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cienie-isengardu · 2 years ago

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The Funeral Rites of Clone Troopers: Conclusions

☾❖☽ <The psychological and spiritual preparations for death pre-war>☾❖☽ <What happens to the body of dead clone trooper [part 1] [part2] ☾❖☽ Conclusions

Conclusions

The important thing to remember about burial rites is that dead do not bury themselves. Thus analyzing funeral practices of the Great Army of the Republic is as much about what happens to the remains of clones as about living who took care of their burials. Keeping that truth in mind, let’s summarize the gained knowledge.

There are still plenty of things about life and death of clone troopers not explained in great detail but there is enough data to assume that GAR in fact did take care of its deceased if there was time and possibility to do so. Interestingly, the presented examples lean towards giving to each fallen individual grave. It is hard to tell if GAR practiced mass graves or not, but this possibility can’t be crossed out as with a great number of killed, a mass grave is more practical and faster solution in field conditions than burying each trooper separately (alternativy, the clone remains could be cremated but that seems more likely happen in space medcentres or to those killed on Coruscant, closer to the end of war). Then again, with little exceptions, it seems like the graves were dug mainly by the clones themselves so they may willingly put additional effort in paying their respect to fallen comrades.

Another important thing, usually the graves were marked somehow - not with names or numbers but by stones or weapons stuck in the ground, quite often with empty helmets put on it. Considering how clones had a very unique and close dependence with their equipment - something that kept them literally alive during battles - and how weapons and armor were the closest things to their personal possession, the gesture definitely had a hidden meaning. Even more so, as leaving behind equipment was against protocols yet clones intentionally left the armors and guns belonging to the dead if it was a possible choice.

Personally I tend to see it as leaving the grave good although I’m not sure if the majority of clones believed in the afterlife or even wanted to be part of one at all. Then again, clone commandos trained by Mandalorian instructors inherited the idea of “Manda” and some clone veterans liked to adopt “practices of a local warrior culture” among other things (Collapse of the Republic - Star Wars Roleplaying Sourcebook)

thus the religious faith of clones for sure wasn’t unified as it might seem at the first glance.

Additionally, sources do not indicate there was any solemn ceremony or last rites performed by the living beside the common(?) phrase “From water we're born, in fire we die. We seed the stars” [Cestus Deception] or alternatively, mandalorian ritual words "Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum," [RC: True Colors] in case of clone commandos trained by Mandalorians. No words of pathos about fulfilling the sense of clone’s life even though from the birth clones were taught "It is the proudest duty of a trooper to serve and seek a good death". What indicates the shift in clones’ self perception. The constant contact with death changed the mindset of people dehumanized to believe just because they were bred for war they were expendable (“We’re just clones sir. We’re meant to be expendable.” TCW S01E02: ‘Rising Malevolence’) into men who willingly put an effort to leave tangible proof of their comrades’s existence. The skeletal graves are one of the most lasting burials thus are

A) definitely solid proof of someone’s existence and

B) community’s effort to honor the fallen.

Which is especially an interesting aspect of clone culture that developed during war as a direct result of their new experiences. At least between those clones whose dehumanized view of themselves was challenged and proved wrong.

Looking at the presented source material, one may wonder why sergeant Clanky from the Republic Commando: Triple Zero book claimed that clone troopers weren’t given a proper burial. It is even more surprising as various examples outright say or clearly imply the GAR in fact had a number of protocols for handling the remains of dead soldiers and logically thinking, Clanky should be aware of these. So, why did he give such a contradicting answer when asked about the issue?

The likely possibility is that Clanky’s statement comes from his own experiences. For context, the Triple Zero book, according to the second chapter, started on the 367th day after Geonosis while in the first year of war the Republic had a great number of casualties. For example, half of 10.000 clone commandos “were killed in the first few months of the war, largely due to being deployed initially by inexperienced generals as infantry troops rather than as Special Forces” (Making the man: Selection and training [Star Wars Insider 84])

while clones in general faced a wide range of dehumanization around that time:

In the initial stages of the war, clone troopers were treated no differently from the war machines they piloted or the weapons they fired. To many they had more in common with battle droids poured by the tens of thousands from Baktoid Armor Workshops on a host of Separatist-held worlds.

But attitudes began to shift as more and more troopers died. The clones’ unfaltering dedication to the Republic, and to the Jedi, showed them to be true comrades in arms, and deserving of all the respect and compassion they were now afforded. It was the Jedi themselves, in addition to other progressive thinking officials in the Republic, who had urged that second - and third-generation troopers be given names rather than numbers, to foster a growing fellowship. (Labyrinth of Evil by James Luceno)

Once the Republic adjusted to having a clone army and changed its military tactics, the casualties were reduced but if Clanky took part in ill-fated campaigns in which the army for whatever reason couldn’t recover and bury the dead, then his statement makes sense as it represents the clone’s unique war experiences. After all, not all bodies could be recovered from battlefields or space battles; sometimes the Republic army was forced to retreat in a hurry so the dead were left behind. This especially was a more common occurrence with ARCs and clone commandos as they worked alone or in small groups deep behind enemy lines and couldn’t be burdened by carrying the corpses. As was shown in Honor Bound (Star Wars Tales 22)

"Leave the dead. Take their ammunition. Leave all non-essential equipment behind too - we're moving fast and light."

A good example of the undertaken change is clone commando Darman. After the Battle of Geonosis, when his brothers didn’t show up at evac point and didn’t report they are alive and well, the commando was upset but didn’t argue with superiors to let him recover the bodies.

But there was still no sign of the rest of his squad. Darman knew that there was no point in waiting any longer. They hadn't called in. Maybe they had comlink failures. Maybe they had made it onto another gunship.

It was the first time in his artificially short life that Darman hadn't been able to reach out and touch the men he had been raised with.

He waited half a standard hour more anyway, until the gunships became less frequent and the lines of troopers became shorter. Eventually there was nobody standing on the desert plain but him, the Duros loadmaster, and half a dozen clone troopers. It was the last lift of the day.

"You better come now, sir," the loadmaster said. "There's nobody unaccounted for. Nobody alive, anyway."

Darman looked around the horizon one last time, still feeling as if he were turning his back on someone reaching out to him.

"I'm coming," he said, and brought up the rear of the line. As the gunship lifted, he watched the swirling dust, dwindling rock formations, and scattered shrinking patches of scrub until Geonosis became a blur of dull red.

He could still search the Implacable. It wasn't over yet.

[...]

"I'm okay, sir," he said. "Sir, RC-one-one-three-six. I'm not in shock. I'm fine." He paused. Nobody else was going to call him by his squad nickname-Darman-again. They were all dead, he knew it. Jay, Vin, Taler. He just knew. "Sir, any news of RC-one-one-three-five-"

"No," said the commander, who had obviously heard similar questions every time he stopped to check. He gestured with the small bar in his hand. "If they're not in casevac or listed on this sweep, then they didn't make it."

It was stupid to ask. Darman should have known better. Clone troopers-and especially Republic commandos-just got on with the job. That was their sole purpose. And they were lucky, their training sergeant had told them; outside, in the ordinary world, every being from every species in the galaxy fretted about their purpose in life, searching for meaning. A clone didn't need to. Clones knew. They had been perfected for their role, and doubt need never trouble them.

Darman had never known what doubt was until now. No amount of training had prepared him for this.

[Republic Commando: Hard Contact by Karen Traviss]

However on 477th day after Geonosis, after killing two clones in self-defense (who mistook RC-1136 for a deserter they were supposed to kill), his feelings about leaving the bodies without any proper burial are drastically different, to the point he even worried that alien locals could dig the bodies and eat it, as they used to do so with the dead members of their community.

The bodies of the two covert ops troopers were much heavier than Darman expected.

The wait for Niner and Fi to show up-two hours-was the longest of his life, and every creak and click made him think the Eyat police were surrounding the apartment. When his brothers finally arrived, he felt inexplicably guilty, as if he had to explain himself.

Niner stood staring down at the two troopers.

"Have you tidied them up, Dar?"

Darman had done his best. Apart from the damage to the one he'd shot in the face, they both looked quite peaceful now. They looked like him, but dead-and he was having a hard time dealing with that. Their arms were neatly at their sides, legs straight.

"I felt bad leaving them lying around like meat. What are we going to do with them?"

Fi shrugged. "Can't leave them here as air fresheners ..."

"Fi, they're our own." Darman couldn't bear looking at the faces any longer, and grabbed a blanket from the bedroom. "We have to dispose of them properly."

"We've got their armor," Fi said. "Sergeant Kal will want the tallies. He's funny about that."

"Okay, let me put it another way-what if that was your carcass lying there? What would you want done with it?"

"I'd want someone to shake their head and say, What a waste of such a fine-looking and stylish young man! and then give me a big state funeral," Fi said, taking the blanket out of Darman's hands and rolling one of the covert ops troopers in it. "With loads of women weeping that they never had the chance to sample my charms. But apart from that, I wouldn't give a mott's backside by then, would I? It's just a temporary shell. Only the armor lasts."

Niner sneaked a glance out of the window. "It'll be dark in an hour or so. We'll take them back to camp and bury them. Dispose of the armor somewhere remote."

"And tell the lizards not to dig them up and eat them."

"Dar, Marks don't eat other sentients. Just their own dead."

"Oh, that's all right, then."

"Dar, these guys tried to kill you..."

"No, they came for Sull, Sarge, and that's just what you were ready to do not so long ago-remember?" Darman had no problem killing. It was his job, he'd grown used to it, and he didn't even get the bad feelings and nightmares afterward that they said humans usually had. But he'd killed his own comrades, not an enemy. The circumstances didn't make him feel any better. "I don't think I could ever go after my own like that, no matter what. Not unless it was personal and they'd done something terrible to me."

He realized he was blathering. Even Fi gave him an odd look. Niner bundled the second trooper into a blanket, and Darman helped him. The dead troopers' muscles hadn't stiffened yet, and when Darman bent one of them over, the movement forced the air from the man's lungs; he emitted a distressing sighing noise that made him sound as if he'd come back to life. Darman had seen some unpleasant things in battle, but that moment was seared into his memory as one he knew he'd never forget.

By the time the bodies were trussed with fibercord, they could have passed for lumpy carpets in bad lighting.

"A'den's been told that the assault on Eyat is probably going to be in a week's time," Niner said, seeming unconcerned. "So it wouldn't matter if we left them here."

"No, we bury them."

"Okay, okay."

"I mean it."

"Dar, am I arguing?"

It would have made more sense to run; the longer they waited here, the more at risk they were. It wasn't hot outside, and with the environment controls in the apartment turned right down and the windows sealed, it might have been a couple of weeks before the neighbors smelled that anything was amiss.

But that wasn't good enough, even if they had been sent to shoot Sull.

[Republic Commando: True Colors by Karen Traviss]

Another example supporting the possibility that Clanky’s statement was tied to still fresh and strong belief that clones were meant to be expendable (thus the usual lack of burial) comes from The Clone Wars issue 7: In the service of the Republic part 1 in which clone captain Sharp questioned Jedi Generals Kit Fisto and Plo Koon’s decision to halt the mission to help bury locals killed by Separatist. He literally asked the Jedi “what is the difference where those bodies freeze?” considering the act as a waste of time.

Of course, the lack of empathy toward killed civilians (naturally born people) does not automatically means those clones would lack the empathy toward their own fallen comrades yet as Sharp said himself, when his superior, captain Kendal Ozzel gives the clones a new assignment, he tells them to finish the mission or don’t come back.

Considering that Ozzel’s view of clones is that the Republic always can make more of them,

it is easy to imagine that clones dehumanized by their officers won’t have the same empathy for the dead as those surrounded by kinder people - or alternatively, more touched by the constant death of the widely understood clone brothers.

(A side note, Sharp’s lack of empathy for the death of civilians is actually an interesting aspect to ponder more. The source material has examples of clones attending Jedi funerals but I don’t remember any particular scene in which clones buried naturally born people out of their respect or good will? In the above example, Sharp and his men helped bury the dead so they could move with the mission, not really because they deeply cared for the poor native locals. Clones probably did help to bury non-cloned soldiers fighting side by side with them during battles when GAR had time to take care of the KIA troopers (Jabiim maybe?) but to personally care to dig graves for civilians? Nothing comes to my mind at this moment).

My general conclusion about funeral rites of clone troopers is that there is a correlation between their empathy for the dead and how they were treated by the Jedi or the Republic officers and citizens. There is a visible shift from the dehumanized view of themselves and their worth that clones were taught at Kamino, as clones were deeply influenced by their new war experiences and constant contact with death. And it really speaks a lot about clones that their preferred burial was the skeletal one. Because as much as it was the fastest and most practical choice (it is easier to dig a hole in the ground than prepare a proper funeral pyre after all) the skeletal grave is also the most durable one and in theory at least, possible to find despite the passing time, thus creating a solid proof of someone’s existence. Especially for those buried in armor that A) will last for decades if not ages and B) may have the owner's number encoded somewhere for identification (an equivalent for real-life dog tag). Which is an interesting contrast to the “From water you are born, in fire you die. Your bodies seed the stars” belief from Kamino as skeletal burial seems to be the total opposite of it.

#star wars #clone troopers #funeral rities of clone troopers #my analyze #i finally finished this hell yeah!#to be honest i would need more data to analyze it but i think it is still a solid ground for my conclusions

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