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On page 14 of Aftermath, when Wedge is on his scouting mission approaching Akiva, he thinks to himself:

[the Empire] must have moved to the Outer Rim - study your history and it's easy to see that the seeds of the Empire grew first out here, away from the Core systems, away from the prying eyes of the Republic.

I don't understand how this thought makes sense canonically. From the perspective of a regular citizen, or even a generally distrustful citizen such as Wedge, the Empire was created at the instant at which Palpatine gave his monumental address to the Senate and declared the Jedi to be traitors.

It seems to me that understanding that the Empire had these surreptitious origins would require knowledge of Palpatine's Sith roots. Only Obi-Wan, Yoda, Bail Organa knew that Palpatine was a Sith Lord (to my knowledge).

How does Wedge's thought make sense here?

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  • I haven't read it, but is it possible that he knew a Jedi in hiding, that told him?
    – PointlessSpike
    Oct 2, 2015 at 6:58
  • 2
    Wedge has a tinfoil lining on the inside of his flight helmet. He keeps warning people about the Illuminati, the Trandoshans, and the Mark of the Terentatek. "Torpedoes can't melt Durasteel beams... 0BBY was an inside job"
    – Wolfie Inu
    Oct 2, 2015 at 8:00
  • Simple answer: he's what's called an "unreliable narrator".
    – Gaius
    Jan 23, 2016 at 12:56

2 Answers 2

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Star Wars: Aftermath takes place after the events of Return of the Jedi.

Luke and Wedge were both present for the briefing before the Battle of Endor:

Antilles was present at a briefing aboard the Rebel command ship, Home One, in which High Command introduced the plan to destroy the shield generator protecting the Empire's second Death Star
- source

Since Luke and Wedge were both present for the briefing before the battle, it makes sense for both Luke and wedge to also be present for the debriefing that occurred after the battle of Endor.

Luke Skywalker, a Commander for the Rebel Alliance, would have reported to High Command in that post-battle debriefing. That report would likely have included the revelation that Palpatine was a Sith. Knowing the Sith identities of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, it wouldn't be too difficult for Wedge to work out how Palpatine's scheme had unfolded in hindsight.

Even Tarkin, without knowing (for sure) that Palpatine was a Sith, had suspected the Emperor of having orchestrated and manipulated events in his favor during the Clone Wars and the Galactic Civil War.

The "seeds of the Empire" that came from around the Outer Rim include:

  1. Emperor Palpatine was the senator of his home planet Naboo, which is right on the border of the Outer Rim.

  2. Darth Vader was born on Tatooine.

  3. The Clone Army that would obey Palpatine's orders with out question were created on Kamino.

  4. The droid armies that gave Palpatine an excuse to use the Clone Army were built on Geonosis.

Wedge would know about these things as they were generally known historical events.

So in conclusion, Wedge would've known about how the Clone Wars led up to the creation of the Empire and would know Palpatine was a Sith after Luke filled everyone in after the Battle of Endor.

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I believe Wedge thinks about well known events which led to the Empire, a lot of them happened in the Outer Rim. I think it's obvious for a citizen of the Empire (who knows history as said by Wedge) that the Empire arose because of the Separatist movement and the Clone Wars.

The whole Separatist movement started in the Outer Rim - it is confirmed if you look at the Separatist movement article on Wookieepedia. Geonosis, the headquarters of the Separatists and where the Clone Wars begun, is in the Outer Rim (confirmed by Wookieepedia as well).

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  • But doesn't making the Separatist-->Empire connection acknowledge that Palpatine was the puppetmaster? From the perspective of an ordinary citizen, Palpatine defeated the Separatists and created the Empire to prevent such uprisings from occurring in the future.
    – Jeff Grimes
    Oct 2, 2015 at 14:22
  • @Jeff Wedge might be saying that Palpatine's power, derived in a large part from his control of the clone armies, grew in the outer rim. If there had been more clones on Coruscant, the "prying eyes" of Republic Senators would have provided oversight and never have let Palpatine gain such direct control over the Republic's military.
    – mbocek
    Oct 2, 2015 at 21:09
  • Of course, Wedge would be wrong in that case. The clone army would have carried out Order 66 whether they had any personal loyalty to Palpatine or not. The Senate never had the means to block it.
    – mbocek
    Oct 2, 2015 at 21:15
  • Makes sense. Thanks!
    – Jeff Grimes
    Oct 3, 2015 at 21:46

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