First Order (Star Wars)

The 2016 novel Star Wars: Bloodline explained how this faction officially reorganized into the "First Order", and that this final transition only occurred about six years before The Force Awakens. By that time, the New Republic Senate had become divided into two parties: the Populists led by Leia Organa, who wanted to decentralize authority, and the Centrists, who wanted power to remain concentrated in a strong central government. Many of the Centrists were former Imperials who admired the old Empire for bringing order to the galaxy, and who feared that without strong central control the New Republic would become as weak and ineffectual as the Old Republic. Ultimately, many Centrist worlds seceded from the New Republic to reunite with the holdout Imperial remnants on the fringe of the galaxy, and formally combined into a new government called "the First Order". First Order conspirators publicly revealed that Leia was in fact the daughter of Darth Vader, severely harming her political standing among the remaining Populists.^[11]

The vast majority of the New Republic's worlds remained intact, but with the exodus of the Centrists its Senate became dominated by the remaining Populists, who favored decentralization and demilitarization, not confrontation. Even after these events, most in the remaining Senate were happy to see the Centrists go, feeling that the new First Order still controlled far too few sectors of the galaxy to ever pose a serious threat to galactic peace. In their view, it was easier to just let the Centrist worlds peacefully leave of their own volition and rejoin the Imperial worlds rather than fight a war to keep them by force.

The new "First Order" came to be ruled by the mysterious Force-wielder known as Supreme Leader Snoke, who was secretly created by the resurrected Emperor Palpatine to control the First Order after purging its previous leadership.^[4] Through Snoke, Palpatine seduced Leia's own son Ben Solo to the dark side of the Force, who renamed himself "Kylo Ren".^[4] On his turn to the dark side, Ben/Kylo slaughtered most of his uncle Luke Skywalker's other Jedi apprentices (with the rest joining him) and destroyed his new academy. Blaming himself, Luke fled into self-imposed exile to search for the ancient first Jedi Temple. Kylo Ren, meanwhile, took on a position as Snoke's right hand within the First Order's military.

With her political standing severely weakened, and the New Republic Senate gridlocked and unwilling to recognize the First Order's military buildup, Leia Organa decides to withdraw and form her own small private army, known as the Resistance, to fight the First Order within its own borders. She is joined by other members of the former

The First Order's handful of sectors simply do not possess the galaxy-wide resources the old Empire used to be able to draw upon, and in addition the armistice treaties with the New Republic put strict limitations on how many ships it could physically build. Therefore, unlike the old Galactic Empire's swarm tactics, the First Order's military has had to adapt to a more "quality over quantity" philosophy, making efficient use of what few resources it has. Culturally, the Galactic Empire's Sith-influenced philosophies have been incorporated and streamlined. Its military is built upon "survival of the fittest"; if one soldier cannot fulfill their duty and dies serving the First Order, then so be it. The Order can only become stronger by culling the weak from their ranks.^[13]

A major plot point in The Last Jedi is that the First Order has developed new "hyperspace tracking" technology, allowing them to continue to chase enemy vessels through hyperspace from one jump to the next (until one or the other runs out of fuel). This technology was first mentioned in passing in Rogue One as another research project the Empire was starting to develop almost forty years before. However, it appears that such technology existed at the time of A New Hope, as Darth Vader was able to track the Tantive IV from Scarif to Tatooine even through hyperspace.

Starfleet

Star Destroyers

The First Order lacked the resources to build and crew thousands of Star Destroyers. While its fleet is a fraction of the size of the Imperial fleet at its height, on a one-for-one basis its new ships are much more powerful. In addition, they boast thirty years' worth of advances in military technologies compared to the old Empire. As a result, the First Order now deploys starships such as the new Resurgent-class Star Destroyer, nearly twice as large as the old Imperial-class Star Destroyer which it replaced as the mainstay of the First Order fleet. With a naval doctrine that accepted the renewed importance of starfighters within their overall strategy, the Resurgent-class adopted the carrier-centric designs of the Galactic Republic's Venator-class Star Destroyer.

TIE pilot corps

The First Order's TIE fighters, designated TIE/fo, are more advanced than the old Empire's TIE/ln model, and show greater concern for unit stamina and survivability. The First Order's Special Forces use a more heavily armed two-man TIE/sf variant. Visually, their color scheme is reversed from the old Imperial design: the Empire's TIE fighters have black solar panels on a light grey metal body frame, while the First Order TIE fighters have white solar panels on a dark metal frame.^[5]

The Last Jedi also introduces a new starfighter element to the First Order fleet, the TIE silencer superiority fighter. Much as TIE interceptors were the next generation fighter starting to phase out the original Imperial TIE fighters, TIE silencers are a next-generation fighter given only to the most elite units. Visually they somewhat resemble a cross between a TIE interceptor and Darth Vader's TIE Advanced x1 prototype, being wider and more elongated, while boasting heavier weapons and shields to be able to face X-wings head-on. Their technical designation is "TIE/vn" (because in earlier drafts, the ship was called "TIE vendetta"). Kylo Ren pilots his own personal TIE silencer in The Last Jedi, which he uses to assault the Resistance ship, the MC85 Star Cruiser Raddus.

In The Rise of Skywalker, another new TIE is introduced, the TIE whisper. This fighter is similar to the TIE silencer but has a spherical hull more in line with typical TIE lines. Kylo Ren uses the TIE whisper as his personal craft in The Rise of Skywalker, using two ships in his pursuit of both Palpatine and Rey; both ships used are destroyed by Rey.

Troop Transports

For space to surface delivery, the First Order is also seen deploying several standard troop transports. Elite units and high value command personnel such as Kylo Ren use the Upsilon-class command shuttle, a stylistic evolution of the old Imperial Lambda-class T-4a shuttle (but without the third fin on top, and now sporting large wings that retract upon themselves on landing).

Dreadnoughts

The Last Jedi introduces several more ships of the First Order. Mandator IV-class Siege Dreadnoughts are larger but rarer than Resurgent-class Star Destroyers, used as orbital bombardment platforms which can functionally wipe out entire planets' population centers (albeit through conventional weapons, just short of being considered superweapons). Dwarfing even these other vessels are Supreme Leader Snoke's personal flagship and mobile capital, the Mega-class Star Dreadnought Supremacy: a wing-shaped vessel wider than it is long, the size of a small country. The Supremacy measures 60 kilometers at its greatest width—equal to about 18 Resurgent-class Star Destroyers lined up end to end.

Ground forces

The First Order employs a quality-over-quantity philosophy with its soldiers and personnel. Unable to conscript quadrillions of soldiers to fill its stormtrooper ranks yet unwilling to invest huge resources in breeding a rapidly produced clone army, First Order stormtroopers are kidnapped from their home worlds and trained from birth, raised their entire lives for no other purpose. First Order soldiers and crews have constantly trained for combat in war games and simulations, making them much more effective one-on-one than the endless waves of stormtrooper conscripts fielded by the old Empire. First Order stormtroopers are regularly put through mental indoctrination and propaganda programs, to make sure that they remain fanatically loyal and never hesitate or question orders. Soldiers are not even given individual names for themselves but merely serial numbers, such as "FN-2187".^[5]

First Order stormtroopers are formally deployed in squads of ten, with the tenth spot reserved for a heavy weapons specialist as the needs of the mission require: usually a heavy gunner, but sometimes also flamethrower troops, or riot troops equipped with energy batons (which are incidentally capable of blocking a lightsaber).^[5] The design of the armor of regular and heavy gunner stormtroopers bears significant resemblances to the design used by the Galactic Empire, such as the helmet visor, nasal filters, and overall shape. However, the filter was extended, among other practical features. According to First Order officer Captain Phasma, not even a Wookiee could crush the said armor. Some stormtroopers held high ranks—a significant improvement from the one-rank system of the Empire. These were indicated by the color of shoulder pauldrons: white for squad leaders, black for sergeants, and red for officers. In the rare instance of a stormtrooper earning the rank of captain, they often earned a blaster proof cape. Occasionally, they modify their outfit even further—Captain Phasma made blaster proof chrome copies of all her equipment and greatly improved vision modes of her helmet's visor. Captain Cardinal, the bodyguard of a First Order founding father, received almost all-red armor from his superior as a sign of trust. Introduced in The Rise of Skywalker, a new variant of troopers was introduced in the form of jet troopers, equipped with G125 projectile launchers and jet packs.

The First Order also fields its own evolution of the old AT-series of armored transports, the AT-M6, used as a heavy siege weapon. Dwarfing the older AT-AT, the AT-M6 has numerous design improvements including heavy serrated cable-cutters mounted on its legs—to avoid being tripped up again like AT-ATs were at the Battle of Hoth. These cutters are positioned in such a way that the AT-M6 walks on its "knuckles" instead of the pads of its feet, which—combined with a heavy siege cannon which gives it a hunched-over appearance—gives the AT-M6 an almost gorilla-like profile compared to the more elephant-like AT-AT.

Depictions in film

The Force Awakens (2015)

In the film, the First Order is led by a mysterious figure named

Snoke is a powerful figure in the dark side of the Force and has corrupted Ben, the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa who had been an apprentice to his uncle, the Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. Masked and using the name Kylo Ren, he is one of Snoke's enforcers, much like his grandfather Darth Vader had been the enforcer of Emperor Palpatine during the days of the Empire decades earlier. Kylo is the master of the Knights of Ren, a mysterious group of elite warriors who work with the First Order.^[19][20] Kylo and Hux are rivals for Snoke's approval,^[21] and the third member of the "commanding triumvirate" of the First Order is the formidable Captain Phasma, the commander of the stormtroopers.^[22]

Kylo is searching for Luke, who vanished some years earlier. Snoke believes that as long as Luke lives, a new generation of Jedi Knights can rise again. The First Order launches a pre-emptive strike on