Speculation Will the Empire still exist in some form in the new trilogy? I wonder...

I'm going on the premise (suggested earlier in the thread) that the defeat of the Empire has created a power vacuum. As happens with the fall of every dictatorship. Different fractions vying for power. And an opening battle sets the scene well for the rest of the film. Who's at war? Why are they at war? What's going on? This is exciting! Rather than 30/40 years down the line everyone is still sitting around with their feet up reminiscing about the end of the Empire. It makes sense IMO

 

Hmm yea that very well could be the case as well! So many exciting possabilities with this new trilogy, they could go any direction!!

 

There might still be some struggling factions here and there.

 

I think, to continue GL's recurring themes and riffs, that we will once again see the good guys alongside former imperials, maybe see some recognizable (elderly) OT imperial officer now in the republic military next to Han or Lando and OT hardware all around.
No clone army though. The clone troopers woul be out of commission by now. (it's kinda obvious GL's intent is that all stormies are clones, just look at current stormtrooper action figures!)

 

Except those Moffs don't have a Sith Lord on their side anymore.

 

Tarkin used to boss the crap out of a Sith Lord.

 

While serving a stronger Sith Lord.

 

darklordoftech

Very good point.

I wonder what Tarkin and Palpatine's interactions and relationship were like.

 

thank you

 

The East and West Empires after the fall of Rome, and East and West of Germany after WWII could be a great road to go down. It is logical. The Outer Rim at war, the core systems independent. The Jedi untrusted and understrength, irates, smugglers, bounty hunters, slavery. Throw a Dark Lord of The Sith into the mix and hey-presto!

 

That's what made the OT so great. We didn't see a unified galaxy. Felt like a post-apocalyptic story. Keep that theme going in the ST. The Unified at peace galaxy feel of the PT or the height of civilization might be a better way of describing it just doesn't excite me. We need to see several different groups in power in the ST. Maybe unify the galaxy in the next trilogy.

 

I definetly agree that Nazi Germany was the inspiration for the OT. When GL says Rome was an inspiration i don't believe it. ANH is based on real events of 1940, TESB is 1943 ROTJ is 1945. ROTS is 1922. TPM is 1910. I haven't worked out what AOTC yet. I have read all the EU books from Ben's birth in Edge of Victory until Allies, from 26 aby until 42 aby, and i know of the 380 day a year structure and about BBY and aby, BUT... time moves differently from outerspace one year isn't 365 days a year it's 365 and half an hour, when the Evangelists say that the world has only lasted six thousand years and the world was created in 6 days and on the 7th day god rested, the metaphor, as i believe it is, is that one thousand years on earth equals 1 day in heaven/hell, time flies in heaven in hell it drags, so... um... the ST will be set in the late 70's if its 32 years after 1945, and there should definetly be an East and West Germany just so the can tear down the Wall literally or otherwise in Episode IX, and end the Cold War in Episode XII 1991, that'd mean 12 films over 81 years, reverse 81- becomes 18. 3 6's are 18 666. PERFECT FOR DISNEY! LOL!

 

The Empire is done for. It was beaten and humiliated. There is no way that the imperial remnant could ever become as frightening as it was before the defeat at Endor. It lost all credibility as bad guy faction. Using it would be a mistake, political logic be damned.

 

I'd say Nazi Germany is the bigger influence but lessons learned from Rome are clearly mixed in.

• Even though Hitler did rise to power through democracy (he was elected as Chancellor and maneuvered more and more power into that position, using a false flag -- burning the Reichstag), the story of Julius Caesar's rise to power is probably at the top of the historical list of republics falling. Caesar turned his army internally against the Roman people.
• The thousand years/generations bit is clearly a reference to the Roman Republic which had stood for 500 years; Germany did not.
• Rome in its heyday was the center of art, science, and commerce, much like the pristine and opulent Coruscant in the prequels. After Rome fell, the population fled and the city fell to ruin.
• The Roman Senate was corrupt and lulled into complacency. Very few, like Cicero, were awake to it.
• The citizenry was prosperous and concerned only with "bread and circuses" not matters of state. Nazi Germany was not quite so complacent, they were swept up into fascism in reaction to being decimated and defeated in WW I. This is an angle I hoped George would pursue in the prequels when he made Anakin a poor slave boy from Tattooine but it seemed to be completely absent by AOTC.

I'd definitely say the long term complacency and corruption of the Galactic Republic reflect Rome, not Nazi Germany.

 

Going back to historical context, there were always people in the wake of Rome trying to recreate it and capture past glory... I will always remember my teacher saying of the Holy Roman Empire that it was neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire. People are always trying to lay claim to the power of the past, so it may be possible someone is trying (in vain) to recapture and recreate the glory of the Empire.

 

I agree with most of the points you've said here concerning Rome and Empire in GFFA.
There is also one more lession to be learned from it, that can be applied to the Galactic Empire. Saying that Rome "fell" is a bit misleading. There was no single battle or war that resulted in it's immediate and total collapse. It was an ongoing process of deterioration that lasted for centuries, slowly fragmenting the Roman Empire from the inside. Many factors contribute to it's demise, but even after the Western Empire ceased to exist as such, the Eastern Empire (or Byzantium, as it is now called) not only continued to prosper for a 1000 years - but they also thought of themselves as the legitimate Roman Empire. They didn't refer to themselves as Byzantium, but as Romans. So, in effect, the Roman Empire existed for quite a while and if we use that as the example - we see that even planetary Empires take centuries to fall. Not in all cases, of course, but mostly that is how it goes.
Going by that reasoning, if an Empire that controls a part of a planet takes centuries to fall - it is reasonable to expect that a Galactic Empire would survive in one form or another even after such a catastrophic defeat.
The next comparison, with Nazi Germany is also quite on the spot. The structure of the Empire is closer to that of WW2 Germany since both are centered around one person. The difference is that Nazi Germany's defeat was total. It's military was crushed, it's mainland invaded and most of it's cities reduced to rubble. They had no resources, no army, no leadership, were occupied and split between the victors. It was a total and utter military defeat.
That did not happen to the Galactic Empire. I'm not talking any EU here, simply common sense - out there somewhere are still the vast resources of an Empire that used military firepower to control a large chunk of an entire galaxy. That is considerable military might. Of course, decapitated and leaderless there is bound to be some chaos and power struggles. But I think it is simply unreasonable to believe that after Endor all the might of the Empire simply disappeared. That every solider, officer and governor just said "Ah **** it, we give up." after Endor makes little sense.
The point is, the Empire can be shown to exist in any sort of way - many smaller factions and warlords fighting for power. Reunited under one strong leader. Controlling a considerable chunk of the galaxy, being in a sort of a Cold War with the New Republic.
And, of course, since it has been 30-45 years since Endor - it might have easily been completely defeated during those decades.
It really can go anywhere.

My point is just that the Empire's complete and utter defeat had to occur (if it did occur) sometime after Endor. However devastating a defeat, and despite losing it's two top leaders, it is just a single battle and a single fleet present. All the other resources of the Empire were still out there somewhere, controlling the rest of the galaxy.

 

Great post, though I think everything you said makes the statement above seriously unlikely.

 

True, true.
In my view, that is the least possible thing to happen. Why I think it could happen is simply because they'd want to move on to the next villain in the new movies.
Still, if I had to take my pick, I'd go with the galactic Cold War option. Maybe even have them be reluctant allies at some point, against a new common enemy and all that. We'll see

 

What's the point of showing an imperial remnant when it serves no purpose in the story? You might as well not show it then and focus on the NR, which is more important anyway.

There are only two scenarios where the remnant could feature:
It is the threat (unlikely, already explained in my previous post why)
Remnant becomes unlikely ally against an even worse force (unlikely as well because then the NR would look morally corrupt and we can't have that, one corrupt Republic was enough)

What I expect though is too see a couple Star Destroyers in the NR fleet.

 

It turns out the Empire WILL be in the ST, check out the video evidence below:

 

I'm also wondering, since we see history repeat itself, are we looking at post-collapse Rome/Nazi Germany, or could we also be overlapping and looping back on the creation of the republic in the first place for a glimpse at the new republic in the GFFA... In Roman ascension to power the biggest rival was Carthage which was also a competing republic. It's possible for two republics to be competing over resources and territory.

 

Idk

If I had to make a guess: At the start of Ep VII we will see what the heroes achieved during all those years and we see why it was so important to destroy the empire: A new golden age has begun. All the different races live in peace and harmony because now, without the empire, they can.
Then an outside (or inside) threat comes and endangers everything that was built up again.

 

Can't see a montage happening. I'm sure we'll all learn what happened through clever narrative and Easter eggs

 

_ _ _ _

Well, the scenes at the end of RoTJ simply show crowds of people on Coruscant and elsewhere celebrating the news of Palpatine's demise and pulling down a statue of him (on Coruscant). He is the figurehead - i.e. the Emperor of the Empire, but we shouldn't assume that the government structure collapsed entirely the moment news of Palpatine's death became known. I'm not saying that I think the Empire will still control the galaxy in Episode VII, by the way.