ST What are the motivations of our villains?

What are the motivations for...

1. The First Order
Do they simply want to return the Empire to full glory, or is there something else?

2. Supreme Leader Snoke

3. Kylo Ren
Why did he turn to the dark side? Or was he raised and brainwashed to be dark? Does he have his own agenda, different from that of his superiors?

4. General Hux

5. Captain Phasma

Anyone else?

 

To rule the galaxy of course

 

Indeed. Galactic domination and death to those who oppose them. Empire 2.0

 

Immortality?

 

Alls they wanted was a Pepsi.

 

Self righteous bastardness.

 

Restore control over the galaxy.

 

1. Pretty much.

2. See 1.

3. Odds are he's Luke's son or something like that, and was 'betrayed' by dearest father (accidentally).

 

First Order: I remain hopeful it's not just empire part 2. I think they borrow empire imagery (like real life reactionary groups with nostalgia for an older era) but they themselves are not trying to be that. I think after the destruction of the empire, large parts of the galaxy gradually became even worse (kind of like my typical post-soviet russia scenario) economically and all that. so the first order comes in, offers the perceived 'stability' given by the empire (population will take any alternative and so look to the empire with rose tinted glasses), but tries to sell itself as more enlightened (obviously evil) and all that and it's structured a bit differently and with the 'cult' twist. rumour of imperial remnants disappearing and coming back with snoke made me a bit nervous it would really just be empire part 2 at first but on a second thought this doesn't necessarily prevent them from doing something different.

Snoke: I've been imagining an 'anti-yoda' of sorts. his motive is pure power. not like palpatine though. palpatine had some weird 'revenge' thing going on and he was tied to sith ideology. snoke will not be a sith. having lived away from all this (that's one thing I like about the nebula rumour), he is 'outside the force' as we know it. he brings in something new, is wise, and always has something interesting (but horrifying) to say. I'm imagining something similar to o'brien in 1984 in terms of ideology. snoke is cynical, somewhat misanthropic, and exploits the galaxy for power, but sees himself justified in doing so and manages to come up with all these 'good reasons' for it. publicly, of course he would try to appear iron-fisted but also as a bit more 'benevolent' than palpatine.

Kylo Ren: a lot of people are saying the old 'artefact collector' and 'sith wannabe' rumours make him a rehash, but I disagree. it's more like if you know someone who worships hitler in real life and then they go on to do some pretty scary **** themselves. of course that doesn't make them hitler; just 'cause kylo admires vader doesn't mean that he himself is vader 2.0. anyway, I think kylo's motives are going to be a mix of personal issues and sincere ideological beliefs. he believes what he's doing is right, the means justify the ends, etc. if he's a solo/skywalker, there's the personal issues right there lol. if he is really a victim of the jedi academy massacre, that's where his disillusionment would stem from. it's a reconstruction era galaxy with not a lot going for the youth in many areas, so when this happens he decides he needs to be powerful to be 'good'. he starts worshipping the sith, the old empire, vader, etc. and begins to use their tactics. but he's not a sith, he's more of a 'dark jedi'. again, he admires them but he's not trying to be them (publicly he would sell himself as like a new vader though for a variety of reasons). he joins the first order and works his way up. when he starts, he's a bit terrified of it, like real life youth who join daesh but try to escape ( ) he is horrified by it at first, but gradually accepts it once he remembers what got him there in the first place. so by tfa he is so far gone in the dark side to be a proper 'big bad'. that's the backstory in my head lol.

idk about the other two lol.

 

To be loved....unconditionally....isn't that all anyone ever wanted?

That or maybe complete control over all aspects of the Force to manipulate and do with it what they want. "They" meaning Snoke and his sidekick Ren. Ren and Snokey!

 

Snoke wants dark Jedi servants to help him get an edge of his warlord rivals and reconquer all he can of Imperial space. He seeks a restored Galactic Empire with himself on the throne.

 

Snoke, actually I imagine him to be like Immortan Joe in Max Max.
The local Dark Force aware Emperor or sorts, who really just has a collection of second rate outer rim worlds under his control. The big guy in a small pond.

He's going to discover that there's bigger, scarier forces out there eventually.

(Probably completely wrong)

 

Why don't you gentlemen have a Pepsi?

 

I don't doubt you're wrong about that part. This trilogy will have some new characters and antagonists reveal themselves before all is said and done. I would be surprised if Snoke is the Uber baddy through the whole thing.

 

Whirled peas.

 

Now that we know kaiburr crystal powered the turbo laser of the Death Stars perhaps he is looking through the wreckage in the hopes that one survived and he can use it to make himself immortal or invincible in some way with its power.

 

I think that Snoke has a Darkside based philosophy quite different from Sidious', and that it is this approach which will set the First Order apart from the Empire. It seems to me that Sidious had a rather pragmatic approach to the Force, believing that both sides could be useful, but that the true differences lay with the wielder, and their intentions. For Sidious, a wise Force user would realise that the Force was a means to an end, and that end was power. For this reason, the Darkside was the preferred Force methodology. Power was the ultimate aim, the Darkside merely the path to it.
Anakin, if one is to understand the great mystery, one must study all its aspects, not just the dogmatic, narrow view of the Jedi. If you wish to become a complete and wise leader, you must embrace a larger view of the Force.

I think that Snoke may view the Darkside as an end in itself ( perhaps quite literally ), and also believe that the Darkside and Lightside are two distinct apects of the Force. The 'immune to the light' line could be suggestive of this. I'm speculating that this is something that either Snoke says to Kylo, or Kylo says to himself. Either way, it could give an insight into their particular view of the Force, and it seems to be quite different to Sidious'. It's hard to imagine Sidious speaking of the Lightside as a disease, something to be feared, or despised. He'd more likely regard it with haughty contempt.

In this respect, I think Snoke may be more of a 'holy man' figure. A priest of the Darkside. With Palpatine, we explored the Darkside and politics. Maybe the ST will explore the Darkside and religion?

 

My hope is that the First Order are misguided people who believe that the Empire was a good thing that the Rebellion destroyed and are seeking to bring it back. Kylo Ren obviously views Darth Vader as more of a figure to be idolized while Snoke is more malicious in his views on the Force, wanting to establish some sort of totalitarian order against the idea of democracy the Resistance/Republic wanted.

 

I can't remember the film...but there was a warrior (when asked what his motivation was) that simply said "I just want more"

 

Galactic domination springs to mind!

I'm not sure this will happen in eps 7,8 or 9 but I wouldn't mind seeing TFA/Snoke/Ren or whoever it is putting Luke on trial for his crimes against the Empire. That could be an interesting subplot and motivation for the bad guys.

Luke is captured, brought before the grand council of The First Order, Lord Snoke of Snokeville says

"You have been found guilty of the following charges. (they are listed). There is no appeal. The sentence is death."

Luke is taken out of the council chamber.

Snoke says

"The Sith have been avenged. The Jedi Order is finally defeated."


And then the new Jedi Order attack the chamber - "Da da... da da.. daaa daaa!" and Snoke says

"Damn, I forgot about the new Jedi!"

 

I would be satisfied with this exchange.

 

Well, without knowing much background story (and I personally haven't been keeping up with SW7 as of lately, so I don't know what has been "ruled out"), it's hard to say. My theory is that the galaxy is in a Cold War-like state right now, New Republic vs. Galactic Empire essentially. Based off something I read on MSW, the Empire seems to control the Core Worlds and other important parts of the galaxy while the Republic controls everything else (could this be a "blessing in disguise" - perhaps the Republic is now actually helping the Outer Rim?). I'd like to think the First Order is some radical splinter group from the Empire, and it does indeed control some territory, the Resistance are the people living in this territory fighting against them. It's a proxy war, similar to Korea or Vietnam; the Republic "supports" the Resistance, the Empire "supports" the First Order, regardless of them being a splinter group. My idea is that Snoke, supreme leader of the First Order, would like to eventually somehow take control of the Empire and once again wage war against the Republic and take control of the galaxy for himself. So the Empire's goal is to stay alive and maintain it's territory, maybe strike back at the Republic one day, the Republic's goal is the same, if it's a Cold War both could be building up their technologies, Snoke/First Order's goal is vague but perhaps it could be something like reviving the Sith, taking control of the Empire, and the Resistance fights back against the First Order for freedom (possibly joining the Republic or becoming independent).

So... yes, galactic domination basically.

 

To remove the Skywalker bloodline.

 

If the rumours about Kylo's lineage are true, wouldn't that make the removal of the Skywalker bloodline a little more problematic?