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Star Warshas divulge why the First Order is even speculative than the Empire . When Lucasfilm launched the sequel trilogy in 2015 , viewers were deal aback that the villains were basically the Empire 2.0 . TheFirst Orderwore the same uniform , they had the same love of superweapons , and their armada was composed of Star Destroyers to boot .
From an out - of - cosmos perspective , this was because Lucasfilm felt they needed to appeal to nostalgia to persuade fansStar Warswas safe in their hired hand . Little by little , the in - universe rationale has been put up ; the First Order was established by Imperial loyalists who had survived the fall of the Empire and reorganize in the Unknown Regions . Star Wars : The Rise of Skywalkerfurtherrevealed the First Order was the brainchild of the Emperorhimself , who had survived his death inReturn of the Jedi . This explained why even the aesthetics were so like . Still , Alexander Freed ’s late association - in novelShadow Fallhas revealed the First Order should be catch as far worse than the Empire .
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After his last , Palpatine sent out Sentinel droids to conduct instruction to his most patriotic Imperials . He ordinate them to beginOperation Cinder , a scorch - earth policy that wreaked havoc across the galaxy . innumerable worlds were pull down , with the New Republic desperately attempting to preclude legion acts of racial extermination . As horrific as this may be , it was a masterstroke on Palpatine ’s part , fulfil many use at once . One of the most sinister was - from the Emperor ’s perspective - to refine the Empire down to its most loyal soldiers and commander . After Operation Cinder , the only ones left would be those who had participated in unspeakable repulsion ; anyone with a sense of right and wrong would have defect . And these overzealous , base loyalists were the ace who establish the First Order .
In the true , Palpatine had belike been " refining " the Empire in this way since the wipeout of Alderaan in the originalStar Wars . As reveal in Claudia Gray’sLost Stars , most imperial had believed the Tarkin Doctrine , that theDeath Starwould stimulate such fright across the galaxy that it would never be used . Then it was sack ; on Jedha , Scarif , and in the end on Alderaan . The last casing in particular shook many Imperials to the core , causing them to defect . Still , even after Alderaan they had told themselves the Empire was blemished but still a force for good . They had weigh the Death Star to be Tarkin ’s foolery , and usurp it would never be echo . Then they learned a second Death Star had been build in the Endor system . The Second Death Star ’s mere existence caused more defections than its destruction and even the Emperor ’s destruction .
But it is one thing to be part of a cruel regime ; it is another to perpetrate that ferociousness on an harebrained Emperor ’s orders . Operation Cinder coerce every Imperial soldier and commandant to resolve whether or not to obey their Emperor , even to the point of practice racial extermination . When Operation Cinder was over , any good gentleman left had been buy beyond redemption because of the horrors they had taken part in .
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