The Starkiller Base burst on the scene in The Force Awakens. This planet-size superweapon was meant to be the culmination of Death Star constructions. It was a massive undertaking that raises the question of how it was possible for the First Order to obtain the resources to build it. A primary explanation is the First Order’s shadowy connections.
How the First Order Got the Resources to Build the Starkiller Base
As we may know, Starkiller Base was constructed out of the planet Ilum, with its main installation being the superweapon that could wipe out planets from halfway across the galaxy. As such, the First Order thought this weapon reflected “an evolution of the planet-destroying capabilities” of the two Death Stars.
A previous May4BeWithYou article on Starkiller that assessed its capabilities aligned with this viewpoint. That is, since Starkiller could “wipe out an entire star system of five planets with one blast,” it revealed how the destructive power of the Empire to the First Order had progressed. Yet, given that the First Order was not as well-established as the Empire, this would not be an easy task.
Claudia Gray’s novel Bloodline is the best resource to explain how the First Order obtained the resources to complete it. Set six years before the events of The Force Awakens, Bloodline tracks Leia as a member of the Senate under the New Republic. As the book delves into the rise of the Resistance, it also offers insights into how the First Order acquired funds for the superweapon.
A fan on this discussion board provides a central excerpt from Bloodline that reflects how the First Order operated. It worked with “a militia group called the Amaxine warriors as proxies to fund the Nikto crime lord Rinnriven Di’s cartel.” The First Order relied on the Amaxines to inject “billions of Credits as start-up capital” into the cartel, making it a major syndicate.
In turn, Rinnrivin took on ambitious gambling and smuggling operations, with “the proceeds being channeled through shadowy corporations and Centrist sources back to the First Order.” This money was used to build the First Order fleet, but we can also conclude it helped build Starkiller.
So, secretive funding through criminal activity was one way that the First Order managed to pull off this feat. Further, the First Order relied on the help of corrupt Republic senators to aid their cause. Centrist senators both took bribes to conceal the cartel and helped orchestrate shifting funds to the First Order.
The Empire’s Role
As this Star Wars Intel article reminds us, the First Order also benefited from Imperial research and knowledge. In particular, the First Order relied on “the Empire’s Project Celestial Power (the same program that helped create the Death Star),” to learn how to gather and focus dark energy. They also gutted the planet Ilum to make room for storing this dark energy.
Moreover, based on the confluence of the Jedi Fallen Order video game and the Rise of Skywalker Visual Dictionary, the Empire actually helped build the Starkiller base. As explained in this article, “the Empire discovered the planet Ilum a year after Palpatine took the Imperial throne.” Soon thereafter, the Empire was strip-mining the planet and laying the groundwork for Starkiller.
This Star Wars Explained video adds some description about how the Empire traveled to Ilum shortly after Order 66 and “ravaged the planet.” The Imperials went so deep into Ilum mining for crystals that its core became exposed. Hence, through their destructive ways, the Empire helped set up the foundation for what the First Order completed.
Illicit Funds and the Empire
The First Order obtained the resources it needed for the Starkiller base because of illicit, secret funding. It also had the help of the Empire, both in terms of research and what it had done to Ilum.