Operation Cinder: Palpatine's Master Plan That Backfired Spectacularly!
Palpatine's Post-Jedi Plan: Operation Cinder – A Doomed Masterpiece?
Emperor Palpatine, that master of evil from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, had a contingency plan for after his demise. We’re talking Operation: Cinder; this was a top-secret scorched-earth policy intended to wipe out disloyal worlds—then rebuilding the Empire with only the strongest surviving Imperials! Those pre-recorded messages sent using sentinel droids to those high-ranking Imperial officials, this was that contingency. Those orders aimed at ensuring that the Empire wouldn’t survive without him!
Admiral Garrick Versio and others got those orders. It sounded amazing; a plan that would prevent someone from simply replacing Palpatine. The entire plot within that amazing new Marvel comic, The Battle of Jakku - Insurgency Rising #2 (by Alex Segura, Leonard Kirk, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Joe Caramagna) showed some interesting things, but these are the main things.
Operation Cinder's Unexpected Flaw: The Rogue Moff!
Grand Admiral Rae Sloane's reports showcase Operation: Cinder’s success with various bombarded worlds: Burnin Konn, Candovant, Abednedo, Commenor, Nacronis, Vardos, and Naboo – creating some devastating and wide-ranging results and many people were killed during the initial attacks!
However, there's a massive snag. Moff Adelhard; that supremely loyal yet rogue Imperial is actively undermining Palpatine's plan by broadcasting propaganda that attempts to showcase this remaining power even without Palpatine and claiming authority for himself. It really, really harmed Palpatine's own plans!
Moff Adelhard: A Loyal Servant With a Dangerous Plan!
Adelhard's Iron Blockade, his attempt to shut off the Anoat sector, highlights a huge problem within Palpatine’s contingency planning; this rogue Imperial demonstrated that his loyalty remained steadfast; that despite what he’s actually supposed to do, Adelhard demonstrated complete unwavering allegiance to the Empire itself; ignoring Palpatine’s orders completely. The actions greatly undercut everything Palpatine himself hoped to do and greatly hampered Operation Cinder itself.
Palpatine expected the strongest Imperials to obey, yet Adelhard's actions showed that certain people cared far more about the Empire’s continued existence, ignoring Palpatine’s role. He simply continued acting according to how he would normally act. The immense loyalty also highlighted a major issue inherent within Palpatine’s thinking, underestimating how his subordinates actually viewed his plans; demonstrating this truly fundamental failure; a clear lack of foresight surrounding events in the near future which created additional opportunities for this potential rebel and highlighted this critical failure within the plan itself.
Conclusion: Even the Most Brilliant Plans Have Cracks!
Palpatine's Operation: Cinder is amazing, full of tactical brilliance; demonstrating that thinking about the worst case scenarios is completely important when preparing various military actions or potential responses after significant events – yet the massive failure created by those incredibly loyal but ultimately self-serving elements demonstrates how impossible planning really is. Even a master schemer like Palpatine missed key human dynamics, resulting in huge failure and the development of various plot points that completely changed that Star Wars timeline in a previously-unimaginable way. And even the Schism Imperial's presence hints that there’s even deeper complexities at play; resulting in that perfectly expected chaos that these kind of major conflicts would involve, adding even more unpredictability in such significant situations.
