letitrainathousandflames:

It’s better to be dead – an Appo minific

It’s so shameful to turn away from battle. It’s better to be dead than to be a coward.

The men that would carry the blue of their armors so proudly now would be glad at the scratches at their gauntlets, at the small cracks at the paint on the guards of their elbow and knees.

Captain Rex – their captain, their commanding officer, General Skywalker’s right hand man – how could he do that to his men, to his brothers? Running away like a coward in the middle of the night, leave them without even a note or a goodbye to commander Cody, his closest vod, or to Skywalker, who would trust him with his life.

He had deserted, bringing dishonor to every single man in the 501st battalion, for cowardice was the most despicable trait a clone could have.

It’s better to be dead than to be a coward.

Appo did not take the promotion well. He had never wanted to be Torrent Company’s commander, because that would mean that Rex would have to be dead. He didn’t want to lose his captain; he respected and admired Rex, his ability to keep his cool even under pressing circumstances, his concern for his men, for their mission. Rex was loyal, he was compassionate with his brothers, and he was brave, very much so. Running away didn’t match his personality at all. How could he have fooled him for so long?

“You used to be a hero. Our hero. And now you disgraced our name and what it stands for. I hope you’re proud, vod. I hope it was kriffing worth it.”

Appo takes his time putting on his kama and shoulder guards. They are light on his hands but they feel heavy on his body. He never quite manages to feel comfortable wearing them, and they always feel like they don’t belong to him, not really.

No matter what it takes, Appo will do his duty with perfection. He will clean the honor of the 501st from the stain of Rex’s betrayal.

Under the inescapable order 66, his armor finally feels like it belongs to him. He marches behind Skywalker, his blaster set to kill. Something doesn’t feel right in the back of his mind. He ignores it, aiming at the Jedi in the temple as they ignite their lightsabers. He might die here. He doesn’t care.

It’s better to be dead than to be a coward.

cienie-isengardu:

diversity-instarwars:

One
of the things that really disturbed me about the clones, despite their obvious
enslavement, was the fact that they died off like droids and no one cared. In
addition to that their deaths were used to add to the narratives of the
Jeid/non-clones.

Let me explain.

In some instances, their deaths
were extremely meaningless and inappropriate and only happened to get a
reaction from the audience or even certain characters. Some of their deaths
really reinforce how they’re disposable to not just the writer’s themselves,
but to even the characters.

We’ve seen this countless times
with Anakin , but a part that really stuck out to me was the episode with
Barriss , Ahsoka and everyone getting infected.

When the clones were infected
with the virus and attempted to kill Ahsoka and Barriss, both killed the clones
with little to no remorse. There wasn’t hesitation, they killed those clones
like they were droids. However in contrast, when Barriss got infected and
begged Ahsoka to kill her, Ahsoka refused. Ahsoka did everything in her power
to make sure that Barriss stayed alive, knowing that killing her would have
been a better option at the time (given Barriss was a threat to her), just as
she knew with the clones. Barriss with Ahsoka’s help, ended up surviving, unlike
the clones who were killed earlier like they were nothing.  That is
because sadly, Ahsoka saw more worth in Barriss than she did the clones. Jedi,
even Ahsoka, are guilty of seeing the clones as nothing more than equipment.

Next we can see another example
in the episode with master Piell. And this is evident when Piell mentions how
“we’re all willing to die for war”, or something to that degree. Realize it was
a clone that was shot and not Piell. It’s obvious that Piell couldn’t control
that one of his men were killed, but take into realization he knew he
wouldn’t be killed. Piell was a Jedi and a General at that who had information
that was valuable to Osi Sobeck. If Osi hadn’t killed him before, he wouldn’t
him then. That said Piell was aware of that; he knew his value to the mission
and to Osi and while it wans’t his intention for one of the clones to be
killed, he knew it would happen. But in his mind, they were “ready” to die for
war.

The next part I want to focus on is Echo’s death, where a clear
preference and respect of Piell’s death is shown in comparison to Echo’s.
When Echo dies, we can clearly see the little regard Obi-Wan and the others
(save for the clones) have for him, and are quick to leave the scene without
sparing a second to see if he is still alive—which he was. However, when Piell
died not only did the Obi-Wan waste valuable time to mourn him but they had a
whole funeral for him.

These deaths show a lack of care
for the clones by the Jedi, and their reluctance to not only see the clones as
their equals, but to see them as humans. In these instances I’ve mentioned
above, the clones were killed off as easily as a droid and their lack of
importance really showed. Above all, the clones were not mourned as much as the
jedi who were killed off , or almost killed off. Nor was than an effort to
actually save these clones.

Another example I want to look
at, is when Ventress invaded Kamino and brutally killed a clone right before kissing
him.

Keep reading

A very good points. Frankly, the way clone troopers are treated in TCW is really disconcerting, especially after the series became more popular. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like the later seasons the more clones were dehumanized – as in, created just to be killed because of “cheap shock value” while their brutal deaths could be (in some cases at least)
avoidable. Which is pretty sad, since the first episode of TCW was all about how clones are human beings and how their life & individuality matters too – and that comes from Yoda himself, who is supposed to be sort of moral authority yeah, riiiight. Like I said, it may be just my perception of series development, but first TCW season seemed to treat clone troopers with more respect and I dare to say, even made me feel like (some) Jedi and clones were more comrades in arms than, you know, masters and subordinates whose life
will be thrown

away very soon. I don’t know why TCW changed so much over the years; was that
intentional choice to show us how Jedi – the supposed heroes – are
uncaring, prejudiced hypocrites or did writers cared more for “big fireworks” than actual story and how it affect both characters and fan perception of them?