Clone Assassin Troopers were an elite group of Clone Troopers who were recruited by Supreme
Chancellor Palpatine near the end of the Clone Wars, with the specific goal of eliminating
Jedi opponents after the events of Order 66.
These Assassin Clones were trained to defeat Jedi using a rare hand to hand combat technique,
designed to exploit the weaknesses of force users.
So who were the Clone Assassins, and why were they taken to the Jedi temple during Anakin’s
slaughter of the younglings?
I’m going to break down exactly what the Clone Assassin division was and unique weaponry
that they used.
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Near the end of the Clone Wars, a new division of Clone Troopers was specially ordered and
recruited by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, called the Clone Assassin Troopers.
The assassin trooper division was created by Palpatine through legitimate legislation
in the senate which was passed by a majority of senators, without question.
Palpatine claimed that these assassin troopers were essential to protecting the Government
of the Republic and the chancellor himself, in case the Jedi ever decided to Rebel against
the Republic, or try to assassinate the Supreme chancellor.
Yes, he literally said that in public, on the Senate floor.
Because Palpatine was one of the most popular Chancellors the Republic had seen in quite
some time through his continued success in the Clone Wars, the Senate were very happy
to continue passing any legislation that he brought forward, regardless of the consequences.
It’s actually crazy how open Palpatine was able to be with this division.
The Jedi obviously weren’t too happy with the creation of the Clone Trooper Assassin
division, but were forced to accept it as part of the structure of the Republic military
or risk losing their political power, which of course was one of the major weaknesses
of the Jedi order towards its end.
Systems to eliminate members of military organizations should they go rogue or commit treason already
existed in almost every other military in the Galaxy, so the Jedi also believed that
this legislation was merely created to show the public that their elected leader, Palpatine
was taking the steps necessary to ensure that the Jedi did not gain too much power.
They never believed that these Clones would actually be used against them.
Once the Clone Assassin bill was passed, Palpatine initially only sent the Clone Assassin Troopers
along with Covert Operations Troopers to assist in the killing of Clones who deserted the
Grand Army of the Republic.
They obviously weren’t authorised to eliminate any Jedi targets at this point, so Palpatine
was forced to use them on clone defectors, political opponents and separatist leadership.
After the elite assassin division was created, Sidious and the Grand Army of the Republic
leadership began to gear up the new breed of assassin troopers, making sure that they
were equipped with the best possible armour and weaponry for their specific mission objectives.
They were outfitted in the Standard Phase II clone armour with only some very slight
modifications to make it easier for them to perform acrobatic maneuvers and advanced martial
arts movements.
The Clone Assassin Armour was usually a light blue and white color, but Some incredibly
skilled and high ranking Clone Assassins also wore darker phase II armor, making them difficult
to spot in fast paced hand to hand combat, which is of course what they specialized in.
Unlike regular Clone Troopers, the Clone Assasins did not carry blasters as their primary weapons,
instead carrying a highly enhanced vibro-blade in each arm, directly attached to their elbows.
These vibro-blades extended the reach of the Clone Assassin using them, and significantly
increased the lethality of the attacks.
When not being used, the Assassin Trooper could fold the vibro-blade back into a neutral
position, so that it would not obstruct any routine activities of the trooper.
If the Clone Assassin ever found himself in a dangerous position, he could rapidly activate
the vibroblades at only a moment's notice, sharply swinging them out and locking them
into the attack position, before lunging at his opponent.
The Clone Assassin troopers also often wore Kamas, which were attached to a tactical belt
that held two storage pouches, allowing for the Assassin to take tracking equipment or
any other objects that may be useful in assassinating their target.
The Kamas were also sometimes used to conceal specialized equipment used on covert assasination
missions, even to hide classified materials or objects from other Clone Troopers who did
not have the required clearance.
Some very specialized Clone Assassins also carried modified sniper rifles so that they
could execute their targets from a distance, without anyone being able to witness the assasination
take place.
The Clone assassin troopers who were selected for this role were the best of the best, and
had to show their superiors that they were well and truly above the rest of the men selected
for the Assassin program.
Finally, The Assassin troopers did also carry DC-17 Blaster pistols with them, but they
were only used as a backup, secondary weapon, with most Clone Assassins always preferring
to use their unique martial arts style in combination with vibroblades to decimate their
opponents.
Now that you know exactly what armour and equipment the Clone Assassins used, make sure
to let me know down in the comments below which special Clone units had the best armour,
out of Shadow Troopers, Covert Operations Troopers and the assassins.
Because these Clone Assassins were commissioned and created for the sole purpose of going
into combat with Jedi on equal terms, they were trained to use the martial art known
as Teras Kasi, which you might remember from Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Maul was deeply skilled in this rare martial art, and passed down his knowledge to Dryden
Vos, who in turn passed down his skills to Qi’ra.
The immense training that the Assassin troopers went through in learning this martial art,
enabled them to develop extreme speed and mental fortitude, being able to anticipate
enemy movements before they even happened, very similar to Jedi foresight, but without
the use of the force.
The fighting style also emphasized techniques that would successfully counter most force
users, and leave them on an equal playing field with the assassin clones.
The Clone Assassins used their vibroblades in conjunction with this fighting form, making
them almost unbeatable by non-force sensitives in hand to hand combat.
The absolutely crazy thing is, is that the Jedi allowed their freshly graduated Padawans
to fight against these Clone Assassin Troopers as a method for improving both of their skills.
The Padawans and Clone Assassins were able to increase their dexterity, mental capacity
and reflexes greatly through these practice battles, with the Jedi Order believing that
they would fight side by side with these troopers on the frontlines, eventually.
It’s absolutely stunning to realize that the Jedi were training their own assassins
for combat.
This clearly shows just how deep Palpatine’s manipulation went, and how effectively he
was able to use the Sith Shrine Below the Jedi temple to cloud the foresight and wisdom
of the Jedi Order.
The Clone Assassins were trained so well through this program that they were able to easily
dodge or parry away most strikes from melee weapons, including lightsabers.
Awesomely, through spending so much time around the Jedi Order and it’s Padawans, the Clone
Trooper assassins became resistant to Jedi mind tricks, and were able to hold them off
without even flinching.
A small squad of Clone Assassins could easily take down a Jedi Knight after their training,
and even more easily a Padawan, but they stood no chance when coming up against a Jedi Master.
Would have been very unfortunate for Anakin if he never fell to the Dark Side and had
to face one of these guys.
So after Order 66 was called by Darth Sidious and Darth Vader was made his apprentice, Vader
and his legion of Clones, the 501st, were sent to the Jedi temple to eliminate all Jedi
inside, including the younglings.
As operation Knightfall began, Clone Assassin Snipers were placed around the Jedi temple,
while the regular Clone Assassins were sent to eliminate the remaining Jedi on the ground
floors and council chamber areas of the temple.
During the raging battle inside between the Clones and the Jedi, Darth Vader assigned
a squad of Six Clone Assassin Troopers to protect the Jedi temple communications centre,
where he had activated a beacon that transmitted a message to all Jedi around the galaxy, telling
them to return to the temple.
A large garrison of Clone Troopers were also sent to reinforce the Clone Assassin trooper
inside of the Jedi communications centre, and to kill any Jedi who returned upon hearing
the transmission.
After hearing the transmissions for themselves however, Master Yoda and Obi-Wan returned
to the Jedi temple in hopes of stopping the false message.
Once they arrived inside of the Communications room, Obi-Wan and Master Yoda were cornered
by the squad of Clone Assassins that Vader had stationed there, but they were able to
successfully defeat all of them.
After killing the Clone Assassin Troopers, Obi-Wan replaces Anakin’s false transmission
signal with a new message, telling all surviving Jedi that the time to return to the temple
has passed, which the full message can be seen in Star Wars rebels.
After order 66, the Clone Assassin troopers were mostly stationed on Coruscant to protect
high ranking imperial officials, but were also very frequently sent to hunt down and
assassinate Imperial traitors, defectors and others that were not important enough for
Darth Vader himself to be sent to hunt down.
So that is the story of the most dangerous Elite Clone Trooper division, the Clone Assassin
Troopers.
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