Stormtroopers

Stormtroopers (ST)—known as TK stormtroopers and as TK troopers during the early Imperial Era, Remnant Stormtroopers after the Battle of Endor, and colloquially referred to as "bucketheads"—were the infantry soldiers of the Galactic Empire. The members of the Imperial Army's Stormtrooper Corps served on the frontline as elite shock troops, and their loyalty to the Empire was absolute as a result of their training. The stormtrooper armor that they wore consisted of white plastoid plates over a black body glove, and their standard weapon was the E-11 blaster rifle. In addition to the standard trooper, various specialized units such as scout troopers and snowtroopers comprised the ranks of the Stormtrooper Corps.

Possibly taking their name from the "storm" of galactic history, stormtroopers served the Empire since its inception at the end of the Clone Wars when the Sith Lord Darth Sidious declared himself Galactic Emperor. The Galactic Republic was supplanted by the Empire, and the clone troopers who formed the backbone of the Grand Army of the Republic became the first generation of Imperial stormtroopers. During the early years of the Imperial Era, the cloning operation on Kamino was shut down as the Empire turned to conscription and recruitment in order to fill the stormtrooper ranks. The remaining clones were retired from service due to their rapid aging, their legacy inherited by natural-born humans who were also trained to render total allegiance to the Emperor and his New Order.

HISTORY At the dawn of the Galactic Empire, the first generation of stormtroopers consisted of cloned soldiers who served the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars. Under the leadership of the Jedi Knights, clone troopers fought the droid armies of the Confederacy of Independent Systems across the galaxy. Though they were loyal to the Jedi as well as the Republic, the clones were secretly programmed to obey Order 66, a military directive authorizing the complete liquidation of the Jedi Order.

With the exception of a handful of survivors, including Jedi Generals Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi, most of the Jedi were killed by their own troops at the command of Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith who controlled the Galactic Senate through his public persona of Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine. With the Empire claiming the galaxy was brought from chaos to order during to its rule, one account of the origins of the name "stormtrooper" was that it came from the troops emerging from the "storm" of galactic history.

Ending the clone trooper program

 * "Surely you realize the precarious state this newly formed Empire is in. Clone troopers will be needed to maintain order throughout the galaxy." "Indeed. A service conscription soldiers could provide at half the cost." "The skill level and efficiency of our clones is far superior to that of any recruited body."
 * ―Lama Su and Wilhuff Tarkin[src]

The clone troopers enforced Emperor Palpatine's reign during the early days of the Imperial Era, having become the first generation of Imperial stormtroopers. No longer beholden to the authority of Jedi officers who exercised restraint in warfare, the clones utilized brutal tactics under the leadership of Imperial officers and governors, suppressing dissent and imposing the New Order over the known galaxy. The end of the Clone Wars, however, fulfilled the sole purpose behind the creation of clone troopers. Although Palpatine had supported the of the Kaminoan government's clone trooper program during his final years as Supreme Chancellor, his priorities shifted away from the expensive cloning production after becoming the Galactic Emperor. The Prime Minister of Kamino, Lama Su, maintained that the clone troopers possessed unrivaled combat skills and discipline. In addition, Lama Su believed that his clones were critical to the security of the fledgling Empire. Despite this, Admiral Wilhuff Tarkin was confident that the Empire would be better served by a force of non-clone conscripts, which he saw as a cost-effective way to enforce order in the galaxy. In addition, the clones' accelerated aging process was further incentive for the Empire to decommission its clone units in favor of natural-born humans.

Although Tarkin supported conscription over cloning, clone troopers were initially retained by the Imperial Army that replaced the Grand Army of the Republic, but rumors spread throughout the ranks that the cloning facilities on Kamino had been shut down. By the later Imperial Era, it was rumored the Stormtrooper Corps had been established within the Imperial Army by a group of former clone commandos. The ranks of the Stormtrooper Corps swelled with conscripts and volunteers who sought to carry on the legacy of the clones that had been glorified through wartime propaganda.

Introducing service conscription

 * "If it's a fight you want, I hope you brought a better class of soldier than those stormtroopers." "They serve the Empire well, and I have a great many of them." "You're gonna need all of 'em."
 * ―Rex and Alexsandr Kallus[src]

With the development of the new Imperial war machine, the clone trooper armor was upgraded. Clone commandos were deployed as instructors to the conscripted troopers, who were assigned the designation of TK troopers. A secret training facility on Daro had fifty commandos and 1,000 TK troopers.

During the Emperor's reign, stormtroopers were used to bring any remaining Separatist worlds into line. As time passed, stormtroopers replaced Imperial Army troopers—the main infantry force of the early Empire, often consisting of local planetary defense forces conscripted into the Imperial Military—as mainline combat troops and security forces, making the white armored troopers the backbone of the Empire's ground forces.

With a lack of jobs and opportunity in the wake of the Clone Wars, posterity would later come to criticize an "aimless generation" as complicit in abetting the rapid militarization and recruitment of the Imperial war machine. Nonetheless, several clones remained in service to the Galactic Empire, with some becoming instructors in the Imperial Academy, while a smaller number remained in active duty such as Sergeant "Crest" and TX-828, who was still active following the Battle of Yavin.

The Sith Lord Darth Vader commanded stormtroopers in his capacity as the Emperor's enforcer. Like other servants of the Imperial regime, stormtroopers referred to Vader by the title of lord. As learned by the Free Ryloth Movement, the loyalty the stormtroopers had towards the Sith Lord bordered on worship. Though Vader enjoyed a rapport with his stormtroopers, Vader was still willing to execute the troops under his command as he did with many other Imperials. During Rae Sloane's time as a junior officer, a joke spread throughout the ranks that Vader only kept stormtroopers on the bridge of his starships to drag out the bodies of those he executed. However, the joke lost all humor quickly, as Vader's wrath became all too real for many Imperial personnel.

Ultimately, stormtroopers came to represent the face of the Empire, but the soldiers were opposed by a growing rebellion that sought to restore democratic rule to the galaxy.

Galactic Civil War

 * "We follow orders. It's the sum and extend of our existence. Say kill, and we will. Say die, and our arms fly up and take the blasterfire on full. Watch our pointless existence extinguished on command."
 * ―Stormtrooper TD-7556[src]

The Battle of Scarif was the first major rebel victory of the Galactic Civil War, between the Galactic Empire and the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Following the Rebel victory at Scarif, Vader commanded a battalion of stormtroopers, who served him loyally, to capture Princess Leia Organa's Alderaanian corvette Tantive IV over Tatooine. Additionally, Stormtroopers were also used to arrest dissidents on numerous worlds including Akiva and Zeitooine, while they were also deployed to other conflicts the Empire found itself in; stormtroopers and Imperial machines quickly put down a long-lasting uprising on Koshaga, fought on the frontlines of the Mandalorian Civil War, and combated members of the Grysk Hegemony during the Empire's conflict against them.

For service in the Galactic Civil War, stormtroopers saw action against the Rebellion forces during engagements like the Battle of Garel, the Battle of Atollon, the Battle of Hoth, the Mid Rim Retreat, and the Battle of Endor. During the fighting at Endor in 4 ABY, stormtroopers fought on the ground of the forest moon against Rebels and Ewoks, while others were stationed aboard the DS-2 Death Star II Mobile Battle Station before it was destroyed. In the immediate aftermath of the battle, Rebel General Han Solo led an assault against a surviving Endor outpost staffed by stormtroopers, while stormtroopers on Imperial capital world of Coruscant fought in the planet's civil war that began directly after the death of Palpatine at Endor.

Though disorganized in the wake of the Rebel victory at Endor, Imperial loyalists rallied around high-ranking officials such as Grand Admiral Rae Sloane and Fleet Admiral Gallius Rax. The Alliance, having declared itself the New Republic, deployed armed forces to root out the remaining Imperial strongholds on distant worlds like Uyter, Naalol, and Akiva. During the Iron Blockade, stormtroopers in the Anoat sector suppressed any knowledge of Palpatine's death, only to be met by an Uprising that sought to liberate the sector. During the conflict, Joval Rykk was a ten-year veteran of the Stormtrooper Corps, though he felt no loyalty to the Empire.

By this time, stormtroopers were taken out of Academy training early to fill up Imperial ranks. As the war continued, many stormtroopers were captured and sent to the New Republic capital of Chandrila as prisoners of war. On one occasion, the New Republic public relations official Olia Choko personally stopped New Republic soldiers from parading stormtrooper prisoners through the streets of Hanna City. Later, stormtroopers fought during the liberation of Kashyyyk and the Battle of Jakku, the Empire's final stand in 5 ABY.

Mercenaries

 * "The Empire fell. With it fell order. With it fell law. They're never coming back. It's taken me a while to realize that—I think I was grieving. I've accepted it now, though. I know what it means. I can do anything I want."
 * ―Terex, abandoning his life as a stormtrooper[src]

The Empire formally capitulated to the New Republic after the defeat of its loyalist forces on Jakku. With the death of Counselor Rax and Sloane's escape to the Unknown Regions, Grand Vizier Mas Amedda represented the Empire at the signing of the Galactic Concordance. The terms of the peace treaty included the end of hostilities between the Empire and the New Republic, the dissolution of the Imperial government, and the prohibition of the recruitment and training of stormtroopers. Additionally, the Empire was forced to dismantle its network of Imperial Academies.

However, not all of the Empire's remnants adhered to the treaty's conditions. Though some stormtroopers such as Terex and Corlac deserted their posts, the remaining Imperial forces on Jakku continued to fight for several months, refusing to accept the Empire's defeat. Terex only abandoned his life as a stormtrooper because he felt that, when the Empire had fallen, order had fallen, so he needed to adapt, which led to him becoming the crime lord of the Ranc gang. Another trooper, Sentinel, refused to accept the defeat of his regime and thus continued to fight. In the years that followed the civil war's conclusion, all that seemingly remained of the former Galactic Empire were the mercenaries many stormtroopers had become—known as "Remnant Stormtroopers"—and the warlords they served under, clinging to the last vestiges of Imperial power in the Outer Rim Territories where the New Republic held little influence. Despite the restrictions that the New Republic imposed on the defeated Empire, stormtroopers retained their battle-worn armor, making them look like an undisciplined mercenary force. Nevertheless, some of these mercenary troopers worked alongside more pristine stormtroopers in remnants of the fallen Empire. In particular, stormtroopers served with Imperial remnants like Moff Gideon's faction or the outpost on Morak.

By 9 ABY, Gideon's remnant controlled an Imperial base on the planet Nevarro that was staffed by stormtroopers and other Imperials. A mercenary group of stormtroopers also acted as security for an Imperial remnant facility in Nevarro city, where they also served as bodyguards for "the Client" and Doctor Pershing. The Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin killed many stormtroopers while rescuing the Force-sensitive foundling Grogu.

In the aftermath of the engagement, Djarin's Mandalorian tribe was nearly wiped out by the Imperial remnant, which also occupied the city with its stormtroopers. When Djarin returned to Nevarro with his allies to kill the Client, the Imperial and his personal stormtrooper guard were instead killed when Gideon ordered his personal guard of death troopers to fire into the city's cantina. Gideon was then reinforced by a battalion of stormtroopers from the Imperial base to recapture the Child from Djarin. Though the Mandalorian and his allies were forced into the sewers, they ultimately triumphed over the stormtroopers, though their victory came at the cost of the Ugnaught Kuiil and IG-series assassin droid IG-11, the latter having scarified himself to take out a stormtrooper platoon.

Though he had lost control of Nevarro, Gideon escaped the planet to lead his remnant from his Class 546 Cruiser, which many stormtroopers and Imperial officers were stationed aboard. They also maintained control of Nevarro's Imperial base until Djarin returned for repairs to his ship, the Razor Crest. The Mandalorian and his allies infiltrated the base to detonate it, fighting past the stormtroopers to escape in time. As he fled with his jetpack to protect Grogu, his allies, Magistrate Greef Karga, former shock trooper Cara Dune, and "the Mythrol," escaped from scout troopers and Outland TIE fighters aboard a Trexler 906 Armored Marauder, taking out all but two of the starfighters until Djarin arrived in the Razor Crest. After Djarin took out the two fighters, he and Grogu departed for Tython.

Legacy

 * Main article: Stormtrooper (First Order)


 * Ranzar Malk: "Yeah, well, Mayfeld, he's… He's one of the best triggermen I've ever seen. Former Imperial sharpshooter."
 * Din Djarin: "That's not saying much."
 * Migs Mayfeld: "I wasn't a stormtrooper, wiseass."
 * ―Ranzar Malk, Din Djarin, and Migs Mayfeld[src]

Opinions on the combat skills of stormtroopers and their overall quality varied considerably both during the Empire's reign and after it collapsed. Commander Alecia Beck praised the stormtroopers, calling them the Empire's "keenest weapon," and Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi once noted the accuracy in their precision skills. Agent Alexsandr Kallus defended the stormtroopers for their allegiance to the Empire, wheras Clone Captain Rex took the opportunity to disparage them as an inferior class of soldier compared to the clone troopers they replaced. Din Djarin also held stormtroopers in low regard, being unimpressed by Migs Mayfeld's military background despite Ranzar Malk's assurance that the Imperial veteran was skilled in marksmanship. Mayfeld, an ex-sniper who participated in Operation: Cinder, retorted that he was not a stormtrooper. Axe Woves, a Mandalorian who supported Bo-Katan Kryze, mocked the stormtroopers whom he saw as lacking in marksmanship.

The Imperial remnants that retreated to the Unknown Regions reorganized themselves as the First Order, achieving one of the Emperor's objectives—to destroy the Empire and then rebuild it—under the Contingency. Defying the Galactic Concordance, the First Order recruited and mobilized new stormtroopers. The new stormtroopers were influenced by the ideas of Brendol Hux, a former commandant at the Arkanis Academy. The First Order's stormtroopers were equipped with sleeker armor and powerful weaponry. Among the Order's agents was Terex, who had served as an Imperial stormtrooper. The former Imperial Stormtrooper Commander Ruthford, who had served under Darth Vader during a battle against the Benathy, served as a captain in the First Order. Captain Ruthford would find himself seeing the Benathy once again, although this time he served under the grandson of Vader, Kylo Ren.