Gilad Pellaeon: Honorable Imperial or War Criminal?

Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon. The Supreme Commander of the Imperial Forces. Professional warrior. Respected statesman.

He is largely responsible bringing the bloody and seemingly-neverending Galactic Civil War to a peaceful conclusion following the Caamas Document Crisis, ending the Imperial Armed Forces' anti-alien and anti-female policies, spearheading the charge to illegalize the Empire's slave trade, and succssfully lobbying the Imperial government to grant the citizenry of the Galactic Empire the same rights as those in the New Republic.

But...

During his career as an Imperial officer during the Galactic Civil War, we know that Gilad Pellaeon served aboard a ship that was actively taking part in a slaving raid on the Wookie population of Kashyyyk. Furthermore, Pellaeon continued to serve in Imperial uniform even following the widespread reports of the Empire's war crimes. Many other Imperial officers chose to retire from active duty or outright defect to the Rebellion, yet Pellaeon did not.

So, paradoxically, while Gilad Pellaeon obviously did not support any of the more barbaric practices of the Palpatine-era Empire, he also chose to continue fighting under the Imperial banner--a banner that some could argue stood for all of the blatant cruelties that Palpatine's "ideal" government exacted upon it's citizens.

So, my question for all of you to debate or discuss is this:
Do Gilad Pellaeon's actions as Supreme Commander of the Imperial Forces outweigh his voluntary choice to fight for the brutal regime of Emperor Palpatine?

 

What cruelties did the Empire bring on the galactic population they don't bring on themselves anyway?

Palpatine was a bad choice as a dictator. But the NR is hardly any better. Princess Leia had to negotiate a truce during "The courtship of Princess Leia" because one race was found smuggling another sentient race's body parts (I think the Verpines) for food.

The trouble stirred up by Nom Anor on Rhommol (sp?) is another example.

Sentiency has nothing to do with intelligence. The Empire was an Ideal. The vision was a galaxy of peace and prosperity where the stupidity of various sentient races were controlled by someone with an iron grip. Now Palpatine was a bad choice to try and realize that ideal.

But the fact that Palleon continued to serve the empire after the death of Palpatine doesn't mean Palleon was supporting the Emperor's madness. It means he's still trying to uphold the ideal of the Empire rather than bow down to the incompetence of the NR. He's a hero and should be commended for his actions and his integrety.

 

Thank you, T-65XJ, you managed to touch on the ideological factors that Pellaeon was fighting for, which is something that I toatlly neglected to mention in my initial post.

 

t65- I think there's quite a significant difference there. On the one hand, we have a government attempting to abate abhorrent actions, on the other hand we have a government that makes policy of capitalising from abhorrent actions.

Princess Leia had to negotiate a truce during "The courtship of Princess Leia" because one race was found smuggling another sentient race's body parts (I think the Verpines) for food. .

I think therein lies the crux of the issue you have raised (though not the central issue in Brett's post, I feel).

In the NR, members could turn to the government for support in the prevention of injustices, under the NO, members and non-members alike were subject to injustices perportrated by a callous government.

But to address your question, Brett, I think Pellaeon is far more honourable than criminal. I will definately come back later and post more, but I think the largest factor is that Pallaeon, when younger, did not have any influence on and did not condone the policy decisions or actions of the cause he was fighting for. And he did morally object to some of the Empire's policy's and actions. However, when he rose to a rank of power, he used to to make decisions which reflected his genuinely righteous beliefs and changed the lives of billions for the better.

He was never a war criminal to begin with, no more than say a person fighting for an evil government is. But he used his growing influence to become a war hero and honourable warrior and politician. So for me, there is no weight on the 'criminal' side of the scale to counter the weight on the 'honoralbe' side of the scale.

 

Well stated, Darth Jar Jar. I look forward to hearing more from you.

But I'm literally falling asleep at my laptop, and I've got chruch in...seven hours.

M-must...sleep...

 

Pellaeon is an honorable Imperial. He definatly changed many of the worst things about the Empire. But, the only mark against him is that unlike so many other officers he did not defect from the Empire. Now, we know Gilad has a conscience, so I imagine that much of what the Empire stood for bothered him. I personally have always wondered why he didn't defect. I figure the only thing that kept Pellaeon a Imp was he devotion to the fleet. He feared that if he left that some foolish warlord or some such would take the fleet and sacrifice it in one great battle. Pellaeon truly cared for his warriors. But, we know that for most of his carrer he hated the Rebellion. Brett_Bass will back me up on this, he knows about Pellaeon. In the THrawn Trilogy, he whole heartedly supports Thrawn's goals to defeat the Rebellion. He even imagines what the galaxy would be like if it was Thrawn at Endor that day.

 

Pellaeon wasn't too far removed from Baron Fel's "The Empire creates order, the Rebels try to destroy that order. Thus, I fight the Rebels.".

Merely serving aboard a slaving ship doesn't mean that he agreed with the mission, I suspect most military men in wartime undergo missions that they'd rather not under orders.

Regardless, he was a compotent officer, and while he hadn't shown much prowess as a tactician until the EC entries, it seems he did learn a few things from his dead commander. There are many in the Empire that are war criminals (Tarkin, for one) but Pellaeon isn't one of them.

 

War crimes...oy.

"What ? It was against the law to institute a policy of genocide? Really? I did not know this. Please, tell me more about my 'war crimes'"

 

I think Pallaeon was simply loyal the Empire and what he thought it stood for originally

In Specter of the Past I think it was it says how believed so many different races with so many different interests couldn't possibly get along with prosperity without a strong head governing them, and while Palpatine took everything too far Pallaeon believed that it was better then chaos. He probably thought that even more people would die without the Empire because they would tear eachother apart

And once he had the power he got rid of everything that made the Empire such a terrible regime and turned it into perhaps the best governing body in the galaxy. The Empire once he took over lost basically because the NR had to many rescources at their disposal, and while the NR was suffering from rampant corruption it had yet to do anything nearly as bad as Palpatine so people weren't defecting left and right, had both the Empire under Pallaeon and the NR had the same resources and seasoned troops then I think the Empire would have prevailed because of Pallaeon

Pallaeon I think stayed with the Empire while the war crimes were being committed because he was loyal to his men and would not abandon them no matter what, like General Lee from the civil war, he agreed with what the North was trying to accomplish but wouldn't abandon his men so he fought for the South

(and I don't mean to get into a debate about whether he was right or wrong in doing so I'm just using it as an example)

So Pallaeon was a good man IMO, but his loyalty to his men and his belief in the Empire's ideology is what kept him fighting for the Imperials, and as it turns out it wasn't a bad thing either, without him the war could have dragged on for several more years

So long live Gilad Pallaeon, he'll be remembered as the man who ended the galactic civil war and ended the reign of terror of the Empire without betraying his people

 

Do Gilad Pellaeon's actions as Supreme Commander of the Imperial Forces outweigh his voluntary choice to fight for the brutal regime of Emperor Palpatine?

Well while he did all the bad things for the Empire he was always under the command of someone. From what I remember of his career, he didn't take any inititive to do something the 'Imperial' way. Once he became Grand Admiral I saw a big change in what he did. It seems to me that Pallaeon stayed with the Empire because he thought that he could change it (if he got high enough in the command structure) and he did.

He fought against the NR under Thrawn. He fought against the NR under Daala. He fought against the NR under Piett. However, once he got the chance, he made the right decisions for the people not for himself.

 

Well when simply fighting the NR that was what he'd have liked to do as well, he hated the rebels and wasn't afraid to fight agressively, he did attack and take over Orinda from the NR once he was Grand Admiral

But he was definately not anywhere near say Palpatine or Tarkin or any of the other really evil commanders, he did what he thought was best for the Empire and for his men but never committed any war crimes himself. Although you could say at Orinda he was fighting a war of agression, he was really just continuing the war that had been going on for years

 

T-65XJ said it perfectly. Pellaeon served the idea of the Empire, not the Emperor himself. Unfortunately, the idea of the Empire, which is based on communism, would never work to create and maintain peace. Also keep in mind that most Imperials didn't know about the atrocities carried out by the Emperor and Darth Vader. My view of Pellaeon is very high, and if there were only one good person from the Empire, it would definitely be him.

 

IkritMan, the Empire had nothing to do with communism. The Empire was about despotism and tyrannism, and never claimed they wanted social equality or a state-controlled economy. You know, all that is evil in this universe doesn't have to be red and have a huge mustache. But that is not the subject. I think Pellaeon's acts as leader of the Empire far outweights his acts in earlier times. And when you think of what the Empire would be without Pellaeon, I think the GFFA should be very grateful that it is he who commands the forces of the Empire.

 

Pellaeon believed in the ideals of the Empire and thus fought for the Empire. He followed orders regardless of his views because he was a professional soldier, although he was involved in some distasteful actions, there is no evidence that he ever committed war crimes.

 

"the Empire had nothing to do with communism. The Empire was about despotism and tyrannism, and never claimed they wanted social equality or a state-controlled economy."

Technically, the Empire was a fascist monarchy. While several military firms (Sienar Fleet Systems, Kuat Drive Yards, etc.) were "nationalized" that was really more of a cost-cutting measure, designed to increase output by not having to worry about the lowest bidder as often. While the Emperor himself was a despot, most of his military were not terribly different than any other army or navy, only as good or as bad as their orders made them. Just like your average brown-shirted German soldier wasn't evil, neither was your average Imperial army trooper. Back on the fascism subject, the state-run media and suppression of dissidents screams fascist dictatorship.

 

Well the Empire not only supported big business they made sure that only a few key companies controlled the market while they controlled the companies so they basically controlled everything, communism wouldn't like big business very much because it supports making the rich richer and elitism

 

Pellaeon was honorable. He ended the galactic civil war. He started the rebuilding of the empire as a peaceful remenent.

 

I'm somewhat amazed that we haven't heard from any of Pellaeon's detractors as of yet.

Thanks for the responses, all.

Oh, and just as a technicality, Pellaeon was not promoted to the rank of Grand Admiral until some time *after* the Galactic Civil War. By Ruin, it seems that his grand admiral rank is still fairly new.

His tenure as Supreme Commander of the Imperial Forces during the war was as a full, albeit conventional, admiral.

 

Does Pellaeon even have any detractors? None that I've ever met.

 

I've met several. But I'm not going to go into names, I'm not taking anything personally aaginst 'em. Their views, no matter how much or how strongly I disagree with them, are their own.

 

Agreed...

Oh and much of the Empire's economy, IMHO, seemed to be crony capitalism and rampant corporatism.

 

I thought he was a Grand Admiral in the Thrawn Duology ... but I could be wrong. It's been a while.

If your reasoning is that Pellaeon should've defected to the Rebels since the Emperor was evil, then what about the thousands of other SD Captains? Some defected, yes, but most didn't, or the Imperial Navy would've been crippled. They were all just doing their duty. Pellaeon just happened to be very good at it. I agree that he was just fighting for the ideal of the New Order, not the Emperor's regime. In war, people do brutal things, people kill. He didn't do any worse than the NR did, IMO.

 

Oh, I agree with you. I'm just giving both sides of the coin, so as to encourage a healthy debate. Sadly (gladly?), none of Gilad's detractors seem to be interested in discussing the virtues of their position(s).

 

Massive turbo-powered BUMP.