__________________ RealistRacism: "Sheevites, much like the Banites, were meant to increase in power with each member. From Lightsnake to Gideon to Azronger, this was supposed to be the case. However, knowledge must've been lost in some kind of Gravid-like incident, as Az turned out to be a mid-tier debater with a sub-par track record, sh!itting all over Tempest's legacy. Sad."
Snoke knew he himself was an unlikely fulcrum, just about the furthest thing from what the tattered remnants of Palpatine's Empire had imagined as a leader.
Snoke himself believed that he was not a fit ruler of the first order
The admirals and generals who'd survived the fury of the Empire's implosion and the New Republic's wrath had envisioned being led by someone else, anyone else: pitiless, devious Gallius Rax; dutiful, cautious Rae Sloane; the slippery political fanatic Ormes Apolin; or even an unhinged but ambitious military architect such as Brendol Hux. All of those would-be leaders had been co-opted, sidelined, or destroyed, leaving only Armitage Hux, the mad son of a mad father. And that one was but a mouthpiece, a miscast tinkerer whose rantings could only persuade the sort of rabble who blindly worshipped rage and lunatic certainty.
We knew this already
Though galactic history would record it differently -Snoke would see to that- the evolution of the First Order had been more improvisation than master plan.
Snoke was trying to implement revisionist history, and what the first order became was through the series of coincidences which added to Palpatine's bare-bones plan.
That was another element visions tended to miss. Palpatine had engineered the Contingency to simultaneously destroy his Empire and ensure its rebirth, ruthlessly winnowing its ranks and rebuilding them with who and what survived.
We already knew that
The rebuilding was to take place in the Unknown Regions, secretly explored by Imperial scouts and seeded with shipyards, laboratories, and storehouses--an enormously expensive effort that had taken decades, and been kept hidden from all but the elect.
we already knew that
(Although shipyards, laboratories, and storehouses is something to keep in mind and look out for)
But the Imperial refugees' military preparations had been insufficient bulwarks against the terrors of the Unknown Regions.
There are terrors in the unknown regions which even imperial military could not fight against
Grasping in the dark among strange stars, they had come perilously close to destruction, and it had not been military might that saved them.
"The dark" may refer to the dark side of the Force, implying that the "terrors" from the unknown regions are in fact related to the dark side of the force. We may be dealing with Force Demons, or Lovecraftian beings. Possibly even just nexuses or energies/ghosts/spirits of the dark side, some things not quite sentient but still with a will to harm.
It had been knowledge--Snoke's knowledge. Which, ironically, led back to Palpatine and his secrets.
Snoke has knowledge which can save people from terrors (potentially of the force) so powerful that even imperial military can't deal with them. And Palpatine knew about the existence of these secrets, and was on the verge of discovering them. Remember that Sidious had calls from the unknown regions that only he could hear. So more dark side knowledge in the new canon. I like it.
Palpatine's true identity as Darth Sidious, heir to the Sith, had been an even greater secret than the Contingency.
We already knew this
And the Empire's explorations into the Unknown Regions had served both aspects of its ruler.
Confirmation on the fact that Sidious went into the Unknown Regions both because he wanted the Empire to live on if it was ever destroyed, and because he wanted secrets of the dark side which he knew existed
For Sidious knew that the galaxy's knowledge of the Force had come from those long-abandoned, half-legendary star systems, and that great truths awaited rediscovery among them.
The unknown regions were home to abandoned, half-legendary star systems which knew secrets which had been lost to time. May explain the "Terrors" which haunt this region. The knowledge of the Force was introuced to the galaxy from these star systems, and Sidious knew this.
Truths that Snoke had learned and made to serve his own ends
Snoke knows what Sidious wanted to know
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Last edited by Zentrex on Mar 14th, 2018 at 06:24 AM
Indeed. Thrawn warned Palpatine of these threats when they first met just after the Clone Wars. Years later(when Thrawn was an Admiral and had knowledge of the Death Star and its capabilities) he still noted to Nightswan that some of the Unknown Region's threats were "far more evil and dangerous than the Empire" -- which speaks volumes about whatever is out there *cough*YuuzhanVong*cough*
When taken in context, "grasping in the dark among strange stars" is referring to the Unknown Regions and the...'hurdles' the Imperial remnants found there.
__________________
"I am tired of Earth. These people.
I am tired of being caught in the tangle of their lives."
I did see a sentence on wookiepedia sourced to the star wars databanks which said that Thrawn was one of the biggest reasons the Imperials managed to survive as long as they did.
As for the Yuuzhan Vong...I don't know. You think they'd introduce something like that? I mean, there is a precedence for them, but it's an old idea, and kind of a crazy one. Force Demons, or hell even something completely new which we've never seen before would satisfy me more.
But...if it is indeed the Yuuzhan Vong, then what kind of secrets does Snoke know which allowed him to hold them back? That could make for a VERY interesting line of story to go down.
And yeah, you're right about the whole "dark" line.
Makes sense. After all, Thrawn helped Palpatine map the Unknown Regions for years, and also warned him of the threats that lurked there.
I only mention them, because Filoni originally intended to have the Yuuzhan Vong appear in TCW -- he even drew some concept art for a Vong warrior and Scout Ship: (please log in to view the image)
Filoni: "This is a scout ship that was trying to assess the strength of the Republic and who the Jedi were... I started to explore some of the armor... We never got that far."
...Obviously that plot/reveal was never fleshed-out(TCW ended prematurely), but I won't at all be surprised if the Vong appear in canon at some point in the near future -- especially with all this emphasis on the Unknown Regions. /shrug
__________________
"I am tired of Earth. These people.
I am tired of being caught in the tangle of their lives."
I wish Filoni would get the good stuff out at the start of his shows before they get cancelled. Now we begin in a new era to a show that ends prematurely...
I can see Obi-Wan saying: "Fight with me, sons of the Republic! For Coruscant, for Endor, for Kashyyyk."
__________________ RealistRacism: "Sheevites, much like the Banites, were meant to increase in power with each member. From Lightsnake to Gideon to Azronger, this was supposed to be the case. However, knowledge must've been lost in some kind of Gravid-like incident, as Az turned out to be a mid-tier debater with a sub-par track record, sh!itting all over Tempest's legacy. Sad."
I think the dark things could simply be the navigation of the UR itself. Extremely dangerous even if mapped out.
__________________ "Vader's pulse and breathing were machine-regulated, so they could not quicken; but something in his chest became more electric around his meetings with the Emperor; he could not say how. A feeling of fullness, of power, of dark and demon mastery -- of secret lusts, unrestrained passion, wild submission -- all these things were in Vader's heart as he neared his Emperor. These things and more."
It was Snoke's knowledge/power that saved the First Order from being obliterated by the "terrors" in the Unknown Regions... But now he's dead. What a twist it would be if some of those terrors started to return upon sensing his death.
__________________
"I am tired of Earth. These people.
I am tired of being caught in the tangle of their lives."
Last edited by Galan007 on Mar 15th, 2018 at 12:51 PM
__________________ RealistRacism: "Sheevites, much like the Banites, were meant to increase in power with each member. From Lightsnake to Gideon to Azronger, this was supposed to be the case. However, knowledge must've been lost in some kind of Gravid-like incident, as Az turned out to be a mid-tier debater with a sub-par track record, sh!itting all over Tempest's legacy. Sad."
The novel certainly leaves that open to interpretation, imo.
Tbh, Snoke's 'death'(still not entirely convinced that he's perma-dead, tbh) may have even been his way of "completing" Kylo's training, as he mentioned at the end of TFA. After all, the recent novelization also made it abundantly clear that Snoke's TP mastery was vastly superior to Kylo's:
...So the notion that Kylo could truly hide something from Snoke does seem a bit...inconsistent. /shrug
__________________
"I am tired of Earth. These people.
I am tired of being caught in the tangle of their lives."
Mar 13th, 2018 05:40 PM
