7 Times The Rebellion Was Worse Than The Empire
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The original trilogy is pretty much the Holy Bible of Star Wars, and it’s the one thing that the vast majority of fans agree is great. Everyone knows the story, the heroic underdog Rebellion fights against the powerful, oppressive Empire. However, this isn’t the whole story. It’s only about 98% of it. There are small details that show that although the Rebellion is still the good guys, there are some ways the Empire has an argument that holds water.
7. They Don’t Really Save Endor After Return Of The Jedi
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The Empire, for all their damage to other planets, really didn’t do any damage to Endor while building the second Death Star. They did not harm the forest, nor any of its residential Ewoks. They were just kind of there. However, after using the Ewoks as extra soldiers, with many Ewoks dying in the battle, they simply left the Death Star’s remains. Who knows how many Ewoks died afterwards, and both the damage and remains of the second Death Star were visible over 30 years later in The Rise of Skywalker.
6. They Don’t Provide Resources For Their Planets
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Something briefly mentioned in The Bad Batch was that the Empire did something that no other government did for some people - it provided for them. It’s even explained here that one trooper sees the Empire as the only government body willing to give him the decency of a paycheck, food, and shelter, so you can understand why he fights for them.
If this guy feels that way, it’s clear that others do. However, the rebellion, at least in its early days, didn’t provide these resources. While this was because of the need to support the war against the Empire, leaving millions or billions of people hungry and without a roof over their heads can turn their life upside down. At least they don’t kill the people helping them though, right?
5. They Shoot Their Own Informants And Outside Help
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When hiring outside help, the Empire does a better job of giving their freelance workers their deserved pay than the Rebellion. Remember the scene in Rogue One where Cassian Andor was introduced, and he shot his own informant in the back? Yeah, you could argue that such an action was needed and the reality of war, but it showed that the Rebellion can see its hired help as expendable. Now contrast that to Vader. Despite showing a lack of respect for the safety of his own employees and having a body count that dwarves Cassian’s, when he hires external help, he gets them paid. Despite being able to choke out Boba on the spot, he gives Boba his prize of a frozen Han and even offers to compensate Boba if he captures Han properly. So if you’re any type of freelancer, the Empire would treat you better.
4. Terrible Treatment Of Droids
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Staying on the topic of Rogue One, let’s look at the lovably hilarious droid K-2S0. A reprogrammed Imperial droid who because of his reprogramming now serves the Rebel Alliance. Wait, what? K-2S0, a living, thinking, bre…ventilating being had his mind completely redesigned to change his allegiance. That’s pretty messed up. Also, remember at the end of Revenge of The Sith where C-3P0’s mind was wiped because of reasons? This was an order given by Bail Organa, someone held up as a hero to the rebellion. At least they respect the free will of people though, right?
3. Jedi Mind Tricks Override Free Will
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I really don’t think I need to get too into this. Obi-Wan manipulates a stormtrooper into letting him, Luke, R2, and the previously mentioned mind-wiped 3P0 go past. A couple of movies later, Luke follows in his mentor’s footsteps, mind tricking Bob Fortuna into letting Jabba speak to him. While neither of these uses is of particular malice, it should be a red flag as to what else they can do. Anything is on the table for these. While there’s no documentation of the rebellion asking Luke “go trick the leader of that planet to let us rule them,” it is something they could do if they wanted. Which is scary. Imagine what criminals and terrorists could do with this power.
2. They’re Criminals And Terrorists
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While lawful=good, criminal=bad is a vast oversimplification, it’s safe to say that as a general rule, laws exist for a reason. They create stability in the world (or galaxy), and although the Empire wasn’t exactly granting people their freedoms, things were certainly stable. Each ‘daring attack’ that the rebellion was doing, regardless of intent was technically a terrorist attack. When combined with the above points, terrorists with the potential of them can get a lot of people killed. Could you imagine if these just made it easier for someone else to take over and kill everyone?
1. They Assisted In Weakening The Galaxy For The Yuuzhan Vong
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For those not in the know, this is exclusively Legends material. Just over 20 years after the Empire fell, the galaxy is invaded by a group of warlike beings from a different galaxy called the Yuuzhan Vong. These terrifying creatures attacked the galaxy starting a war killing 365 trillion sentients and doing irreversible damage to many planets, including Coruscant. No, that’s not a typo, I wrote trillion with a “T”. This may seem incidental but in Destiny’s Way, one of the nineteen novels telling the story of the invasion, the Vong even admit that they never would have been able to overpower the Empire. It’s even known in Legends that Grand Admiral Thrawn was doing what he was doing to stop the Vong because he knew what they were capable of.
Oh well, at least the Rebellion/New Republic did everything else right.
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Source(s): Wookieepedia