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Pretty much how I've thought about Hux and Kylo Ren from the beginning.

 

I kind of had the same thought but in reverse: That the Rebellion used battle droids as a work force. After all the Empire can get labor from slaves, prisoners, paid workers, and droids specifically made for construction. The Rebellion needs workers to mine materials and build ships too, but they can't get them through legitimate means. Battle Droids already wind up in the hands of black market groups. The Rebels wouldn't use them in combat because A) They don't want to be associated with the Separatists B) they suck in combat anyways.

Also I kind of got the idea from this picture.

 

The Politics and Intrigue of the Clone Wars

+ This is more a view of the entire situation but THE CLONE WARS was never going to be won by the Separatists. Much like the American Civil War, the Separatists fired the first shots and were preparing for the battle but didn't have nearly the military or industrial might to fight a sustained war against the Republic.

The Separatists numbered 20,000 systems at the start and never really had more than this as the core of their operations.

+ Palpatine always hedged his bets but was never going to threaten his position with the Clone Wars. Instead, he devoted his efforts to making sure the people who were most disatisfied with the Republic and most likely to oppose his increase of centralized power would withdraw themselves from the Republic.

In short, a lot of the Clone Wars was based around eliminating his political opposition from the debate and votes.

+ Palpatine sabotaged numerous Republic offenses and peace negotiations to keep the war going as long as it did: both to kill Jedi and continue to pass legislation based around increasing the centralized power of the Republic. The Separatists were never as powerful or as dangerous as needed to justify this.

+ Grevious and his total war atrocities were another thing that Palpatine and Dooku put in place so that the Republic had a reason to be feared, Giving him the Droid Army meant that the CIS Senate couldn't do anything to oppose him even if they wanted to even as the atrocities mounted. They were a puppet government.

+ The creation of the Moffs was justified by the Clone Wars with Republic Governors and Sector Governors justified as putting former Separatist territories under martial law. Notably, this included planets the Separatists conquered.

+ The Separatist Council of corporate goons at the end replaced the Separatist Senate due to Palpatine having them all killed in the final year of the war. This allowed Dooku and Grevious to take direct control of matters.

+ It was the Republic Governors which finally clued the Jedi in that Palpatine was a fascist and why they began plotting to remove him because it was a planned long term abridgement of freedoms.

 

I really like this and even if not always matching, this theory is solid. While originally SW was not as straight in mirroring real world visual evolution, especially with the Prequels being more modern 90s/2000s than the used universe of the OT 70s, the comics set a precedence of GFFA past looking like Earth history. Though, 5000BBY Sith had egyptian vibes whereas TOTJ was more early medieval feels. Bane's era as per his TCW armor is 1900s indeed, while the New Sith Wars up to Bane had been dark ages medieval previously in comics.

Lets see what the High Republic Era gives us. But even these "historic looks" aside, architecture and other cultural influences are all over the timeline and less straight. But now it's funny and weird to think about GFFA eras that had some earth styles that were more unique. The PT in part had sixties and fifties homages but overall were not embracing that flair. And what godforsaken era will be the decadent 1600s with grand palaces and elite with weird hairdos.

Aside OT nostalgia, what can be said about the Sequels visually? What style are they getting into aside and after OT nostalgia? GFFA cellphones and modern looks?

Now I even envision GFFA reenactments in costume of historic events. Or GFFA medieval fairs, called something else obviously.

Great visual idea, I love it. I once envisioned something else that might be related: Neimoidians and other Separatists in Imperial work camps supervised by Battledroids turned prison guards forcing them to work and built grandeur for the Empire. Like the droids as slavers to the enslaved Neimoidians building the Imperial Warmachinery or pyramidical palaces on Coruscant.


@Charlemagne19 great points and I fully agree... but why does this remind me of real world geopolitics, especially US ones now?

SW is often drawing from history, young and old, and as a product of its time obviously Lucas not only used historic examples but also current geopolitics. And the timelessness of his masterpiece, the modern myth, gives it a visionary quality transcending the foundation in real world history and culture, giving SW a prophetic timeless quality even.

Thus, at what stage of Star Wars are we in the real world now? When will our people fleet save the day?

 

Honestly, Jolee Bindo reminds me you have to struggle long and hard but also take a view that evil will pass.

 

Generally my view of Star Wars is that it is an effectively timeless period in terms of visuals. There's no set galactic fashion or aesthetic so you could go to Gangster Planet of the 1920s (ala Star Trek) in 1,000 A.R or 20,000 A.R. It is a place where all stories exist simultaneously.

 

Not a headcanon per say but I think it be interesting if Snoke was like a Frankinstein's monster...Maybe even made from the Corpse of a former Sith Lord or Darksider of a sorts (Maybe Plagueis ;p) But instead of the Frankinstein Mosnter from the film it's more like the book where the Monster is actually smart and intelligent.

 

Sorry for the DP but.

I also headcanon that Snoke when he found the Sloane remnants of the First Order, apart from helping them navigate the Unknown Regions also brought with him a whole bunch of highly advanced tech and designs for new and improved Stormtrooper armor. He also had many "Friends" that could provide Sloane's group money and resources needed from the known galaxy

Said "Friends" and "Tech" all come from the Sith Cultist who he served and many Cultist are also a bunch of rich people with contacts and resources ready to fund the Sloane group.

 

We are LONG overdue to finally start getting some weird hairdos in Star Wars.

 

Like this?

Spoiler

 

I think Palpatine never even considered them being the ones to win. They were a 'falseflag' operation in their entirety, made to draw in potential enemies of Palpatine's future regime, while he uses the continual threat of the Separatists to amass more and more power. By the time of ROTS's beginning, Palpatine was already Emperor in all but name, he just made it fact by the end of the movie. This is why I believe Dooku was in on it, like the ROTS novelization says, and he never really cared about the Separatists. He's an aristocrat from an all-human world, no way is he genuinely kingpin of the multi-species Separatists without some ulterior motive.

Meanwhile the megacorps that threw their lot in with the CIS was the case of Palpatine not really wanting to share power. The Banite Sith actually wouldn't have had much to do with their rise to power, as it came natural with the removal of government power during and after the Ruusan Reformation. The megacorps became a wild-card factor, and they were as powerful as the Jedi, so Palpatine got rid of them in a swift move, by aligning them with an enemy destined to lose.

 

I go a bit more with the early Legends (Corporate Sector, Tagge Co) and the later Clone Wars take that the Empire was very much hand-in-pocket with the megacorporations as per real-life fascists. Palpatine actually didn't do any damage to the corporations, in my view. The Trade Federation probably had its name changed (perhaps to "Corporate Sector Authority") and had some new human heads appointed to it but the actual organization was fine and even benefited. Maybe some fines.

No, why did Palpatine kill all of them at the end?

1. It gave Anakin a sense of closure, allowing him to "end" the Clone Wars.

2. Palpatine wasn't about to leave any witnesses to his Darth Sidious identity. They were loose ends.

Nute Gunray already sincerely tried to rat Palpatine out to Dooku (irony) and it's not like Palpatine is full of an abundance of trust to begin with.

 

To me, it seems like he took out the New Money Outer-Mid Rim alien companies but kept the Old Money Core human ones alive and in his inner circle. The Empire nationalized commerce, so the Trade Federation probably went with it. Should be noted though, Neimodians didn't really dominate the Trade Federation until Palpatine's machinations. I figure he wanted them as 'bad guys' since he helped Nute attain power.

 

From Star Wars Insider 84:

 

Be nice to get a formal explanation on who the corporations' neutrality worked during the Clone Wars, particularly with leaders like Wat Tambor and Nute Gunray being publicly outed as Separatist top-ranking officials early in the war. The addition of the Separatist Senate plagues me since the corporation leaders were called "Separatist leaders" by the end of the war. How does a leadership that are essentially leaders in the CIS still lead corporations that are officially neutral throughout most of the conflict. It's kinda like the situation with Trade Federation battleships at the beginning and the end of the war itself.

My own guess and headcanon is pretty much the leaders were "forced" to step down though retained their titles for the sake of neutrality and leadership belonged to others until around a year before the end of the war when "evidence" was presented by Republic Intelligence that the Trade Federation, Corporate Alliance, Commerce Guild, Techno Union and most of the remaining InterGalactic Banking Clan under Chairman San Hill were traitors to the Republic, leading to the arrest of most if not all their senatorial delegates. An exception was made to Gume Saam, as the Techno Union had "mistakenly" assisted in the CIS invasion of Tibrin and killed most of the government including their own allies prior to the arrests and he declared himself and Tibrin independent of the Techno Union permanently, retaining his position.

 

Guess what is hidden under the fancy hats of the fancy Hat Crew?



They probably have the coolest and weirdest of hairstyles and nobody is allowed to see them!


Now, on to another debate in this topic:

This Separatist / Corporate thing is a pain to reconsile but, my attempt looks like this:

Initially, the megacorporations were working both sides despite their products clearly arming the Separatists. Well all over the world they fire german guns and drive german cars but we are not blamed for it.

The public outing of some separatist leaders though needed a new explanation and at first the megacorporations leadership boards declared the outed individuals rogues that basically run amok with their own corporate subdivision and assets while the rest of the company remains good and loyal. This even was stated in some guidebooks in Legends. But obviously such a divide would call investigation and demand for a clear divide within the corporations to distinct what went rogue and what did stay loyal as nobody would trust their word on it.

Therefore, and with the Republic shy of alienating entire megacorporations that are system-essential like the IGBC and others, investigations were lax and the temporary capture/escape of some separatist leaders probably helped to appease the public opinion that the main megacorps are loyal.

That aside, we need to differentiate how much is public knowledge and how widespread is it? Elite/Politics circles and Jedi? True commoner public? What do we know but not the public of the GFFA? A lot can be burried in propaganda and war-media. The Rim probably, facing the brunt of droid forces, associated the corps with them more directly than any colony or core world that thought some senators went separatist and send their paid for forces no matter who build them.

Essentially the Clone Wars were not only an open war to kill Jedi between the fronts, but also one of gradually revealing the corporations corruption to the galaxy to make way for government takeover of them under the Empire. Only by wars end did they know how deep all this ran, thus justifying the Imperial Security Bureau and other institutions for inner security and surveillance.

Of course lots of lower ranking corporation officials are divided if they should follow an order from Gunray etc. or not and basically Gunray could command the entire TDF, but public relations claimed he went rogue. The Clone Wars is a big propaganda fake war with media probably blowing it up and making it larger than life. Hence, fewer clones suffice galaxywide but media make it sound as if there is a lot more going on. Fakenews everywhere. The Republic Commando books even adressed this fakenews bit and the "wrong numbers" in one of the later books with CIS droid counts being exaggerated when debating kill ratios per clone.

Basically like this:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4665586/

I could even imagine pristine peaceful planets are portrayed as brutal warzones with fake images and staged scenes to manipulate the masses. And when a Jedi should come investigate with a clone army after all, boom, they are the bad invaders stirring up trouble. Fakenews become real.

 

Nationalization comes in multiple forms though with the Empire supervising the corporations but also possibly keeping their cronies in power.

Re: Neutrality

I don't think this is hard to reconcile really as the Separatist Senate is the one "officially" in charge and the corporations are the ones who have been arming it. Many of the leaders are thus charged with treason and the corporations are SHOCKED that they did this [while continuing to go about their business as before].

The Banking Clan episodes also shows how it all ends with the Empire taking direct control over them but continuing business as usual.

 

To go with my politics post above:

* The Senate is the Separatist government
* Dooku's corporate alliance are the financiers for it
* Palpatine eliminates them both to cover his tracks

Or to make a perhaps somewhat tasteless comparison, the Separatist Senate is Al-Qaeda and the corporate alliance is Saudi Arabia.

 

Aren't there a lot of real-life legislatures that are just for show? Either they don't have any real power, or the deck is stacked in favor of a particular faction. Actually, don't even need to venture into real-life for this, just look at the Imperial Senate.

 

1. Mara Jade exists in Canon, and her post-Endor life unfolded pretty much as it did in Legends, up until the point where we originally meet her. Because Thrawn was removed from the equation pre-Yavin, she never meets Luke Skywalker and continues her new life on Karrde’s organization*.
2. Palpatine had no legal authority under the Imperial Charter to dissolve the Imperial Senate, so when Palpatine did that, the Empire effectively stopped being the legal continuation of the Republic and became a de facto regime. This gave the Alliance to Restore the Republic legal legitimacy that it had previously lacked.

* This makes it possible for her to show up in The Mandalorian or the new Cassian Andor show.

 

1. Canon Mara Jade is First Sister, IMHO.

2. My version of 2# is that Palpatine only suspended the Senate. Which actually is an even bigger legal terror to the Empire as Mon Mothma calls the Senate legally to order, they promptly pass a pardon to the Rebel Alliance and officially dissolved the Empire back to the Republic. This symbolic gesture actually took an enormous amount of wind out of the sails of the Empire because the representatives of the galaxy made a legal vote--often by the very same Senators that had been legally elected by the Empire but hadn't joined the Rebellion.

Why?

Because they were under house arrest or actually in prison the entire time and had no fondness for the Empire by the end.

 

My headcanon that in order to stave off decay of his Clone body Palpatine used Sith magic and spirts ala Exegol to maintain it for as long as he could

 

I love this idea, and it would be cool to extend it to all the Legends characters who haven't made canon appearances yet. That is, they exist as they do in Legends up until the start of their first story (first by publication date, not chronologically.

So Kyle Katarn is a stormtrooper-turned-Rebel-aligned mercenary who doesn't realise he's Force sensitive. Corran Horn is a cop-turned-New Republic starfighter pilot who doesn't know about his Jedi heritage. Borsk Fey'lya is a high-ranking New Republic politician who doesn't understand that he's a huge a-hole yet.

Along similar lines, a headcanon of mine for ... err, canon, is that there was a pair of twins called Jacen and Jaina who lived about 100 years after the ST. The broad strokes of their story from Legends is true - they were powerful Force users who became Jedi heroes in a conflict with a previously unknown species, Jacen fell to the dark side and attempted a coup of the galactic government before being killed by his sister. They may even have had the name Solo (either distant relatives of Han or just a common name) or been descendants of Rey. Thousands of years later some historians/storytellers conflated their story with that of Rey and Kylo and posited that Jacen and Jaina were the children of Han and Leia, giving us the NJO-DNT-LotF-FotJ saga.