The Imperial Trilogy

3.4K

When partnered with Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, does Rogue One create a new trilogy?

This article on the Imperial Trilogy contains plot information for Rogue One.

The Imperial Trilogy

Rogue One recently arrived in theaters last month and thrilled audiences. The tale of how the Rebellion came to possess the plans to the dreaded Death Star claimed its spot as one of 2016’s most successful films. Naturally, fans begin to compare Rogue One to the other films in the franchise. Beyond the story elements, how does it fit in? Star Wars already has two trilogies, and the ongoing sequel trilogy adds a third. In my experience, older fans gravitate to the original trilogy. Newer, and usually younger fans, frequently prefer the prequel trilogy. It remains to be seen where the sequel trilogy ranks. Rogue One, of course, is not a saga film. However, it is connective tissue between the prequel and the original trilogies. Many people have suggested that it creates a new trilogy when combined with Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.

It is an intriguing idea. But, does such a trilogy work? Certainly, there are shared story elements. However, are there common themes between the three movies that adequately tie them together? Through an analysis of themes and elements, the viewer can judge for themselves whether these three movies create a new and successful Imperial Trilogy.

The Lack of One Cohesive Story

The Imperial Trilogy does not tell one entirely cohesive story across all three films. Revenge of the Sith is the story of the fall of the Republic and the triumph of the Sith. Rogue One relates the tale of a band of Rebels. These Rebels embark on a suicide mission to secure the plans for the Empire’s doomsday weapon. It is a war story and a tragedy. A New Hope is the purest adventure tale of the three. It is complete with a princess locked away in a stronghold and a reluctant hero scooped up in a quest to save her.

The tone of A New Hope doesn’t blend as well with the earlier two films. Despite moments of loss, this movie ends with a resounding victory for the heroes. In fact, two of the heroes receive medals from the very Princess they rescued after destroying the Empire’s ultimate weapon to the applause of all those assembled. By comparison, Revenge of the Sith ends with the Republic thoroughly defeated and the heroes, what is left of them in hiding. Rogue One depicts a victory for the Rebellion, albeit a victory secured at great cost. None of the protagonists survive.

The previous trilogies tell a more unified story. The original trilogy tells the story of Luke’s ascension to Jedi Knighthood and the ultimate defeat of the Empire. The redemption of Vader, a man believed to be irredeemable by nearly all, is a central theme. In addition, the prequel trilogy tells the story of the fall of the Republic, the Jedi, and most importantly Anakin Skywalker to the dark side. Combined these two trilogies comprise the “Saga.” Rogue One doesn’t contribute so much to that story as it does to a single film, A New Hope.

The Evolution of the Death Star

Despite the tonal difference, there are plenty of story elements that connect the films. The first element is the Death Star itself. Audiences first glimpse the Empire’s planet killer in the closing moments of Revenge of the Sith. Both the Emperor and Darth Vader observe the construction of the frame of the battle station in orbit around Geonosis. Next, Rogue One shows the completion of the battle station. Director Krennic arrives for a meeting with Grand Moff Tarkin. As the two discuss the technological terror they constructed, crews install the Death Star’s focusing dish behind them. Then they demonstrate the functionality of the primary weapon by destroying the holy city on Jedha. Tarkin unleashes the power of the Death Star again on Scarif. However, in neither instance was the full power put on display.

The full power of the Death Star debuts in A New Hope. Tarkin coerces Princess Leia into revealing the secret location of the Rebel base by threatening the destruction of her home planet of Alderaan. After disclosing the secret location of the base on Dantooine, Tarkin destroys Alderaan anyway with the full power of the Death Star. Therefore, the Death Star evolves across three movies. It went from under construction, to demonstrating its power, to unleashing its power across the three movies.

Despite that, the Death Star isn’t an adequate thematic device for the entire trilogy. Revenge of the Sith only provides hints of its existence. It becomes a focus in the latter two movies. Revenge of the Sith concerns itself primarily with the rise of a certain Dark Lord and the fall of the Republic.

The Rise of Darth Vader

The next story element is the character of Darth Vader. The saga films detail two aspects of Anakin Skywalker’s story. The prequel trilogy marks his ascension to Jedi Knight and hero of the galaxy and his fall to the dark side. The original trilogy chronicles his redemption.

By comparison, the Imperial Trilogy focuses on a much smaller slice of his story. Revenge of the Sith details Anakin’s fall. In a desperate attempt to save his wife’s life, Anakin makes a rash decision that changes his destiny. He falls to the Dark Side and Emperor Palpatine christens him Darth Vader. By the end of the film, Anakin completes his conversion to the Dark Lord. He slaughtered Jedi and younglings at the Jedi Temple. Also, he murdered the Separatist council on Mustafar. The injuries suffered at the hands of Obi-Wan leave him a shell of his former self. Palpatine and his droids encase him in armor. A nightmare in gleaming black armor is the lasting image of Vader from Revenge of the Sith.

By comparison, Rogue One slightly inverts the imagery of Darth Vader. The audience first glimpses Vader floating in a bacta tank. Presumably, when not terrorizing the galaxy, Vader attempts to heal his wounds in his palace on Mustafar. After Krennic’s arrival, Vader emerges from the bacta and admonishes his underling. From then on, he is the menacing figure in black again. The final images of Vader from Rogue One exceed the onscreen brutality he displays in any other Star Wars film.

Finally, Vader appears in A New Hope. Vader is certainly evil in this film. After all, he crushes the life out of Captain Antilles in the opening moments of the movie. Later, he tortures Princess Leia. However, the torture occurs off screen. The carnage left in Vader’s wake is not nearly as graphic as in Revenge of the SIth or Rogue One. Regardless, Vader is the villain and primary antagonist of A New Hope.

Vader is not a unifying theme of all three movies. Rogue One tells the story of Rebels. Jyn is the protagonist, but Vader isn’t even the primary antagonist. That role falls to Krennic or perhaps Grand Moff Tarkin. Revenge of the Sith tells the story of Vader’s fall, but A New Hope isn’t the story of his redemption. While present in Rogue One, that movie disrupts Vader’s narrative tale across what would be the Imperial Trilogy.

A Game of Death Stars

This section contains plot information for Game of Thrones.

To the extent it is a trilogy, the Imperial Trilogy is by far the darkest of any Star Wars trilogy to date. It’s tone and ambience bears resemblance to George R.R. Martin’s magnum opus, A Song of Ice and Fire, and its most famous entry A Game of Thrones.

First, the good guys don’t always win. In fact, that is a premise of Revenge of the Sith. Furthermore, some of the “good guys” lose their way and fall. For example, the Jedi, the guardians of peace in the Old Republic, lost their way. Their fall permitted the rise of the Sith. Similarly, Robert Baratheon became content ruling Westoros in Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. Consequently, his contentment blinded him to the traitors in his court. His own wife engineered his downfall and death right under his nose.

Also, characters in A Song of Ice and Fire are disposable and prone to tragedy. The characters serve the story. Since they are disposable, the cast rotates. A key character in one entry may not feature in another. For example, A Game of Throne fools many readers into believing Eddard Stark will defeat the King’s betrayers. Those expectations meet a sudden and very bloody end before the novel ends. Eddard Stark’s legacy carries on, but he does not. Khal Drago of the Dothraki is another leader that meets his demise before he can fulfill his conquest of the Seven Kingdoms. Both characters were bold, they served the story, they died, and the story moved on.

The same is true for characters of this Imperial Trilogy. In fact, tragedy features in this new trilogy. For instance, Padme Amidala serves an important role in Revenge of the Sith. Unfortunately, she dies in that movie. Her secret husband, Anakin Skywaker, a Jedi Knight and hero of the Republic, feared her death. Visions of her demise haunted his sleep. Anakin sought power attempting to prevent her death. Ultimately, his power grab caused his fall, Padme’s death, and Anakin’s transformation to the Dark Lord of the Sith. Anakin isn’t redeemed in this tragedy. There is only a hint of redemption when Luke arrives in A New Hope.

Rogue One, for the most part, features no prominent characters from Revenge of the Sith. The heroes of Rogue One are the soldiers of the Alliance vaguely referenced by the opening crawl of A New Hope. Jyn Erso, Cassian Andor, and the rest fulfill their mission when they acquire the plans to the Death Star and transmit the plans to the Alliance Fleet above Scarif. Along the way, they all perish. Beyond the previously mentioned crawl, they are never referenced in A New Hope. Instead, A New Hope relies primarily on a new cast of characters to tell the story of one triumph over the Empire. Again, the characters serve the story.

A Theme of Hope

Everything is not darkness with the Imperial Trilogy. Indeed, a theme of hope runs throughout the three films. When the Rebellion has crumbled and the Empire rises from the ashes, Yoda, Bail Organa, and Obi-Wan Kenobi plot for the future. They place their hopes in Anakin and Padme’s infant twin children. They are the hope for the future. Revenge of the Sith ends on a hopeful note, both literally and figuratively, when Obi-Wan delivers baby Luke to Owen and Beru with the Force theme playing softly in the background.

Rogue One is a movie built on hope. Cassian encourages Jyn with this sentiment in the streets of Jedha as they search for Saw Gerrera. Undoubtedly, Jyn hoped for more of a plan. However, she placed all her faith in hope after seeing the hologram of her estranged father encouraging her to find the plans for the Death Star. Galen’s hoped for a Rebellion victory over the Empire’s most dangerous weapon. His daughter’s hope revealed to the fatal flaw Galen designed. Her desperate mission ensured it was exploited. In the face of the doubts of the Rebel Alliance, she echoed Cassian’s sentiments of hope. In a galaxy oppressed by a tyrannical regime, if all the Rebellion had to go on was hope, that was enough. Tyranny must be resisted.

The third installment of this trilogy puts “hope” right in its name. A New Hope tells the story of Luke Skywalker. He is the heir to the Jedi. Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Bail secretly placed their trust in him as the future of the Republic and the light side of the Force. They hoped he might succeed where the Jedi of old failed. It was a long shot and a gamble. In A New Hope, their hope begins to pay off. Luke begins to realize his potential and destroys the Death Star in what was then the Rebellion’s darkest hour.

Open Plot Lines

Unfortunately, the Imperial Trilogy leaves plot lines begun in Revenge of the Sith or earlier unfinished. For instance, Yoda in exile. The venerable Jedi Master flees to Dagobah and awaits the maturation of Anakin’s children. The outcome of his exile is unresolved by the Imperial Trilogy by itself. In addition, the Emperor, one of the most important characters of the first installment of the Imperial Trilogy, is never seen again after Revenge of the Sith. After establishing his Empire, he vanishes from the plot beyond a few mentions in Rogue One. Finally, Anakin has no fate or destiny in this trilogy. The prequel trilogy told the story of his fall. The original trilogy tells the story of his redemption. Yet, the Imperial trilogy has no story arc for Vader. He falls in Revenge of the Sith, but survives through A New Hope. That plot line suffocates after the first installment.

So, what story does this Imperial Trilogy tell? It is not entirely the story of any one character. It is not the story of the Rebellion. The Rebellion sprang almost from nothing. The scenes from Revenge of the Sith that planted the seeds for the Rebellion were largely deleted before that movie was released. However, a fragmented Rebellion opposing the Empire exists in Rogue One, and a more unified Rebellion attempting to prevent extermination in A New Hope. If anything, it may be the story of the Empire.

Why “The Imperial Trilogy”?

Through all of this, the reader may wonder why I chose the name “Imperial Trilogy.” It is a fair question. Admittedly, I’m not clever enough to come up with something catchy. At first, the idea was that this trilogy connected the prequels to the original trilogy. However, the Imperail Trilogy borrows a movie from both trilogies to accomplish that goal. Therefore, I rejected “Connective Trilogy” and similar labels.

Ultimately, I selected “Imperial Trilogy” because of the tale these movies tell about the Empire. The Empire is born in Revenge of the Sith. Next, Rogue One demonstrates that the Empire firmly replaced the Republic. With the Death Star, the Empire tightens its grip on the galaxy. Finally, in A New Hope, the Rebellion mounts an attack on the Empire’s symbol of power after the Emperor disbanded the Senate. For lack of a better label, Imperial Trilogy works.

Verdict: Not a True Trilogy

Trilogies is a tricky label. Technically, a trilogy is defined as a group of three related novels, movies, plays, or other narrative works. Therefore, the Imperial Trilogy certainly qualifies. However, trilogy implies something more. For example, Lord of the Rings was a true trilogy. Each entry told a tale. Each tale contributed to the epic story. Fellowship of the Ring, the first entry, chronicles the beginning of the voyage to Mordor and Frodo’s decision to leave the Fellowship to pursue his goal on his own. The Two Towers continues this story, but shifts the focus to the war between the forces of evil (no pun intended) and the beings of Middle Earth. Finally, Return of the King chronicles the final triumph of good over evil and resolves the trilogy.

Conversely, the tales of the Imperial Trilogy do not unite to resolve a larger story. As previously mentioned, the prequel trilogy is the story of the fall of the Republic and the Jedi accompanied by the rise of Darth Vader and the Empire. The original trilogy chronicles the victories of the Rebellion as they overcome the Empire and Vader’s redemption. The Imperial trilogy tells the final days of the Republic, the first victory of the Rebellion, and a subsequent victory of the Rebellion. However, the story is incomplete. It isn’t an epic. Therefore, while the Imperial Trilogy is a trilogy in the most basic definition of the word, it isn’t a trilogy in an epic sense.