath book maybe a good starting point..

 

State of the Galaxy? Its unfortunately melted, someone left it out in the sun.......

I wonder if we will see alien species from the PT, I would imagine that some of the races that were part of the separatists would support attacks against the Empire and now what's left of it and would be part of the rebels (or at least help the goal) in the OT and now be apart of whatever is going on ST with bringing change and fighting off what's left of the Empire.

 

I think the ST is, correctly, getting back to a medieval/Codex Regis feel to the story. At least the visual and language associations point in this direction, a direction wholly appropriate to the genre. It's called a saga for a reason.

1. Broadsword lightsaber
2. Catapult
3. Sledgehammer
4. The Clan(s)
5. A plague would be fitting.
6. Crusades, Lords, Barons.....

In essence, a return to a dark time, but one ravaged by incessant warfare and/or total warfare. I also expect to see reference to other genre related to STAR WARS source material, i.e. westerns, samurai, film noir, serials, etc,...

 

It will be interesting to see if there will be a colony created by the Republic called New Alderaan. Leia becomes Chancellor and gives her throne to someone else.

 

I hope so. It's something I have been talking about for the past few days. It could help explain why Leia is apparently referred to as a Queen, and seems consistent with one of the new Leia comic book story lines. Though so far, no hint of this from MSW.

 

With the new Aftermath description saying that it is a story of "the end of the empire" are we now thinking that what we see in TFA is a remnant? A reborn Empire following the dictates of the old?

 

I think that we may not even have an Empire as we recognise it in TFA. The Imperial military obviously remain, but I now believe that we're looking at a different organisation entirely.

 

One thing that's struck me about this ( and this is mostly based upon Kylo Ren sharing many visual similarities with the classic image of the Knights Templar ), is that it could be possible we'll see an Empire that pursues a spiritual, or religious goal, much as the Templars did.

This would differ from the Empire of the OT, which, whilst driven by the idealogical imperative of The New Order, openly shunned spirituality ( Obviously, The Force, in particular! ), and it would add an interesting new dimension to them, I think.

Whether such an Empire / Imperial Remnant would openly follow the belief system of The Sith, or whether there'd be another form this spiritual crusade would take....hard to say.

 

When the Roman Empire collapsed it split into two lesser parts. Will Palpatine's Empire suffer similar fate?

 

I think the Empire as it exists in TFA is entirely militarily driven. As in, I don't think there are Moffs, Grand Moffs or any sort of political entity running them. Based on what we know so far from MSW and various other leaks, Kylo Ren and Uber seem to be running what's left, with Gleeson being one of the higher ranking officers carrying out some of their orders. No politics, no governing bodies, just a handful of people directing what resources they have left.

 

I've suggested this before so apologies if it's a bit tiresome/boring but I would have gone with an era of peace. No Empire at all since the end of ROTJ.

The underworld didn't have the means to overthrow the new Republic and there was a prolonged period of peace. There were a few civil wars on some of the more unstable planets, and space pirates and other villains exist to cause disruption to trade routes but no major inter-planetary wars between the Rebels/Republic and the Empire/Sith.

I feel this would be the best approach because The Force Awakens would start with a clean slate. The extended universe would be an alternate vision of Star Wars mythology.

The official 'canon' version would be as follows...

Star Wars historical timeline:

1) Pre Republic era - history unknown (perhaps revealed in future SW episodes or spin off-films). Such films would show the origin of the Jedi, the origin of the force, the origin of the Sith.

2) Republic era - events chronicled in Episodes 1 - 3 resulting in the introduction of the Empire, the Sith revealing themselves, and the fall of the Jedi.

3) Post Republic era - events chronicled in Episodes 4 - 6 resulting in the fall of the Empire and the Sith.

4) Post Empire era - events chronicled in Episodes 7 - 9. For thirty years or more peace reigned in the Star Wars galaxy. However, a cabal of Imperial generals whom escaped capture after the fall of the Empiore, assisted by the most powerful underworld group, attempt to overthrow/destroy the new Republic. At some point in episodes 7 - 9 the Sith - be it brand new or the original Sith Order (for example: The Sith Prime entombed inside the Sith homeworld) - are introduced into the storyline.

I believe starting out with the galaxy at peace would be the smoothest way, the easiest transition from episodes 6 to 7. Explaining the backstory with stuff like "for over thirty years the Empire continues to battle the Rebels blah blah blah" is not the most appropriate way to continue the saga. I feel Return of the Jedi's ending should be respected. This is just my opinion. I'm sure Mr Abrams and Mr Kasdan would disagree.

TFA's text crawl will re-establish the Empire. Star Wars: Aftermath - the novel - will provide the fuil backstory. TFA's text crawl will be the condensed version.

 

I always liked Remnants of the Empire as a title for the film.

 

There's not much of a hint about anything related to Leia. She's about as mysterious as "Uber"

 

I imagine we will get more concrete details come September when Aftermath and the Journey to the Force Awakens comics come out.

 

There's less about Leia than some others, but we know much more about her than we do about Uber. Here's what we know from MSW:

• Leia appears to send an emissary to Rose’s planet (rumored to be named Kor Sella).
• The death of Leia’s emissary’s compels Leia (with See-Threepio in tow) to arrive at Rose’s planet.
• Han Solo and Leia meet for the first time in the film. It is described as “awkward.”
• Leia appears to still be a prominent leader of the Rebel Alliance (described as “Queen” on the main cast list).
• Leia wants to know what Finn knows (presumably about the Empire’s secret weapon).
• In the Map Room of the Rebel Base, Leia has a secret “up her sleeve,” involving her own weapon called “The Sledgehammer” by the production.
• Leia is proud of this weapon.
• Rose tells Leia she thinks the sword found inside BB-8 should be with Finn so Leia hands the blue lightsaber over to him.
• Leia and Han still argue.
• The last thing Han says to Leia before he leaves for the final mission is “I’ll hurry back.”
• Queen Leia’s super weapon fails. The Rebel’s “Sledge Hammer” falls into the atmosphere of the planet and it breaks apart.
• At this moment, Queen Leia feels all is lost and calls for a total retreat of the Rebel forces.
• When Kylo and Han meet, it cuts to Leia who feels “a disturbance in the Force” so to speak.
• There is no indication Leia is a Jedi or started upon that path with her brother.
• Leia tells Poe Dameron his squadron is all that survived. He reluctantly obeys her orders.
• Leia is elated when it appears Luke has been found.
• Leia and Rey have a special goodbye in which she bids Rey “a fond farewell.”

 

I was being hyperbolic. But I must say, you do the best bulletpointed summaries of the rumors.

 

The issue for me is that everyone seems to view the Republic and the Empire as separate entities. But they're not. We saw in the prequels how the Republic willingly became the Empire thanks to Palpatine's master plan. In A New Hope, while the Senate is toothless, that they and their worlds could rally around the Alliance was clearly a concern. The Emperor disbanded the Senate and placed the regional governors in charge of their systems with the promise that the Death Star and fear of being blown up would keep the worlds in line. Even without the prequels, it's pretty clear that the mission isn't to defeat the Empire, it's to restore the Republic. The way they do that is to get the entire galaxy to overcome their fear and support them. Force the Emperor to relinquish power and re-establish democracy.

The Alliance destroyed the Death Star. Clearly that wasn't enough. The Empire remained strong and would continue to do so as long as the Sith remained in power. When the Alliance destroyed the second Death Star, they took the Emperor, his heir and the highest ranking military officer with it. When Lucas released the special editions, he made a point of showing worlds across the galaxy rising up in celebration. In the most recent versions, we even hear Jar Jar (they say it isn't but it obviously is him ) proclaiming "Wesa Free" on Naboo. We see statues being toppled on Coruscant, the central system of the Empire and surely the most secure. We only see a handful of worlds but just as with Order 66, the implication is that this is happening everywhere.

The synopsis for Shattered Empire says that some worlds celebrated while others didn't but this is clearly a retcon and wasn't Lucas' intent. The intent was to show that the galaxy had risen up in celebration of the Emperor's death and that they were free from his tyranny. Yes the Imperial military still exists but the fleet was deliberately spread across the galaxy by Palpatine to lure the rebels to Endor and with every world rising up and the leaders of the Empire and the military all dead, the Empire wasn't just facing the Rebel Alliance anymore, they were facing everyone. With no Death Star, regional governors couldn't maintain control. That Coruscant rose up in defiance is hugely significant.

The only choice the military has at this point is to allow the return to democracy. The Empire itself is never defeated. It just becomes a Republic again. Presumably, the Senate is recalled, the military stands down and while some hardliners may try to fight on, such fighting would surely not last for 30 years. Having the Empire continue to exist as a credible force three decades later (longer than the actual reign of the Emperor) makes no sense. If what we see is part of some rogue faction hiding in the fringes of the Outer Rim, fair enough but anything more than that betrays the ending to Return Of The Jedi and if Abrams and co mean to retcon any of the previous movies then TFA, in my mind, becomes nothing more than the most expensive fan film ever made.

 

Got a precedent there for an Empire that collapsed into a Republic? Rome should be the bellweather, since it seems the closest parallel, and it fragmented.

 

In that case, ESB must be a fan film because it retconned Vader's betrayal and murder of Anakin.

 

I would not be surprised if TFA gives us the last defeat of the Empire, followed by the final showdown between the light and dark side of the Force and the joining of the Alliance/Rebels and the remaining surrendered factions of the Empire to join as one united Republic with the Jedi to defeat the Sith.

From my understanding the Roman empire fell as it became fragmented and faded away over a long period of time. Kind of boring for a sci-fi saga.

 

The relationship between Han and Leia is starting to sound a lot like Indiana Jones and Marion in KOTCS. Hopefully it does not have the same wooden acting this time.

 

How so?

 

No, it broke into East and West, and then just East... then it was revived in the West, collapsed under invasion in the East. Very exciting stuff actually, very dynamic. People in all areas tried to hold on and keep the chaos at bay... Pax Romana meant a lot to people who knew what chaos resulted in. I am sure Pax Imperium mentality is out there in a galaxy far far away, too.

 

If I had to put money on it, I'd say that Uber took power from the Imperial Moffs in a coup d'etat, possibly with the aid of The Seven, and has remodelled the Empire into something else entirely. Something about the way they are described as operating in MSW's spoilers put me more in mind of a terrorist organisation than the fascist military regime we see in the OT. Uber is......Cobra Commander!...well, maybe not, but we could be looking at something more akin to a militarised cult, or something along those lines.

 

And of course, the Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, which was neither holy nor Roman nor an Empire, claimed that it never fully collapsed (until the actual death of that institution in 1806). And the Byzantine's kept their part going until 1452 or 3, IIRC. So the Eastern Roman Empire endured for 997 years after the collapse of the ancient Roman Empire, and the Holy Roman Empire kept the institution alive (mostly in name) for a very long time, until it died out 1330 years after the collapse of the ancient Roman Empire.

So to expect the Galactic Empire (or the remnants of the Empire) to be gone 30 years after the death of the Emperor in ROTJ is not really that probable.