Resistance

The Resistance was a military movement that opposed the First Order, the fascist junta lurking in the Unknown Regions. It emerged as a small, unauthorized splinter group from the New Republic Defense Force whose members believed the First Order posed a serious threat to peace and democracy. Founded by General Leia Organa and modeled on the Rebel Alliance, it stood as a check against the Order's ambitions of galactic conquest even as the Galactic Senate dismissed its warnings, and it ultimately led the galaxy to victory at the Battle of Exegol.

Formation#

The Resistance was founded by Leia Organa, who shared her own conviction about the danger from the Unknown Regions. While still a senator, Organa was sidelined from the New Republic Senate after a scandal revealed that her father was the reviled Darth Vader. With the Senate unwilling to act against the First Order, she created the Resistance as a check on its designs, establishing a base on D'Qar at an outpost once intended for the Rebel Alliance during the Galactic Civil War. She recruited veterans of that war, including Admiral Gial Ackbar, alongside New Republic personnel such as the officer Poe Dameron, with others joining as soldiers, pilots, and officers.

The Cold War and the search for Luke Skywalker#

During the Cold War between the New Republic and the First Order, the Resistance initially sought to gather evidence of the Order's illegal military activity and report it to the Senate. Organa's spies and pilots, including Poe Dameron's Black Squadron, contested the First Order agent Terex across worlds such as Ovanis and Megalox Beta in a long campaign to track down the explorer Lor San Tekka. Organa eventually released the Grace Report to the Senate, detailing hidden shipyards, kidnapped children, and relocated populations, and warning that the First Order's military buildup far exceeded any need to defend its own worlds. Seeking the lost Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, Organa sent Dameron to Jakku to recover a fragment of a star map from Lor San Tekka, beginning the events that would draw the scavenger Rey, the defecting stormtrooper Finn, and the smuggler Han Solo into the conflict.

Open war and the siege at Crait#

When the First Order moved from the Unknown Regions to seize military control of the galaxy in 34 ABY, the Resistance opposed it in open warfare. After the Hosnian Cataclysm destroyed the New Republic, the Resistance became the successor to the fallen government, upholding the ideals of democracy and freedom. The war turned desperate when the First Order pursued the dwindling Resistance fleet, destroying ship after ship as it ran low on fuel. Kylo Ren led a TIE fighter attack that wiped out the Resistance's starfighter wing and killed nearly the entire bridge crew of the flagship Raddus, though Organa survived. With the help of Luke Skywalker and Rey, the Resistance escaped the First Order's siege at Crait and lived to fight another day, reduced to a small band but not destroyed.

Victory at Exegol#

When the resurrected Darth Sidious, publicly known as Emperor Palpatine, revealed himself and the Sith Eternal's armada of planet-destroying warships, the Final Order, the Resistance invaded the ancient Sith redoubt at the Battle of Exegol. Together with a fleet assembled to reinforce them, the Resistance defeated the Sith Eternal's forces. Rey sacrificed herself to destroy the Sith Lord and was in turn restored to life by Ben Solo, who gave his own life force to save hers. The Resistance's victory sparked a galaxy-wide uprising against the First Order, whose military rule crumbled under a series of attacks, ending the war and the threat of a resurgent Sith Empire.