Profiles of Villainy: Rae Sloane

Star Wars

Feb 19

Rae Sloane, Grand Admiral, leader of the First Order for some period of time, has been discussed before on CultureSlate in several different capacities.

But her full story, or at least as full a story as we can tell, hasn’t ever been detailed. We also haven’t gone into greater detail of her villainy, but today, both of those blind spots will be handled. So join us, as we look at Rae Sloane, one of the longest-present characters

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Background

Originally born on the planet Ganthel, Rae Sloane came to respect the Galactic Empire when they helped to clear out local criminal organizations. She had always desired to leave her world behind so quickly joined a naval academy, beginning her education and first steps offworld. Soon, she was a lieutenant, and it was here she had her first brush with some of the biggest names in the galaxy.

During what should have been a routine ferrying mission of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader between locations, Rae Sloane’s teacher Commandant Baylo attempted to run his ship into a star to kill the Emperor due to how Palpatine had changed the Republic and its naval forces. However, Sloane had made her own hyperspace jump calculations, and after an intervention from Vader, made the correct jump based on her own work instead of Baylo’s. She then found Baylo’s dead body in his office, having been killed by Darth Vader for his attempted assassination.

Over the coming years, Sloane would make her way up to the rank of commander, and come to serve under Wilhuff Tarkin onboard the Executrix, his personal Star Destroyer. Soon promoted to captain, she was assigned to Count Vidian’s mission to the Gorse system. There, she encountered Kanan Jarrus, Hera Syndulla and others, and was pushed to more closely investigate the Count.

Learning how he fabricated data to suit his whims, and learning his ongoing operation would devastate Gorse, Sloane intervened and tried to stop him. She failed, but the delay was enough time for Kanan, Hera and their team to make their own move, and Vidian was killed. Sloane came out of the whole mess unscathed, and appreciated by many in power for exposing Vidian’s lies.

She continued to climb the ranks of the Imperial Navy over time, but she also continued to look into Kanan, as he had lied to her by claiming he was an Imperial agent. Tracking him down on one occasion shortly after Ezra joined the Spectres, he slipped through her fingers. But this time, the Grand Inquisitor intervened to acquire everything she had learned about Kanan. For allowing Kanan to escape her, she was demoted down to commander, and from here, there are a series of smaller stories and a great deal of confusion about what her rank was, when.

But her biggest moment came at Endor. Now serving as an admiral, she was the highest ranking Imperial still alive after the Executor went down, and the Death Star II was destroyed. She ordered a retreat, though vowed to carry on the fight. She was soon roped into the efforts of Imperial remnants to hold onto power and push the surging New Republic back. A mysterious figure, Gallius Rax, came to command a great deal of sway among these remnants, though he went by the shadowy title of “Operator” at this time. Sloane was present on Akiva for a summit seeking to properly plan out a succession plan for the Empire featuring several other notable Imperials, but a series of freak events resulted in a small band of Rebels learning of the summit and managing to stop it, capturing some members of the group while others, like Sloane, fled. She soon became a public face representing the remainders of the Empire after this, but Gallius Rax was making moves in the background.

Unnerved by his considerable growing power, Sloane tried to learn more about Rax, traveling to Coruscant and realizing he was a dangerous mystery element with ties to Palpatine. She resolved to eliminate him, but the birth of the Shadow Council, and him revealing to her that he knew of her intentions stopped her. However, his continued manipulations, and Sloane realizing that Gallius had been feeding important information to the New Republic, she tried to stymy his efforts by claiming she was the Operator to the New Republic and calling for peace talks. They agreed, but these efforts were sabotaged by Gallius, framing the now-Grand Admiral for an attack on Chandrila. This forced Sloane on the run with an unlikely ally, a former Rebel who wanted to kill Gallius. They spent weeks investigating leads, but eventually traveled to the world of Jakku, where Sloane learned more about Gallius’ background.

Captured by Rax on-world prior to the Battle of Jakku, Sloane was disgusted by what she saw as the corruption of the Galactic Empire by a man like Rax, who had child soldiers and had them murder stormtroopers to prove the merit of his methods to Sloane and her ex-Rebel ally. But Sloane escaped capture, and killed Rax herself, though with his dying breath, Rax gave her the information needed to find the remnants of the Empire that would one day become the First Order.

Abilities/Skills

Sloane had many traits that helped her throughout her life, but the biggest has to be her relentless drive. She was promoted to captaincy at a relatively young age compared to her counterparts in the Imperial Navy, and she had a truly meteoric rise. But it wasn’t a rise without setbacks, but these did not deter Sloane in the slightest as she worked to regain her lost positions and then further surpass them. This drive also appeared after she was betrayed by Gallius Rax, and had to operate outside of the bounds of the Imperial Military, investigating his origins herself and pushing through obstacles to reach her goal of killing the man. In this, she succeeded, like she had for so much of her life.

Sloane had a range of other skills too, such as her leadership ability. Wherever she went, she inspired loyalty in those who served her, and even when their loyalties were divided, they made it known to her that she still held their respect. It was only Gallius and those others rabidly fanatical to his ideas that resisted her ability to command that sort of respect. She was also resourceful and able to adapt to changing situations, serving her well on the battlefield, and beyond the arena of war when she had limited resources.

Acts of Villainy

Sloane is one of the more complex characters to discuss when it comes to villainy because her narrative, and her conflicts, set her up to be a “good Imperial.” The birth of the Galactic Empire greatly reduced crime in certain sections of the galaxy, and like many other Imperials, Sloane greatly admired the Empire for this since it helped on a local level. She saw them as a force bringing order, efficiency and civility to the galaxy, and joined them because she felt that what they were doing was right. Her conflicts, against figures like Count Vidian, saved lives, and help paint Sloane in a positive light given the greater, more menacing villainy of some of these other figures.

But as The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire discusses, and how other unspoken facts also imply, this idea is something of a fantasy. Just because Sloane prevented Vidian’s plan, doesn’t mean she would have stopped it if had the sanction of the Emperor, and un-forged credentials. She was part of an Empire that committed numerous atrocities and crimes to which she was doubtlessly party to given her very long career in the Imperial Military. Her actions during the Aftermath Trilogy also still saw her leading military forces in conflicts against a shifting tide across the galaxy, against growing popular support for the New Republic, and a narrative choice was made to completely remove her from this scenario to focus on a more personal, anti-Palpatine sycophant crusade. She succeeds, but what happens next is even worse in some ways.

While it is impossible to pin every action, policy or choice to Sloane with regard to the First Order, she did lead the group for a substantial period of time. Of the nearly 30 years they remained hidden in the Unknown Regions, novels and timelines suggest she was only removed near the end of this span of time, putting her in charge for much of the reshaping of ragged Imperial remnants into the First Order. This was a group who committed brainwashing on an unheard of scale, conditioning their soldiers ruthlessly in line with the ideas of Brendol Hux, a man she despised yet clearly continued to work with and accept his harsh training doctrines. The First Order also abducted the children of many notable Rebel heroes, such as Lando Calrissian, as a warning to keep them quiet and uninvolved as the group slowly began to seep back into the wider galaxy. Such an event could not have been ordered without her knowledge, unless it was the actions of the Final Order.

Even so, despite her time in the Galactic Empire and the stories she has been part of so far, Sloane’s villainy comes from helping shape the First Order into the brutal machine of espionage and military might it was when it returned to the wider galaxy.

Final Act

After the Battle of Jakku, Sloane escaped into the Unknown Regions with Brendol Hux, his son Armitage and the child soldiers he had trained for Rax. During the voyage, Sloane asserted herself and defended Armitage from his abusive father, and they ultimately rendezvoused with the Super Star Destroyer Eclipse. But this is where the article takes a turn, because we don’t actually know the final act of Rae Sloane.

This is one of the vaguest areas of Star Wars canon at the moment. While we know Snoke took over the First Order at some point, and there has been the suggestion he eliminated figures in power who stood in his way, we don’t actually know if Sloane was one of them. She certainly was in charge of the First Order for a long time, so we can’t “blame” the character of the organization on just Snoke’s influence, because she was present and leading it for likely a majority of its lifetime. If this writer had to guess, Snoke did end up killing her but before that, Sloane helped build a terrifying new iteration of the Empire that would go on to become a scourge against the wider galaxy.

Notable Appearances

Below is a list of some of the notable stories in which Rae Sloane has appeared. We encourage people to check them out if they have any interest in this long lasting character of Star Wars canon!