One episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars revealed how the clones were really treated by the Jedi, and it’s bad. One interesting thing about the animated The Clone Wars series is that it developed the clones. In the prequel trilogy, the clones were non-entities, but changed when The Clone Wars came out, as the audience got to know the clones as people. The ethics of using the clone army was always questionable; the idea of creating humans just to force them to be soldiers is not exactly the most morally upstanding way to build an army, to say the least. However, The Clone Wars shows just how badly the Jedi Order treated the clones.
The season 3 episode “Clone Cadets” focuses on the training of the dysfunctional Domino Squad: Droidbait, Fives, Cutup, Hevy, and Echo, as they go through their soldier training on Kamino. The audience is introduced to the clone 99, an old clone who was deemed defective and made to work as a maintenance worker at the clone facility on Kamino. He is treated horribly by the drill instructors – as is Domino Squad as a whole. The episode humanizes the clones and shows how the Jedi’s use of clones was unethical.
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Clone Cadets Shows How The Jedi Dehumanized The Clones
Throughout the episode, the clones are called by numbers rather than names. Domino Squad, like many other clones, do eventually come up with their own names. While some Jedi do call the clones by the names that they choose, the Kaminoans and drill instructors often do not. Beyond that, even the fact they are given numbers instead of names shows how they are viewed as sub-human. A perfect example of this is when Hevy says to 99, “We’re just numbers, 99,” after 99 gives him the name “Hevy.” The pain in Hevy’s voice as he says this is palpable.
At this point, he doesn’t want to accept a name because he has come to believe that how the Jedi and Republic view him is all he will ever be. While he later accepts the name 99 gave him, the fact he hesitated to take it in the first place shows how conditioned he was to believe he is worthless. This is an interesting parallel to the droid army. People have names, but droids do not. This shows that, despite being living, breathing human beings, the clones are treated like droids.
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The Trainers Looked Down On Clones Who Couldn’t Fight As Useless
When Domino Squad is struggling to work together, drill instructor Bric speaks about both them and 99 in a derogatory way, saying, “Send them down to maintenance with 99 and the other rejects.” This shows that the clones are not seen to have value beyond their fighting abilities. They are treated like inanimate tools.
This is another parallel to the droid army. Like the droid army, the clones were mass-produced to act as war machines. Throughout the episode, clones who cannot fulfill that purpose are referred to as “defective,” “rejects,” and “bad batches.” These are terms that are used to describe issues with manufactured goods, and they should never be used to describe people.
The Jedi Were No Better Than The Kaminoans When It Came To The Clones
While Shaak Ti, the Jedi in charge of overseeing the clone operation, seems to show more compassion toward the clones in the episode, she nevertheless doesn’t speak out against or try to do anything substantial about how the clones are treated. She implies the Kaminoans and drill instructors are too harsh, but doesn’t do anything more. Even worse, she states in the episode the clones are living beings. She – and the rest of the Jedi Order – are well aware of the clones’ humanity, but they choose to ignore it. This makes them even worse than the drill instructors and Kaminoans who seem to see the clones more as objects.
It is not surprising that the Jedi treat the clones so poorly, as the structure of the Jedi Order itself allows for such actions and dehumanization to take place. The Order’s entire entry system is based on taking people as infants and young children and training them to be warrior monks. While the clones are definitely treated worse, this isn’t dissimilar to how they use the clones. The Jedi Order seems to have no compunction about treating people like tools when it suits them, as shown in The Clone Wars and beyond.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
The animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars takes place between Episodes 2 and 3 of the Star Wars film saga. The fan-favorite series expands the story of the prequel trilogy through characters including Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano, and more fan-favorite jedi.
- Release Date
- October 3, 2008
- Cast
- Matt Lanter , james arnold taylor , Ashley Eckstein , Dee Bradley Baker , Matthew Wood , Tom Kane , Catherine Taber , Terrence Carson , Corey Burton , Nika Futterman , Katee Sackhoff , Sam Witwer
- Genres
- Animation , Sci-Fi
- Seasons
- 7
- Season List
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Season 1 , Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Season 2 , Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Season 3 , Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Season 4 , Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Season 5 , Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Season 6 , Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Season 7
- Story By
- Dave Filoni
- Writers
- Dave Filoni , George Lucas
- Network
- Disney Channel
- Streaming Service(s)
- Disney+
- Franchise(s)
- Star Wars
- Directors
- Dave Filoni
- Showrunner
- Dave Filoni
