Families have long since been a key part of theStar Warsfranchise, but there’s one in particular that has truly changed the galaxy - and it’s not the Skywalkers. While the entireStar Warssaga as we know it is established around the Skywalker family, from the childhood of Anakin Skywalker to Rey taking on the Skywalker name, there are plenty of other families inStar Warswho have also influenced the galaxy in significant ways.
Family has proven its importance in the greaterStar Warsmythos, but what’s just as important, if not more so, are the individual choices of characters, and the unanticipated impact those choices can have on the greater galaxy. For example, it’s Han Solo’s choice to help Luke Skywalker during the trench run on the Death Star that ultimately allows the weapon to be destroyed. These seemingly small choices can have massively large impacts.
The best example of both these themes - family and choices - is shown in the animated seriesStar Wars: The Bad Batch.Clone Force 99, a beloved, tight-knit group of “defective” clones with genetic mutations desirable in soldiers, become a family with the young, unalteredfemale clone Omega. Their story has proven to be about much more than just their family’s journey, as the very beginning of their story inThe Bad Batchproves the galaxy would be very different without them.
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Key Characters Would Have Met Their Fate
The Bad Batchbegins withOrder 66, though surprisingly, none of the members of the Bad Batch actually get the order - aside from Crosshair, whoseinhibitor chippartially activates. Instead,the Batch is left to reckon with what’s happening to the regular clones in real time, as General Depa Billaba is shot down by Commander Grey and the rest of her troopers. Their freedom from the chips' influence allows them to help the Padawan Caleb Dume, later known asKanan Jarrus, escape with his life.
If Clone Force 99’s chips had activated, however, things would have been entirely different. The Bad Batch were known for their 100% mission success rate;they would not have failed in obeying Order 66 if they had actually received it, especially if they weren’t given a choice in the matter. There’s no doubt that instead of protecting Caleb, they would have targeted him, and his fate would have been sealed right then and there. This would have had a massive butterfly effect.
For one, when Caleb grows up and takes on the name Kanan inStar Wars Rebels, he becomes Ezra Bridger’s master and trains him in the ways of the Jedi. If Kanan had died on Kaller as a Padawan at the hands of the Bad Batch, then Ezra likely would not have even joined the Ghost crew whatsoever, and he certainly would not have been trained as a Jedi. That meansGrand Admiral Thrawnwould not have been defeated at Lothal, andhe could have certainly won the Galactic Civil War for the Empire.
The Bad Batch also rescues another key member of the Ghost crew and the Rebellion, Hera Syndulla, and her parents from the Empire inThe Bad Batchseason 1.
This, however, isn’t where the ripple effect of the Batch’s dysfunctional inhibitor chips stops. Later on, Clone Force 99 is sent to Onderon to neutralize a group of insurgents, who end up beingSaw Gerreraand his allies. If the Batch were acting solely under the influence of the chips, then they wouldn’t have hesitated to kill Saw right there and then. Without Saw, theRebel Alliancewould not have been what it became later on - andthe Death Star might not have ever been discovered.
Their Earlier Choices Saved More Lives Later On
While the inhibitor chips' failure to activate in Clone Force 99 played a massive role in making this all happen, it was also the choices made by the Bad Batch that led to people like Caleb/Kanan and Saw surviving. Rather than listening to the greater power they had been serving for so many years,the members of the Batch, most notably Hunter, actively chose to instead follow their instinctsand make what they thought to be the right choices.
What seemed like small choices in the moment ended up saving the greater galaxy from the iron fist of the Empire.
It was these individual choices, such as Hunter letting Caleb go on Kaller and lying about his death in the moment, that ultimately secured the survival of these important individuals. The same goes for Saw Gerrera; by refusing to obey Governor Tarkin’s orders to kill Gerrera and his allies, the Batch unknowingly saved the Rebellion later on. What seemed like small choices in the moment ended up saving the greater galaxy from the iron fist of the Empire.
It’s also worth noting that the Bad Batch’s infiltration of Mount Tantiss inThe Bad Batchseason 3 saved the galaxy fromProject Necromancer, the project responsible for resurrecting Emperor Palpatine, decades before it was restarted duringThe Mandalorianera.
In fact, this is even more touching in light ofThe Bad Batch’s own epilogue. Omega goes on to join the Rebellion in the animated series' final scene, citing that the growing Alliance is in need of pilots. This means that,without even knowing it, the Batch’s earlier actions during Order 66 and afterward saved Omega- because she and the Rebellion would both have been crushed had they not saved people like Caleb/Kanan and Saw. They protected her before they even knew her.
Star Wars Is Entirely About Making These Kinds Of Decisions
It’s An Underlying Part Of Every Star Wars Story
Clone Force 99 and their story is just one prominent example of this theme that truly defines whatStar Warsis about at its core. At every turn,characters are faced with decisions that can have resounding impacts on the greater galaxy, even if they don’t feel as impactful in the moment. Another great and recent example of this isAndor; the death of two corporate officers on Morlana One somehow leads to the Rebellion getting the Death Star plans.
The point is that the everyday choices we make can, and often do, have greater impacts later on that we could never have predicted. Clone Force 99’s story exemplifies this to a T. It would have been so easy for them to go along with what the Empire was becoming, but instead, they actively chose to do what they thought was right, and it saved the galaxy multiple times. It’s a story thatStar Warstells time and time again, but the Bad Batch is certainly one of their greatest examples of it.
