Zero.

None - They were all bad.

Alderaan was "peaceful" and had "no weapons"?

We know Leia - princess of Alderaan - was there to steal military secrets and provide them to the Empire's enemies and she did so while lying about diplomatic missions, so why should we take her word on Alderaan's "peaceful" status?  She was involved in a resistance movement against the Empire and tried to use claimed weakness as a defense when caught- who does that?  "I just attacked you but I'm so weak please don't hurt me because it's not fair - I should be able to attack you with impunity and hurt you while you take it because I'm weak and defenseless!"

It's all banthashit.  She knew what she was doing, she had enmity against Empire leaders, and she thought she'd get away with it.

"I should've recognized your foul stench when I came onboard," is not the kind of thing that peaceful people with no weapons or power in the galaxy say when they get pulled aboard a star destroyer.  She assumed she could mouth off with no repercussions and continue playing war dilettante because she had the backing of Alderaan and her Senator connections.  She was a crybully terrorist who was astonished when the Empire authorities didn't let her slide.  Kid gloves came off and she didn't get to call daddy to bail her out - where do you think he got his first name, anwyay?

Alderaan was a military headquarters that hid behind the lie of peace and used civilian lives as shields.  They expected to be able to continue to engage in terrorism while hiding behind those lives and when Grand Moff Tarkin decided enough was enough, then we got the waterworks from Leia, but it was as meaningless as the rest - and Tarkin saw through it.

Want proof - what did Leia do for the next few years?  Hooked up with some desert trash moisture farmer that turned out to be her brother and his weirdo cult, along with a couple of drug smugglers - to the point she went out to save her smuggler boyfriend from some mob boss he'd crossed years ago by threatening to blow everyone there up including herself.

Yeah, what a fuckin' portrait of "peace".  Incestuous criminal terrorist suicide bomber as their princess?

Ask anyone on Corellia and the only mistake the Empire made was not eradicating all of the Alderaani.

Damn.  I want your newsletter!  

Sounds like a high school term paper you wrote.
Forward it to Lucas, I hope it upsets him.

Given the grief he deservedly took for the prequels and after selling out to the mouse the trash of the last three Star Wars movies, I don't think it's necessary.

He did basically name his main character after himself, only to see that main character turned into a beach dinosaur tit sucking hermit who existed only to make the new woke protagonist look more perfecter.

Lucas has suffered enough.

The empire was the legitimate government and brought peace and stability to the galaxy. The rebellion was filled with rogues and bad guys.

The rebels stole the plans to the death star. Imagine if a rogue group stole the plans to the newest class of aircraft carrier and was going to deliver them to China. What should be done to stop that?

About as many as when we dropped two big ones on Japan. Total war, it’s a thing.

How many prisoners were kept there?  

We do know the Empire takes prisoners... so...

Leia was held in Detention Block AA-23, and in Cell 2187.

We have some other info on the Death Star's prison facilities, if we assume Wookiepedia to be accurate (and it's probably more accurate than Wiki, so why not trust them?).  We know there's an entire Detention Level.  Supposedly it was a "large and formidable" detention level, but not intended to house prisoners for a long time.

Assuming that numbering conventions work their way up and are alphanumeric, we can assume at 27 lettered combos x 23 individual blocks.  This would lead us to 621 detention blocks, with an unknown number of cells.  Based on the hallways we see, a conservative estimate might be 20 cells per block.  Based on the movie, there's a lot of personnel to man one block, but if we assume some spaceborne panopticon layout or something with radiating blocks from a central hub, maybe it works.  If we assume cell 2187 is sequentially numbered, then assuming Leia got the Princess' Suite at the very highest number, there are at least 2186 other cells, potentially occupied when the Death Star was destroyed.  Assuming they are all individually occupied, that would put us at 2186 dead prisoners, but we could assume a 50% occupancy rate and say closer to 1000 dead prisoners.



If we assume 621 detention blocks each with 20 cells, this puts us in the range of 12000 individual cells, which considering the size of the Death Star at 120km/75miles in diameter, is probably well within the range of possibility and probability.

We have no real reason to assume that the Empire did their numbering sequentially.  Based on the accents of their high-ranking commanders in Star Wars, they probably number their Cell Blocks as such: A.  A1.  A1*.  A1*i.  A1**i.  A1 Mk***A1,  And so on until reaching AA-23.  This could mean there are four other detention blocks, or potentially thousands, each with tens to hundreds of prisoners.  It's also possible that AA-23 is simply named after some structural component or power component for the turbolaser that passes by, so it could be an individually named Cellblock.  Equivalent of 5th Street Jail.

If we look at the function of the Death Star, as a planet-killing device but also as an intimidation tool to bring systems in line, it's entirely likely to need a lot of space for prisoners.  If you consider that it may be used as an intimidation device and that entire ships' crews might need to be interned, sometimes for long periods of time as hostages or during space journeys, it's perfectly reasonable to have a very large prison facility.  The Death Star's crew + passenger complement runs at close to 2 million.  1.2 crew/troopers and 750,000 passengers.  One would assume that the "passengers" would include prisoners, as air, water, and food requirements would still exist for them and would be factored in to the construction of the Death Star.

If we assume based on current statistics that a brutal dictatorship holds 500 prisoners per 100,000 people, then based solely on the Death Star's population, a detention facility housing 10,000 prisoners would be entirely reasonable.  If we assume a brig for derelict troopers who aren't at their posts or who disobey orders, and if we assume a prison facility for non-military "passengers" who are held, 10,000 doesn't seem out of the ballpark at all for a low number.  This also brings us back to the range of 12000 individual cells being quite possible.

The likelihood of the Empire buiding invididual cells for each prisoner may not be the case - how many high value targets do they have?, meaning that our previous read of cell numbers may be entirely inconclusive as many of those detention cells may house mulitple prisoners, whether by design or by necessity.  Clearly when the Empire has resorted to leaving biological entities as part of their waste control plan right next to the prison levels, it does show they are flexible.

We also see that transported prisoners on the station is something that is entirely commonplace, even with forest-dwelling walking carpets.  When we saw the Millenium Falcon pulled in, we know that the Death Star activates tractor beams and pulls in anything approaching it, presumably to be held indefinitely, and that means any passerby ships would be pulled in.  The Empire would have made room for these, whether they be scout ships or passenger ships, and they'd need facilities to house all those detainees.  Justification for 10,000 prisoners is pretty easily made, though that's a low, low number.  Leia's cell was nearly an empty room, and could easily house at least 4 with relative comfort, or 20-30 standing room only.

If we assume an occupancy rate of 1 per cell, 50% occupancy, and assume all cells are single-person cells (they wouldn't be), and 12,000 cells, we're looking at 6000 prisoners.

If we assume an occupancy rate of 1 per cell for 9000 cells, 50% occupancy (4500), but that every fourth cell (3000) is a multi-person cell holding 10 also at 50% (1500x10=15000), that brings us quickly up to about 20000 prisoners.

The numbers really only go up from there.

He's right, you know.

The Empire were the real heroes.
The rebels were tree hugging commie's.

Jay

except that the Death Star was barely operational and was basically on it's shakedown cruise. Doubtful that they would have had even a quarter of the detention facilities occupied.

Alot

Empire is pretty cool. But it always looses because evil is even dumber than good.

~0.
Does a ship at war travel around with civilians during military operations?

The guys on board doing laundry, serving food, etc, are military personnel and are subject to miltary discipline. They're all receiving pay for their participation.  The Imperial fleet did not use slaves to crew their ships.

The only people who might be "innocent" are people being held against their will in the onboard prison facility.

FIFY

Correct

The Sith and Jedi caused all the problem.  The people were nothing but fodder.

That is the most politically correct way I could respond.  In a non politically correct way, fuck'em, only count noses so we can get an accurate count.

So erect a monument.

Don't forget Jedha and Scarif.

Look guys, here is an actual VIRGIN!

Less than was killed on Alderaan....

Attached File

Is that so?  How about the innocent people on the planets the Death Star blew up?

This question is the same as saying the "janitors, cooks, etc." serving the guards in concentration camps were/are innocent.

They weren't/aren't.