C3PX said:Vaderisnothayden said:If Star Wars was meant to be realistic that would be the case, but I think it's pretty clear we're meant to take it the Empire is over at the end of ROTJ.
Really? Just because of the celebration? It was a huge victory, a great big hootenanny was most definitely called for. For some reason in all the years before the SE, I never even began to assume the Empire was over at that moment. It is not like all those Imperial bases and outposts scattered through the galaxy would just spontaneously explode because of the Death Star blew up.
Obviously that was the original intention though, thank God George made that clear with the SE.
The way it was all portrayed, taken in context of the simpicity that marks Star Wars in certain ways, gives the message that it's all over and the Empire is done. Star Wars wasn't about making realistic sense. Simple story like the Emperor is dead so the empire is done fits with the mentality of the OT.
In the 80s EU, in the Marvel comics, the Empire was defeated after ROTJ but it remained a power in the galaxy. A few issues after the events of ROTJ, the rebels are setting up a new galactic government and a galactic congress and the comic says that the galaxy has been freed from imperial rule. This is set not long after the death of the Emperor. So obviously the empire is not controlling things after ROTJ. The Empire is not the dominant enemy in the comics after the events of ROTJ, but they do turn up at times, including imperials allied with other enemies of the rebels. And the rebels end up allying with some imperials and other enemies against the new enemy the Tof in the last issue.
The relevance of the Marvel comics take on things is that it shows people back in the 80s figuring the empire was mostly over after ROTJ. I suspect that was the assumption among most people. Certainly nobody back then gave me the impression that the empire wasn't over after ROTJ.