Star Wars Officially Confirms How Rich the Rebellion Was in Original Trilogy Lore

Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Star Wars #45

Summary The Rebellion's funding was capped at just around 200M credits, making their victory over the Empire even more impressive.

Paying Mothma's ransom would have bankrupted the Rebel Alliance, though not paying risked their destruction by the Empire.

The Rebels' limited funds show how they were truly the underdogs in the galaxy far, far away.

Star Wars confirms just how funded the Rebel Alliance truly was during the Galactic Civil War. In the face of Palpatine's Empire, it's safe to say that the Rebellion was more often than not outmanned and outgunned (especially whenever there was an active Death Star). However, the truth about their finances makes their eventual victory over the Imperials even more impressive than it already was in the established Star Wars canon.

As seen in Marvel Comics' recent Star Wars #45 from Charles Soule and Madibek Musbekov, the Rebel Alliances's key leader Mon Mothma has been captured. To that end, her captors eventually send the Alliance a ransom message, demanding a rather large sum of credits to get her back. Additionally, the kidnappers also promise that a refusal to pay their price would result in Mon Mothma being sold to the Empire instead.

Once the message is heard by the Rebellion's core leadership, discussions begin regarding their next moves. As such, it's eventually revealed just how much money the Rebel Alliance had to work with between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

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The Rebellion Was Capped At 200 Million Credits

Paying Mon Mothma's Ransom Would Have Bankrupted The Alliance

As confirmed by Admiral Ackbar in the new Star Wars #45, paying Mon Mothma's 200 million credit ransom would require everything the Rebel Alliance had. That's assuming they could pull all of their resources together and scrape the very bottom of the barrel. However, this would also mean that the Rebel Alliance would have nothing left with which to fund their war against the Empire.

As a result, this issue confirms that 200 million credits was the very upper limit of what the Rebellion could afford. As such, paying Mothma's ransom becomes a much harder decision, especially due to the fact that the Rebellion leader possesses vast amounts of key information that would guarantee the Rebels' destruction were she to break in the Empire's custody. As such, the Rebellion's saving grace seemingly comes from Lando Calrissian. Despite actively being on trial for crimes against the Rebellion, Lando gives Chewbacca a lead on Mothma's captors, providing the Alliance with the means to stage a rescue mission.

The Rebellion's Limited Funds Make Their Victory Even More Impressive

They Truly Were The Underdogs

In any event, it's fascinating to learn that the Rebellion only had 200 million to work worth against the might and seemingly infinite resources of the Empire. It certainly makes their success and ultimate victory over the Empire and the galaxy's transition to the New Republic even more impressive. From a sheer numbers perspective, the odds of the Rebellion defeating the Empire were extremely low, a fact that's made quite clear with this new canonical Star Wars reveal.

Star Wars #45 is available now from Marvel Comics.