So regarding the Rebels and the Empire...

[Cortan]

If this is accurate, they are now the Resistance and the First Order respectively.

Thoughts?

Edit: A bunch of concepts and models further referencing the whole 'First Order' thing.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

Well, those saying the Empire is now known as the First Order are not entirely correct, IMO.

The Empire shatters after the Battle of Endor, as we know. To shatter means to break into multiple pieces. In this case, the Empire would have broken into multiple Empires. The First Order is likely one of those.

 

[Cortan]

Funny thing is, I actually came to that same conclusion elsewhere. It would also explain 'Resistance' rather than Rebellion - ie, they may actually be a more localised cell that's getting support from the larger Rebellion/New Republic, with the First Order being their local remnant to fight.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

New layer to this:

According to EA, the Battle of Jakku was fought between the Galactic Empire and... the New Republic.

 

[Jason Vaiken]

Huh... Was this before it devolved to the Moth's killing each other then?

 

[Cortan]

The battle of Jakku was one year after Endor

 

[Brandon Rhea]

I have two theories. One is pretty straight-forward: the rebels bought into their own Endor hype and believed that the Empire was more damaged than it was. They therefore declared a New Republic. The Empire fractured but the New Republic also failed.

Or, a bit more interestingly, my other theory is that the New Republic/Rebel Alliance was taken over by crazy people too and is now known as the First Order. So the Resistance was created, effectively having to start the war over from scratch.

 

[Jason Vaiken]

For the second theory, there are always radical elements in a rebellion. Perhaps the leadership believed in peaceful consolidation while another group believed in complete and total destruction of everything Palpatine built. So there was a schism and around the same time the Empire began it's fracture?

 

[Galavant]

I have two theories. One is pretty straight-forward: the rebels bought into their own Endor hype and believed that the Empire was more damaged than it was. They therefore declared a New Republic. The Empire fractured but the New Republic also failed.

Or, a bit more interestingly, my other theory is that the New Republic/Rebel Alliance was taken over by crazy people too and is now known as the First Order. So the Resistance was created, effectively having to start the war over from scratch.

The first seems likely imho. My bet is that the ANR lost big time at some point, and thus the fighting is now mostly between the different factions of the Empire. The First Order being one that is a bit more obsessed with the mystic Force stuff based on the voice over in the first trailer, and Vader's helmet being on a pedestal. Or it could be the Luke's prodigy betraying the ANR/Rebellion to the Empire, and going down the Dark Side path and all that good stuff. The focus being more on Luke's failures rather than the Rebellion/ANR's. The Resistance meanwhile is the surviving bits of the ANR/Rebellion gone into hiding while the Empire beats the stuffing out of itself, and bides its time upgrading X-Wings and whatnot, when the 'The Force Awakens' or whatever event in the movie that's the catalyst for the good guys to get back out there and do things like finding the Falcon.

 

[Jason Vaiken]

Perhaps they rushed into the Core and got demolished by the Imperial Home Fleet? But I think you're right. The Imperials clearly won but I think that there might have been alliances of opportunity that fell through once the Rebellion/ANR got bashed. The Moffs and Admiral's who crushed the Rebels all tried to claim the throne and they begin trying to kill one another after; breaking into the groups Starburns mentioned with the Rebellion hiding trying to gain strength once more finally uniting when the opportunity arises.

 

[Green Ranger]

After the celebrations on Coruscant and Naboo and...wherever else was mentioned in that shitty edit of ROTJ, imperial stormtroopers swarmed in and massacred everyone while they were partying. Then the rebels were all 'oops, don't blame us, that was the rebels, we're...um...the resistance. yep. nothing to do with us at all.'

 

[Jason Vaiken]

It totally wasn't our fault, the Rebels clearly did not party responsibly!

 

[StormWolf]

I am under the assumption that the movie is pulling the Moffs-turning-warlord after the power vacuum that opened up after Endor. All of them are self-sustaining cells of some size or another, but I imagine the First Order has such a 'on the brow' name because they want to be like "Hey, we have the only legit claim because we have a guy with a mask and a red lightsaber who can kill with his brain." The First Order likely consumed lesser Moffs and their forces by carrot or stick and used the weakened state of a Reconstruction Era Galaxy to cut out their own corner. The way I see it, it took many years for the United States to rebound after its Civil War. I would imagine it would take much, much longer for an entire galaxy to rebound from that. In such a wake, you have a prime cesspit for extremists, brigands, and other ill-contents to fester and grow.