The Real Tragedy of Rogue One
SPOILERS
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story tells of the mission by the Rebel Alliance to steal the plans for the Death Star that sets up the events of the beloved 1977 movie Star Wars. Unlike may of the Star Wars films, this one was less a space fantasy and instead told a darker war story set in the galaxy far, far away. Disney opted to go with the writer’s and director’s vision of a desperate suicide mission that resulted in all the main characters of the story dying in their successful attempt to retrieve the Death Star plans. The movie didn’t end with an award ceremony or galaxy wide dance party. Instead it ended in multiple tragedies that ultimately granted the Rebellion a New Hope.
The real tragedy, however, of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story happened off the screen and is told in various Star Wars novels and other movies. The novelization of Rogue One reveals that Rebel leader Mon Mothma had worked for years in the Senate, building a coalition that would pass legislation to demilitarize The Empire. The Republic had built up its military to fight the Clone Wars, but that ended decades earlier. Mon Mothma’s plan was to use Galen Erso’s testimony about the Death Star as the catalyst for bringing the demilitarization bill to the floor. Having been integral to the creation of the Death Star super weapon, Erso’s testimony would have been convincing to worlds that were unaware of the Emperor’s secret project. Besides Death Stars, the Empire had a fleet of tens of thousands of Star Destroyers and fighters. Mon Mothma didn’t want to defeat one weapon, she wanted to scrap all of them.
As seen in the movie, a military intelligence leader, General Draven, decided to take a different approach. Rather than capture Galen Erso, Draven ordered his subordinates to assassinate Galen Erso. When his first attempt to do this through agent Cassian Andor looked like it had failed, Draven sent in fighter squadron to finish the job. They were successful in bombing and killing Erso, along with the whole lab where he did his work. This action undermined and destroyed Mon Mothma’s plans for demilitarization. Without Galen Erso’s testimony, she knew she didn’t have a chance and that open warfare was the only possible path. And while the two Death Stars were ultimately destroyed, the Imperial Fleet survived in its thousands strong we are told in the book Aftermath: Life Debt. Later in the novel Bloodline, we learn that this fleet served as the core of the First Order’s military 30 years later. Without it, the First Order would have almost certainly not gotten off the ground, captured worlds and resources and been able to build the Starkiller Base that featured in last year’s The Force Awakens. The Starkiller Base weapon destroyed the capital world of the New Republic, Hosnian Prime and four other planets. It’s estimated that several billion lives were lost in that attack.
Had Galen Erso been captured, a series of events would have unfolded that would have likely prevented the formation of the First Order and deaths of the billions in the Hosnian system.
One man’s decision to use aggressive violence instead of pursuing a peaceful resolution resulted in billions of deaths, decades later. This is the ultimate tragedy of Rogue One. And while this is just a fictional story from a sci-fi franchise, in this case it demonstrates an important principle about choosing a peaceful solution, even if its more difficult over choosing a violent solution even if it seems easier.
This is an interesting essay, but it hinges on beliving in the strength and competence of the Galactic Senate. Having seen the prequel movies, I have very little faith Palpatine and his allies wouldn’t have continued to completely manipulate, outmaneuver and bamboozle the Senate and achieved his goals anyway.
It’s a fair point and it speaks somewhat to the futility of political solutions to tyranny.
But it has to be recognized that the Senate possessed some power to possibly thwart Palpatine’s plans. Otherwise he would not have dissolved it. Much easier to rule people if they believe they are represented than to be overtly tyrannical without perceived popular support. I think Palpatine recognized that Mon Mothma was gaining support in the Senate that could threaten his popular legitimacy and dissolved it before it could act. With his spies in the Senate, he likely became aware of the disarmament bill and the plan to use Galen Erso to get it passed. Recognizing how close the Senate was to acting seems like a good reason for his dissolution of the council in the following days.
It’s worth noting that he ruled the Empire for 19 years with the Senate, but only 4 years after he dissolved it. Depending on fear to keep systems in line led to the growth in the Rebellion that enabled the overthrow of the Empire, just as Leia expressed to Tarkin. Had he kept the Senate in tact, Palpatine might have ruled for another 19 years or longer. And with his political background, Palpatine had to realize this. So the Senate definitely posed some sort of credible threat to his rule at this time for him to take action against it.