What was life like for the average person living under the Empire

[Mider2009]

In the movies the empire is described as a horrible place to live in but does anyone know from EU sources and canon what life was like for the average citizen?

[thwhtGuardian]

In the movies the empire is described as a horrible place to live in but does anyone know from EU sources and canon what life was like for the average citizen?

We saw it to an extent in Rebels with the people of Lothal but that may have been a sort of worst case scenario with the Empire cracking down on the populace harder than normal due to the heavy Rebel presence. Personally I tend to think it was worse on non-human planets and probably no different than it was under the Republic for the wealthier Human worlds.

[Frontier]

Yeah, I don't think Coruscant was much different, especially for the upper class, but any non-human world or worlds where there were resources to plunder and use would be treated like they were under an Occupation.

[ChrisIII]

Yeah, we saw that with Jedha as well. Although not really populated the Empire and later the First Order made a mass out of Illum (Illum is confirmed to be Starkiller base by Jedi:Fallen Order and Rise of Skywalker's extra material).


Outer rim worlds not part of the Republic and probably not the Empire such as Tatooine pretty much were the same though, more or less, although we see Imperial troops and ships move freely there in ANH so maybe they at least have some embassy or some deal with the Hutts if needed-like the Republic making a deal with them in the Clone Wars movie. (I also think we see Jabba and Vader have a chat in one issue of the Vader comic). Also Tatooine citizens could apply to Imperial academies as we also see in ANH (and it's deleted scenes). Even if Luke and Bigg's lives were probably not as affected as others, they still seemed to think joining the rebellion was the right thing anway ("It's not that I like the Empire, I hate it!" "I want to be with the side I believe in".).

[Revolutionary_Jack]

When we talk about an entire Galactic Civilization of multiple planets and species, the concept of "average person" is pretty difficult to map out because you have so many different planets and places.

In the OT and PT,

-- We have the example of Cloud City, a city that does not want to be under the Empire and somehow has independence and autonomy, and it's the only part of the Galaxy in the OT that has the same aesthetic as the PT.
-- In the case of Tatooine...well it was a hellhole full of slavery under the rule of the Hutts during the Prequel Era during the Republic, and it was a hellhole full of slavery under the rule of the Hutts during the Empire. So the Empire didn't improve Tatooine for the better even if it was pretty easy as far as a propaganda victory goes.

The Galactic Republic seemed to have some kind of Federal Government, i.e. each planets send representatives to Coruscant and follow common trade laws and so on but individually different planets have autonomy and there are parts of the Galaxy (Tatooine) where Republican laws and directives weren't enforced at all. I'd say that, based on Tatooine and also Cloud City is that the Empire replaced the administration of Coruscant with something more authoritarian but in other parts retained the federal structure for most of its existence until the creation of the Death Star.

When the Death Star arrived you had a battlestation that destroyed a planet, Alderaan simply to intimidate one senate member. So that's when you see the Empire able to be as totalitarian as it wishes to be and much more centralizing and authoritarian than it was before. There were pockets like Cloud City that were able to evade for a long time, the influence and reach of the Empire.

[godisawesome]

From Thrawn and Lost Stars, I think a good summation would be: “In the best case scenario, like the Republic, but just a little bit worse in every way, while in the worst case scenario, abominably horrific.”

Thrawn and Lost Stars seem to suggest that Coruscant has had the cutthroat politics aspect charged up a bit as Palpatine goes full fascist, and corruption, graft, and “palace politics” become the name of the day for the elite while military officers are deliberately pitted against each other and unti cohesion is sacrificed in favor of blind obedience... and that’s the limit only because Palpatine would find it more annoyingly difficult to outright exploit and tyrannize the demographics most likely to offer him resourceful resistance.

All safety regulations, accountability, and rule of law aspects are now strictly in the hands of pseudo-feudal Governors and Moffs who can do whatever they damn well please, so the poor and downtrodden are simply lucky if they aren’t in the way or exploitable for the increased wealth and power of those feudal overlords, who will casually displace, enslave, work to death, or lazily poison and starve them if the “equation” equals some kind of profit for them.

It’s the epitome of a fascist, but inefficient police state - people who whisper the wrong ideas have mountains of resources dedicated to persecuting them, while actual crimes are unlikely to be punished as long as the crime lords stay useful to the Moffs.

And if you’r e a slave species, you’re just plain screwed.

[Starter Set]

If life was any good under imperial rule the rebellion would have never been even a thing.

"Damn, life is good under that wise and nice leadership we are enjoying...let's rebel just for shit and giggles" said no one ever lol.