History Characters / StarWarsTheFirstOrder

* ArcWords: "Steadfast", which is the Star Destroyer he commanded under the Empire and the First Order, the latter being a ''Resurgent''-class Star Destroyer. It also serves as his code name during the events of ''Shadow of the Sith''.

-->'''Pryde''': Get me the Supreme Leader. Tell him we found our spy.

* DeceptiveDisciple: Turns out that despite his admiration for Ren, his first loyalty is to the cloned Palpatine and he has been in contact with him on Exegol for quite some time behind his back (and presumably Snoke's). Despite this, he still genuinely seems to like Kylo Ren.

* DragonTheirFeet: He outlives Palpatine by scant seconds, getting taken out aboard his ship after Palpatine is destroyed by Rey.
* DragonWithAnAgenda: General Pryde served as TheDragon to Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, but ended up keeping tabs on him for Palpatine, especially after finding out the Emperor has returned.

** Even he's startled when Kylo abruptly chokes Domarc who was sitting next to him.
** He freaks out as his Star Destroyer is about to blow up until he's vaporized with it. While his panicked reaction is fairly subdued compared to that of his crewmembers, he doesn't really FaceDeathWithDignity like Captain Canady did in ''The Last Jedi''.

* RankUp: Chronologically, he starts out as a fleet officer, but becomes a Lieutenant by the time of ''Darth Vader 2020'', and then a High Colonel from the Battle of Jakku up until Kylo Ren had him replace Hux as Supreme Commander when the latter clearly could not be trusted. For his years of loyal service to Palpatine, Palpatine rewards Pryde by giving him supreme command of all his forces, which Pryde merges the First Order with.

* ReplacementFlatCharacter: In some respects, Pryde is presented as being a First Order loyalist that Hux was portrayed as in ''The Force Awakens''. Though from ''The Last Jedi'' onward, Hux evolved into a more ineffectual villain with comic relief and [[TheStarscream Starscream traits]] to balance out his fanaticism to the cause, Pryde's loyalty to the Emperor and his cause is steadfast throughout.

* AssholeVictim: Though he may have not actually have been responsible for [[spoiler: trying to assassinate Hux]], he also knew Brendol abused him as a child and did nothing to intervene; in fact, he outright encouraged it because he found a traumatised child being humiliated by his own father ''funny''. It's therefore difficult to feel too bad for him when [[spoiler: Hux finally [[KickTheSonOfABitch gets his revenge on him]]]].

* VillainsWantMercy: Despite, his arrogant and egotistical demeanor, he is truly a coward at heart, which was shown a few times throughout the series.
** Frantically begged Finn, Poe and Chewbacca not to kill him, by promising to give them anything they wanted, despite previously humiliating them by telling the protagonists that he didn't care about their victory.
** Later, frantically begged Pryde not to kill him, desperately begging the Allegiant General for mercy, after being revealed as a spy for the Resistance, only for Pryde to shoot Hux dead for treason.

* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: From the First Order's perspective, ''they'' are the heroic Rebel Alliance seeking to overthrow a corrupt and illegitimate Republic and restore order and peace to the galaxy. Complete with a powerful Force-user of Skywalker lineage, whose father is a major player for the other side.

* VillainsWantMercy: Despite, his arrogant and egotistical demeanor, he is truly a coward at heart, which was shown few times throughout the series.
** Frantically begs Finn, Poe and Chewbacca not to kill him, by promising to give them anything they wanted, despite previously humiliating them by telling the protagonists that he didn't care about their victory.
** Later, frantically begs Pryde not to kill him, desperately begging the Allegiant General for mercy, after being revealed as a spy for the Resistance, only for Pryde to shoot Hux dead for treason.

* VillainsWantMercy
* Despite, his arrogant and egotistical demeanor, he is truly a coward at heart, which was shown few times throughout the series.

->'''Portrayed by:''' James Cox, Dan Euston, David R. Grant, Florian Robin, Andy Wareham, William Willoughby, Liang Yang, Karanja Yorke

* ArmchairMilitary: The Visual Dictionary makes clear that most of his strategic and tactical experience was gained in theoretical war games prior to the start of ''The Force Awakens''. Despite this, ironically, he is the only member of the First Order PowerTrio to not mess up with his job.

* BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork: He saves everyone the trouble of killing Hux by summarily executing him for high treason.

* IcyBlueEyes: Like his actor, he has piercing light blue eyes. Can verge into CreepyBlueEyes on occations, as the blue lights on the Star Destroyer he's on reflects to his eyes.

* NotSoStoic: He spends most of the movie being a NoNonsenseNemesis but he visibly loses his cool on a few occations.

* RankUp: Kylo Ren had him replace Hux as Supreme Commander when the latter clearly could not be trusted. For his years of loyal service to Palpatine, Palpatine rewards Pryde by giving him supreme command of all his forces, which Pryde merges the First Order with.
* RedHerring: We're introduced to him in the scene when Kylo announces that the Resistance has a spy within the New Order, and the camera focuses on Pryde's face in a very suggestive way. But the spy is actually Hux.

->'''Appearances:''' ''[[Literature/FromACertainPointOfViewReturnOfTheJedi The Steadfast Soldier]]'' | ''[[Literature/ShadowOfTheSith Shadow of the Sith]]'' | ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker''

* SomethingToRememberHimBy: Holds onto her brother's Imperial Royal Guard helmet to remember his service to the Empire before selling it to Senator Ransolm Casterfo of Riosa to gain his trust.

* TheManBehindTheMan: Prior to the events of ''Bloodline'' they kept their main forces in the Unknown Regions and operated through proxies and fronts like the Centrist Party in the New Republic Senate, the Nikto crime cartels and paramilitary groups like the Amaxine militia.

* MoralMyopia: Unlike Tarkin and the Emperor, who created the Empire to increase their own personal power, the First Order believes that they are the good guys in the conflict with the New Republic (of course, many Imperial diehards and citizens believed the same thing). They also claim the New Republic has justified the First Order's attacks on it by funding the Resistance, despite breaking the peace treaties first by rearming, Expanded Universe materials make clear that the enlistment of stormtroopers as well as the development and construction of the new ''Resurgent''-class Star Destroyers alone violate ''multiple'' arms control treaties. Really, the New Republic should have already been at open war with them.

** In ''Bloodline'', the actions of the First Order conspiracy come perilously close to getting Leia elected as First Senator. Sadly, it doesn't work out.
** Their battle strategy of chasing the ''Raddus'' down until it runs out of fuel (rather than planning a pincer ambush to surround the fleeing ship) literally blew up in their face as the ''Raddus'' managed to reach to Crait for the Resistance survivors to abandon ship, thus giving Holdo the chance to perform a Hyperdrive ram maneuver on the ''Supremacy'', which not only crippled their captial ship but also destroyed several Star Destroyers trailing behind it. In ''The Rise of Skywalker'', it's revealed that the First Order is unable to become the new Empire because they now have far fewer resources thanks to their reckless, avoidable losses.

* PowerTrio: Hux, Ren, and Phasma form an unofficial triumvirate, at Starkiller base according to the ''Force Awakens'' Visual guide. They do form the classic breakdown, resembling a typical military junta:

* PropagandaHero: Strangely, they make Darth Vader one for the cause. He's the only senior figure of the Empire they refer to on-screen rather than Grand Moff Tarkin (overseer of the Death Star and destroyer of Alderaan) or Emperor Palpatine (who single-handedly toppled the Republic, purged the Jedi, converted Anakin to his puppet, though he himself was a rallying symbol for the loyalists his homeworld). This is odd because Vader ultimately stabbed Palpatine in the back and turned over to the light cause, which only emphasizes their detachment from reality even further.

* TheSocialDarwinist: A key element of the First Order's ideology, at least in the military, is the idea of "survival of the fittest", that only the best soldiers survive and the weak should be left to die. In his backstory novels, Finn AKA FN-2187 was routinely reprimanded by his trainers and mocked by his fellow stormtroopers for helping out his less-capable teammates, especially poor FN-2003.

* SpaceColdWar: The First Order clearly considers itself to be in one with the Republic, which presumably turns hot again with the use of the Starkiller.

* UnskilledButStrong: They have weapons making the Empire's army look cute, their Force wielders can do feats like freezing blaster shot and creating psychic bond between Force sensitive people and annihilated the Republic in one shot while leading the Resistance in disarray. Yet they lose multiple high value weapons, ships and personnel because of infighting or some higher up leading the army to traps or distractions because of their short temper. The First Order's higher ups are people who are better alone and want to strike on their own which leads to a strong army with poor tactics.

* MyGreatestFailure: He's the poster boy for this, due to realizing the droids he saw on Mos Elsley WERE the droids the Empire was looking for. However, he bumps his head on Control Room 327's doorway while trying to stop Han and Luke. Later, [[ForWantOfANail he tries to shoot R2 and C-3PO, but a Moff escorts him away for discipline]].