10 Crazy Star Wars Theories That Might Not Be Quite So Crazy
4. The First Order And Palpatine Built Their Fleet Using The Star Forge
One of the most vexing questions raised by Episode VII is how the First Order managed to construct a vast armada, along with a planet-busting battle station, without the Republic knowing. Episode VIII apparently answered the question (war-profiteering industrialists), but then Episode IX pulled an even larger armada out of thin air, confusing fans afresh.
But as per one theory, the answer is simple. Starkiller Base was located in the Unknown Regions, an immense region of space unexplored by the Republic. The Unknown Regions was also home to the planet Rakata Prime (made canon by TFA: The Visual Dictionary). In Legends, Rakate Prime was also the home of the Star Forge, an immense factory which, interestingly, is attuned to the Dark Side, and which Darth Revan used to manufacture the fleet that brought the Old Republic to its knees.
If Revan
used a powerful Dark Side artefact to build his fleet, why could
Supreme Leader Snoke, and Palpatine after him, not have done the
same? After all, Exegol too is in the Unknown Regions. We still do not know where Palpatine got his personnel, but now we know where he got his ships.