Definitely not saying it is a bad idea. It is interesting, and I could even see Snoke legitimizing his claim by using Ben Solo. Sort of how Generals in the past used child emperor’s as vessels for their own influence, Snoke uses Ben in a similar way, possibly helping unite Imperial remnant factions together under this idea that he is grooming the heir to Darth Vader for eventual rule, even though I bet Snoke was planning to use Kylo Ren as long as possible.
And the new canon hints that Luke and Snoke knew each other in the past. I could even imagine a scenario where Snoke tried to persuade Luke to take his claim as heir to the Empire, with Snoke as his advisor, but Luke obviously refused. It makes me think of Joruus C’boath or the storyline from Dark Empire. When Luke refused, he went for his back up plan, the young Ben Solo.
But, I think the story can be told in a much simpler way. I get where you’re coming from about how could one feel sympathy for a government that already is a lost cause, but I think a government that is under the influence by the corrupt is still a government worth saving. I feel like FO sympathizers in the Senate were a vocal minority, but probably used dog-whistle politics to influence other well-meaning Centrist politicians to be on their side, without even realizing what was going on. I don’t think it was a 50/50 situation. In the Bloodline novel, it mentions that there were about 30 known senators who liked to collect old Imperial artifacts, which is probably a small fraction of the entire Centrist political party. I don’t think it is a stretch to assume the number of FO sympathizers would be a similar size, likely smaller, as well. And with a small number, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if those spies/sympathizers got a heads up before Hosnian Prime was destroyed. And with that number being relatively small, would it be much of a surprise if they didn’t care to warn them either?
Bottomline, it’s espionage, and I think the hint of that is very compelling to the imagination and what stories could be explored in that kind of setting. I also think it is a greater parallel to the current political climate in the US, which Lucas was all about, and were themes within the other trilogies as well. Nixon/Vietnam with the OT and Bush/War on Terror with the PT. So the New Republic’s situation was not like the PT, it wasn’t on the verge of total fascism, but the eyes of the enemy had made it vulnerable, and Leia had to do something about it. Plus, the New Republic has ruled with relative peace for 30 years, longer than the Empire, so I don’t think it was a total failure from the start.
I get what you’re saying about Luke, and I know this discussion has already been had hundreds of times before on the internet. This what RJ had to say about Luke’s motivations for going to the island, from the “Balance of the Force” featurette.
RJ: So the thing that would make sense to me is if he’s actually come to realize that the galaxy thinks it wants the Jedi back, but the Jedi have done nothing but add to the problems of the universe. And the most selfless act he can do is do what he couldn’t do in the Empire Strikes Back and ignore the calls of help from his friends and lock himself off. And suddenly it turns to this kind of burden that he has to hold. He would love to jump back in and help everybody, but he’s realized that if he brings the Jedi back into this, that the Sith are just gonna rise back up again and the whole thing is gonna start again and it’s just gonna be more misery. The Jedi have to die so the light can rise from a new source that will maybe work better.
So he believed that if he just trained Rey and killed Snoke and Kylo Ren, that eventually all of this would repeat itself and another Jedi would fall and the wars would start all over again (basically what happens in the old EU). The idea of history repeating itself, and Luke wanting to break the cycle and wanting it to start all over is a lot more central to the themes of the saga, in my opinion. And it’s also more character driven, since it is tied to Luke’s own guilt. He made a mistake and no longer believes in himself. He realized he couldn’t kill his own nephew, and even now he still can’t bring himself to do it. He’s lost that optimism, but he gets it back in the end when he realizes that the next generation needs to learn from the mistakes of the past, not just start from scratch, and he has to have faith the next generation will grow beyond their past failures. I just think these ideas are more relatable and compelling than struggling with the idea of succession, specifically.
I also don’t think the First Order cares about Luke or sees him as a major threat, but specifically their leaders, Snoke and Kylo Ren. I think they’re both afraid of Luke. Not only because Luke is so powerful, and he probably is the only one powerful enough to destroy both Kylo Ren and Snoke if he had the chance, but more importantly he could still bring the Jedi Order back. As long as he was alive, he was a threat. I think the main reason Snoke even cared about Starkiller Base was because he thought he could use it to destroy Luke once and for all from across the galaxy. Hux practically had to persuade Snoke to use it on the Republic capital, which you would think would be their obvious first target. But in Snoke’s eyes, it wasn’t. In TLJ, Snoke even says that they were just going to obliterate his island from orbit. This guy was afraid of even being close to Luke.
And it is not really the New Republic government that cares about Luke, it is Leia that believes Luke is important, because she knows the common citizen believes in the legend of Luke Skywalker and the Jedi, and that he can be a symbol of hope the galaxy rallies behind to face this rising tyranny. Luke was the Jedi responsible for defeating the Sith Lords that destroyed the Jedi Order in the first place, so to many, they probably think he is the greatest Jedi ever.
Some quotes to back this train of thought up.
TFA
Smoke: The droid will soon be delivered to the Resistance, leading them to the last Jedi. If Skywalker returns… the new Jedi will rise.
TLJ
Snoke: Skywalker lives! The seed of the Jedi Order lives. As long as it does, hope lives in the galaxy.
Leia: The galaxy has lost all its hope. [moments later, Luke enters and the radio chatter begins.]
It basically boils down to Luke, and by extension the Jedi, being the hope the galaxy needs to fight evil. This is a core theme of Star Wars— hope.
Despite all of that, I do sort of think the royalty idea is sort of there already. The Republic feared Leia after finding out her father was Darth Vader, basically making her the heir to his legacy. Clearly both Luke and Leia would deny that, but that does make Ben Solo a potential heir in the eyes of Imperial fanatics. It would definitely help explain why the First Order would accept Ben Solo as their leader, despite his age and limited past affiliation with the First Order. But I don’t think Hux cares too much about the old ways. It kind of makes me wish Ben would go by “Emperor” in IX, but that’s unlikely.
JEDIT: Please don’t think I’m trying to trample on your ideas. I always enjoy reading your ideas and I love the way you think outside the box. I guess I just like to play devil’s advocate for you sometimes!