How the Republic's most Noble Heroes so Easily Became the Empire's Worst Monsters

[@neofulcrum5013]

Yularen would’ve fit so well in the rebellion. He was smart, had a heart and a respect for the Jedi. Imagine him telling Luke all about anakin’s tactics.

[@The-Ent1ty]

"I remember that one time that one time when General Skywalker had surrendered a venator but ended up using it as a battering ram"

[@clickboat4790]

He had some extent of respect of the Jedi, but throughout the war I think his opinion of them started to deteriorate as he witnessed the jedi’s failures over the war, as well as being paired with the unpredictable and reckless anakin lmao

[@TheWarmachine375]

@@The-Ent1ty Luke would probably listen to Yularen who'd be relieved that the boy won't be like his reckless father and give him pointers on how to be a leader properly

[@nerysghemor5781]

@@clickboat4790 It wouldn’t surprise me if Palpatine engineered Yularen being paired with Anakin, knowing it would take something particularly difficult/flagrant to break Yularen.

[@sheevpalpatine2128]

@@nerysghemor5781 who told you, vader? he knows nothing.

[@captain_hammer]

Vader: "Admiral, evacuate that damaged Star Destroyer and ready my shuttle. I have a plan" Yularen: "I have the strangest sense of deja vu..."

[@KaminoKatie]

Yularen is like "Vader is kinda sus"

[@sugdolomar]

Vader: *rams the star destroyer towards a reactivated droid control ship* Yularen: "That reckless son of a nerf herder is Lord Vader?! Let alone still alive?!

[@staringgasmask]

@@sugdolomar Yularen: Man am I glad those Jedi are all dead and gone. I HATED that Skywalker guy, so random and reckless and with borderline suicidal tactics that somehow got results because of his damn luck. I heard you killed him, didn't you? Vader: Let's just say I did and leave it at that, okay?

[@facundopollacino7956]

​@@staringgasmask Irónicamente eso encaja con la personalidad de Yularen.

[@theonionmike4151]

Its interesting how this plays into the overall theme of "from a certain point of view" in star wars. From the point of view of Imperial officers, their loyalty hasn't changed, nor has their character. They serve the government of the galaxy weather it calls itself Republic or Empire. If anything it is us as the audience who change our percieved alligence, first viewing the separatists as antagonists, then viewing the rebellion as heroes even though they were fighting for really similar things

[@mathiasbartl903]

Difficult to have a different frame of reference.

[@vedsingh2108]

Yes except all the genociding the empire was doing, and the military spending and the planet killing

[@alphadraconian1114]

But the separtists were evil.

[@thechimeraprotocol]

@@alphadraconian1114 So was the republic, from a certain point of view. The Republic committed many war crimes, even when it was still a Republic

[@Eli-akad]

@@alphadraconian1114 certain individuals where, as were individuals in the republic.

[@indianajones4321]

Rebels: You betrayed the Jedi to the Empire! Former Republic officers: I missed the part where that’s my problem

[@geetslys]

Hahahahaha

[@laisphinto6372]

the jedi betrayed the republic. their fantasy ideal of a republic never existed in the first place and maybe the only jedi who were truly against the empire were dooku and his acolytes and the jedi who werent in the war.

[@whatsup2318]

@@laisphinto6372 What? Don't make saints out of sinners. Dooku was all for the Empire and its human first ideology. He helped Palpatine trick the Senate into giving him more and more power while at the same time sabotaging the Separatists, ensuring their defeat

[@judgecurran7289]

Dude they just changed uniforms

[@Deathmare235]

@@whatsup2318 I still don’t understand why they made that his goal it seemed like in episode 2 he was trying to do everything in his power to avoid that

[@masteroftheassassins]

The problem with order that more often than not, it’s usually ruled by fear. Not to say that there shouldn’t be any order but there should always be a limit. As Jay Garrick said “Without limits, we become villains.”

[@dmann5938]

Hence the Tarkin doctrine

[@duescaymania2940]

But there’s another side to every story and trade offs to every ideal. While the empire did bring more order than the galaxy was used to there was a grand drop in crime, slavery (ironic considering they had a slave trade), increased prosperity, and better treatment of the outer rim which isn’t saying a lot. While the new republic offered a lot of freedom for the citizens but was racked by corruption and crime. However while still present there wasnt as much prejudice towards the outer rim. For every side there is good and bad

[@duescaymania2940]

@@DoughnutDragon exactly, morality is subjective even if it does align with the mass.

[@tristankawatsuma8962]

You have to give the Galactic Republic some credit. It lasted the longest and in a sense reigned over the longest era of peace in the galaxy. Meanwhile the Empire and New Republic only last a few decades at most. It could be considered the best mix of freedom and order in the galaxy. It honestly wasn’t really a dictatorship until the third year of the war when Palpatine was given control of the banks and had the Senate at their lowest point. Throughout the Clone Wars it still had power, it just used that power to give more to Palpatine. Of course the Republic still had a lot to work on. No central defense or military force, taxes were going to senators and rich people instead of public projects to develop the Outer Rim, and the corporations basically became warlords over planets that needed protection and economic development, but couldn’t afford it. These are the points the Separatists make. However while they would have granted more freedom, I feel it would have made things worse. Corporations would have had more power since they made the military and the CIS would have decentralized itself and lowered if not gotten rid of galactic level taxes. While poor planets would no longer be serving a government that barely acknowledged them, the CIS would have ensured the rich rule over the poor. Now people probably felt frustrated given how for centuries the Republic never changed, but still reform was the better option than secession.

[@lucaswatanabe9429]

I get the reference, and that rings true.

[@tux75]

“From my point of view, the Jedi betrayed Yularen”

[@geetslys]

😂😂😂

[@azzen432]

He just stayed Loyal to his cause, why is that negative.

[@imperialofficerofthegalact6317]

Both the Jedi and Sith are evil and always got innocent people and worlds involved in their wars.

[@AcridCrowd]

THEN YOU ARE LOST!!!

[@imperialofficerofthegalact6317]

@@AcridCrowd did u read or skip reply’s to the comment?

[@christiangraves2745]

After hearing the quote from Mace Windu it makes me think about an alternate universe. What if Sheev was never a Sith and he never had a plan to kill off the Jedi. What if he still orchestrated the whole war and planned on uniting the galaxy under his rule. If he succeeded in such a mighty tasking, what would this look like for the Jedi operating in the Galactic Empire? How would their ideals be challenged? Would they move against their own beliefs to challenge the Emperor openly? Just a thought.

[@michaelsmith622]

Palpatine and the entire jedi hypocritly would be no different.

[@TheWarmachine375]

@@michaelsmith622 Mood Kindred

[@LuccianoBartolini]

Geetsly already did a video about it.

[@christiangraves2745]

@@LuccianoBartolini Did he? I guess I missed that. I’ll have to go search for it.

[@MrJTH1999]

@@LuccianoBartolini what’s it called, if you remember?

[@zakberliner7926]

I think you make some fantastic points in this vid. As I was watching, I also thought about the compositions of both sides in the Clone Wars. The Republic was strongly represented by humans. The most powerful voices were humans from the Core worlds. The clone army was exclusively human. Few of the individuals fighting and representing the Republic were alien, mostly just the Jedi generals. Conversely, the Separatist planets were mostly alien, and mostly in the Mid and especially Outer Rim. The leaders of the Separatist Council, like the Trade Federation, Commerce Guild, Banking Clan, etc. were all non-humans. Even the droids were modeled after insectoid species! These commanders, like Tarkin and Yularen, could already have been biased against aliens, and the fact that the Separatists were mostly non-human probably exacerbated those biases. Again, GREAT video!!

[@geetslys]

"It was no accident that the primary powers of the Confederacy of Independent Systems were Neimoidian, Skakoan, Quarren, and Aqualish, Muun and Gossam, Sy Myrthian and Koorivar and Geonosian. At war's end the aliens would be crushed, stripped of all they possessed, and their systems and their wealth would be given into the hands of the only beings who could be trusted with them. Human beings." -Count Dooku's internal monologue, from the ROTS novelization

[@florixn_de]

It‘s amazing how much lore can be constructed around such little things that were done for cinematic purposes. The reason why the CIS consisted mainly of alien species is obviously that many of them look unpleasing, intimidating and hostile to us (take the Geonosians as an example), thus being suitable as the antagonists.

[@My19922]

​@@geetslysEckhardts Ladder would endorse this post.

[@TheWarmachine375]

1:20 Then there's Rahm Kota who formed his own militia within the Grand Army of the Republic after he refused to lead the Clone Troopers upon having a gut feeling to not trust them at all.

[@asaschuemann9545]

Yularen is the only one I can honestly say I think was good in some capacity. Screed, Romodi and especially the Tarkin bros were pure, Imperial-facist evil right from the get go.

[@RollingPapersEXE]

I feel like people don't understand yularens view on the empire that the rebels had

[@kaitracksmalgom]

@@RollingPapersEXE what do you mean?

[@kaitracksmalgom]

I have to agree yularen did good as he didn’t really kill unless he felt it was necessary and it was in order to remove corruption and he didn’t share the views that other imperials had so I think yularen can’t be classified as evil

[@rabidrabids5348]

@@kaitracksmalgom He did join a fascist regime sooooo... saying he's not as bad as other imperials doesn't change the fact he willingly wore the same uniform.

[@kaitracksmalgom]

@@rabidrabids5348 true though I’d classify him as a good imperial rather than evil

[@underworldguardian704]

'You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain…' - Mark Carrigan.

[@barnabassebesteny1490]

They never changed, our perspective of them did. Like with Eren Yeager in attack on Titan, fans ask where this vile monster was. It was always there, we didn't acknowledge them, they were our monsters on our side. But only when you look at them from the other side, as the enemy do u realize just how unadmirable they really are

[@wetwillyis_1881]

It's always interesting to me how Tarkin didn't care as much as Yularen was when it came to the Jedi and Clones. Tarkin just wanted to do things his way, which the Jedi disagreed with, where, Yularen, understood that the Jedi where not capable of leading like he could.

[@stormycatmink]

This made Yularen the better leader. Part of being a good leader is knowing the strengths and weaknesses of your own side, and leveraging what you can to make them effective. If it means playing nice with the Jedi so they can go be reckless, and you use it as a diversion while you get the real work done, then so be it. A good leader recognizes that and uses it to everyone's benefit. Just being thick headed and wanting to do it your way because you're the better strategist, right or wrong, makes you less of a leader.

[@wetwillyis_1881]

@@stormycatmink I agree, I think people don't realize what being a good leader is.

[@malybrickproductions2747]

@@stormycatmink I never liked Tarkin, he was effective but at what cost. He had no respect for any form of life.

[@astonmartin1800]

@@malybrickproductions2747 speaking of Tarkin, I always believed that Tarkin was suspiciously hiding something during the clone wars when he blamed Ahsoka for the crime that she didn't commit and I know that it was actually Barris Offee who framed her for almost everything she did to the Jedi! Tarkin had a suspicious look on his face when he interrogated Ahsoka and on trial, that's how I found something suspicious about Tarkin before the rise of The Galactic Empire! Not only that, he was very interested of Clone force 99 (The Bad Batch) especially the sharpshooter of the team, Crosshair and what is very surprising (and incase nobody realized it) he KNOWS the true PURPOSE of the inhibitor chips when he ran diagnostics on Crosshair! It's hard to believe, I know! But here's my theory about Tarkin! What if Tarkin himself knows the true Identity of Palpatine and secretly helping him for the preparation of BUILDING THE GALACTIC EMPIRE!!!!

[@spiderboy43]

@@astonmartin1800 Tarkin was close with Palpatine as he said in the Citadel arc, so that is a possibility.

[@lenoralee9553]

Yularen would be tearing his hair out if he found out his new boss was actually Anakin.

[@anuvisraa5786]

may be he new all along

[@stiansoerlie]

Think he new after some time

[@stiansoerlie]

Wait that was tarkin my faul

[@michaelandreipalon359]

Horrifying, yes, but profoundly and experimentally beautiful, in a perverted sense, yesterday's heroes becoming today's villains. Also, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders sure are a trait of the Empire and other similar groups, huh? Guess they're nearly my kind of people. Nearly.

[@sambridgers9543]

Dodonna's line about Screed accepting that the Empire he served was evil is haunting. "And in a galaxy like that, a man may as well become a liar himself."

[@sambridgers9543]

BTW, I enjoy our conversations in the KZbin comments section. Want to share email addresses so we can continue correspondence?

[@michaelandreipalon359]

@@sambridgers9543 Oh, no need for that, privacy is still key.

[@sambridgers9543]

@@michaelandreipalon359 Fair enough.

[@clpfox470]

join the darkside, we have cookies

[@TheWarmachine375]

5:26 I can imagine Yularen's dismay whenever Generals Skywalker and Kenobi having to deal with Hondo Ohnaka every time.

[@mikeggg5671]

That a jedi could become a general with a snap of his fingers is frustrating.

[@oddmanout8692]

That may make sense for Screed and Tarkin, but you can't tell me that Yularen didn't give it a second thought when he found out Dodonna defected. He may not have known him personally (idk) but I'm sure the info made its way to him.

[@nameynamename3758]

why because we saw him on the "good" side, i don't we every (at least in the show) every get detailed characterization. i dont he ever even leaves that ship, he only interacts with his allies

[@laisphinto6372]

people watch TCW nah yularen is a good he cannot be an evil imperial. first that white Uniform he wears isnt a grand admiral uniform but an ISB uniform . what is the ISB? Imperial Security Burea u what is their job? ensuring the stabilizy of the new order by ANY MEANS necessary. Propaganda, Indoctrination,Torture ,Extermination,Specism,Genocide thats the daily work of the ISB. and goodie yularen who cannot be a bad guy is not only part of the ISB but one of the Lead command only under Yssard. so tell me TCW apologist is he really that clean?

[@darkwolf4434]

The weirdest thing is that he served the ISB. His jobs were to kill different thinking individuals, and kill all those who betrayed what the Empire stood for. So I guess he could maybe pick and choose how to deal with different traitors. Kill the evil traitors and be merciful to good traitors. As an example he didn't report Thrawn for talking to an enemy of the Empire, even if Thrawn offered the enemy a way to survive.

[@KaminoKatie]

The fall of both The Republic and The Jedi Order is a long, long time coming; Palpatine is just the wind that blew the dying trees down

[@TheWarmachine375]

1:10 Obi-Wan Kenobi in Clone Armor is awesome especially when he wears a helmet in the 2003 Clone Wars.

[@samuelstanley7738]

In a way, Sidious didn't just corrupt Anakin. He turned the entire Galaxy to the Dark Side.

[@Lustvig]

I'm not sure if there is a video by yourself or another Star Wars fan, but one thing I have always thought is the sheer horror of the war really damaged people. Anakin was affected by the fact that many saw the Clones as expendable biological robots - and that anger and love began his turn. I would say others who had simply been with the Republic's Judicial Fleet and were now engaged in battles where casualties quickly mounted into the thousands HAD to affect them. Not to mention the millions of civilians who died during the Clone Wars. Has anyone done a deep dive on the sheer shock to the Republic's culture such a brutal war must have created? And how much it FED the Dark Side, each day, every day. Fear, anger, hate ... all powerful fuel channeled by one very powerful Sith Lord.

[@robertbarrows6687]

I always saw that while the thoughts of 'order' were ,during the time of a Republic, an attempt to help against the criminal reaches of the Outer Rim, but the Empire just full on corrupted nearly everyone who served it. Very few Imperials kept any noble ideals at the end of the day, even fewer would go against the grain or try to change things from the inside. Admiral Yularen was in essence corrupted by these thoughts of Order, much like how many good men chose to follow fascist dictators. He kind of represented the likes of the average German Officer within Nazi Germany.

[@Lorddacenshadowind]

And it's all about the narrative he is being told, while we see everything from the views of the rebels, it's very easy to see them called terrorists rather than freedom fighters from the outside. You also just got done with a war and would see anyone attempting to start another one as the bad guys

[@lego007guym8]

Kinda reminds me of Erwin Rommel.

[@yagdtigercommander]

I think Yularen was kind of stuck in a bind a bit. I think he wanted to do good things. But he probably wasn't as in the loop with all the sinister stuff the Empire did as a faction. Or If he did to an extent I think he also became a bit tired and broken from the clone wars because of how long it dragged on. He could be seen as a sell out in a sense. But Wars can be exhausting and even soul crushing at times especially pro longed ones like the Clone Wars. He probably didn't want to voice his opinions as much and cause problems for the Empire because it was the First time in the Galaxy had a decent amount of stability and order to it, after going through the clone wars . So he probably felt it was just easier to carry out his duties and show his expertise that he could offer the Empire. And by this point he was pretty much an old man out of his prime so he really didn't have the capacity or will to out right turn against the Empire if he saw stuff he didn't like. Having to justify to himself that these are evils that must be done for the greater good of the galaxy. But I think he probably would have been dealing with some internal guilt by turning a blind eye to the Empires worst crimes against humanity and other races. He probably just didn't have the same courage, stamina and Charisma that Paleon had, being able to walk a fine line with in the Empire which allowed him to survive the galactic civil war and broker peace with the newly restored republic. Which allowed Paleon to be seen as just a neutral commander during the Empires reign who just was doing his job . While not actively taking part in terrible things the Empire did Such as Grand Moff Tarkin, and various other commanders . But Yularen didn't have the ability to and with focusing on the ISB department in charge of capturing and or assassinating rebel leaders or other key figures that opposed the Empire. It could work against him he even If he had tried to defect the rebels wouldn't take him in because they would see that he was one the major commanders that over saw the empires counter insurgency department. That basically is responsible for the empires security and the causation of some many rebel leaders mysteriously disappearing or being killed off. He had some potential but he was stuck in a position I think that would have made him feel he had to just stay with Empire and ride things out until he official retires and then to extent he might feel he could explain his honest view of the Empire living on planet that isn't so heavily monitored and watched by the Empire for opposing political and ideological views if he was concerned about such things.

[@nikot.9920]

An interesting spin on the Republic officers turned Imperial warlords and moffs

[@zexalbrony4799]

You know I mentioned something about Yularen and a few other Republic Heroes becoming evil back in the Yularen video two weeks ago. So I feel honored to have that topic chosen for a video. And yet, I also feel insulted at the end when you said Yularen was never a good man, the other four you mentioned were quite obviously never good and pure evil. Also, videos like this make it hard for me to keep supporting the Republic. But then I remember I watched the Zygerrian arc for Clone Wars earlier today and how much good several Jedi(Obi-Wan, Anakin, Ashoka, Plo Koon), Clones(Rex, Wolfe, Cody), and even some Republic Officers(Admiral Coburn) did to save the Togrua's from slavery and it becomes easier to support the Repbulic again.

[@Silverthief22]

That’s the thing, the core values the Republic ostensibly represented were great. Peace, unity, civil rights, and civilization are all great things. The problem is that those values were used to justify moral shortcuts and ethical superiority that lead to all of the atrocities and evil represented by the Republic by the time it name swapped to the Empire. The ends never justify evil means.

[@condedooku9750]

@@Silverthief22 The declaration of the New Order by Palpatine only changed that now the Jedi would be enemies of the state and would be exterminated, but not much else changed immediately, that is because the Republic did not turn 180 degrees from being democratic, with freedoms and justice towards the Empire in one day, the change was a progressive decline that lasted more or less a thousand years, Palpatine and Plagueis the only thing they did was accelerate a mutation process that had been brewing for too long, but even without them the Republic was falling, not as a state but as its ideals, and for that reason the only thing that was needed to bring to light all that decay that had been growing for so long was a simple speech, and with that democracy officially died, with a thunderous applause... But the reality is that democracy and the values ​​of the Republic died a long time ago, the only thing that speech did was recognize it once and for all.

[@dimitarkiradjiev5987]

@@Silverthief22 The real problem was that those values were often in practice from the Core for the Core. It was great to be a Republic citizen, especially during the Golden Age. It was even better if you were at least middle class, though in a lot of places even the poor had it great. However, that came at a price - the Republic fuelled its prosperity by exploiting what was the far Rim at any given time of its history. So in a nutshell, the Republic was great for its citizens, and at the same time either outright, or quietly supported its corporations exploiting whole sectors so the economy could be strong, and goods for the regular citizens cheap. And this had nothint to do with the Sith, they merely accelerated the issue and took an advantage of it. With the Jedi never doing a thing to fix it, because doing so would mean going against the interests of almost everyone running the Republic, a civil war was inevitable. The Rim grew too populous and industrialized, and the Republic disarmed on federal level, giving a secessionist movement more than a chance - it all but guaranteed that entities like the TF and company needed vast armeed fleets and security aparatus to operate on the Outer Rim without being ravaged by pirates. In that regard, yeah nothing really changed when the Empire became a thing. At worst, officers in the military could clearly say that what they do, no matter how distasteful, directly benefits their people by ensuring the flow of cheap resources to the Core, and the important Imperial strongholds beyond it.

[@steverukia6247]

Life is mostly never black or white especially in war

[@zexalbrony4799]

@@steverukia6247 An important lesson. One The Clone Wars taught us all very well.

[@TheWarmachine375]

Either you die a Hero or live long enough to become a Villain

[@imperialofficerofthegalact6317]

How do u know that it’s not thee other way around?🤔

[@kingbooomer9231]

The biggest exception is Pellaeon, who just felt the Empire was more safe than the Alliance’s methods. Any group needs safety and security for its people, and Pellaeon recognized that the Empire can offer that. Yularen and Tarkin’s primary motivation is their respectful loyalty to Palpatine, even if Yularen was a good man

[@jordanthejq12]

Company man to the very end. Still a fascist prick, but I can respect it just a little bit.

[@MasterSkywalker91]

Pellaeon. The go-to guy for Imperial apologists. Such BS.

[@kingbooomer9231]

@@MasterSkywalker91 never claimed the Imperials were good, just making an observation that Pelleaon is a token example of decent people believing a horrible system is better than the alternative and working with what they have. There is nothing remotely forgivable about the Empire other than the “Palpatine building up forces against Yuhzahn Vong” rhetoric that doesn’t hold up when he poured trillions of credits into planet-killers

[@socialmoon]

@@MasterSkywalker91 It's almost as though it's completely fictional & people can like whoever they like.

[@superjesse645]

Sometimes I wish Tarkin and Yulaaren got a final 'Oh crap' moment before he died instead of just being a footnote that he got blown up on the Death Star. Lego Star Wars did kinda do something like that for Tarkin though, which I always got a kick out of.

[@CloneScavengerVulpin8389]

When your greatest heroes become your greatest threats. Though yularen he's not really a villain but rather a man who's strong in his beliefs.

[@rashworth080]

I agree. Yularen had a such promissing military career and high expectations of what the Republic was and what it can be. Even though like many of his fellow military colleagues all agreed that Jedi had no history of leading armies and did not believe they shouldn't have been made general's of the Clone forces, he still had much respect for them and what they stood for. But considering how Palpatine played them all during the clone wars and made the Jedi look like the aggressors and traitors of the Republic, I guess Yularen just didn't want feel like he was played like fool under the jedi and why it was easier to join and stay with the Empire till his death on the first Death Star. Unknowingly, he was blinded to believe that he traded a great evil for the greater good when in truth, it was the other way around. Too bad he didn't realize the truth before it was too late.

[@CloneScavengerVulpin8389]

@@rashworth080 true

[@kingnamor777]

@@rashworth080 I'm surprised he still stayed with the Empire. After the 1st Death Star blown up Alderaan.

[@rashworth080]

@@kingnamor777 if he had any second thoughts or regrets about Alderaan before or after it was destroyed, they never said anything about it.

[@TheWarmachine375]

2:13 Admiral Yularen having to deal with General Anakin's crazy plans and work around it.

[@Raycloud]

An overlooked factor with the Empire is that it was much more brutal to its own than the Republic, what with the summary execution of officers. You see this with Captain Needa, who comes across as a decent and honorable man. A lesser example is possibly with Jerjerrod and his discomfort when ordered to fire on his own troops by the Empire. The thing with a regime like the Empire is that twists and deceives and manipulates and coerces and corrupts good men into doing its evil work.

[@nathancarter8239]

Reminds me of a quote I read once from Malcolm X, which I will paraphrase for this context: "The Republic differs from the Empire only in one way: the Republic is more deceitful than the Empire. Both want power, but the Republic is the one who has perfected the art of posing as the Outer Rim's friend and benefactor."

[@yourlocaltoad5102]

What’s the original quote?

[@nathancarter8239]

@@yourlocaltoad5102 "The white liberal differs from the white conservative only in one way: the liberal is more deceitful than the conservative. The liberal is more hypocritical than the conservative. Both want power, but the white liberal is the one who has perfected the art of posing as the [Black Man]'s friend and benefactor." From a speech he gave in 1963.

[@XX-sp3tt]

From a story telling standpoint, I feel this trivializes Palpatine organizing a war on both sides, and scaring the people with ever greater horrors of war to give up one freedom after another.

[@loganblack6572]

Yularen was actually a good guy. He did his best to do what was right

[@thelaundryman9287]

Yh, he was just a pragmatist.

[@captaindc3889]

That’s how liberty dies

[@3Melchiah]

The path to Hell is paved with good intentions.

[@jameskosusnik1102]

@@3Melchiah but ultimately the ends justify the means, and even Christians understand this when they say, it was meant to be through God's divine plan. Their God's ultimate ends (the apocalypse and the heaven on earth that follows) justifies his means (the old testament up to the apocalypse).

[@rodgill9376]

@@jameskosusnik1102 and they wonder why people have such a disdain and contempt for their religion.

[@TheWarmachine375]

1:00 Aayla Secura: "Alright boys! Let's do this! LEEROY JENKINS!" Commander Bly: "Oh my God! The General ran in! Stick to the plan!"

[@cheeseburger12]

One thing I will mention, Lucas was anti-military. So it makes sense to his world view that Republic soldiers might stick with the empire. I'm sure that isn't the only reason, but the world view of the creator offers insight.

[@crownprincesebastianjohano7069]

You'll find that one of the first and most important elements in any military is solidarity and devotion to the institution. Secondary is devotion to the national entity and duty in general. It is how and why decent men continue to serve horrid regimes. There is nothing special at all about the Imperial officers. They are no different from American, Russian, German, etc., professional soldiers. It takes A LOT to break those bonds of devotion.

[@cameronpearce5943]

I would honestly love a novel following Yularen and examining his justifications and self reflection on his situation, the galaxy, and what his thoughts were on the atrocities of the empire and the chaos of the separatist crisis and the rebellion

[@warlordofbritannia]

Just look up the memoirs of Wehrmacht officers and you’ll get the same basic experience

[@hansonlee5847]

Yularen reminds me of Rommel. More of a military leader who had lukewarm opinions for politics but highly valued patriotism

[@KnightsRealm98]

He is a magnifying bastard, and I would read his book.

[@warlordofbritannia]

Uhhh…anybody want to tell him Rommel only turned against Shitler when it was clear the war had been lost?

[@davidnemoseck9007]

Never thought of it that way. Thanks for this point of view.

[@TheAntiburglar]

Poor Admiral Yularen :( cool moustache though :D

[@tuumef1799]

Well done video. Your editing was perfectly synched to your script. I found it fascinating that so few saw through the veneer of the Republic before its fall. I read somewhere that even Palpatine himself said that the Republic was already an empire, just without the name change. Great display.

[@rashworth080]

I wonder what happened to that one admiral from the Boba Fett arc in the Clone Wars. Admiral Killian. It showed he had much respect for the Clone troopers, and obviously showed briefly that he had the same opinions about the Jedi like his peers. When Mace and Anakin ordered him and the crew to abandon ship when it was being sabotaged by Boba, Killian disobeyed their orders and chose to stay to set the Venator down on that moon to crash land. Even when he and the two other Clone troopers were captured, held hostage and Commander Ponds was executed to face Mace to meet Boba and Aura on their terms. Killian tried to reason with Boba and believed he was a good soldier when he couldn't bring himself to kill any of the hostages, he knew that this was not he wanted. He knew the kid had a conscience and was trying to help him make the right choice. In the end of that arc, Killian and the Clone Sergent were rescued and freed by Plo Koon and Ahsoka but wasn't seen again after that so far as I know. I would hate to think he was also on the first Death Star when it was destroyed. But by a long shot, if perhaps he survived the Clone Wars when the Republic transition to the Galactic Empire. Killian knew something wasn't right about Palpatine or his Empire, he grew his own conscience about what happened to the Republic, as well as the Jedi as is acting on the inside of the Imperieal Navy to get Intel to help the Rebel Alliance. But like I said, it's a long shot.

[@megalopath]

Just enjoying life here in the Zakuul Empire, nothing bad could possibly happen here with our immortal emperor taking care of things.

[@justinsbeaver9010]

Geetsly's : Well, that got rather dark, but that's what you are here for right? Me : Indeed.

[@razvandobos9759]

I would really root for the Separatists this entire time. In fact, they should make the Clone Wars TV series this time from the Separatist perspective.

[@AhsokaFanboy1138]

I keep hoping that Admiral Yularen becomes a Wilhelm Canaries. As for Admiral Screed, his old friend General Dodonna thought that he didn't so much fall for the Empire's lies so much as he concluded everything was a lie.

[@matheson31]

I am just interested, why was the ISD Chimaera allowed to have a non-conventional paint scheme in the Imperial Navy?

[@anuvisraa5786]

because is the flag chip of fuking trawn

[@bigangenbygang]

This question become easier to solve when you look at Lucas's interviews where he talked about the politics of Star Wars. OG trilogy was an anti-Vietnam story, with the Empire representing the US, and the Prequels were more or less a retelling of the dynamics that let Hitler rise from Chancellor to dictator. Fake assassination/terrorist attack as justification and all. They became villains the same way that the heroes of WW1 in France became the collaborating despots of WW2 era occupied France, or how the heroes of WW2 became the children murdering monsters of Korea: power is power, and people who value civility/loyalty will do whatever their office/position asks of them. Their boss changed, not their position, so they follow orders.

[@Foiled_Foliage]

I just have to say, the addition of a decent music lick in the background is great. Idk if this is new or I just never noticed it before, but it totally keeps me listening to the narrator. when I'm watching these vidoes whilst doing other things.

[@TraciPeteyforlife]

Mace really was a fool in the end

[@brokenbridge6316]

This was a nicely informative video.

[@richardlew3667]

One has to understand how these people witnessed all those corruption and chaos as the outer rim was at the mercy of a bunch of pirates and other criminals. The presence of an established military order would have been a welcomed sight.

[@Nephlyte348]

I feel like it’s hard for my view on these characters to have changed since all these characters came into my consciousness as Imperials and only later do you see them as “Republic Heroes.” I think the item is that “heroes” are in the eye of the beholder. To your point, nothing really changes for these individuals. To them, the Empire provided the freedom for them to unilaterally fix what they saw as broken. Someone like Tarkin who was not a traditional Core elite, it’s easy to see how he could see the benefits of the Empire even if he wasn’t one of the leading people shaping it. If him and his brother’s roles were reversed or he’d never got involved with Palpatine, he’d still likely support the Empire because of his world view. I think what’s interesting are the characters that served the Republic and then later the Rebellion. It’s easy to say they’re doing what’s right, but before the bad things became overt, many of them were still complicit in propping up a corrupt system they themselves knew was bad and only wanted to dismantle it when the mask was pulled off. Now those individuals I think provide an interesting case study. Particularly when you think about how many of them fought the Separatists to then turn around and effectively be doing the same thing as Rebels.

[@Springfield1191]

I've seen many a madman throughout history, but Palpatine seemed like he had a good bit of common sense at first. The question that is begged, Why didn't Palpatine approach the Jedi with an olive branch of cooperation and coexistence? We've seen that the Jedi can work alongside the Sith toward a common goal without either of them having to compromise their principles. So why then bother with the insanity so readily shown in canon? One does wonder why do some really messed up stuff when in the long run there's much more to be gained by cooperation. Is shortsightedness truly that much of a problem for people?

[@user-zz3sn8ky7z]

They could cooperate, the problem is that they don't want to. Don't forget that both Jedi and Sith are extremists. Sure, there are actual lore reasons why it'll never permanently work out (balance of the force and all that), but the main reason why they keep fighting is simply because it's a core part of their ideologies. To be a jedi means to hate and kill the sith, and to be a sith means to hate and kill the jedi

[@an-animal-lover]

That particular Era of Jedi would definitely *not* have been willing to cooperate

[@tylerlane8221]

The jedi had grown to weak

[@StateOfTheMind11225]

@@user-zz3sn8ky7z the only way to destroy such ideologies is to get rid of the jedi and sith altogether and instigate galaxy-wide genocide for any force sensitive people, thus absolute certainty can actually be achieved when most galaxy wars happen because of the sith and jedi.

[@datzfatz2368]

@@StateOfTheMind11225 i doubt that that is possible/feasable at all and also completely pointless, at least in the EU timeline and pretty sure in the canon one as well. Because the Force is in all living beings and as long as there are any lifeforms the force and a certain amount of force sensitivity will always exist. Genociding the force means genociding all life and thats not really going to help the problem now is it? Not to mention how fucked that idea is from a logistical and moral standpoint lol^^ Furthermore not to mention that this wouldnt eradicate conflict anyway as we can see in our own reality, you dont need force user orders to cause gigantic wars and destruciton normal people do that just fine themselves.

[@jameskosusnik1102]

And that quote from mace shows exactly how far Mace and the jedi fell. Peace is ABSOLUTELY A LIE even in our world, humanity is NOT the only species that has wars, the perfect example of this is Gonbe Chimp war in Tanzania. Where two communities of chimps fought each other. Civilization DOES NOT breed peace, it only delays, stalls and ultimately makes conflicts worse. Mace in that one quote shows his loyalty to the republic, or as he sees it as, "the only civilization". The jedi were wrong.

[@amanzeihedioha]

Another men's hero is another's worst nighmare

[@rodgill9376]

Also remember, just because Yularen respected Anakin, didn't mean that he didn't like him. I think Yularen didn't like the Jedi at all period. If so, it's not hard to see why. It's basically saying who made these closed off and narrow minded magical monks in charge all of a sudden who didn't even have the same experiences?

[@inquisitorgarza312]

The sad truth is that these men were to easily swayed by the power that they were given, and this in turn made believe that every action that they make was for the betterment of all the Galaxy. The reason why they were good at their jobs was because of the limits of those powers they given during the time of the Republic, and this allowed them to think outside of the box and actually use their talents to achieve great feats of accomplishments, but the Empire remove all limits from those powers and this made men like Tarkin and Yuleran to go straight to the problem consequences be damn. In truth the Empire turn this great men into lazy and unimaginative people who sought to solve everything with overwhelming power, rather than a subtle or even logical solution for any problem.

[@DIEGhostfish]

Ehhhh Screed commanded a Gladiator Star Destroyer. That thing's tiny.

[@GM-kp7yw]

Without limits we became villains. Simple, yet often ignored fact

[@emzonik8851]

2:30 - That is Thrawn, not Palleon. Thrawn never even was a Republic officer. And to those who don't know, Palleon was human xd.

[@Peregrine57]

"Yularen's an Imperial now? But he was the narrator!"

[@inyalgaico1563]

I feel you should of mentioned the fact that many did also not a feasable choice or alternative to do the most good in the drastic change like yularen does not have the luxury of going to the rebellion when he has a whole house and familly that is supported by his deeds and he knows corruption when he sees it so he stays his tongue and does what he has to do remember that comic where thrawn let the famillies of rebels go and Yularen confronted him and thrawn said innocents would die for the sake of fighting inconsequential rebels and Yularen said yeah thats pretty alright

[@marielawrence468]

Sometimes I wonder hen it comes to Yularen I wonder if he ever remembered Rex. Because if I can recall correctly there’s an episode in revels we’re Rex and Kanan are in ship And do Is Yularen. Yularen ends up seeing Rex and Kanan as the run threw the hanger bay. It looked as if he was surprised to see him but I don’t know if he recognize him or not. If anyone has some context on this I would love to know.

[@TheRoguePrince0]

it's because the republic was always the empire. if you are a separatist, fighting the republic then the republic changes it's name to the empire then nothing really changes for you. for some people the clone wars never ended.

[@laisphinto6372]

oh boy thats wrong we made sure the clone wars over and if we had to annihalte half of the seperatist scum species to achieve it we did it. after many Base delta zeros we had finally peace for a decade unfortunaly the scum of 2000 hid in the senate and adapted like the hutt scum they are. thats why it was necessary to rid the last remnant of the old republic swepping it away -Captain Jon Sylas from the Star Destroyer Bloodthirst

[@justeric1107]

Good people can't make the hard decisions and sometimes that makes you worse than any enemy could ever hope to be.

[@Josh_Hammond]

That kinda does explain why q lot of the admires who we like in the clone wars stayed with the empire without any doubts

[@lerneanlion]

If these "Republic heroes" existed during the time of the Great Galactic War and the Cold War during the Old Republic, which side would they prefer to serve? Can anyone please answer me this question because both sides have good potentials for them.

[@jakealter5504]

Most would probably serve the republic but tarkin might go with the sith empire

[@HolyknightVader999]

Simple: the Jedi were the ones keeping them honest. With most of the Jedi gone, and the only Jedi Councilor on the Empire's payroll being Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, there was no one left keeping the admirals and generals from committing war crimes.

[@ianmacfarlane7596]

Even if the Republic was inefficient and had problems, the Jedi and the few good senators at least tried to do good. They at least made the effort. Much of Galactic suffering during this time comes from negligence and good intentions going nowhere, not hatred and purposeful evils. Meanehile the Empire went out of their way to do evil things and did them ON PURPOSE, making Palpatine and any Imperials evil. And while many people in the galaxy couldn't access the few good Jedi and Senators, the imperial officers could. They saw the good in individual Jedi and how some of them really did embody the light side of the force. By turning their back on the Jedi,knowing what they were turning their back on, they share just as much responsibility as the Jedi goes for the rise of the empire. Because whatever situations brought them to the choice of staying or leaving, they stayed. They all had a choice. The guy that defected to the Rebels shows this well. They had a choice. And they made their choice. And so they, and the Empire, deserve to be called evil, because that is what they chose to be.

[@minicle426]

Yularen became popular because they had him narrate all the documentaries.

[@Tayvin4042]

"Wait, Yularen's a villain?" Geetsly: "Always has been."

[@harleyalderson3533]

I always thought of them as a-holes you just proved me right. For the rebellion!!! May the force be with you

[@truegodaries]

Unwavering loyalty can bring the noblest men to follow their leaders in any direction.

[@ramendragon3628]

I like how you said Captain Pellaeon but showed Thrawn. I wonder how many people caught that?

[@CouncilCape897]

Yeah, that was odd. Then again, it was probably intentional

[@laisphinto6372]

he is scared of showing that absolute unit of the man and showed Baby face thrawn. the magnificant energy of his mustache is the reason he is the greatest imperial surviving longer than most imperial legends

[@youtubearct1c47]

Its 1am right now 😂

[@boneslamb6969]

I hadn't thought of that good job

[@NA-zq3fz]

"Republic, empire what is the difference ?" Crosshair,19 bby.

[@Byron-Hungerford]

was there a segment of the mandalorian that talked about how the outer rim had better infrastructure and lower unemployment rate under the empire compared to both the republic and the new republic

[@madisonatteberry9720]

I wonder what Yularen's thoughts on the Death Star and destruction of Alderaan were?

[@BoredBricks]

Isn’t Admiral Yularen the Narrator?

[@mamstarstorm]

Yep but the Narrator is retired now.

[@emilyrockett1774]

Not quite. They are separate "characters" (the narrator isn't exactly a character per se) as they are credited as such. However, they are both (along with Yoda) voiced by Tom Kane, who is very sadly retired after a life changing stroke.

[@shanenolan8252]

Same voice actor

[@TheWarmachine375]

@@emilyrockett1774 Hopefully Tom Kane is doing fine

[@fulcrum7455]

@@emilyrockett1774 actually if you have sub titles on for the clone wars in the intro where yularen is recapping episodes and such it says in the subtitles that admiral yularen is speaking

[@facundopollacino7956]

Yularen: "tengo que llegar a fin de mes"

[@Alec11_43]

In numerous ways people were deceived by the lies of Palpatine and his empire, but in other ways the empire allowed some to do what they always wanted to do under the republic, or at least it corrupted/twisted those desires.

[@kelirsteel4358]

Rip Geetsly’s Gmod so called “Gaming Network”, we the happy few miss u always.

[@kelirsteel4358]

Oya Mandalore, weep for your past.

[@davidsiraze8365]

Brief explanation, they were never evil or good, they were officers that they did what it was needed to win and defeat the rebels for being a "desorganized and rebellous chaotic group" that needs to be dealt with no matter what

[@GM-kp7yw]

This movie is nice but it's missing one of the most important aspect of Palpatine. Palpatine was like Vulture that picked upon People's fears, desires, dreams, and believe, and he could twist and warp them to serve his needs, and fulfill his agenda. It didn't matter whetever they were heroes, as Dooku before his fall, and Yularen or villains like Maul and Tarkin. By giving them what they want, by letting they see what they wanted to see, he was taking control over their hearts minds and souls to serve his needs. That was the pinnacle of his evil, that he could ensnare them both to serve his needs

[@michaelandreipalon359]

4:20-4:48: Say what you will about Windu, those words of his sure have a lot of merit. Makes you wonder how many well meaning yet altogether too simplistic and therefore inaccurate "slogans" we actually follow in real life without complaint?

[@Poffean]

"diversity is our strength"

[@NomicFin]

It's quite common for people in the military to have an attitude of serving their country regardless of what it does. You don't become a successful career soldier without a certain degree of patriotism, as otherwise you probably wouldn't be in a profession where you're expected to be willing to die for your country, but the downside of that is that it's easy to become blinded to any negative things your country does or consider them to not be your concern as your duty is to fight for the good of your nation regardless of what you personally think of the man in charge. "Politicians do politicing, the navy fights" said grand admiral Raeder, a man who over his career served in three navies under very different governments (the Imperial German Navy, the Weimar Republic Navy, and the Nazi Kriegsmarine). There were probably a lot of people like that in the Grand Army of the Republic, who simply kept serving in the Imperial Army and Navy because as far as they were concerned the army/navy was the army/navy regardless of what the government was calling itself, and never questioned their orders because they didn't think it was their business to do anything but carry them out regardless of their morality. Sadly, thats how a lot of evil ends up being carried out: by people who, even if not evil themselves, still end up carrying out atrocities because they were ordered to and didn't consider it their place to oppose orders.

[@warlordofbritannia]

Plus, following the chain of command is an inherent part of soldiering-just look up those conformity studies like the Milgram experiment to see how easily normal people can become monsters when told by a perceived authority what they’re doing is ok

[@derangedcrouton1864]

We always knew tarkin would turn out as an asshole, our first exposure to him was in a new hope, his character was based around that even in the clone wars, but yularen? He was new and original, we had no idea he'd turn out to be an imperial, That was heart breaking

[@goodmind4940]

He wasn't new, Yularen was in A New Hope too

[@laisphinto6372]

and is one of the high leaders of the ISB

[@derangedcrouton1864]

@@goodmind4940 really?? where??

[@goodmind4940]

@@derangedcrouton1864 at the conference room in the Death Star

[@KaiHung-wv3ul]

@@goodmind4940 Yeah but we didn't know who he is.

[@raulpetrascu2696]

It's like the Romans, as Republic turned into Empire it was still Roman and the same people. It's not like they would join the barbarian enemies of Roman civilisation

[@tompearce5418]

"Dude I have a mortgage to think about."

[@TheGreatPinkPillow27]

Hopefully we see some of this in Andor.

[@yungcaco1443]

“Uppity Rimmer”……. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@Adidas_der_schwanger_war]

simple answer: Alternative would be being unemployed or on the side of the rebels so its pretty clear what most would do just like in the real world.

[@goldeagle6431]

The Senate was the Republic’s and Empire’s most noble hero.

[@ianpgmusicfanfictionart]

All hail Empperor Sheev The Senate Palpatine.

[@Blaine05]

Watching at 1:00am let’s go

[@youtubearct1c47]

Same here man 😂😅

[@ImperialEmbers]

9 pm here

[@TheWarmachine375]

8am here

[@kingofhearts3185]

8pm

[@ProfRavenSteel]

Dude I get it, republic and jedi had it coming and more I learn about the star wars galaxy less sympathetic I turn towards them. What they did to ahsoka, can't be forgiven. Glad he was blown out of the windu.

[@whitechapel8959]

This is similar to something my great great grandmother lived through. She was born and lived in Germany until 1945 and grew up in Imperial Germany. These people you have listed are just like the people she knew that were heros for Imperial Germany that became some of the worst people that gave the orders in Facist Germany in WW2. I think her quote best served the times well when you boil the events down. "It was the Imperials that made the nazi's and enabled them with there desire to go back to the "golden age" they grew up with and eventually consumed them, tarnishing there past forever. Those like me are the last relics of the empire and when we are gone, the empire will be gone as well, notes in history books, nothing more."

[@warlordofbritannia]

It’s more than just that continuity-late Imperial Germany already had spiritual predecessors to the Nazis as Anti-Semitic ultranationalist, extremely right-wing organizations. Add in fear of a Bolshevist takeover to that nostalgia and suddenly Shitler’s rise to power seems a lot more explicable…

[@braysonlilburn2296]

The only difference between Good and Evil is that Good is the one that writes the history books.

[@H_Eli]

The empire is the republic. Nothing changed.

[@greyeagle7713]

As a Separatist, I've seen these men for the monsters they really are for a long time now. Power to the Rim! Power to the people! Down with authoritarians!

[@TheWarmachine375]

I remember Separatists did join the Rebel Alliance sort of and the Rebels make good use of the CIS weapons and ships since they would use Clone Wars leftovers to modify and reuse them

[@greyeagle7713]

@@TheWarmachine375 Plenty of grassroots Separatists joined the rebellion; far more than many people tend to think. They shared a lot of ideals with the Alliance.

[@TheWarmachine375]

@@greyeagle7713 Cool. Wished we see more of CIS representation on the Rebel Alliance instead of usual goodie two shoes. The closest we got was Kalani the Droid Tactician from Star Wars Rebels who wanted a "one last battle of the Clone Wars" with Old Rex and escaped with his remaining Droids after working together with Ghost crew to break through the Imperial blockade. I was hoping Kalani came back with a new Droid Army he brought back online to join the Rebellion but nope, he was never seen again.

[@greyeagle7713]

@@TheWarmachine375 It might interest you to know I've done some of my own fanfiction writing on this very perspective.

[@TheWarmachine375]

@@greyeagle7713 Awesome. Do you have links to your stories? I would like to read them.