Everything We Know About Clone Inhibitor Chips So Far
On May the 4th the Star Wars fan community was treated with the newest entry in the animated universe, The Bad Batch. The premiere was a 73-minute joy ride through the mere hours after the fall of the Republic. The episode featured Saw Gerrera, the Kaminoan training facility, a couple of excellent firefights, the introduction of the fascinating new character Omega, and of course, another look at Order 66. The handing down of Order 66 and the subsequent Great Jedi Purge is obviously one of the most intense and emotional sequences in all of the Star Wars saga. Clone troopers betrayed and murdered the Jedi they had fought alongside for years. But why? Here we will examine everything known in canon about Order 66, and the driving factor at the heart of the entire Sith plot, the behavioral modification biochip.
One of the greatest mysteries of the original trilogy was solved in Revenge of the Sith with the handing down of Order 66. Prior to the prequels, many people had wondered how the Jedi Knights were driven to the brink of extinction. The premiere of The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones only raised more questions, especially considering the raw displays of power put on by the Jedi over the course of both movies. How and why would the "guardians of peace and justice" be annihilated? There were thousands of Jedi at the onset of the Clone War. However, only a handful would remain a few short decades later. The answer, of course, was Order 66. With a single command, the clone legions turned on their Jedi generals, gunning them down with hardly a second thought
Commissioned by Jedi Master and Council member Sifo-Dyas in the final years of the Republic, the Grand Army of the Republic was produced by the gifted Kaminoan cloners using the genetic template of the Mandalorian turned bounty hunter Jango Fett. Sifo-Dyas had received several Force visions throughout his life, all of them coming to pass as he had foreseen. Shortly before the Battle of Naboo, he was plagued by a reccurring vision of the Republic plunged into the turmoil of war. At the time, the Republic had no standing army and Sifo-Dyas feared democracy and the Jedi Order would be swept away by the enemies of his visions. The Jedi Master approached the other members of the Council with these visions, begging them to approve the raising of an army for the Republic. The other Masters were appalled. They called Sifo-Dyas a radical warmonger, and removed him from the Jedi Council. Undeterred, the Jedi Master contacted the Kaminoans, and commissioned the creation of the Republic's army, leading the cloners to believe that it was sanctioned by the Jedi Council. Unfortunately for Sifo-Dyas, his actions did not go unnoticed by more sinister powers of the universe.
Count Dooku, Jedi exile and newly accepted Sith apprentice to Darth Sidious, contacted his lifelong friend, Sifo-Dyas after the latter's expulsion from the Council. Dooku told the wayward Jedi that he believed his visions, and had also foreseen the Republic at war. He offered to use his family's wealth on Serenno to sponsor the creation of the clones. Dooku selected the notorious gunslinger Jango Fett as the template for the clone army due to his athletic physical traits, proficiency in combat, and mental strength. Around this time, Sifo-Dyas was murdered by the Pyke Syndicate, a ruthless crime family hired by Dooku to silence his former friend. The creation of the army was then in the hands of the Sith, who had one modification to make. Behavioral inhibitor chips were implanted in the clones in utero to prevent them from being as aggressive as Fett and to more readily compliant with orders. While the existence of the chip was no great secret, their true function was known to only a few. Constructed with a combination of cybernetics and some of the clone's own brain tissue, these biochips were designed to activate upon audio confirmation of Order 66. Of the extreme few who knew about the Order, only the Sith knew its true purpose and objective. The Kaminoans believed Order 66 was meant only for traitorous Jedi, with Dooku being a likely scapegoat.
Upon activation of the chip, a clone's old personality was swept away, replaced by the fervor and obedience of a loyal soldier. Their old friendships, morals, individuality, and creativity were eliminated by the Emperor. Prior to the character development of many members of the GAR in the The Clone Wars animated series, many fans considered the clones to be little more than organic droids, blindly loyal to the Republic and willing to comply with any order. However, after being introduced to clones such as Rex, Jesse, Hevy, Fives, and Echo, fans came to realize that each clone was their own unique being. As Master Yoda once told his clone squad, "in the Force, very different each one of you are." With the activation of the behavioral modification chip, the clone's minds were taken away from them and they turned into the Emperor's puppets. This caused many of them to gun down some of their best friends, Jedi who had each saved hundreds of lives, both civilians and clones. The unwilling actions of the Republic's finest soldiers plunged the galaxy into the darkest of times under the reign of the evil Emperor.
We may see other uses the Empire have in store for the clone inhibitor chips in upcoming episodes of The Bad Batch. Unfortunately, we know from past experiences that a head trauma can cause the chip to malfunction. This caused clone trooper Tup to murder his close friend Jedi Master Tiplar prior to the activation of Order 66. With Wrecker's complaints of headache after the Havoc Marauder's crash landing, the Batch had better keep a close eye on him. Hopefully, Tech can get his scanner online to locate and evaluate the Batch's inhibitor chips before it reactivates, or Crosshair may get one or more of his old squad back on his side. Perhaps there is hope for the Batch and Crosshair yet as Captain Rex is arriving soon to share what he and Ahsoka had learned about the chip during Order 66.
Source: Wookieepedia