After writing an article on Snoke recently I started to think about some of the ideas that came from them. Namely that Snoke is from an older group of Darkside practitioners that monitored the Galaxy from the Unknown Regions. This got me thinking what exactly “The First Order” means. Lets explore it shall we.
First I want to dispel the main theory about what the First Order means, mainly that it refers to an order from someone, usually Palpatine. Time and time again Order 66 has been brought in fan theories as the basis for the name The First Order and this has no logic to it. Order 66 was a built in directive for the Clones and only the clones. Order 66 had no relevance outside of the clones and therefore so to would other “Orders” from Palpatine most likely be limited to the clones. So if I’m correct then what exactly does First Order mean?
There are two possibilities in my mind. The first idea revolves around it being a portion of their motto or creed. Their propaganda is focused restoring order and the view that the Republic is an agent of disorder, causing harm to the galaxy.
Today is the end of the Republic! The end of a regime that acquiesces to disorder! -General Hux before firing Starkiller
Its not unlikely that they have a phrase such as “First Order. Then peace” as part of their message to the planets they control and to the galaxy at large. This is then adapted either by the First Order themselves or their conquests as their name. They may have begun in the Unknown Regions as the Empire but that changed over time.
While I like that idea its not the one I truly believe in(Though if anyone wants to build on the idea let me know!). The real reason they are called the First Order has nothing to do with the Empire or even their motto and everything to do with who is running the First Order, Snoke. As I said in my Snoke article I believe that Snoke is from a group of darkside users even older than the Sith. It is this group that gives the First Order their name. They were the first order of Darkside users. They were the first to be a darkside version of the Jedi Order. We know that Palpatine thought the source of the Darkside was in the Unknown Regions.
“Palpatine felt that the universe beyond the edges of our map was where his power came from.- Aftermath
I believe that this was part of the information that was handed down to him via his master and the previous Sith Masters before. Over time it changed from the Sith came from a great power in the Unknown regions to our power comes from the unknown regions. We know the Sith were not the most trusting or willing to share even with their apprentices so the history was likely to be distorted over time. This means the Sith were an offshoot of the First Order of darkside users. I also believe that Jakku was the Sith’s jumping off point into greater galaxy at large and where they met their demise 1000 years previous. The object that was buried and “Significant 1000 years before” was how the Sith stayed in contact with the Unknown regions and the First Order they came from.
Outside of the Aftermath novels there are other hints that the First Order is a much older order of force users. The biggest being the importance that the novels and films are putting on Luke searching for Jedi lore. The history of who the Jedi are and where they come from is also a key element in the upcoming Rogue One. History of the Jedi, the lightside is being explored so fully in so many types of media that it points to the history of the Darkside also coming into play in Episode VIII and IX. This would also explain part of the reason Ben defected to the First Order. He spent much of his time it appears with Luke looking for lore and history, Snoke offering both plus the legacy of his Grandfather would be an offer Ben would have found difficult to refuse. He left the Jedi Order for the First Order.