Why Would Anyone Join the Empire in 'The Force Awakens'?

Days left until The Force Awakens awakens us: 124. Until then, here is just one more crumb to chew — Why would anyone in their right mind join the Empire after its fall post-Return of the Jedi?

Good question. J.J. Abrams has the answer: “Exactly.”

The Abrams Mystery Box™ strikes again.

But he does offer some fun nuggets. Alluding to the “Can there be good if there is no evil?” question that sophomore-year philosophy majors struggle over, Abrams tells the L.A. Times that the “obvious answer is that the Force … It’s not just one thing. It’s not just that the Force is good, the Force is … it can be a very dangerous thing. It can be a very seductive thing. I think that the story clearly requires a conflict of some sort.”

Abrams then paints the First Order, the new regime that have replaced the old Empire, as basically wackjobs who think the iron grip of the Emperor was pretty OK.

“[T]he interesting thing for me, is the history of these characters is these films, is the history that we know. So they’re aware of what’s come before. And there are, I would argue, those who feel like what the Empire was doing was righteous and had something not gone wrong, as we all know it did, they probably would have succeeded. And it might be worth trying again.”

The definition of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting different results. Just saying, First Order. Just saying.