It is difficult to deny that the vast majority of Stormtroopers seemed to be two-dimensional
caricatures who mindlessly followed the Empire, often to their own deaths.
They were typically cruel and seemed to take pleasure in needlessly intimidating both their
own citizens and their own subordinates.
Were there no Stormtroopers in the Imperial army who possessed a sophisticated and complex
sense of morality?
A soldier whose loyalty to the Empire came not from the threat of punishment, but a true
belief in the principals and guiding vision of the regime?
The best officers in any army are those who empathize with those under their command and
lead by example.
Was there nobody like that in the Imperial Army?
Was it not possible to be a person of moral fortitude while serving the Empire?
The New Republic didn’t seem to think so.
After their victory at the Battle of Jakku, every single surviving Imperial officer was
designated a war criminal and in this I believe, the New Republic committed a terrible violation
of its own pursuit of justice.
On this episode of Incoming we ask the question, why would anyone fight for the Galactic Empire,
and of those who did, what motivated them and how did they reconcile their actions?
Was it possible to be both a good person and a loyal Imperial soldier?
At the height of its power the Galactic Empire trained and mobilized billions of Stormtroopers
and other service members across its various military branches.
What I would argue, and what the New Republic apparently failed to consider, is that among
these men and women were people trying to live up to noble intentions, or chosing to
do terrible things for what they considered the greater good.
This does not excuse their crimes, but it does give us greater insight into why so many
were loyal to an unforgiving and often cruel regime.
So why exactly would a person of good character faithfully serve the Galactic Empire?
Well, we don’t need to look very far.
In both our own universe and a multitude of others, support for autocratic governments
usually arises from the same set of factors.
The first is a prevailing fear of an external threat.
The founding of the Empire took place shortly before the defeat of the Confederacy of Independent
Systems, and conditions created by the Clone Wars, the first major conflict in millennia,
were perfect.
Faced with the seemingly imminent possibility of a Separatist invasion and later the betrayal
of the Jedi Order, many were all too willing to trade personal liberty for the security
and safety.
Eventually the threat of the Separatists and the Jedi was supplanted by the threat of the
Alliance to Restore the Republic, a rebellion working to destroy the new order promised
by Emperor Palpatine.
Which leads us to the second major factor behind the rise of an authoritarian state,
a cult of personality.
As the man responsible for leading the Republic against the Confederacy, Palpatine presented
himself as a leader who was bold, decisive, uncompromising, and even ruthless when necessary.
Given the perilous state of the galaxy at the time of the Empire’s founding, loyalty
to such a man would not be unreasonable.
Some went even so far as to suggest the Emperor possessed supernatural powers, which if nothing
else, speaks to the image he cultivated in the minds of his citizens.
Now while many other factors such as nationalism, militarism, and theatricality can help win
the support of an otherwise educated and moral citizenry, the last I’d like to focus on
is an ideal that is often claimed solely by the rebellion; Hope and the belief in a better
tomorrow.
The Galactic Empire took power in an era when the galaxy was recovering from a devastating
war and for many, the Empire represented the best chance at a more peaceful and prosperous
galaxy.
Where there was ruin and devastation, the Empire promised to rebuild, where there was
famine it brought food and where there was poverty, it created opportunity.
A Grand Admiral in the Imperial Navy once remarked, “Day after day, year after year,
on thousands of worlds, people live their lives under Imperial rule without seeing a
stormtrooper or hearing a Tie Fighter scream overhead”.
Is it any wonder that the people on those worlds benefitting from the Empire might be
willing to lay down their lives and defend it, and perhaps be a little more willing to
overlook the methods used by the Empire to maintain their rule?
My point is this, when an Imperial perspective of the Galactic Civil War is presented, the
same story is told again and again and again.
A citizen who truly believes in the Empire, serves their nation faithfully, until inevitably
they witness the darker side of Imperial power and in that moment, they grow disillusioned.
They resign or defect, and eventually find themselves fighting against the power they
once served.
The New Republic has ample reason not to share the more nuanced examples of Imperial citizenry.
It is far more comfortable to paint the Empire as a regime made up of evil automatons and
the occasional naïve individual just waiting for the chance to make the right choice, betray
the Empire and defect.
It is more difficult to admit that under specific circumstances, good people can faithfully
serve an evil regime, that soldiers with a strong moral sense, when ordered to commit
atrocities, can do so with little hesitation.
This is not only more interesting, it is more believable.
No matter how much you might want to pretend otherwise, beneath the helmet of every stormtrooper
was a man or woman, capable of great good or great evil, sometimes simultaneously.
Somewhere during the Galactic Civil War there was a soldier in the Imperial Army, a person
of noble conscience who, when forced to decide between the life of his friends and his loyalty
to the Empire, chose the Empire.
Somewhere there was a technician who in her service to the Empire, helped restore infrastructure
and opportunity to worlds in the outer rim that had been ignored by the Republic for
centuries.
Someone who never forgave the Rebellion for destroying everything she’d worked for.
Somewhere there was an Imperial Officer that, when his regiment was ordered over the top
of their trenches, was the first man to do so, not out of fear of reprisal should he
refuse, but out of love for those under his command, for his family and for the Empire.
Instead, in the stories presented to us humanizing imperial soldiers is always done in the same
way, at the expense of their loyalty to the empire.
People can be more complicated than that.
This is not to say that the Galactic Empire was anything other than an evil regime which,
in its relentless pursuit of power, committed terrible crimes.
I only mean that in the end, the Galactic Empire was simply a government, one made up
of hundreds of billions of people.
To suggest that every single one was a faceless cartoon character dedicated to the triumph
of evil and every exception would eventually realize their mistake defect to the Rebellion
is a fallacy.
There must exist somewhere, stories of emotionally and morally complex Imperial soldiers, people
who could make the wrong choice for the right reasons, and I would like to finally see one.
But that of course is just my opinion and even though I am infallible, I’d like to
hear your thoughts.
Was the Empire wholly made up of two dimensional stereotypes?
Is there an instance of an Imperial officer or soldier who managed to be a good person
without defecting?
Could I someday, maybe change my opinion about something?
Until then, If you’re a writer or worldbuilder looking to make your own characters a little
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