"The time has come... execute Order 66"

We've had quite a few discussions here about the "genetic programming vs. regular training" aspect of Order 66 and the clones, but I think this is a legitimate point either way.

When Commander Cody receives his instructions from Palpatine, Palpatine says, "Commander Cody, the time has come... execute Order 66" (he may have said all of that to the other commanders who received his holographic message as well, but we only heard part of those calls). What struck me was the "the time has come" part. This to me implies that this move (Order 66) was something to be expected that Palpatine and the clones knew was coming sooner or later.

Order 66 is usually referred to as one of a number of contingency orders, but contingency means "in case". That would mean that they were programmed or trained for this order just in case the Jedi ever attempted a coup (even though they probably wouldn't). Of course Palpatine knew from the start that he would be calling for this order to be executed, but if the clones were programmed or trained about the details of this order as a contingency order, they would not necessarily be expecting it to ever actually come. But Palpatine's saying "the time has come", combined with the clone commanders' apparent lack of surprise at receiving the order, made me re-think all of this some. He doesn't seem to be trying to hide from the clones the fact that this was a foregone conclusion... and they don't seem surprised.

 

I think that you bring up a very valid point. What I glean from your argument is that the clones were not surprised at the order coming through, just that they didn't know exactly when that would be. In that case, would Palpatine have instructed the clones in some way to not kill off their Jedi Generals during the Clone Wars (before the Order was issued) because that would look suspicious? It brings up a whole other conversation, one that is a very good discussion topic IMO.

 

Exactly, thanks. It just kind of hit me the other day when I was watching a few scenes in ROTS again. I'm not saying for sure that the clones knew ahead of time about the order, and I know they wouldn't just sit there arguing against it since it was an order from the Chancellor that they were trained to obey without question. But they didn't even seem surprised or taken aback by it coming at all... no hesitation or look of "the Jedi actually tried to stage a coup and this is real now?!". None of them seemed surprised, whether it was the commanders receiving the order directly or the other troops that they simply nodded to before carrying it out together. If this is the case, I'm sure they would have been instructed to never act against the Jedi at all before receiving the order. And as I said, the way Palpatine introduced it with "the time has come"... the foregone conclusion aspect of that somehow makes Order 66 seem even more chilling.

 

It was probably a command imbedded into their training/dna subconsiously. The clones didn't know until the command was activated.

 

It's just an order but they're genetically programed to obey any order from a superior without question. If Anakin tells them to shoot some children they will do it.

 

The Commanders may have been told ahead of time to prepare for it. A spure of the moment, "Hey go kill the Jedi" might not have gone so well.

 

They had a list of orders of things to do just in case, including rounding up and killing all members of the senate for instance. So the Jedi were always aware of the "Kill all Jedi" order but seeing as only the supreme chancellor could issue such an order there was of course nothing to worry about.

 

The clones obviously knew about Order 66 beforehand because it was one of the standing orders they learned during their training. However, they took it for what it was - a contingency order - something to be used in an emergency if and when it became necessary. If they thought about it at all then they probably considered it to be an unlikely eventuality given what they knew of the Jedi and their role. The clones' raison d'etre was to protect the Republic though, which meant they probably considered it a wise precaution to have such a contingency, allowing them to act quickly in the unlikely event of an attempted Jedi coup.

The clones were therefore not expecting the order to ever be given. Palpatine says "the time has come" because he indeed has been intending to use Order 66 all along. The clones did not know that. What Cody understood by that phrase, if anything, would have been simply something like "the unlikely eventuality that was planned for has actually occurred".

The clones were not surprised because it is not in their nature to react that way. They take any order without question, especially if it comes from the Supreme Chancellor. And the thing about Order 66 is that they already knew about it, even if they didn't think it would ever be executed. So they knew it was a possibility at least, and therefore weren't surprised when it happened.

 

I don't think the Kaminoans knew about it. In Dark Lord, Salvo knew about it but Climber did not. In ROTS the clone commanders seem to have a special comlink to the Chancellor.

 

Yeah that's a good point! It had to be imbedded in their training/subconcious somewhere. Though they were clones they were still humans with normal feelings and emotions (no matter how much they tried to make them easily pursuadable to follow commands). A random, "Go kill the Jedi" especially when Cody had a friendship with Obi-Wan would probably have made him second guess the order, and that would have created chaos in the Clone Army. Then Palps would be found out and it's all over!
*sigh* If only...

 

But the phrase "the time has come" seems to imply that the clones were in cahoots with Palps, embedded programming/training or not. It implies that the clones were WAITING for the issue to be ordered at some point over the course of the war. If Palpatine had just said "Commander Cody, execute order 66" that would be one thing, but "the time has come" implies somethingelse altogether, something planned in advance....

 

Palpy definitely had it all planned out in advance. However, the clones might not have been aware that the Order would eventually be carried out (the commanders might have known, but what about the regular troops?)

 

Exactly... that is where I was going with this. Obviously Palpatine had it all planned in advance, and obviously the clones were all trained/programmed in advance as to what Order 66 meant they should do. The idea here is that the clones may have also known it was coming sooner or later... more than just a possibility that would usually be implied by something being a contingency order.

Well, at first I thought it may have just been the commanders who were in on it ahead of time, partially because of their direct comlink connection to Palpatine. But in watching that scene, a few of the commanders simply nod to their troopers after they get the call from Palpatine, and the troopers immediately know what the deal is.

 

I highly doubt this... source?

 

I can see that Cody and the others could have interpreted it that way if they really did not know ahead of time about the inevitability of this. I originally looked at it that way. But then why would Palpatine have even said "the time has come" in the first place? As someone else pointed out, he could have just said, "Commander Cody, execute Order 66". Palpatine has plenty of things planned that he doesn't just say out loud to other people for no reason. It seems to me that he could have said "the time has come" to remind the commanders that this was a shared secret between them, and that they now had to play their part.

 

I would guess that the "the time has come......." phrase IS the secret code phrase that triggered the clones special memory embediment placed there by the Kaminoans.

Kind of like what a stage hypnotist would do, ie "when I say the word bongo, you will start clucking like a chicken", heh.

 

Knowing in advance does not require programming by the Kaminoans; the Kaminoans don't have to know about the order at all. For example, Dark Lord said specifically that Order 66 was not programmed by the Kaminoans.

 

In the Republic Commando book, I was led to believe that all Clones were aware of a set of contingency orders. None of them expected Order 66 to come down (at least the Commandos). According to the books, Order 66 reads....

The way it's worded makes me think that maybe only commanders knew about it. So there is that.

 

Well if we are to subscribe to the genetic programming then it's possible that it was a simple voice command they were programmed to. I think that's the easy way to explain.

But, the fact remains the Clonetroopers were the saddest of all the Star Wars characters. They were created to die....

 

The Clones were bred from Jango. So too was Boba, but without the 'special genetic modifications' of the Clones.

We may be able to glean a few innate personality traits from the Clones through Boba, who is genetically just a miniature Jango.

Jango was apparently picked as the Clone master genetic template for his physical as well as psychological attributes. He has no remorse regarding killing. Boba shows that for a young boy he is completely compliant to his father's wishes, and has absolutely no remorse about trying to kill Kenobi despite no apparent personal grudges against the Jedi (all of which changes after Jango's death on Geonosis).

So the Clones were bred from solid stock, having little 'natural' psychological tendencies toward undue remorse or complex morality. Given how 'unmodified' Boba behaves, it does not surprise me in the least that (with the genetic compliance factor thrown in) the Clone commanders are completely unfazed when Palpatine issues his orders.

 

I agree that the commanders knew about it, but the regular troops must have understood the order because they quickly executed it after the order came through.

 

"Blast him" is pretty self-explanatory.

 

It definitely is.

 

For the reasons that eht13 has brought up, I belive that the clones did know that they had a command for Order 66, but the clones may have only thought it was for the reason that the Jedi were going against the Republic. Palpatine never said why to kill them. I dont think it was programed into them was because if anyone said Order 66 clones would just randomly kill Jedi. Only the Chancelor could do that.

 

Hmmm, it depends on whether its meant literally or not, heh.