⭐ FEATURED
About once a week there is a post in these forums either polling the community on who is bad (Empire or Rebels) or straight up defending the actions of the Empire as morally superior to those of the Rebels. You’ve seen them, and there will be more of them. I will show you why, on balance, the Empire can’t be morally defended and the Rebels can, and I will use actual Star Wars evidence—not headcanon or assumptions or inferences—to do so. If you want to skip the “why” behind this article and just review the evidence, go to the section below identified (in bold) as EVIDENCE.
The “traditionalist” view is that the Rebels are the good guys, and the Empire are the bad guys. This is a primary theme in most OT-related content on the matter, and there is a clear delineation between our heroes (those who fight against the tyranny of the Empire) and our villains (those who fight for its tyranny) in most Star Wars content.
This idea that the Empire is actually good, and that the rebels are violence-loving terrorists is what I’ll call a “revisionist” view. I can’t pretend to know the true origins of this philosophy, but when I hear fans of the revisionist bent defend the Empire, they sound like they are regurgitating in-universe talking points made by characters like Krennic and Tarkin in various books or other media (Order! Security! Safety!). Or they repeat falsehoods that come straight from in-universe Imperial propaganda messages and HoloNet News flashes peppered in various sourcebooks and other media. In other words, these fans have been duped into believing what the bad guys say is actually true, when the rest of us fans are actually watching the show (or reading the book) and understand what is actually happening.
I am all for complex storytelling that emphasizes the shades of moral gray that accompany war. But to claim that the Empire (as an institution) is good and that the Rebels (as represented by the Alliance) are terrorists is simply false, based on the available evidence.
And that’s the key: EVIDENCE.
Your headcanon is NOT EVIDENCE.
What the Emperor, and Tarkin, and Krennic, and other Imperial authoritarians say when talking about the Empire and the Alliance is NOT EVIDENCE.
What in-universe Imperial propaganda posters say, or the claims made by the Coalition for Progress are NOT EVIDENCE.
EVIDENCE is what actually happens. What do the actual events in Star Wars tell us about the moral standing of the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire?
The Wook documents 146 “genocides and massacres” of various scale across the entire 25,000ish year history of Star Wars. Some are duplicates in Canon and Legends (e.g. Alderaan), but most are unique. I reviewed all 146 articles, and de-duped the ones that exist in both timelines. Of the ones listed, ONLY TWO are attributed to the rebels (both Canon), and one of those is Saw’s activities with the Partisans—which were disavowed by the broader Alliance. Guess how many there are for the Empire? THIRTY-SEVEN across Canon and Legends (most of the rest are for the ancient Sith empires, followed by the CIS and First Order). They range from the massacre of a few innocent people to the complete genocide of entire worlds (and Alderaan and Geonosis aren’t the only ones). You can find the ordered lists of these atrocities below. I also excluded ones where the Empire was attacking a defended military target that resulted in collateral civilian casualties (such as the attack on Tak Base on Telay in Legends). Those listed are blatant attacks on people who cannot defend themselves, except in one case where the atrocity was planned, but was prevented by the Rebels.
Furthermore, if you read (both the Canon and Legends) articles on the Galactic Empire, the Alliance to Restore the Republic, COMPNOR, and ISB (all of which I’ve also included below), what you find here are important patterns. It’s not to say that the Alliance didn’t kill or maim civilians, or that their hands aren’t dirty. We know that’s not true, and Cassian Andor is a good example of the morally ambiguous choices these soldiers would sometimes make. But the PATTERNS are important. You see a pattern of suppression, terror, and blatant disregard for innocent life in Imperial policies and structure. You do NOT see a similar pattern when you read the articles of the Rebel Alliance, even though some innocents were killed in Alliance activities. We clearly see that civilian terror was never a goal for the Rebel Alliance (though we do see fringe units like the Partisans and Judge Action Network engaging in these activities). The Empire on the other hand made terror and murder a regular part of its enforcement, and utilized these tactics throughout the galaxy, often on its own citizens.
And for all of those sickened by the loss of “innocent” life in the destruction of the two Death Stars, and use this to claim that the Rebels are a morally-flawed group of terrorists, here’s a PROFESSIONAL ETHICIST’S review of why you CAN’T call the Rebels terrorists for that (but you absolutely can call the Imperials terrorists when they engage in many of the atrocities you see below).
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-camosy-star-wars-terrorism-20151105-story.html
EVIDENCE
Here is the compiled evidence, ordered by faction (Empire first, then Rebels) and split for each faction between Canon events and Legends events. These are genocides, massacres, and various atrocities attributed to the Empire and Rebels, followed by articles on the structure and nature of the two factions.
Empire
Canon
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Antar_Atrocity
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Subjugation_of_the_Anoat_sector
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Massacre_at_Binjai-Tin
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Destruction_of_Jedha_City
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Ghorman_Massacre
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/The_Disaster
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Dhen-Moh_genocides
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Massacre_on_Kashyyyk
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Operation:_Cinder
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Orinda_Massacre
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Siege_of_Lasan
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Sterilization_of_Geonosis
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Massacre_near_Teralov
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Westhills_massacre
Legends
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Atravis_Sector_Massacres
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Attack_on_Dantooine_(Galactic_Civil_War)
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Bombardment_of_Bosph
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Bombardment_of_Mek%27tradi
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Bombardment_of_Mindabaal
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Destruction_of_Bront
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Caamas_Firestorm
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Devastation_of_Froz
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Ettam_massacre
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Emperor%27s_purge
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Dentaal_Uprising
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Massacre_of_Delrakkin
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Massacre_on_Dac
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Massacre_of_Myomar
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Pacification_of_Hyrol_Preen_Beta
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Slaughter_on_Sarko_VI
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Cleansing_of_Serenno
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Sulon_massacre
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Teardrop_massacre
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Telfrey_Holocaust
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Massacre_at_Terrina_Square
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Destruction_of_Tondatha
Rebels
Canon
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Mission_to_Inusagi
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Slaughter_on_Noult
Note: Not all atrocities have their own page, so this is not exhaustive, but it IS representative. See the article for TK-462 for one more example of a Rebel misdeed and numerous additional examples of Imperial atrocities. Furthermore, the articles on the Outer Rim, Mid Rim, Expansion Region, and Inner Rim all also make references to callous Imperial exploitation of people and resources.
Imperial Rule and Policies
Canon
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Galactic_Empire
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Commission_for_the_Preservation_of_the_New_Order?mobile-app=false
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Imperial_Security_Bureau?mobile-app=false
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Outer_Rim_Territories [Imperial Era section]
Legends
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Galactic_Empire%2FLegends?mobile-app=false
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Commission_for_the_Preservation_of_the_New_Order/Legends
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Imperial_Security_Bureau/Legends
Rebel Alliance Structure and Policy
Canon
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Alliance_to_Restore_the_Republic?mobile-app=false
Legends
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Alliance_to_Restore_the_Republic/Legends
@WeaponXx @TriWald3 @Skyguy246 @Edseesghosts @Jade Moonstroller @Jedi Sarith LeKit @Ajjviolin96 @Astral Voyager @Cryo123 @WriterBuddha , mentioning you all here because I've seen you at some time or another ardently opposing the twisted logic that leads one to believe the Empire has a moral high ground in the franchise. Hopefully this block of evidence is useful in continued education of the fans who adhere to baseless assumptions and headcanon influenced by in-universe Imperial talking points.
