ST Who's The Baddie?

The narrative reason is that the Empire is a very important loose end that needs to be addressed.

Damn, I so want to see Veers now.

The ST has to address what happened to the empire and all its officers and soldiers anyway, so Veers or Daine Jir would simply be a natural choice. Not much was done with these obscure characters, we only know they are badasses, so they leave the makers with a lot of options.

 

There is something very special about obscure Imperial characters who give off their badassery in 45 seconds of screen time, more or less

 

Veers would be an excellent choice for a villain.
Another option could be this guy


He seemed to have a strong dislike for the rebels / republic.
Wasn't there a rumor that the Imperial Officer was at the battle of Endor?

 

The ST needs to address what happened to the Empire just as much as the OT needed to address what happended to the Seperatists and the Senate... namely, it's implicit in the fact that there're no longer around. That's not to say that imperials won't appear in some shape or form... but I don't think it's required at all.

 

nope. For all purposes it was a meaningless title that Vader had.

 

Right, and even then, it wasn't really revealed as a title until TPM. In fact, I always took Obi-Wan's reference to Vader as "Darth" as being a showing of familiarity by addressing him by his first name only.

It was only when TPM revealed the term "Darth" to be a title, not a name, that it put that line from ANH in a whole new light. At first, I thought making Darth a title seemed to not jive with Obi-Wan's line from ANH, but eventually, I figured it was kind of like saying, "Only a master of evil, Count" or "Only a master of evil, Judge."

 

Well, I disagree. There is not much to base a story around at the end of ROTJ. Ignoring the obvious problem of the many many imperial soldiers and officers that are still alive, would be incredibly stupid when they can be woven into a story and made part of a plot.

The separatists consisted mostly of battle droids. Once turned off, not much of a problem.

But all those stormtroopers were beings of flesh and blood and they probably didn't just lay down and died on their own after the empire was defeated. If they want to keep the universe at least somewhat realistic, they got to address this.

And btw., I am pretty sure the dissolution of the senate would've played a larger role if the OT had come after the PT.

 

The Empire fell... that was implicit at the end of ROTJ with all the dancing in the streets etc. There was nothing in ROTJ to suggest that the galaxy was still at war.

Re. the Separatists. Their armies being made up of battledroids is largely irrelevant. The opposing systems were the Trade Federation, the Banking Clan, Geonosians etc. etc. We didn't need to see those systems being brought back into line/Separatist planets being destroyed... we just assume they did given the state of the galaxy by the events of the OT. If the imperials have no presence in Ep VII, do you really think audiences are going to be exclaiming "WTF? What's happened to the Empire?" Of course not. Most people will assume the Empire were defeated because that's what was presented at the end of the ROTJ. As I said, that's not to say that the imperials won't feature... but there's really no narrative reason why they should.

 

Righto. So now what happens with all the soldiers, bureaucrats and officers of the empire?

Well, frankly, why should the bad and uninteresting way things were handled in the PT be a model for the ST? A universe becomes infinitely more interesting if it has a resemblance of internal logic and consistency, something which was sorely lacking in the PT.

And yes, I do think people would wonder "what about the empire"? The empire is quite popular in pop culture and there are definitely enough who wonder what happened to it.

 

I like to look at history parallels (and so does Lucas from what I can tell). For the most part, WWII ended with the death of Hitler, as did the Nazis. Not many loose ends there.

Let's look elsewhere then: the fall of the Roman Empire. That involved many chapters and didn't end overnight. If Star Wars wants to continue with battling imperial remnants, you could split the galaxy in two much like a "great schism." Perhaps not everyone in the core worlds trust the Alliance and a truce has existed since the Battle of Endor. 30 years later, things start to heat up again.

-OR-

After the fall of Coruscant (Rome), chaos ensues much like the dark ages of Medieval Europe. This would open a lot of doors for creating plenty of new bad guys with differing motives.

 

Germany and Austria faced a lot of internal struggles after WWII. A lot. And there were still Nazis, some even who managed to get into government positions.

The Empire spanned the entire galaxy, so if the model of history be followed, the galaxy would also face some struggles with ex-Imperials and such.

 

Agreed- but as far as continuing the Star Wars saga is concerned I like the fall of Rome model much better.

Palpatine was arrogant, so it wouldn't surprise me if he hadn't appointed an official successor. That being said, he was batting one thousand on finding apprentices before he struck out on Luke, so it wouldn't be shocking to me if some folks from his inner circle had a little Sith training on the side. If one of them were to emerge from an inner power struggle victorious and take control of what's left of the Empire, it'd at least make for an interesting story.

 

Who really cares apart from fans, like us, who clearly spend far too much time thinking about meaningless minutia? Do you honestly think that there was no discernible sense of closure at the end of ROTJ for the vast majority of the cinema going public?

Well, frankly why should anyone care that you think the PT 'didn't handle it well'? The PT exists... and the fact that the fate of the separatists is implied, but is not explicit, in no way diminishes the OT... just as the ST wouldn't be diminished by not seeing stormtroopers being repatriated, star destroyers being decommissioned etc. etc. (assuming that the ST doesn't involve the Empire).

You argue that the iconography of the Empire/imperials is something people are interested in (which I happen to agree with) but then you seem quite willing to dismiss ideas of having the Sith return or Palpatine etc? Seems to me that you're just arguing for what you like... nothing wrong with that of course... but it does seem to run contrary to your other views.

 

I don't have anything against a return of the Sith, as long as it is done in a sensible manner. I think you are confusing me with purplerain.

I'm willing to bet that we will see both Sith and some sort of Imperials.

 

When did I say that the Sith absolutely shoudn't return no matter how it's done? I've only said that the Sith returning is something that shouldn't be done the wrong way.

 

Sorry, I probably generalized too much. But you seemed to be more critical of a Sith return than me.

 

It is a rare opportunity -- an OT character who spoke with and fought alongside Vader on-screen, survived, and is played by a good actor who himself is also still alive. Yeah, you could make up a new Imperial, but I don't think it's mindless nostalgia in this particular case. To people who don't catch the reference, Veers could be just as good as a new invention.

I looked him up on Wookieepedia to see what happens to him in the EU, and it claims he appeared in an early draft of Return of the Jedi. So the idea to bring him back might actually have originated with Lucas.

 

I'd take Thrawn over Veers every day of the week. But that's just me.

 

It's not an either or scenario. They could have a Thrawn like leader & an old veteran adviser like Veers.

If what was left of the Empire appears in Ep7 then how can you possibly say it makes no narrative sense for a surviving Imperial General to appear??? That proposition makes no sense. An Imperial Remnant will be made up of former Imperials. Veers is the highest ranking one we know of who wasn't killed off.

No ones saying they should structure the whole ST storyline just to somehow get Veers in because he's so awesome. The idea is that if the Imperials are part of the story then why not make use of a General from the OT who happened to be portrayed by a very good actor who is still doing excellent work today.

 

Because he's really not that important.

If rumors of Driver's part of being the villain in this thing is true, then it can only imply one of two scenarios. One, that he is the secret apprentice and true heir to Palpatine, or two, he's some new Sith wannabe who thinks that he and others like him should rule over all that are not.

 

I want to add that some of the posts I've seen here put me in an anti-Sith mood. Such posts include those that say all Sith must wear a hooded cloak and scream "unlimited powah" as well as those that talk about how ideas never die when the Sith come up yet are quick to talk about how ideas die when the Rule of Two comes up. What angers me more than anything else about the second example is that it's a double standard.

 

Huh? They are the only 2 possibilities for Driver's role?? I could think of another 100 possibilities.

What does Driver's role have to do with Veers anyway? We're saying that if an Imperial Remnant is in the story then they will need a variety of officers. Veers could quite easily be one of the surviving senior officers. No one's saying he should be the main villain.

 

I don't think the Rule of Two would die unless it disappears from the GFFA's knowledge base (people forget about it). However, new darksiders/Sith might decide they don't like it. Ideas can be just as influential when people disagree with them. The death of an idea has to do with an epistemological block of some kind, not popularity.

 

You've just given me a new idea: Rule of Two Sith and non-Rule of Two Sith coexisting. It would be a creative new dynamic.

 

I like it. But you're not thinking of a schism, or are you? In other words, would the Rule of Two Sith be trying to destroy the non-Rule Sith? Or would they just ignore each other?