It’s been more than ten days. We can start to talk in more depth about the ending of Star Wars: The Force Awakens now, can’t we? We can? Good. Because it’s high time we analyze the political situation in the galaxy at the end of the movie. Spoilers for all of The Force Awakens, including the ending, follow. By the end of The Force Awakens, the Resistance has won a great victory. But the truth is, that victory is a pale shadow of a far greater defeat. There’s only one winner in The Force Awakens, and it’s not the Republic. The First Order lost a major battle, but it’s still winning the war.
How The First Order Defeated The Republic In The Force Awakens
On a political scale, three major events take place in The Force Awakens. These don’t involve Han Solo, Kylo Ren, Rey, Finn or The Force, although events involving those characters will matter a great deal politically in the long run. For the moment, I’m talking events on a galactic scale, of which there are three. First, the First Order publicly emerges from the Unknown Regions and declares a war of total annihilation against the New Republic. Second, the First Order uses Starkiller Base to destroy the entire Hosnian system, which during the movie is the rotating capital of the New Republic. Third, the Resistance strikes back, destroying Starkiller Base before it can destroy another system.
Let’s look at each of those things in turn. First, the emergence of the First Order as a serious force in the Galaxy is a medium-sized defeat for the Republic, even before the group blows up the Hosnian system. It proves that the Resistance was right—there were still forces out there capable of taking on the Republic, and the group’s decision to disarm has proved very foolish. The First Order’s declaration of war caught the Republic flat-footed—especially once the Order proved it wasn’t all bluster.
The destruction of the Hosnian system is more than just a defeat for the Republic. It’s a horrific, catastrophic defeat. Not only was an entire solar system and all life in it destroyed in what is surely the greatest crime against humanity (and alienity) in history… the system was the Republic’s capital, home to the new Senate and most of the (already small) Republican fleet. General Hux was only exaggerating a little bit when he said the attack was the end of the Republic. It isn’t, but it is a truly crushing blow, one that will leave the Republic reeling.
The destruction of Starkiller Base, on the other hand, is certainly a victory for the Republic and the Resistance… but it’s a victory because it prevents further defeats. It doesn’t achieve any of the Republic’s major aims, except preventing further destruction. It doesn’t destroy the First Order. It takes away their most powerful weapon, but their most powerful weapon has already been used against the highest-value target in the Republic (besides maybe Coruscant). Destroying Starkiller Base would be like the United States destroying its enemies nuclear missile sites, after New York, D.C., Los Angeles and Chicago have already been blown away. It needs to happen. It prevents further damage. But the bulk of the damage has already been done.
The First Order is weaker at the end of The Force Awakens than at the beginning, because it has lost its most powerful weapon. But the New Republic has lost its capital, its governing body, most of its fleet, and one of its prime systems. That’s a far greater loss, and far harder to recover from. The First Order may have lost its superweapon, but it’s winning the war.
