The Republic Commando series by Karen Traviss paints a bleak picture of the execution of Order 66, with more nuances than described in the Star Wars canon.
Order 66 was the most infamous command given in Star Wars history, signaling the end of the Galactic Republic and beginning the near collapse of the Jedi Order. While clone soldiers were forced to obey Order 66 due to biochips implanted in them in the canon, Karen Traviss’ Subtitles Series Republic Commando paints a much darker picture of his execution.
THE Republic Commando series describes Order 66 as a command that all clone soldiers were taught, rather than a command that they were forced to obey. At first glance, the Order seemed perfectly reasonable, as it was originally created by Sifo-Dyas as a way to end the dishonest Jedi who were against the Republic. This order was also above Order 65, which intended to overthrow the Supreme Chancellor if a similar issue arose.
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At the Republic Commando: True Colors, Order 66 is described as such: “In the case of Jedi officers acting against the interests of the Republic, and after receiving specific orders verified as coming directly from the Supreme Commander (Chancellor), GAR commanders will remove these officers by lethal force, and the GAR command will revert to the Supreme Commander (Chancellor) until a new command structure is established. “
Traviss portrays the brutal reality of the Clone Wars, which created a lot of tension between the Clone soldiers and their Jedi commanders. Raised essentially as slave soldiers for the Republic, the life of a clone soldier was basically equivalent to that of an android. Its accelerated aging process ensured that Clone troopers would never achieve a satisfying life beyond battle, even if the clones were biologically identical to humans and capable of biological reproduction. The clones were also capable of a full range of human emotions, which created internal turmoil over their brief existence.
Many Clone troopers also grew tired as the war dragged on, as they were forced to watch their brothers fall in battle. Republic Command: Order 66 details the internal frustrations of the Delta Squadron Scorch Command regarding this loss of life, hearing the names of thousands of dead clone soldiers. “Scorch was now unable to name half the squadrons on his lot at the Tipoca training center, let alone the men who were part of them. He felt ashamed, as if he had betrayed them,” says the passage. As the war dragged on, many Clone troopers began to resent the Jedi for these casualties, even questioning their competence.
The Jedi ‘s attitudes towards the Clone troopers were no better, as they only saw them as disposable. They were especially indifferent to the Clone commands, which they saw as state-sanctioned bounty hunters for the Republic. Despite their indifference to these squads, the Jedi understood their need in war. “That is the problem with having clones trained by a rag of undisciplined bandits – they have turned out to be, at best, idiosyncratic and, at worst, disobedient. But they will probably win the war for us. Tolerate them,” Jedi Master and Special Forces General Director Arligan Zey explained in Republic Commando: Triple Zero.
As a result of this shared dissatisfaction, it was not difficult for many Clone troopers to turn their weapons on their former commanders, but some notable outliers remained. The Ion Team, which was led by Captain Climber, not only disobeyed the order, but turned its weapons against the forces of Commander Salvo who tried to ambush a group of Jedi. Other squadrons of clones, such as Omega Squad, Delta Squad and Ordo Skirata, disobeyed the order as well, but feigned obedience to avoid suspicion of the Empire. Although the clones of these last squadrons maintained tenuous relationships with the Jedi, they were much more skeptical of Palpatine, who revealed new Centax clones that aged normally.
While the canon removes the clones from their guilt in the execution of Order 66, Subtitles confronts his betrayal head on. This nuanced representation of Order 66 is darker than the canon, but Republic Commando it provides depth for its execution, humanizing its clone perpetrators and their suffering.
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