Skip to main content

star wars - In Episode VI, what did the good guys really accomplish since the bad guys are back stronger in Episode VII?


At the end of Return of the Jedi, the Death Star and the Sith boss(es) are killed and everyone is happy.


But thirty years later in The Force Awakens it seems like the new bad guys are bigger and stronger than ever. What did the Jedi and the light side of the Force really accomplish?



Answer



The Rebel Alliance destroyed the Death Star II and the Sith were defeated, leading to the eventual defeat of the Empire. The Empire was forced to sign the Galactic Concordance, which limited the territory of the Empire and brought peace to the galaxy. The Empire was replaced with the New Republic which was more free like the Old Republic. Ultimately, this gave the galaxy about 30 years of peace and freedom from an evil tyrant with the power to destroy whole planets with the Death Star II.


Unfortunately, history repeats itself. The pacifists in the New Republic rested on their laurels and disarmed themselves, similar to how the pacifists in the Old Republic opposed the Military Creation Act right up until the minute the Republic discovered that the Separatists were massing a huge droid army which they could use to attack the Republic. In some cases, the same pacifists were responsible for disarming the "good guys" before both wars (e.g. Mon Mothma). Disarming the New Republic allowed the hardliner remnant of the Empire (which formed the First Order) to re-arm and strengthen themselves again. Only a small group from the New Republic remained armed and prepared to fight the First Order: the Resistance.



Had the New Republic not disarmed itself, the galaxy might have enjoyed peace and freedom for more than just 30 years. Si vis pacem, para bellum.


As for the light vs. dark side of the Force, even Yoda admits in Episode V that the future is constantly changing:



Always in motion is the future.



The light and dark sides of the Force are constantly fighting for control. The light side was in control during the Old Republic, then the dark side gained control during the Empire. The light side regained control at the end of Episode VI, and now the light and the dark are fighting for control again.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Do the Kwikspell courses work?

In Harry Potter we are introduced to Kwikspell course in The Chamber of Secrets (and never hear about it again). We see Filch taking courses, presumably by mail. The descriptions of Kwikspell make me think it is for people who are weak in magic (kind of like how Neville was supposed to be when he was younger), but had magic in them nonetheless. However, Ron's comments later in the chapter make it sound like it is mainly for Squibs to learn magic. However, it is strongly implied through out all the books that Squibs are essentially Muggles, and will never be able to do magic. How then is a Kwikspell course supposed to work? Do we have any information to know if it works at all? Is it a scam? An answer from any level of canon is welcome. Answer Kwikspell courses are (probably) useful to some wizards, but not to squibs. The Kwikspell course literature comes with two testimonials. Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes: ‘I had no memory for incantations and my potions were a family joke...

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.

languages - Do we ever see written English in the Star Wars films?

In Empire Strikes Back , we see a transcription of what R2's beeps and bloops mean, but it's not English (sorry for the low quality, it's from the 2004 DVDs): I'd assume it's what Basic looks like when written, but is there some point in the the Star Wars films we see written English instead? (This sort of spun off from a discussion in How do people understand astromech droids? .) Answer At one point there was English but it has been phased out in subsequent versions of the films. Chris Gould at DVD Active did a comparison of all versions of each of the Star Wars films, and in his comparison of Episode 4 , there are a couple of screenshots showing how the power gauge for the Death Star tractor beam was changed. I imagine there are probably more to be found in his other comparisons but I haven't got around to reading those yet.

Was the "pure soul" of Harry's what had really hurt Voldemort?

In the Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort possesses Harry, and it hurts. Greatly. I think that Dumbledore explained that it was because Voldemort's rotten soul was incapable of assimilating Harry's pure soul, that Voldemort didn't understand the love and friendship etc that Harry has in his heart. But, I think it was a lie. Remember that in Deathly Hallows, while looking for information regarding Horcruxes, it is discovered that it is in fact possible to merge a soul fragment back, but that the process was extremely painful. Now then, if Voldemort tried to possess Harry, and Harry had a fragment of Voldemort's soul, I think that it could have been the true cause of Voldemort's pain: the fact of having his soul so close of another fragment. I think that Dumbledore knew that fact, but had to lie to Harry because it was inappropriate to let him know that he had one of Voldemort's soul fragments at the moment. Is that right? Or was it truly the pure soul of Harry's...