Anyone else ever wonder why the Empire chose to phase out the Clones? It makes sense to conscript citizens of the Empire to instill loyalty in the Empire, but wouldn't it make more sense to have an almost endless army of Clones? Did we ever get an official story explanation as to why they simply phased them out? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I believe the EU's explanation was that clones of clones were kind of rubbish. So once the initial Jango run had been used up, they began relying on conscripts, volunteers and clones from new sources.
The Filoni answer: http://www.hitfix.com/news/dave-filoni-on-star-wars-rebels-place-in-the-timeline Setting “Star Wars Rebels” in the lead up to “A New Hope” leads to some interesting questions. Like what happened to all the clones after Order 66? “The Clones are all working the docks. They’re all old men. Some of them are very bitter. Some of them feel terrible about what happened. It’s tough being a clone.”
Yeah, I remember that. Yet they never really explained why they couldn't use Jango's DNA. Unless I missed something. If for some reason Jango's DNA was all used up, why not find another and simply clone them? Especially if they all have those organic chips that make them obey commands. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
They did find others and clone them, IIRC (the aforementioned 'clones from new sources'). They just didn't rely exclusively on clones any more. My memory's super foggy in regards to this, however, and it may be possible I'm just making it all up. Here's the relevant (EU) info from Wookieepedia, for what it's worth: "Among the reformations that transformed the Republic into the Empire, the former Grand Army of the Republic was reorganized into the Stormtrooper Corps. The remaining clone troopers that survived the Clone Wars were rechristened as Imperial stormtroopers. Despite the ban on cloning, the Empire continued to utilize clone soldiers in secret. With the exception of Imperial officers and GeNode clones, the Stormtrooper Corps was almost fully composed of clones based on the genetic template of Jango Fett. The Clone Rebellion of Kamino in 12 BBY brought an end to the Fett clones' proud dominion over the Stormtrooper Corps. Though they succeeded in suppressing the revolt by storming Tipoca City and annihilating an army of Fett clones designed to fight against the Empire, Emperor Palpatine lost confidence in an army cloned entirely from one man. As a result, future generations of stormtroopers were cloned from a variety of templates. Not long afterward, the ranks were opened up to non-clone Humans who served as enlisted troopers alongside the clones. The Empire's dependency on cloning also led to the creation of experimental soldiers based on the Force-sensitive template of Sa Cuis, an Emperor's Hand. Even though the 501st Legion was allowed to remain pure, the Fett clones resented their sudden status as a minority within the army that they once filled as a whole."
I think it'd be a very interesting story if the Clones were turned into almost a slave workforce. Not only did the Republic become an Empire with their help, but they literally build the Empire on their backs. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
not about phasing them out. They are clones and have short lives. By New Hope, most of them are dead.
In the old EU, the "twice normal rate" aging was just an approximation - in some cases, the aging rate was faster, and combat stress and the like tended to make it worse.
I find the idea silly that Jango's death required them to clone his clones to produce more clones. Like they couldn't just keep his DNA around. But then I find the whole blood transfusion to get midi-chlorians when blood had very few cells in it extremely silly. Star Wars is terrible at biology.
I always liked the thought from the old EU that some of Veterans become Stormtrooper Trainers once they are not really fully „combat worthy“ anymore. So maybe they will introduce it again, though guess Rebels will shed a lot of light on it.
yeah the degraded-dna thing is stupid but really there's never been a need for it as an explanation. Kaminoan-style clones (as opposed to Spaarti and other methods, which have their own major problems) would be absurdly expensive compared to recruiting citizens, raised and provided for as they are cradle-to-grave. For a secret elite ace-in-the-hole army (especially for a society that has had no central military and no tradition of such for last thousand years) they were perfect, but for a standing army in highly militaristic society there are much better (and cheaper) options. (That said in the old canon there were still new clones in use during the height of the Empire; i assume this was due more to lucrative contracting deals and the like than any real need for them.) As for ageing Kaminoan clones, the new canon explanation's been provided upthread but the old canon had it that they served until they were too old or infirm, at which point they were placed in retirement homes. I doubt any of them were bitter or had much to say about their situation beyond that they were proud they served as long as they did and wished they could continue to.
In the new Canon some clones remained part of the empire after the war ended. For example one of the Imperial guards in Lords of the Sith is a clone.
I understand that some of them continued to serve, I was just referring to the idea of a Clone army continuing. Doesn't have to be Jango. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Like Trip said, I've generally just assumed it's due to it being cheaper to just round up conscripts than pay for clones. May not be the most exciting of reasons, but... TCW has made economics a big thing for Star Wars storylines... although I admittedly won't be surprised if, as the years go by, we continue to just see clones mentioned (like in LotS and Tarkin), and us just end up in a situation where there's never really any explanation given, and we're just left to assume stormtroopers can be both and that it simply depends on which ones will be in a particular story... Not that I wouldn't enjoy them giving us a decent story again one day about why they phased them out, as there's lots of nice narratives about a clone rebellion or something which could make for a nice spin-off film one day.