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Galactic Republic Symbol


Kazeii

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I've been trying to figure this out. At what point does the Republic's symbol change from being the bird-type thing we see in the Old Republic to the Imperial hexagon that we see as its symbol (that later is the symbol of the Galactic Empire) in the prequels?
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At a guess, I don't think the cog symbol was ever representative of the Republic itself, but was instituted by Palpatine as the symbol for the Grand Army of the Republic. It would then have been easy for the emblem to then be adapted into the Imperial cog after the Clone Wars as a very visual way of showing the final abolition of the Republic.
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That makes sense, but wouldn't it be kind of awkward? I mean...

"Hey, you know, I got this symbol from this ancient Sith empire that we defeated like three thousand years ago and it goes against everything the Republic supposedly stands for!"

"Great idea, Chancellor! We'll implement it immediately!"

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That makes sense, but wouldn't it be kind of awkward? I mean...

"Hey, you know, I got this symbol from this ancient Sith empire that we defeated like three thousand years ago and it goes against everything the Republic supposedly stands for!"

"Great idea, Chancellor! We'll implement it immediately!"

 

In the immortal words of someone: Sounds legit man!

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At a guess, I don't think the cog symbol was ever representative of the Republic itself, but was instituted by Palpatine as the symbol for the Grand Army of the Republic. It would then have been easy for the emblem to then be adapted into the Imperial cog after the Clone Wars as a very visual way of showing the final abolition of the Republic.

 

In the original lore the cog symbol was of the Galactic Republic, it symbolised how they were all part of a greater whole, and was usurped by Palpatine when he took control and turned it into the Galactic Empire. The Rebellion symbol (not Republic, Rebellion) was loosely based on the phoenix (or assumably the Star Wars equivalent) and represented the unquencheable flame of freedom.

 

However large segments of the general public (in the real world) just assumed that the Cog symbol was the Baddies and the Rebellion symbol was the goodies (no matter where or when in the story), and just look for them to see who was good or who was evil. And rather than constantly point out what these symbols were supposed to represent, they instituted a white wash were the symbols did just that whenever they were shown, and made a half-assed attempt to line it up with the known exceptions by saying they were adopted and dropped frequently.

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Republic Symbols

 

 

 

Empire Symbols

 

 

 

As you can see, the hexagon wasn't ever used by the Republic and neither does the Galactic Empire.

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Dai Bendu Symbol:

They [the Dai Bendu] believed that the number nine represented the beneficent presence of the Force in a unitary galaxy. At the time of the Unification Wars, they used to represent this through eight spokes joined to one disc. That eight-spoked sigil was very similar, although not identical, to the one that was engraved on the Tho Yor's triangular faces. The Bendu symbol was later reclaimed by Lord Vitiate, who made it the emblem of his Sith Empire.

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At a guess, I don't think the cog symbol was ever representative of the Republic itself, but was instituted by Palpatine as the symbol for the Grand Army of the Republic. It would then have been easy for the emblem to then be adapted into the Imperial cog after the Clone Wars as a very visual way of showing the final abolition of the Republic.

 

one problem with that theory is the symbol was on jedi ships technically before they knew the clone army and the war started.

http://a.dilcdn.com/bl/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2013/09/jedi-starfighter-delta-7.jpg

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