What makes the Empire in Star Wars evil?

[Soviet Heavy]

Again, TOR Alderaan =/= Film Alderaan. Not every country or planet stays the same for three thousand years.

Aye that may be, i just dont believe Alderaan would have had such dramatic changes so until some source says otherwise i will assume Alderaan has remained very much nobility driven (princess leia being the obvious example). Heck the entire assumption of Alderaan being this peaceful planet truly not being a threat comes entirely from princess leia, not exactly the most credible source, as her "we are just on a diplomatic mission!" line shows, she has said some BS in the films.

Either way all im saying is that if i was Evil Emperor of the empire, id go for Alderaan in a flash as its the most visible thorn in my side that has done nothing but constantly give the empire the finger whilst hiding behind litigation and claims of innocence and peace all whilst aiding those trying to overthrow me.

It could be argued that they weren't hiding as much as they were trying to protect the ignorant, innocent masses. However, if that were the case, then the Nobility might as well just give themselves up, rather than hiding behind innocents.

That seems to be a problem with the Republic and the Alliance. They are always reliant on popular support, and in turn use their charity, even when it could cause more harm than good.

See Mandalorian Wars, where the Mandos responded to Republic Troops hiding in civilian centers by just bombing the whole city regardless. Or the aforementioned ill advised instigation of planetary riots on the Imperial Capital, achieving nothing and getting hundreds killed.

 

[Scorpid]

They're simple fascists basically.

 

[newwiseman]

A fascist totalitarian regime that willfully will destroy whole worlds with millions of people living on them for the hope of eliminating a few rebels with leadership the joyfully force chokes dissidence questions and failure... seems like the definition of evil to me.

 

[Frankster]

snip

Aye i can definitly agree with the reliance and use of popular support being a double edged sword and at times detrimental to the republic/alliance ideal and the average citizen.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

To much security to little liberty(free will/thought and freedoms in genreal) and even less care handling lives.

 

[Rad Party God]

Well, Hitler wasn't very democratic, wasn't he?

Or better yet, let's bomb my entire country, or even better yet, let's bomb the entire lower half of the continent just because a bunch of pricks are selling drugs, forget about all the BILLIONS of innocent people.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Except they didn't blow up Alderaan to because the rebels were gathering there, because they weren't gathering there. They blew up Alderaan just to show off the power of the Death Star.
Also they were a tyrannical dictatorship, and if I'm not mistaken they oppressed most races that weren't human, although that could've just been EU, but they were still a tyrannical dictatorship. They ruled through fear and intimidation and had no qualms about blowing up anyone who disagreed with them. That's sounds pretty evil to me.

No, it was pretty clear in the films as well.

"Where are you taking this.... thing?"

Chewie is a thing, a tool, a slave int their eyes.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Except they didn't blow up Alderaan to because the rebels were gathering there, because they weren't gathering there. They blew up Alderaan just to show off the power of the Death Star.
Also they were a tyrannical dictatorship, and if I'm not mistaken they oppressed most races that weren't human, although that could've just been EU, but they were still a tyrannical dictatorship. They ruled through fear and intimidation and had no qualms about blowing up anyone who disagreed with them. That's sounds pretty evil to me.

No, it was pretty clear in the films as well.

"Where are you taking this.... thing?"

Chewie is a thing, a tool, a slave int their eyes.

Oh ok, wasn't sure. Haven't seen the original films in awhile.

 

[DaWaffledude]

They blew up a planet. A planet. Just to make a point

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Except they didn't blow up Alderaan to because the rebels were gathering there, because they weren't gathering there. They blew up Alderaan just to show off the power of the Death Star.
Also they were a tyrannical dictatorship, and if I'm not mistaken they oppressed most races that weren't human, although that could've just been EU, but they were still a tyrannical dictatorship. They ruled through fear and intimidation and had no qualms about blowing up anyone who disagreed with them. That's sounds pretty evil to me.

No, it was pretty clear in the films as well.

"Where are you taking this.... thing?"

Chewie is a thing, a tool, a slave int their eyes.

Oh ok, wasn't sure. Haven't seen the original films in awhile.

Detention center shootout scene.

(Luke, Han and Chewbacca enter room. Four Imperials look up. Their leader approaches the heroes)

Lieutenant: "Where are you taking this... thing?"

Luke: "Prisoner Transfer from cell block 1138"

Lieutenant (suspicious): "I wasn't notified. I'll have to clear it."

(Two troopers raise their blasters and move to apprehend Chewbacca. Suddenly, Chewbacca bursts through his "broken" binders, tossing a guard aside.)

Han: Look out, he's loose!"

(Luke passes his rifle to Chewbacca, who begins blasting every monitoring device he can see, while Han and Luke take advantage of the chaos to blast the remaining troopers.)

 

[Ascarus]

In fact, why have a weapon that blows up planets at all?

it was suggested in the books that palpatine foresaw the coming of the Yuuzhan Vong and was attempting to bring the galaxy under one control to facilitate the impending fight. it was also suggested that he built these superweapons (e.g. death stars, galaxy gun, sun crusher) to fight the yuuzhan vong who had the never before heard of ability to travel intergalatically.

certainly there is some post hoc lore being applied there since none of that is suggested in the original films, but it's a fun theory nonetheless.

 

[Matt King]

umm giant death weapon? blowing up of planets? destroying the jedi order?

 

[Owen Robertson]

In the movies, the Imperials/Dark Side are a democratic republic, they kept the galaxy in peace, they only blew up Alderaan because the enemy was gathering there and they allowed freedom to express emotion while the light side of the force achieved none of this.

*Note that I am excluding the latest movies because they were just garbage.

There is a lot of protagonist centered morality.

"Luke, you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view. " - Obi-Wan Kenobi, Episode VI

 

[silver wolf009]

The ethnic cleansing of most all jedi, the destruction of their teachings, massive slaughter on a galactic scale, and their leaders intent to rule, not to serve the governed.

 

[BleedingPride]

Because of the children slaughtered at the Jedi Temple.

 

[Owen Robertson]

umm giant death weapon? blowing up of planets? destroying the jedi order?

The Jedi Order had become a politically motivated army. It was compromised. It was going down anyway.

 

[Storm Dragon]

they only blew up Alderaan because the enemy was gathering there

The rebels were not gathering there. Aderaan was a planet of pacifists with no weapons of any kind, a fact that the Empire was well aware of. Grand Moff Tarkin had the planet destroyed in an attempt to get Leia to tell him where the rebels actually were hiding, and because he just wanted to try out the Empire's new toy. Leia told him that the rebels were hiding on Dantooine in order to stop him, but, although he believed her lie, he blew up Alderaan anyway because Dantooine was too far away to be an effective demonstration of the Death Star.

No, these guys aren't evil at all.

 

[Kunzer]

Thrilled to see this thread!

I should start by saying that i sympathize with the Empire.

I took my own view of the plot throughout the movies, and, in a nutshell, I feel that the moralities in the story are not so cut-and-dry as the movies portray them to be. (Read: Empire not 100% evil, Rebel Alliance not 100% good)

I must admit, though, that the dark side of the force does indeed have a modus operandi which is, in many ways synonymous with "bad guys" as we may refer to them.

Regardless, I feel that the main reason so many people sympathize with the rebels is because they were portrayed as the losing side throughout most of the movie-portrayed conflicts; at least until episode 6, anyway.

My fondest dream would be to see the next few movies portrayed from the Galactic Empire's point of view.

 

[Evil Smurf]

The emperor was a sith lord who manipulated his way to power, that is what evil people do friend.

 

[shootthebandit]

it is run by an old man with a cloak....nuff sed