‘Star Wars’ Theory: Did Obi-Wan Know Stormtroopers Weren’t Clone Troopers?
Obi-Wan Kenobi had a long history with clone troopers. He was essentially the first to discover them on Kamino. He would lead Captain Rex and Commander Cody and their legions during the Clone Wars. After the Clone Wars concluded, Obi-Wan retreated to Tatooine to watch over Luke. However, between the periods of Obi-Wan leading clones in battle to when we next saw him mind tricking and fighting stormtroopers in A New Hope, a lot has changed in the background of the troopers.
Initially, in the Star Wars universe, the Republic troopers were all clone troopers. Through Master Sifo-diyas, the Republic had put in a massive order with the Kaminoans for clone troopers based off of the genetic template of Jango Fett. These clones had their growth accelerated and were trained from an early age to be ideal soldiers for the Republic. Obi-Wan was at the frontlines fighting side by side with the clone troopers. When they were used by the Republic during the war against the Separatists, he led the clone troopers into many battles. However, once Obi-Wan retreated to Tatooine, there was a shift in main body of combatants from clones to stormtroopers in the rising Empire.
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As shown in The Bad Batch series, the switch from clone troopers to stormtroopers came at the request of Moff Tarkin due to budgetary and loyalty concerns. As the clone troopers were phased out, an intermediary force known as TK troopers came about. These regular human elite troopers were trained by the veteran clone troopers.
The question still boiled down to what Obi-Wan knew about the troopers. His initial use of language was a telling clue. In A New Hope, he identified the Empire’s troopers as stormtroopers after only working with clone troopers in the Clone Wars. This showed that he was at least familiar with the name and recruitment change of the troopers.
The decline in performance would be evident between the troopers. For all the jokes about the stormtroopers' markmanship, they were significantly less trained than the clone troopers. Clone troopers were bred and trained for battle since birth. They were also genetically programmed to comply with orders. Stormtroopers were volunteers and later on conscripts with significantly less training. There was a focus on quantity as opposed to quality. The Empire hoped that volunteers would show greater devotion than the clones. The sheer size of the Empire meant that they would be able to obtain great number of expendable recruits from throughout their territories. The cost of conscripts and volunteers would also be significantly less than the cost of going through the cloning process on Kamino, especially after the death of their template, Jango Fett.
Ob-Wan’s exile to Tatooine also added to the puzzle. How much of a back water planet in the Outer Rim was Tatooine? The planet seemed largely under control of the Hutts, far from Imperial influence. How much current events and updates from the Empire was Obi-Wan able to receive in his current location? His home in the remote desert of a remote planet may have shielded him from contact and knowledge about the change in troopers from clones to regular recruits. Furthermore, Obi-Wan likely had more contact with Tusken Raiders than stormtroopers on Tatooine. Even in A New Hope, most of the Imperial troops seem to come from Vader’s star destroyer rather than those being regularly stationed on Tatooine.
The only time Obi-Wan discussed the stormtroopers' skills was when he said "only Imperial stormtroopers are so precise." Does this quote alone show that Obi-Wan was aware of the difference between clone troopers and stormtroopers? A New Hope was released decades before the prequel trilogy, and even George Lucas may not have fully figured out the difference between the troopers at this point.
In the end, we do not know for certain if Obi-Wan knew the difference between clone troopers and stormtroopers. The evidence suggested that it was unlikely as he pointed out their exemplary markmanship while other encounters with stormtroopers seem to say otherwise. Perhaps the very few Imperial troops he encountered on Tatooine had good aim. Perhaps Tusken Raiders and Jawas just had really horrible aim. I would like to think that he did know the difference. He was a smart man, and former general of clone troopers, who knew his way around the galaxy.
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Source(s): Wookieepedia, StarShips.com