An Easter egg in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith reveals that a member of the Clone Army is also a Mandalorian. All the Galactic Republic’s clones are grown from the template of Jango Fett, the galaxy’s greatest bounty hunter during the prequel era and a Mandalorian warrior. Jango Fett’s status as a Mandalorian and his relationship with the Clone Army has differed throughout the Star Wars franchise’s history and its two continuities: canon and Legends. Naturally, viewers may wonder what the story behind this Mandalorian clone in Revenge of the Sith is.

From his 2002 debut, Jango Fett has always been characterized as a Mandalorian in the Expanded Universe’s non-movie materials before it became the alternate Legends timeline in 2014. 2008’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars – which knowingly never adhered to Legends-era lore – was the first property to dispute this fact, with the Mandalorian Prime Minister Almec claiming that Fett was only a common bounty hunter who used Mandalorian gear. After numerous properties ceased to portray Jango as a Mandalorian, The Mandalorian season 2 would retroactively reinstate his Mandalorian status, potentially explaining the Mandalorian clone in Revenge of the Sith.

Revenge Of The Sith Features A Surprising Mandalorian Clone Trooper

The Star Wars prequel trilogy never directly addresses the Mandalorian affiliation of Jango Fett, but Revenge of the Sith subtly includes one Mandalorian clone. During the Battle of Coruscant in the movie’s opening act, Odd Ball and numerous other clone ARC-170 pilots flew alongside Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi against an onslaught of Separatist droid fighters. Although Skywalker and Kenobi made it to General Grievous’ flagship, many of Odd Ball’s pilots perished. One clone pilot sports a Mandalorian symbol on the side of his helmet, though the clone is, sadly, killed by a Droid Tri-Fighter.

The clone pilot’s symbol is a Mandalorian sigil that has appeared in other live-action Star Wars movies and numerous non-movie properties. The feather-like logo debuted in 1980 as one of the many symbols on Boba Fett’s iconic Mandalorian armor. The symbol would remain on Fett’s armor in 1983’s Return of the Jedi and the 1997 special edition of A New Hope, and its meaning would be explained in Legends-era works. Legends-era lore reveals that the sigil represents Jaster Mereel, the mentor and father figure to Jango Fett following the loss of his parents at age 10.

Star Wars Legends Explained RotS’ Mandalorian Clone Trooper

According to Jango Fett, Jaster Mereel wore the feather sigil when he served as a Journeyman Protector (a title held by Mandalorian law enforcers), continuing to sport the logo when he became the Mand’alor and led the true Mandalorians to war with the Death Watch terrorist group. Jango Fett’s first starship, Jaster’s Legacy, sported the symbol on the port and starboard sides of its bow. Boba Fett, who served as a Journeyman Protector on his father’s homeworld of Concord Dawn before the events of the Star Wars original trilogy, added the logo to his armor.

In the Star Wars Legends continuity, not only are Jango and Boba Fett Mandalorians, but the entire Clone Army is as well. Taking pride in his clones and viewing them as a component of his (and Jaster Mereel’s) legacy, Jango Fett made sure that all clones were Mandalorians by culture. Although Jango personally trained the Alpha-class ARC troopers and his Mandalorian Cuy’val Dar mercenaries personally trained clone commando squads, even the most basic clone troopers and clone pilots were Mandalorians, so it is not surprising that the clone pilot in Revenge of the Sith wore Jaster Mereel’s sigil.

How Star Wars Canon Explains The Clone Trooper

For the first six years of the Star Wars franchise’s modern canon history, both Jango and Boba Fett were depicted as not being Mandalorians. Jango Fett was even shown to be apathetic towards his clones, seemingly not being involved in their training and further rendering the clone pilot in Revenge of Sith an anomaly. Star Wars Rebels would quickly – albeit unintentionally – fix this problem through the introduction of Fenn Rau. Rau was a Republic-aligned Mandalorian pilot who oversaw clone pilot training, explaining the pilot’s symbol in Revenge of the Sith as a means of honoring Rau.

Just as The Mandalorian reworked Jango Fett’s Mandalorian cultural background into the modern Star Wars canon, newer properties are bringing more elements of his original Legends incarnation into the current continuity. For instance, the upcoming sourcebook Star Wars: The Secrets of the Clone Troopers, by Marc Sumerak, reveals that Jango Fett oversaw clone training, and while Fett still thinks little of the Clone Army, many clones – such as Captain Rex – appreciate Fett. The clone pilot’s Mandalorian logo in Revenge of the Sith might have been meant to honor Fett as well as Fenn Rau.