How The Empire Is Like The Rebellion Post-Endor
Image Source: CultureSlate
It was a time of celebration. The Rebellion had achieved victory at Endor, bringing in a new era for the galaxy. With Palpatine and Darth Vader dead, and the second Death Star destroyed, the Empire fractured. Some of the Imperial Elite would enact contingency plans of Palpatine, such as Operation: Cinder, while others would attempt to keep power among the territories they owned. Fighting between the Rebellion, now reformed as the New Republic, and the Empire would last a year, ending with the Battle of Jakku.
The Empire was formally abolished, and those who swore loyalty to the Empire retreated to the fringes of the galaxy. They bided their time until they could strike back and form themselves as the major government of the galaxy once again. Thus, the Empire was now on the back foot, keeping to the shadows, striking where they could. Across the years until their fall, many of the moves the Imperial Remnants made were similar to those of the Rebellion.
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Image Source: Wookieepedia
The early Rebellion consisted of many cells acting alone, doing what they could to disrupt the operations of the Empire. Rebels showed the Spectres, who later became part of the Phoenix Cell and who played a part in Mon Mothma’s official declaration of Rebellion. Andor would show the operations of Luthen Rael, with his working alongside Mothma as he formed a rebel network, along with coming into contact with Saw Gerrera and his Partisans.
The Imperial Remnants operated much the same as these rebel cells did, keeping to their own sectors. Disrupting the New Republic wherever they could. Placing spies within the system to sway the opinions of the New Republic, along with feeding information to the leaders of the Remnants. Or, as seen in The Mandalorian, taking out those inducted into the New Republic Amnesty Program to protect the secrets such members might hold.
Image Source: Wookieepedia
Rebel cell leaders had little communication with each other, instead relying on those who led their network, such as Ahsoka Tano and Bail Organa with Phoenix Cell or Luthen Rael with Axis for information. However, until the formal declaration of Rebellion, those network leaders had little information on each other unless they found each other. Each Imperial Remnant had a leader, with most leaders knowing each other.
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A number of those leaders, including Moff Gideon, Captain Pellaeon, and Commandant Hux, would meet as part of the Shadow Council, sharing information and forming plans to strike against the New Republic. Though never openly engaging in warfare as a united force. That would come once Grand Admiral Thrawn had rejoined them upon his return from another galaxy.
Image Source: Wookieepedia
But, until that point, the Shadow Council were not to join forces. Like the Rebellion before them, the leaders of the Shadow Council felt that any large gathering of forces would bring swift action by the New Republic. If they were on the defensive, such a battle would likely be lost. Attacking at the right moment would be crucial for success. And with Grand Admiral Thrawn leading them, how could they fail? Thrawn to the Empire is what Luke Skywalker was to the Rebellion. The one who gets results.
Details regarding the war that follows Thrawn’s return are slim, but it is known that this conflict eventually ends the last resistance of the Empire. With Ahsoka detailing how Thrawn returns to the galaxy, new series and films are likely to show key events of the war, leading to that eventual destruction. Though the Imperial Remnants failed, the one that remained hidden in the Unknown Regions for years would later succeed in bringing down the New Republic. The one that renamed themselves the First Order.
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