How and Why the Empire Created the Rebel Alliance: Durkheim, Orwell, and Why

Stormtroopers Don't Shoot Straight

As Disney's priorities have been aligned to a future in which we never run out of
Star Wars movies, it's advisable that we take a deeper look at the galaxy created and
populated in this franchise. The series has provided us with tropes and memes aplenty, as
well as scientifically-proven facts whose provenance can't be explained.
First, stormtrooopers are lame. Their white plastic armor protects against nothing.
It's vulnerable to everything ranging from laser pistols to stone axes wielded by
anthropomorphic teddy bears. Their ability to shoot straight is one of the few things that
can be counted on in this galaxy far, far away. However, as a scene from Attack of the
Clones attests, these stormtroopers were originally cloned from the genetic material of
Jango Fett, regarded as "the best bounty hunter in the galaxy" (Wookiepedia). This man,
proficient in the use of blasters and flamethrowers, gave rise to a race of clones that
couldn't hit the side of a space barn from 10 space feet away. The job of executing the
military occupation of planets across the galaxy is entrusted to these Keystone Cops.
Second, the Empire is lame. They have a military infrastructure that is somehow
capable of conquering strings of planets, despite their willy-nilly application of thermal
exhaust ports that act as self-destruct buttons and shield generators placed on neighboring
planets guarded by a mere battalion of cannon fodder. The Empire has created two planetsized weapons platforms, its successor the First Order created one, and all three have been
destroyed. Their armored transports are capable of being destroyed by alien
Teddy Ruxpins with Stone Age technology, or by a group of barnstormers who seemingly
tie their shoelaces together. How did this organization conquer the galaxy and hold on to it?
If their goal is not to develop new levels of cartoonish supervillainy for its own sake, what
is the Empire's endgame?
Finally, the Rebel Alliance is badass. This organization has the best fighter pilots in
the universe, and they can call in the Kessel Run record holder off the bench if need
be. They've destroyed doomsday devices the size of planets with regularity, requiring a
comically small amount of equipment to do so. The original Death Star, according to
the Wookiepedia, was attacked by 30 fighters. Estimates for the number of fighters that
attacked Starkiller Base range from 30 to 40. By comparison, in World War II, it took 800
American and British bombers to transform Dresden into an analogy of the senselessness
of warfare. With their high level of tactical and aeronautical acumen, how has the Rebel
Alliance not won yet?

Now the details that we don't know are somewhat hazy, and the details that are
given to us in the prequels are hazier because of the wooden dialogue that they're
delivered to the audience in. The galaxy used to operate as an interplanetary Republic,
governed by a Galactic Senate. Each planet had a representative in the Senate, even the
home planet for E.T. that was only added to the prequels as a middle finger to those who
take the franchise seriously. Like ancient Rome, there was a mechanism to grant dictatorial
power to an individual during a time of emergency. Like Rome, this mechanism was used to
seize power and hold it long after the original threat had been vanquished. The
interplanetary democracy was replaced by the Galactic Empire, headed by Palpatine, and
was opposed by the Rebel Alliance. After several major battles at Yavin, Hoth, and Endor,
the Empire was presumably defeated and the Republic was restored to power. The
Imperial war machine became the First Order, and was opposed by the stock
photo models and sci-fi convention veterans of the Resistance.
It is a galaxy that is far, far away from being logical. But the fevered mind that
dreamt up this galaxy also populated it with the likes of ewoks and Jar Jar Binks, so that's to
be expected. However, there is the potential for some unintended complexity in this galaxy
that would link it to the likes of Emile Durkheim and George Orwell. Namely, the question:
What if the Rebel Alliance was created and/or secretly supported by the Empire? Does that
sound completely insane? Well, fashion yourself a tin foil sombrero and follow me.
First, let's look at the logistical complexity to building a planet-sized weapons
platform. And bear in mind, the Empire/First Order built three of these fucking
things. Think of how many raw materials would need to be shipped across the galaxy to
the construction site. According to NASA, it currently takes $10,000 to move one pound of
payload from Earth into space. You would assume that all of the steel girders, each
weighing tons, would probably not be mined in space, but would be processed on planets
before being blasted into space. This wouldn't go unnoticed. This would be enormously
expensive, and would lead to a spike in government spending (and taxes) if it was decided
to just add it to the debt, or to a drastic cut in other programs if it was decided the budget
needed to remain balanced. Either of these wouldn't go unnoticed. Finally, this would be a
monumental effort requiring millions of workers to complete, and someone would
gossip. It takes a village to build a planet-sized death ray, and every village has a gossip.
Hell, even droids can't be trusted because they blab. And an order for a million construction
droids, all being shipped to the same construction zone, should cause suspicion, too.
And that's just looking at the Empire's side of the Death Star situation. The Rebels
are at fault here, too. The Rebel Alliance is a multi-planetary guerrilla force. They would,
presumably, have spies in the different corners of the universe, as the Empire does. If not,
they at least have cordial enough relations with smugglers and bounty hunters to buy

information when needed. How did they not know this was being built? Also, it appears
that light-speed travel allows the quick movement of ships from one location to another. An
Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine is a pretty ferocious enemy on the open ocean, but it
seems like it would be pretty vulnerable in Portsmouth when it's being constructed.
Similarly, it would stand to reason that it would be easier for a guerrilla army to scatter a
gaggle of cranes and space cement mixers in the construction phase than it would be to
attack a fully-functional death ray the size of the Moon. Why would the Rebel Alliance
wait?
Second, we need to move to the Empire Strikes Back and the Battle of Hoth. Star
Destroyers set up their blockade around Hoth and don't fire down at the rebel base. Isn't
space three-dimensional? Lasers aren't effective against planets unless it's Death Star-sized
death ray lasers? The base is protected by a shield generator, which is targeted by the
Empire's armored giraffes. However, previous scenes in A New Hope indicated that
deflector shields can be knocked out by repeated hits from ship-borne blaster cannons. The
Imperial fleet has surrounded the rebel base and doesn't have a fleet action against an
enemy force to worry about, so they could presumably focus on destroying the base from
space without risking the lives of ground troops.
Next, move along to the internal workings of the Empire. The Galactic Empire is a
dictatorial regime headed by Palpatine. One of the first organizations created by
dictatorships are internal espionage organizations tasked with sniffing out discontent
and/or destroying. The Soviets had the Cheka/NKVD/KGB. The Nazis had the Gestapo. The
Republic presumably had a spy agency that could be co-opted. If not, they have two Forcesensitive Sith with telepathic powers. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader both make
frequent use of the Force to read or influence minds from varying distances. They have
probe droids that can and are sent out to the farthest reaches of space. They contract
bounty hunters and employ turncoats like one-time betrayer Lando Calrissian. They have
informants that know where Luke's aunt and uncle live and how vulnerable to fire they are
(hint: very). A power structure that extends across a vast swath of space would presumably
have a bag of carrots and sticks that it could use to get the information it needs to find the
hidden Rebels. Available technology includes instantaneous communication across star
systems as seen with the probe droid in Empire Strikes Back - and near instantaneous
interstellar travel. There seems to be no excuse for the Rebel Alliance being able to hide as
effectively as they do.
Also, isn't "the Rebel Alliance" a pretty shitty name for a resistance movement? If
you "rebel" against something, you implicitly acknowledge its authority. You rebel against
your parents. Settlers in the Wild West "resisted" attacks by Native Americans, they didn't
"rebel" against them. Modern day resistance movements know the value of good branding.

"Rebel" isn't used much. "Free French." "Shining Path." "People's Liberation Front. Viet
Cong translates to National Liberation Front. "Hi, we're rebels," will get doors shut in
your face. "Hi, we're liberators," probably will too, but it'll take a fraction of a second
longer, since it's a better word. If the Rebel Alliance is serious about restoring the Republic,
they're doing a shitty job of branding themselves for the task.
Finally, let's look at the makeup of the Rebel Alliance. The "evil" and "sinister"
Empire, to quote the theatrical crawl from A New Hope, can only inspire the creation of a
ragtag resistance capable of throwing 30 fighter planes at a base the size of a moon. If the
galaxy includes thousands of planets, many of whom would presumably have a grudge
against the government, why is support for the Rebel Alliance so small? And
a guerrilla army needs a population to hide in Mao once said, "A guerrilla must
move through the people like a fish in the sea." The people provide support and
information. Why is the Rebel Alliance always hanging out on uninhabited planets like
Yavin and Hoth, or in the empty space of space?
Alright, so now that we've cleared away some of the chaff, let's look at the wheat.
Why would the Empire create and/or clandestinely support the Rebel Alliance?
Try to remember what the Republic was like under "peaceful" conditions. The Trade
Federation acts as the Star Wars' franchise's East India Company. They're an immensely
powerful business consortium that is able to afford a sizable military machine and impose
their will on an entire planet. In Phantom Menace, that planet is Naboo, but there's nothing
to suggest that Naboo is the first planet who has been subjugated in this way. In response
to Space Wal-Mart trying to conquer Naboo, the Galactic Senate does fuck all. The
Republic doesn't have the political will or the military muscle required to come to the aid of
one of its constituent planets. Individual planets, such as Naboo, don't have the muscle to
fight off the Trade Federation. The capital city is captured almost without a fight, and the
Gungan army is defeated in the field. The aid that the Republic is able to send is two Jedi.
Those Jedi are immensely powerful, but keep in mind that there's an entire temple of those
fucking guys, and the Senate only spares two of them for the task, including one
apprentice.
Even before war breaks out, it's pretty apparent that the galaxy under the Republic
is a very nasty place filled with inequality. Naboo, the planet at the center of the first bad
Star Wars movie, has two distinct races who exist in a sort of "separate but equal" quasiharmony. The Gungans stay in the ocean, and the Naboo stay on solid ground. There seems
to be an uneasy peace, but agricultural and industrial development does tend to create a lot
of pollution, which spreads awfully easy through water. The Naboo could poison the
Gungans whenever they feel like it. They don't allow the Gungans representation in the
Senate until they inexplicably decide that Jar Jar Binks should be the Gungans' Jackie

Robinson. In addition, Anakin's mother, Shmi (and yes, I'll admit I had to look on Wikipedia
for the character's name), is a slave on Tatooine, and stays in slavery when Anakin leaves.
The two Jedi have no qualms splitting up that family and leaving the mother in servitude.
Fast forward to life under the Empire, where slavery only seems to exist in the territory of
criminal lord/talking earthworm Jabba the Hutt.
The opportunity to remake the galaxy comes with the appointment of Palpatine by
the suggestion of Senator Jar Jar Binks. First, two sidebars; #1: Way to doom the galaxy,
Jar Jar and #2: If Jar Jar is persuasive enough to convince the majority of planetary
representatives to invest sole power in Palpatine, doesnt the galaxy kind of deserve
everything it gets?
From Palpatine's perspective, the galaxy needs a unifying force. The Galactic Senate
is not that force. Everyone belongs to the Senate, but everyone is in it for themselves, and
they can rarely agree on any issues. Planets have a wildly divergent amount of social and
economic clout, but each planet gets one vote in the Senate. When Americans met to write
the Constitution, something similar was suggested called the New Jersey Plan, where each
state, big or small, got the same amount of representatives. But when it became apparent
that 18th century (and modern) wasteland New Jersey would get the same number of votes
as revolutionary all-star assembly line Virginia, that plan was altered significantly. The
galaxy in Star Wars operates under the New Jersey Plan, so shithole planets like Tatooine
get to cancel out the votes of economic dynamos like Coruscant. The Republic also either
has no military, or lacks the will to use it. In this galaxy, the organization with the best
potential to act as a unifying force is the Trade Federation. Most of the other planets are
customers of the Trade Federation, and they have their own military infrastructure to
impose their will and/or crush "Occupy Greedo Street" protests swiftly and brutally. So the
choice is easy should Palpatine allow a business to be the unifying force in the galaxy, or
should it be replaced by an effective government? He chooses the government route, calls
for the creation of an army (send in the clones!) and works to defeat the Trade Federation.
Wars are brutal and destructive, but a mismanaged peace can be just as bad. What
about the consequences when the war is won? In winning, Palpatine called for the creation
of a galaxy-wide military infrastructure with factories spread everywhere and millions or
billions of clone soldiers who were bred for the sole purpose of fighting. The question of
what to do with millions of newly-unemployed soldiers can be a tough one to answer.
When white American soldiers returned from World War I to find that African-Americans
now had a beefy presence in northern factories and cities, it led to widespread race riots
and the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan. The unemployed legionnaires of ancient Rome
supported numerous overthrows for the right price. The janissaries in Ottoman Turkey did
the same thing. What would happen to unemployed stormtroopers? Are they going to work

desk jobs, be subjected to slavery, or walked one by one off a plank into the Sarlacc Pit?
That creates new worries economic recessions, slave revolts, or indigestion.
Converting factories from wartime to peacetime production is tricky, as well.
Though it doesn't show this explicitly, we can assume that the military industrial complex
in the Star Wars universe isn't focused in one location. We see clone soldiers being created
on Kamino, but Star Destroyers are presumably being built elsewhere they're not seen in
the same place. Some factories can reconfigure their wartime equipment to make peaceful
products Ford built B-24 Liberators during World War II, and cars afterward. Other
factories can rebrand their products for peaceful use Duct Tape, used extensively during
World War II, has done fairly well for itself in peacetime. However, some wartime
industries can be particularly resistant to change. The documentary Why We Fight looks at
the military-industrial complex in America and points out that many companies, when
they're granted a military contract, spread the operation out as far as they can
- windshields are produced in Kansas City, landing gear in San Antonio, electronics in
Seattle, engines in San Diego. This way, if the contract ever comes under threat by, say,
military budget cutbacks, there's a number of different geographic areas with potential job
losses ready to exert political pressure on their Congressmen to keep their particular
project off the chopping block. Dwight D. Eisenhower warned about this in his farewell
speech in 1960, and we haven't exactly dealt with the issue. Lockheed Martin, a leading
military contractor, had a stock price of $0.39 in April 1977, and a stock price of $224.72 at
the present time. So, investing $2000 in weapons in the 70s would make you a millionaire
today. That in America, one country on one world. Imagine that problem on an
interplanetary scale.
There's also the problem posed by the elimination of a common enemy. Use World
War II as an example for this again. By 1944, when it was fairly clear that the Allies were
going to win, we were already working to screw each other over. This was the year that a
couple B-29 bombers, the planes used to drop nukes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, had to
make emergency landings in Vladivostok in the Soviet Union. The Soviets secretly stole
those planes, reversed-engineered them, and rolled out the near-identical TU-4 in 1947.
There's also the uncomfortable issue of smuggling Nazi scientists out of Europe and using
their meaty brains to develop our space program if you want to cry bullshit on that, make
sure you never Google "Wernher von Braun." Russians were our allies in 1945 and our
enemies later on in 1945. Again, one war on one planet. Multiply to fit an entire galaxy.
Also, sweeping social changes have a tendency of following in the wake of warfare.
African-Americans became voters soon on the heels of the Civil War. Women became
voters on the heels of World War I. Draft-age eighteen-year-olds got the right to vote
during Vietnam. Winning the war against the Separatists/Trade Federation must have

resulted in some pretty sweeping social changes in the Star Wars galaxy, too. It led to the
creation of a galaxy-wide military power structure, complete with generals who made their
reputations by retaking entire planets. Imagine how much of a dick Douglas MacArthur
was, or better yet, Google him to find out for yourself. Extrapolate and multiply that
amount of dickishness to fit this scale. There are going to be millions of clone soldiers and
weapons factory workers that are suddenly going to be out of jobs unless the situation is
carefully managed. And what's more frightening to the powerful than an angry population
of poor people who know how to make or use weapons?
Here's where we get into the tin-foil hat stuff, because here's where I'm supposing
that Palpatine, instead of ending a war and trying to deal with the consequences, just
replaces it with another war. Soldiers can keep fighting, factories can keep producing,
generals can keep emitting foul stenches that can waft into royal nostrils. For this purpose,
the Rebel Alliance would be a perfect enemy. They're an intergalactic guerrilla army that
operates across planetary borders. Anyone can be a Rebel and, more importantly, any
troublemaker can be arrested and labeled a Rebel before either being shipped off to some
asteroid-based Gulag or just dumped down a trash chute.
A forever war is a justification for the maintenance of the status quo. If the Rebel
Alliance has bases on different planets, or if people can be convinced that they do, it would
justify the need to keep an occupying force of Stormtroopers on the ground. "We're chasing
Rebel scum" can be the excuse to move Imperial Star Destroyers and Stomtroopers to any
remote location. The galaxy will still need soldiers, generals, and weapons. Since a state of
emergency still exists, there's no reason for Palpatine to step down.
Moreover, the way that the war between the Empire and Alliance is waged is bound
to create some Rebels, but more neutrals. It's tough to imagine with the way that our
history textbooks are written, but the majority of Americans during the Revolution were
neutral. They didn't care if you wore a blue coat, a red coat, or if you were hob-nobbing
with a ponytailed Mel Gibson. Just living in the wilderness was hard enough, and they
didn't want to make things more difficult by shooting at other people (unless they were
Native Americans). It's easy to see that in the Star Wars universe, life is plenty difficult on
many of the planets involved. Also, look at the consequences of taking up one side or
another. In four films, five planet-sized bodies were destroyed (Alderaan, Death Star 1,
Death Star 2, Hosnian Prime, Starkiller Base), and two more were likely destroyed, because
you probably can't blow up a Death Star in orbit around Yavin or Endor without killing all
life on the planets below. Blow up a Death Star into dust, and it'll block out the sun, causing
a rather long winter; bigger chunks and you suddenly have dinosaur-extinction-sized
asteroids flying in every direction. If picking the wrong horse in a race leads to the
destruction of the planet you're standing on, you'll see fewer gamblers. As long as the war

against the Rebel Alliance continues, the "stay the course" rationale can be rolled out, and
any political or social change can be forestalled.
This theory is supported in philosophy and literature. Emile Durkheim wrote a
treatise on society and crime where he posited that crime is necessary to a society and a
government. The existence of crime implicitly justifies the power that we give to our
government. James Madison wrote in The Federalist #51 that, "If men were angels, no
government would be necessary." The existence of devils, or at least of devilish behavior,
reminds people of why a government is necessary. It's the same reason why there's The
Purge in that movie I can't remember the name of. Allowing people to commit crimes one
day a year reminds people of the good that the government does the other 364. It's
an implicit reminder that, "For this one day, we don't tell you to become monsters, we tell
you that we won't punish you for being monsters, and look what happens." If there was no
crime, why would people pay taxes for the police? If there was no war, why would we pay
taxes for our defense budget? The existence of a guerrilla movement that commits violent
acts in remote locations is a good justification for keeping an interstellar military
establishment intact and fully-funded.
This also connects to the main principles of Orwell's 1984.
War is peace by fighting the Rebel Alliance, most of the galaxy's inhabitants either
actively support the Empire or stay neutral. Either way, they're not fighting it out
amongst themselves when one of the combatants has the ability to destroy entire
planets.

Freedom is slavery when the Republic existed, it was every planet for themselves.
Inequality was rampant, and the Trade Federation could boss planets around without
much interference from the government. When they submit themselves to the Empire,
they gain the protection Imperial fleet and all of its Star Destroyers, AT-ATs, storm
troopers, and Death Stars and don't have to worry about providing for their own
planetary defense.

Ignorance is strength people don't question the Empire's motives, which gives the
Empire the strength to hold onto their power.

How does this explain the Star Wars films?

First, the Stormtroopers. They appear to be a mix between clones and recruits. The
officers have different appearances, although the Stormtroopers appear to have a fairly
standard appearance. Hence Leia's comment in A New Hope of "Aren't you a little short to
be a Stormtrooper?" Clones would appear to be a good choice for cannon fodder no

families to notify in the event of untimely deaths, no political backlash from casualty
counts, and their training can be customized to suit their environment. Moreover, if the
folks in Kamino that handle the cloning can genetically enhance the clones' effectiveness,
they could also remove these "cheat codes" to make the new clones closer to normal
humans. They could reverse the accelerated growth rates so the new clones would take
longer to get ready, but would then have a longer service career. If this sounds like bullshit
to those of you who watched The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels, which suggest that the
modern Stormtroopers are all human recruits, read the following summary of the clone
troopers I'm paraphrasing from the fan sites: "The genetically modified clone soldiers were
elite and completely loyal to Palpatine, which is why Palpatine ordered them to be phased
out and replaced by normal humans." Doesn't THAT sound like bullshit? Does Palpatine
seem like the kind of guy who would worry about the ethical implications of human
cloning, or would replace a personal army of mass-produced and fanatically loyal super
soldier clones with dumbass humans and their pesky emotions? I think it's more likely that
the clones were rendered closer to normal so they wouldn't defeat the Rebel Alliance too
quickly. The command structure of normal humans could be kept as is.
Next, the Jedi and the Sith. The Jedi seek to restore the Republic and freedom, and
the Sith seek to create and sustain the Empire and subjugation. But, looking back to the
"freedom is slavery" argument from 1984 discussed earlier, we can understand potential
Sith motivations that aren't entirely evil. The Republic that the Jedi fought for was
inherently unfair, and the Senate that represented it was weak and corrupt. The state of
"freedom" that existed under Republic was the state of nature, with everyone against
everyone. The Empire is dictatorial and unfair from the standpoint of constitutional
liberties, but it's effective. There's peace between different planets, and the only enemy is
the Rebel Alliance. The Jedi have to be destroyed because they would restore the galaxy to
the state of "freedom" and weakness that existed under the Republic.
Now, the Rebel Alliance. They're fake. As in, they're double-agents who work for the
Empire. This doesn't mean that they all know they're double agents. Many double agents
are unaware that they're double agents. Look at The Americans, the FX series about Soviet
spies in America during the 1980s. One of the Soviet spies, Phillip, poses as an American
government representative investigating the FBI. Using that cover, he recruits Martha, a
secretary in the FBI office (sex is involved, because reasons). From Martha's point of view,
she is helping the American government, but all of her information is instead getting
funneled to Moscow. She's an unintentional Soviet spy. Most of the rank-and-file Rebels
(Wedge Antilles, Porkins, Nien Nubh) will fight and die thinking that they're part of the
actual Rebel Alliance. However, their real mission is to continue the fight and justify the
continued existence of the Imperial power structure. A mission which was given to them by
Emperor Palpatine and carried out by the Rebel leadership.

It's not as if engineering a war to elevate or preserve his political status is beyond
Palpatine. He manipulated Count Dooku to engineer a Separatist revolt in one of the bad
Star Wars films. Manufacturing a guerrilla army out of nothing would be easy for him, both
logistically and ethically.
Now that we've explained the characters, let's look at the plot.
The first Death Star boils down to one of two possibilities. Both of these possibilities
do deal with the idea that the Death Star was an inside job (wake up, sheeple!) That is, the
Death Star was a sacrificial lamb either way and the plans were leaked. Sure, there
are flaws to that explanation, but I still prefer the flaws to that idea to the suspension of
disbelief that the A New Hope forces on us ("No, let's not attack it until we're sure it works."
"Hey look, a thermal exhaust port that will destroy the whole damn thing.")
The first possibility with the Death Star is that it's meant to serve as a reminder of
symbols. To the galaxy, the reminder that the Empire is a force worth having on your side,
since they have the logistical know-how to build a planet-sized weapons station and blast
other planets to rubble. Also, the reminder of the Rebel Alliance as a symbol of hope. The
Empire is evil, but there's already people out there fighting against them.
The second possibility has to deal with internal dissent within the Empire, meaning
that the first Death Star was a purge of sorts. The Imperial officers on the Death Star were
insubordinate - "I find your lack of faith disturbing" and all that. There's the chance that
Grand Moff Tarkin and those around him were viewed as a threat to Palpatine. Get him and
his network of followers in one place, slip the secret plans for that place out there, and
problem solved. Dictatorships actually have tons of purges. Joseph Stalin purged his rivals
out of the Communist Party, the military, and the Cheka/NKVD/KGB on a regular basis. His
agents found political rival Leon Trotsky in Mexico eleven years after he fled Russia and
stabbed him in the skull with an ice pick, so he took that shit pretty serious. Hitler purged
Ernst Rohm in the Night of Long Knives. Mao Zedong, Pol Pot, and Idi Amin all did the same
thing. If all the possible alternatives are dead, it's easy for people to stick with the devil
they know.
I'm a little more puzzled by the second Death Star, but still feel like it fits into this
narrative in a couple potential ways. The first is that this is Snoke's succession. Palpatine is
obviously not physically well. He's going to die soon and doesn't want the Empire to break
up upon his death like Alexander the Great's or King Lear's. The second Death Star is again
a sacrificial lamb, but it will leave the imperial infrastructure intact for the next leader.
The other possibility is that this is Palpatine's play to renege on the deal with the
Rebel Alliance. If the second Death Star is up and running, then people in the galaxy can

complain all the fucking want, but they and their planet will be reduced to dust. With an
operational Death Star and his rivals purged away, he doesn't have to deal with the
pretense of trickery anymore and just go with brute strength. The Empire with the Death
Star would be like America in the few brief years when we were the only country with the
nuclear bomb. We were diplomatically tough to deal with in those years because while the
carrot we offered was pretty sweet, the stick was fucking terrifying. It explains to me why
Palpatine would travel there in person, and why the entire Rebel Alliance would travel
there to stop him. It also explains to me how the Rebel Alliance morphed into the
Resistance in the Abrams universe the fight is serious now.
I think this could lead to some potentially interesting storylines in future episodes.
Some of the best conflicts in movie or real life are between those that have equally relatable
motivations. Apple versus the FBI led to many kitchen table debates, as will Team Iron Man
versus Team Captain America. This new story makes Luke and Han less one-dimensional
and more like 19th century figure John Brown, where half of the country believes him to be
a freedom fighter and martyr, and the other half thinks he was a terrorist. If Luke
Skywalker is told this entire story, would he choose the First Order and the greater good, or
the Resistance and his family? Is the weight of this story what's making Kylo Ren so goddamn emotional? Does this make Anakin's redemption at the end of Return of the Jedi seem
more like a betrayal in retrospect? What potential does the franchise have if this is the
basis for it?