A few years ago now, details began leaking
out from the Unknown Regions. They spoke of rumors that as the Galactic
Civil War came to a close, a cadre of Imperial officers, nobles and technologists escaped
with some of the Empire’s most powerful military equipment. Together, they vowed to rebuild their fallen
Empire in secret, under the direction of a mysterious individual known only as Snoke. I have to say, this seemed really interesting
and I was intrigued. The background of what would become known
as The First Order suggested it was poised to learn from the failures of the Galactic
Empire and emerge stronger and greater than its predecessor. I also hoped that it might raise some interesting
questions, bring a degree of moral complexity to the galaxy, and become a dangerous, effective
and unique form of government, different to what we’ve seen before. And if it looked cool while doing it, all
the better. But now, with the rise and fall of the First
Order now complete and its story seemingly over, comes the opportunity to ask, did it
live up to expectations? On this episode of Incoming, I’m going to
argue that the answer was a resounding “no”. Now obviously when it comes to analyzing whether
the nations, factions, and organizations of alternate worlds “work” or “don’t
work” it ultimately comes down to your personal opinion. And your criteria for judging such things
might be very different from mine. So all I can do is try to explain my rationale
as best I can. With the First Order, there’s a few things
I’m looking at. The first is, whether it’s internally consistent,
does it make sense within the universe it inhabits. The second is, do I find the First Order to
be interesting, does it raise intriguing ideas or just have an awesome aesthetic. And between these two broad categories, the
second is probably more important, I’m willing to forgive inconsistencies, ridiculous elemenets,
or just stupid details, if they’re outweighed by a compelling backstory and some original
concepts. Well, the First Order’s biggest flaw in
both these categories is that there’s still very little known about what it actually is. I have nothing against a bit of mystery, but
the nature of its capabilities, its weaknesses and even its goals are so ambiguous that the
First Order comes off a bit incoherent. What actually was the First Order? It’s been described as a military junta,
a hermit state, rump state, and a true galactic power. And in a way, it was all these things, but
how it transitioned between them all is a bit confusing. It simultaneously remained hidden in the Unknown
Regions, but also annexed star systems across the galaxy. It was distrustful of the Sith, but then joins
the Sith Eternal? Was that always part of the plan? Did Palpatine create both? Is the Sith Eternal a part of the First Order? What does that relationship look like? While some explanations have been put forward
to give the First Order and Sith Eternal more coherency, these explanations often just make
the situation murkier and very difficult to understand. The result feels mostly like a bunch of incongruous
ideas held together by duct tape. And this is a major problem. Why is it impressive that the Resistance triumphed
over the First Order when I still don’t really understand that they triumphed over. But according to the sources currently available,
the basic premise of the First Order is this. Those Imperial officials who escaped into
the Unknown Regions, did so at the behest of Emperor Palpatine who had laid forth a
series of plans to be carried out in the event of his death. Previously within the Unknown Regions, Palpatine
had secretly ordered the construction of numerous bases, shipyards and laboratories. Their purpose was twofold, to create a force
powerful enough to reconquer the galaxy, and to restore Palpatine to life through ancient
dark sciences. Many of those involved in the plan were unaware
of the influence of Sith, or that they were acting according to Palpatine’s own design. As the First Order grew in strength and began
influencing similar Imperial holdouts outside of the Unknown Regions, the New Republic eventually
learned of its existence. The Republic dismissed the First Order as
a hermit state, unable to affect interstellar politics in any meaningful way. But it did attract growing numbers of Imperial
sympathisers, people that the New Republic was happy to be rid of. Eventually, a political faction within the
New Republic known as the Centrists led several star systems, including Coruscant and Kuat,
to secede from the New Republic and join the First Order. Simultaneously, Snoke, a mysterious force
user genetically engineered by the reborn Emperor Palpatine, took command of the First
Order as it’s Supreme Leader. The connection between Snoke and Palpatine
was kept secret, with only a select few in the First Order aware that Palpatine had been
restored. The First Order initiated its campaign against
the New Republic by utilizing Starkiller Base, a planet-turned superweapon reminiscent of
the Death Star to destroy the Hosnian system, and cripple the Republic’s leadership and
military. Within days, Starkiller Base had been destroyed,
but the First Order’s fleets and armies had conquered much of the galaxy. The death of Snoke and the destruction of
the Supremacy, the First Order’s largest starship and mobile base of operations, left
the First Order overstretched. When Palpatine revealed himself to the galaxy,
he tried to sway the new Supreme Leader of the First Order, Kylo Ren by promising a fleet
of Xyston class Star Destroyers, each planet killers in their own right. Kylo Ren refused this offer and command of
the First Order fell to a few individuals privy to Palpatine’s plans. But after a battle at a hidden Sith stronghold,
the whole organization was destroyed by a galactic wide uprising over the course of
a few days. Okay, so I had to fill a few gaps there myself,
but I think that’s pretty accurate and there’s a lot to unpack there. And going back to my first criteria, how can
you judge ifFirst Order is internally consistent and believable. Well a little exercise I do when analyzing
alternate worlds, is to reframe their histories as if they happened here on Earth. If they make sense, or at least seem slightly
plausible in our world, I’m more willing to accept them as believable in theirs. So, how would I retell the story of the First
Order as if it happened here on Earth? Okay, so lets say after World War 2, fascist
sympathisers escaped to a remote area of the world long thought inaccessible and relatively
unexplored. Our version of the Unknown Regions, let’s
say Antarctica. Thankfully, the German High Command secretly
had built a massive industrial base here, so these fascists were not only able to survive,
but rebuild their military and society. The victorious Allies eventually learn about
this, but dismiss it, as they have their own problems, and who cares about a few Nazis
at the South Pole. This new fascist state calls itself the First
Order, and people from across the defeated Axis Powers head to Antarctica to join it. Eventually, Germany, Italy, and Japan leave
the United Nations and join the First Order as well. The Allies continue to dismiss the First Order,
even as its agents try to undermine them. Oh and wouldn’t you know it, an enormous
military has also been built in Antarctica, which completely conquers the United Nations
within days of the outbreak of war. Then, at some point a couple years later,
a bunch of random citizens show up and overthrow the whole regime. Now of course, this isn’t an exact parallel
to what happened between Palpatine’s First Order and the New Republic, and those differences
might make some things more or less plausible. But overall, if you accept the merit of this
analogy, does the First Order still make sense, or seem even remotely believable? I don’t really think so, even if you give
the First Order a lot of leeway, there are just too many unanswered questions. How was the First Order able to build such
a technologically advanced force outside of galactic civilization? How was Snoke able to take political control
over a nation when only a select few knew his true nature? Why was the Republic so unwilling to confront
the First Order, even when it annexes some of the most politically connected worlds in
the galaxy, like Kuat, center of the Republic’s military industrial complex? This last point I might be able to give a
bit of latitude to. After all, appeasement has led to disastrous
consequences in our world, and a very similar thing is happening between the First Order
and New Republic. The difference though, is in the scale of
what's being given up. These are not disputed border regions or pro-First
Order rump states, these are some of the most critically important locations in the galaxy,
presumably with enormous influence and power within the New Republic. The profound impact of losing these star systems,
not to mention all the other territories, is so far-reaching, that giving them up without
a fight is criminally negligent and something no government could allow without losing the
entirety of their credibility. When I first read about this part of the First
Order’s history, it seemed so completely strange and out of place to me. Not only does it seem unrealistic, but it
also appeared to contradict the basic premise of the First Order, that it was this isolated
state on the frontier, dismissed by the rest of the galaxy. But no, it apparently controls the historical
galactic capital either directly or through some sort of pupper group. And you know, I’m willing to accept the
odd implausible or impractical element. Implausible things do happen. But when every element of the First Order’s
backstory is unconvincing and stretches the believability of the entire universe, the
suspension of disbelief becomes harder to maintain. And this isn’t to say there isn’t some
explanation out there that can tie all these discordant elements together, but I haven’t
come across it yet. So much of the success of the First Order
seems to come from luck, rather than its own ingenuity or efforts. Its survival and success is only possible
because the New Republic, a nation born out of a decades long struggle against a brutal
autocratic regime, repeatedly ignored and refused to confront another brutal autocratic
regime. If the New Republic had leadership willing
to act in its own defense, Palpatine’s plans would have only lasted for a few hours. This leads me to my second criteria. Do I find the First Order interesting, does
it have cool ideas? Well, on this one I’m going to say “kinda”. At the most basic level, the idea of a cabal
of high-level Imperial Officers fleeing to the Unknown Regions to restore the Empire
sounds awesome. I love the premise, but as I’ve just said,
its outlandish nature necessitates a lot of explanation as to how this was all possible,
which I just don’t think the First Order has. And it fails to build on many of the interesting
ideas it raises. But at the basic level, for the First Order
to be interesting and score a high grade on the “cool factor”, it would need to be
intimidating, effective, resourceful, and show some level of evolution from the Galactic
Empire. Unfortunately, I don’t find it to have any
of these things. Any regular viewers of The Templin Institute
will know that I’m a sucker for governments and political structures. I feel like one of the best ways for the First
Order to show its intimidating nature and evolution from the Galactic Empire, is for
its national structure to be a bit more efficient and reflect the new circumstances the nation
finds itself within. Yet, the First Order’s leadership structure
is not only crude in its design, but weakened by the highest individuals within it. The position of Supreme Leader seems to have
unlimited authority, but there is no procedure established to ensure a continuity of government. When Snoke is killed, power is transferred
to Kylo Ren, the man who killed him and everyone just seems to go along with it. With no kind of legal authority, historical
precedence or established procedure, I think this move, if anything, delegitimized Kylo
Ren’s authority and that of the First Order as a whole. Political power, in every advanced state,
derives from the consent of the governed or at least the appearance of having the consent
of the governed. How can the First Order maintain the moral
high ground over the Republic it so desperately wants when its government is dictated by murder? The first Order is built on the idea that
centralized authority is necessary for a strong natrion, yet its highest leaders seem completely
fragile. Now you might rightfully ask, why I do care
so much about the succession of power within the First Order. They don’t seem like the type to be overly
concerned with constitutional procedure. Well, even if the First Order doesn't care
about keeping up the appearance of maintaining a legitimate government, there are two very
good reasons why they’d want a more stable system. The first, is that the Galactic Empire collapsed
when Palpatine was killed and there was no clear successor. If the First Order is supposed to be fixing
the mistakes of the Galactic Empire, that seems like a good one to start with. The second is, if Palpatine is secretly controlling
the First Order through Snoke, wouldn’t he want to make sure that if Snoke is killed
by his apprentice, or just dies in a speeder accident on the way to work, Palpatine can
retain that control. When Kylo Ren takes over, someone who wasn’t
aware of Palpatine’s return in the first place, Palpatine essentially needs to bargain
with Kylo for control over something that should have been his to begin with? The whole thing just feels strange. The remainder of the First Order leadership
seems to vacillate between agreeable yes men who display no independent thought, or secretive
insiders with a connection to Palpatine who act outside of the official hierarchy. This latter group, with the ascension of Kylo
Ren, now have greater insight into the nature of the First Order than the Supreme Leader
himself. What’s worse, is both Snoke and Kylo Ren
displayed a complete lack of leadership, belittling and physically assaulting their subordinates. Star Wars Clip Now I kinda get the idea here, what better
way to show how dangerous and powerful individuals like Snoke and Kylo Ren are? But the problem is, such displays are ultimately
childish and weaken the structure of the First Order as a whole. How are any of the officers under the command
of General Hux supposed to respect his authority when he is tossed around the room in front
of them? Armies and governments operate more effectively
when there is mutual respect across the ranks. Without that, the Chain of Command suffers,
individual performance suffers, and the First Order suffers. If either Snoke or Kylo Ren had tried to pull
this type of crap in the Galactic Empire, they would have been tossed out faster than
Director Krennic. Say what you want about Grand Moff Tarkin
or Grand Admiral Thrawn, these were men who knew how to command respect without acting
like a bully on a 4th grade playground. Even Darth Vader had the sense not to humiliate
his officers in front of their subordinates, but rather do so in private… well most of
the time anyways. An organization more concerned with efficiency,
integrity and morale over personal vendettas and intimidation, handles discipline very
differently. Star Trek Clip If the peacekeepers over at Starfleet Command
are enforcing better military discipline than your ultranationalist facist superstate, you
got a big problem. The Galactic Empire also had an issue with
relying too much on intimidation at the expense of efficiency, but at least with them they
had the good sense to direct it towards their enemies, rather than their own internal military
apparatus. Again, at least most of the time. But rather then drawing the conclusion from
the Empire that pure intimidation for the sake of intimidation makes more enemies than
it cows into submission, the First Order seems to have just taken things to the next level,
and this is epitomized in their Capital, or lack thereof. At the behest of Snoke, the capital of the
First Order was not a planet, but an enormous starship known as the Supremacy. In addition to being the headquarters of the
First Order’s military command, it housed shipyards, assembly lines, army training grounds,
research labs and all the civic infrastructure a capital requires. This doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Permanent, or in this case, stationary capitals
are efficient. If a capital is moving around the Unknown
Regions, then it becomes much more difficult to establish regular infrastructure and transit
routes between that capital and the planets of the First Order. Given that the Supremacy is also supposed
to be building ships and training armies, it would require a steady influx of recruits
and materials and fuel and food. But let’s assume that somehow, this is not
a problem, despite the fact the Supremacy is moving all over the place, First Order
bureaucracy is so good that this never poses a logistical problem. If we accept that premise, what exactly are
the benefits of this? Why does it need to move around? In the Medieval era in our world, roaming
capitals were a bit more common as there was no method of reliable long-distance communication. If a king wanted to hear from his subjects
and keep an eye on the kingdom, or vice versa, he needed to physically move to them. But since things like highways and radios,
or hyperspace lanes and comlinks were invented there’s really no purpose for it anymore,
at least from an efficiency standpoint. Again, Snoke is just weakening the First Order
for no real benefit that I can see. The only explanation I can think of, is that
maybe the First Order wanted to make it harder for their Capital to be targeted? But they already had a hidden base of power
within the Unknown Regions that the New Republic couldn’t find. And even if the New Republic could target
it, they don’t seem like the types that would want to build and fire a new Death Star. If you want to protect your capital, deploy
your fleets to make sure the enemy can’t get close to it. Worse still, is that while the Supremacy serves
as the First Order’s capital, it’s deployed and utilized as a warship. While the ship is certainly well armed, is
it really a good idea to have the center of government, all the highest officials, the
Department of Energy, Education, Justice, Labor, and whatever else makes up the executive
departments of the First Order, deployed to an active warzone? Can you imagine, however unlikely it might
be, what might happen to the First Order if somehow, in some way, the Supremacy was destroyed? Clip from Star Wars Congratulations, you’ve not only lost a
warship, but your entire government, every major ministry, ...the post office. Generally, centers of government, capital
cities, are the most strategically important targets in wartime. They are responsible for guiding the nation’s
war effort and keeping the civil administration intact. The most basic strategy is to protect your
capital, you don’t put it on wheels, or in this case attach a hyperdrive to it and
drive it towards the enemy. But moving on. One of the few ways in which it’s mentioned
that the First Order has supposedly improved on the structure of the Galactic Empire, was
by kidnapping children to create its Stormtrooper Corps. Rather than relying on untested conscripts,
the First Order would have an army trained from birth and entirely loyal. But this is not an improvement, in fact it
seems to be one of the most terribly unreliable, expensive, and provocative methods of raising
a military. One of the major benefits any autocratic society
has, is that it doesn’t need to try too hard to raise a professional army. All it needs to do is send out a letter saying,
you are in the army now, report to your mustering station. Total cost is what? 10 cents? The First Order, by contrast, needs to find
a planet, raid it, steal a bunch of children, indoctrinate them, make them forget their
past lives, and then really hope the Republic doesn’t find out about this or the story
doesn’t make the Galactic News. If the First Order is trying to convince a
bunch of star systems to leave the Republic and join them, getting caught stealing a bunch
of children to transform them into child soldiers is a bad look. It’s also just self-defeating. The First Order needs to conduct a military
operation so it can find the children it needs to be the soldiers for future military operations. I do understand what the First Order was trying
to achieve here. If they only control a scattered few planets
across the Unknown Regions, it probably doesn’t have a large population. To field large armies it would need some way
of making up for this disparity, but is there any other way, besides from kidnapping children? Is there maybe one, or potentially even two
different ways that a nation might raise an enormous army without relying on its own population? Clip from star wars of droids Before I move on from this, I want to bring
up one last point. When the Sith Fleet rose out of Exegol, some
lady in the First Order addressed these manpower issues and recommended stealing more children. What exactly was the plan there? Were they just gonna wait around for 10 years
for those children to grow up into soldiers? I can’t overstate just how stupid the First
Order’s recruitment policy was. With the amount of time and expense the First
Order must spend to raise armies it can’t afford to just throw them away. The Galactic Empire embraced a strategy of
overwhelming numbers, grinding down enemy resistance through a war of attrition. This made sense for a government that could
draw recruits from a million worlds, it doesn't make a ton of sense for the First Order, and
yet they seem to have embraced this exact same doctrine. For all their bluster, First Order Stromtroopers
seem comparable to their Imperial counterparts. The same with their Tie Fighters and other
starfighters. Only their Star Destroyers and largest walkers,
the traditional centerpieces of Imperial military forces, seem to have any qualitative advantage
over their Republic counterparts. What exactly did the First Order learn from
the Galactic Empire here? How to lose? I wish their stuff looked better too So, my point with all this is that while I
think the First Order had enormous potential, the details of how its government was run,
how its armies were mobilized, and all the nuances of its society were underwhelming. I wanted it to be intimidating and effective,
and instead it seems to been governed as inefficiently as possible, seemingly on purpose, and I don’t
find that very interesting. How impressive is it that the Rebellion overthrew
a regime that seemed destined to collapse on its own? What I find most disappointing with the First
Order, is that if things had been handled differently, it could have been an amazing
faction. I like the idea of a group of Imperial outcasts
who tried to improve on the failures of the Empire. I would have liked to have seen an autocratic,
centralized, militaristic society that fought the Republic as much with ideas as with Star
Destroyers. No version of the Republic was perfect, tolerating
slavery, piracy, and corruption. The First Order could have been a much more
morally grey alternative, tyrannical yes, but also stable and in some cases, more honest
and just then it’s rival. Normally this is where I’d end things, but
I’d like to try a bit of an experiment. It’s easy to criticize, but am I capable
of doing any better? Consider this the first of a two part series,
this Thursday, May 6th, I’ll be releasing a follow-up video where I’m going to redesign
the First Order. As if, through science or magic, I was somehow
put in charge of its development and had to come up with something both plausible and
interesting. Of course, this is all just my opinion, and
even though my voice is the only one in existence that can rise above the misguided chorus of
the masses whose only motive is to acquiesce to disorder, I’d like to hear what you think. Did you like the First Order? Did you find it plausible or interesting? Is kidnapping children actually a great way
to conscript an army? Let me know in the comments. This has been incoming.
Yeah the Empire is back because kylo ren needs grunts was never very convincing. I get that Star Wars needs villains but at least the Empire of the OT had a coherent objective and philosophy behind it.
Had so much potential for a great story, a story long time fans had clamored for and well deserved after over forty years of investiture and love.
And what we got a train wreck that makes the end of Game of Thrones look like Citizen Kane.