Star Wars: 10 Things Everyone Gets Wrong About The Empire

10. Not Everyone Followed The Empire For Greed & Power

When you think of the Empire, there's a decent chance your mind jumps to a bunch of cold, suited and booted villains motivated only by greed and the quest for power.

But not every Imperial employee followed the Empire for those reasons.

Just look at one of the most captivating villains in Star Wars history: Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Sure, he was unquestionably a rather ruthless individual, and one who relished the opportunity to outthink any opponent he was faced with. But he actually only joined up with the Galactic Empire in the first place as he felt they would be a strong ally who could help protect his people - the Chiss - from the Grysk Hegemony, a faction based in the galaxy far, far away's Unknown Regions.

Thrawn wasn't greedy or that bothered about power, he was just doing all he could to keep his people safe.

If you're looking for another example, Del Meeko - from EA's 2017 Star Wars Battlefront II video game - was another person who served in the Imperial Military that wasn't in it for those aforementioned selfish reasons either.

Being a quite conflicted soul, a conversation with Jedi Master Luke Skywalker during that game's campaign sees the Inferno Squad member admit that he's well aware of what the Empire was capable of, but he didn't know what else to do to keep the galaxy safe. After being told he had a choice to be better, Meeko would eventually defect to the Rebels with Iden Versio as they attempted to save innocent civilians from the Empire.

In other words, not every Imperial's motivations were the same. Some genuinely just wanted to protect people, and saw the Empire as a means to an end.