Warning! This article contains spoilers for Andor episode 6.After decades, Star Wars has revealed the very first Imperial Stormtrooper to join the Rebel Alliance. Stormtroopers have always numbered among the most loyal agents of the Empire. Consequently, there have been surprisingly few occasions where an Imperial Stormtrooper deserted and joined the Rebel Alliance. There were exceptions in the old Expanded Universe, but those were rendered non-canon after Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012.
Andor has now revealed the first Imperial Stormtrooper known to have joined the enemies of the Empire. Taramyn Barcona, a key player in the Aldhani rebel cell, is revealed to have been a former Stormtrooper. It explains why he’s been placed in charge of a group tasked with infiltrating an Imperial base; he has a good understanding of Imperial protocol, and knows how to ensure the rest of his team don’t do anything suspicious. Amusingly, it also explains why Taramyn Barcona is so comfortable taking charge. Stormtroopers operate with confidence the full might of the Empire stands behind them, and are very much used to bossing people around.
Why So Few Stormtroopers Rebel Against The Empire
As seen in Star Wars: The Bad Batch, the Empire wasted no time replacing clones with Stormtroopers. Grand Moff Tarkin argued the clone program was not cost-effective, especially given questions over clones who had disobeyed Order 66. They established Project War-Mantle to train up a new generation of soldiers, Imperial Stormtroopers, and they set up a tremendously effective idoctrination program to ensure these troopers were completely loyal to the Empire. It is likely that, as the Imperial Academies expanded, only recruits who were deemed particularly susceptible to this conditioning were trained as Stormtroopers. Project War-Mantle does indeed seem to have been a success, because Taramyn Barcona is the first Imperial Stormtrooper known to have both defected the Empire and joined the Rebel Alliance in canon. He brought all his skills and training with him, of course.
Taramyn Barcona Challenges Viewers’ Perceptions On Stormtroopers
Star Wars is changing the audience’s perception of Stormtroopers. There’s always been something odd and inconsistent about Star Wars‘ treatment of the Empire’s crack troops; although Obi-Wan Kenobi hinted Stormtroopers were among the best shots in the galaxy in the first Star Wars film, they have seldom been shown to demonstrate the kind of skills the aged Jedi Master believed they possessed. Taramyn Barcona is different, though, because he’s a skilled marksman with a keen strategic mind, and his knowledge and understanding of Imperial protocol is remarkable. Sadly, he doesn’t make it off Aldhani alive, which seems ironic; Stormtroopers often served as the Imperial equivalent of redshirts in the movies, and Taramyn suffers the same fate.
Taramyn Barcona Foreshadows Sequel Trilogy Stormtrooper Defections
First Order Stormtroopers were very different, however. The First Order kidnaped children, and then subjected them to brainwashing programs that have been hinted to involve the dark side of the Force itself. Surprisingly, this process seems to have actually been less successful than the Imperial indoctrination program. Any subjects who had a degree of Force-sensitivity found themselves subconsciously resisting their training, with Finn becoming the most prominent example in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. An entire company of former First Order Stormtroopers joined the Resistance in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, under the command of Jannah. The First Order aimed to create soldiers even more committed than the Empire, but they failed.
The interesting question, though, is whether there were more Stormtrooper defections than had previously been realized. The destruction of Alderaan changed everything in the Star Wars galaxy; until that moment, most Imperials told themselves they were simply fighting for the forces of order, believing the Rebel Alliance to be nothing but terrorists. But Alderaan’s destruction became known as Tarkin’s Folly, in part because it demonstrated to the entire galaxy that the Empire was a force for evil not for good, an oppressive tyrant rather than a benevolent ruler. The ranks of the Rebellion swelled after Alderaan, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to learn a lot more Stormtroopers joined up as well. Those who remained would have been the most loyal, the most fanatical, and the most effectively brainwashed – the cream of the crop, as far as the Emperor was concerned. Hopefully more Star Wars stories will explore the Galactic Civil War, and reveal just what happened to the Stormtroopers during that period.
New episodes of Andor release on Wednesdays on Disney+.
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