I have talked before about how the Resistance could still grow its forces post-TLJ (link). However, in light of Oscar Isaac’s comments about the Resistance being a smaller, underdog guerilla force, I’ve also started thinking about how the Resistance could win without being a huge military force like the Rebellion was. According te Oscar:
“[The Resistance] are guerrilla fighters, adhering closer to something like the Revolutionary War fighters or even the guerrillas in Cuba with Che and Fidel and all these guys living in the mountains, coming down to do some attacks, and going back and trying to hide from the ’empire’ of the United States. It’s that kind of ragged at this point.”
Episode IX could still show the Resistance growing, of course; Oscar could be talking about an early stage in the movie, since he says “at this point.” However, if the Resistance is a much-outnumbered guerrilla force for most of Episode IX, could they still win?
A depressing possibility under the small-Resistance scenario, of course, is that the Resistance is defeated or reaches a ceasefire with the FO so that both sides retreat to their own regions of space in preparation for farther movies and series. I’ll rule that out for the moment, though, because it would be a rehash of the TLJ ending and is not a real ending to the saga at all. Besides, this entire situation with the FO has its roots a compromise with the Empire remnants and I highly doubt it’s a good idea to let that history repeat again.
Another point is that Oscar referenced victorious guerrilla fighters, the
Continental Army and Castro’s 26th of July Movement, each of which won their wars and
successfully took power. (What they did with the power afterward is
another matter. This is not meant to be an endorsement of either the U.S.’s or Cuba’s political systems so hold off on the anons please.)
If we leave out the unsatisfactory defeat/ceasefire ending and assume the Resistance stays small, there may still be paths to victory. To that end let’s examine Oscar’s historical parallels.
The British Empire lost to the Continentials because of lack of political will (many in Britain did not believe war was a solution at all), lack of command skill and command line coherence, lack of supplies in hostile territory, the failure of expected Loyalist support to materialize, and the Continentals gaining useful allies like France and Spain. The Cuban government under Batista lost because his commanders made crucial mistakes, he couldn’t get necessary arms and parts for his military due to a U.S. embargo, and he lost both United States and domestic support.
These factors can be boiled down to four things: Unity, supplies, support, and allies. If the FO is disunited and its command are at each other’s throats or simply failing to coordinate; if it loses crucial sources of supplies and has its supply lines disrupted; and if the populations of the occupied territories rise up against it while the Resistance gains allies, there is a chance for even a small Resistance to prevail.
For one it gives an alternative type of conflict, or at least how the conflict plays out, to the last two trilogies.
Another is that this gives Rose a place and time to shine as a mechanic. Who better in the Resistance to know where they should strike and how? She never got to show off her abilities in TLJ with this she has a great chance.
Finally there’s the possibility that the end game battle will be fairly small. As in, not a whole lot people involved. And I know there are people who hate that idea, but to me the battles in the Star Wars movies that kept me engrossed had nothing to do with how much pew pew was going on.
Think about the climatic battle in RotS? It’s basically two one on one duels: Anakin vs Obi-Wan and Sidious vs Yoda.
Or for that matter the action climax in ESB. Vader vs Luke and Leia, Lando and Chewie’s desperate attempt to first rescue Han and the escape the Empire all the while picking Luke up.
Or TPM. The battle with the Gungans on the plain and all the shenanigans up in space are really distraction from the main plot, Padmé capturing the viceroys. And a lot of emotional payoff is invested in Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan vs Maul.
Last, but certainly not least, TFA. Yes we have pew pew up in atmosphere above SKB and yes we want Poe and Red and Blue squadron to blow it up. But where is our attention and emotional investment? Down on the ground, with Finn, Han, Chewie and Rey. In the end all the pew pew up there feels like a distraction from the “actual” battle.
So small scale final conflict does not to me mean lack of payoff for the trilogy or IX on its own. Maybe the final battle is an attempt to capture or kill key First Order officers in an attempt to cut off the head of the snake so to speak. If the First Order is already pressed and internal conflict rampant, removing key figures one way or the other could be a method how a fairly small group of people, or number of small groups, could bring down a behemoth like the First Order.
You’re right, supply attacks would be a PERFECT way for Rose to shine! She’s built a crucial new technology herself and has experience with supply runs. I really hate how she was reduced to searching for a dude hacker in TLJ and then ending up with a different dude hacker. From TLJ you would never know that she was a brilliant mechanic and inventor who had supervised a whole team of bomber flight engineers to implement the technology she built. Having her cause chaos in the FO by cutting off its supply lines with maximum effect would go a long way toward doing her character more justice. Put your fist through the FO the right way, girl.
Yes, the climactic last battles in the SW movies have always been personal, even intimate. Even the destruction of the Death Star in ANH came down to Luke, his connection to the Force through Obi-Wan’s ghost, Vader trying to shoot Luke down, and Han coming through for a last-minute assist. One hero, the hero’s mentor, the hero’s implacable shadow, and the triumphant culmination of the friend’s character arc.
In fact, the operations to ultimately take down the FO as I outlined in the op are so vast they’d be a better subject of a between-movies TV series along the lines of The Clone Wars. (I wonder what this war against the FO would be called? The Shadow War? The Force War? The Star War?) Episode IX can show the final results, with a little exposition on how they got there, and then have our core group of heroes finish things off. It’s the Star Wars way.
I think he might have done better with Qui-Gon as his master than Obi-Wan, since as I understand it Obi-Wan didn’t want to take on a Padawan at all and only did so because Qui-Gon asked as his last wish. I love Obi and Ani’s relationship, but it’s also pretty evident that Obi wasn’t up to the job of curbing his Padawan’s worst impulses. Qui-Gon’s unorthodox approach to the Force might have worked better with Anakin.
That’s a great breakdown. Leia never knew Padmé so I imagine she learned her fierce sense of justice from Bail and Breha.
yeah! too many people forget that breha was leia’s mother too, and breha was a true humanitarian. she was allowing immigrants into alderaan during the clone wars. breha’s activism, unlike padme’s, wasn’t based on privilege or elitism. breha actually cared about people of all backgrounds and was using her planet to help those who were poor and homeless–well into the imperial era.
L.J.'s Obsessions 