As the Clone Wars broke out across the Galaxy and the Jedi were forced to take up combat
roles as Generals leading Clone Troopers, many of the Jedi looked down upon their men
and had little respect for them. Obi-Wan Kenobi, along with a few others however were notable
exceptions to this, showing tremendous respect to his troopers and forming strong bonds with
them, despite them being bred for wear… So, lets break down the heartwarming reason
that Obi-Wan Kenobi chose to wear Clone Trooper armor during battle, despite not needing it!....
So the first major reason is pretty obvious and that was for defensive purposes. As you
can imagine, the standard Jedi robes provided at the temple of Coruscant aren’t going
to do anything against the rapid blaster bolts coming from Battle droids.... Obi-Wan, unlike
many younger Jedi, understood that although he was a proficient defensive Jedi and that
he was most likely able to defend himself from anything that came his way, with just
his saber and the force, he never got too confident or complacent.
Obi-Wan Kenobi was an absolute master at Form III lightsaber combat, known as Soresu, which
relied heavily on defensive movements and had the aim of essentially outlasting an opponent,
waiting until they made mistakes… which was quite quickly for most battle droid models.
Because the technique utilized tight moves, subtle dodges and efficient parries, it quickly
became the most defensive of the main lightsaber forms recognized by the Jedi council. Although
Obi-Wan absolutely perfected this highly defensive lightsaber Form, he never forgot his Jedi
teachings and did not get too confident in his abilities. He knew he wasn’t invincible
and that one momentary lapse in judgement could kill him, therefore he took extra precautions
like wearing Clone Trooper armor alongside his Jedi attire.
Furthermore, he knew that once the Clone wars started and he had seen the first waves of
Battle Droids land on contested worlds that he was going to be facing such a huge amount
of blaster bolts, that it would be stupid of him to think he was not going to be hit…
Even believing it would be arrogant and prideful of him to think that way, something which
he knew went against his jedi beliefs.
Now following that, we have the really heartwarming part of why he incorporated Clone Trooper
armor into his Jedi attire, which is that he wanted to show solidarity to his Clone
Troopers. While many Clone Troopers were forced to report to horrendous leaders like Pong
Krell or the plain hateful Quinlan Vos, Kenobi did not want his men to face that disrespect.
He did everything he could to make his troopers feel welcomed under his command, and that
included wearing a piece of their armor, to symbolize his friendship with them in battle.
This act helped in in forging a deep bond with Commander Cody and the rest of his men,
which carried him through even the toughest of battles in the most harsh of environments.
The act of wearing armor in battle actually began spreading through the ranks of the Jedi
Generals, and many Jedi who genuinely did love their clone troopers began to wear it
just to help them remain grounded and relatable. Some who you wouldn’t even expect to also
joined the trend, like Mace Windu and Kit Fisto.
As you can probably imagine, this little act of symbolism and friendship meant the absolute
world to the Clone Troopers of the 212th, and heavily boosted their morale in Combat.
Wearing the armor of the Clones even helped to make Kenobi more likable among the clones,
as they could relate to him just that little bit more… And you have to remember, most
clones would have found it very difficult to relate to and serve under a literal wizard
with mystal powers who can lift huge objects from a distance… So wearing their armor
brought him closer and made the idea of serving a wizard much easier.
Additionally, most Clone Troopers of the Republic believed that they were just disposable canon
fodder and droid bait, who were specifically bred for this war. They knew that their sole
purpose in life was to train, fight the separatists and then die for the Republic… Obi-Wan however
did as much as he could to change this notion among the Clones and make sure they knew that
this was not true. Despite the fact that they were literally bred for the purpose of fighting
in the war, he made them realize that they were individuals also, with some prospect
of living a life after the conflict had come to an end… Much the same way Yoda and Plo
Koon did to the men serving under them.
Now on top of this, Obi-Wan’s act of wearing the clone armor helped to instill a feeling
in the Clone Troopers that he was willing to give his life to protect them in battle.
They believed that if he was willing to wear their armor, he was willing to protect them
at all costs when worst came to worst in the heat of battle.
Moving on from that, this next part wasn’t his full intention, but the Clone likely viewed
Obi-Wan wearing them armor and getting down in the trenches with them as a pot shot against
the pompous, disrespectful and arrogant Jedi Masters like Pong Krell and Quinlan Vos.
If you’ve read any of the comics immediately post Order 66 on Kashyyyk, you’ll know just
how HATED Quinlan Vos was by his Clones, and especially his Clone Commander who actually
enjoyed trying to blow Quinlan’s brains out during Order 66. This came as a result
of Quinlan continuously berating his troopers and belittling them throughout the war, making
Order 66 very easy to execute on him. If you want to see the story about how Commander
Faie, Quinlan’s commander during the war was happy to execute him, you can check the
pinned comment after this video for the full story about that… and it really is one you
shouldn’t miss! Palpatine definitely didn’t even need the inhibitor chips on Quinlan’s
troopers. And I don’t even have to get started on pong Krell, because i’m sure you know
just how badly he treated his clones, having the highest casualty rate of any Jedi General,
and generally using his troopers as chess pieces, rather than individual lives.
Now because of Generals like this, and the face that not a whole lot of them did it,
it was seen as a huge deal by the Clones. If their leader was willing to go against
the grain of their religious order to support his men, why wouldn’t they want to fight
alongside him on the battlefield? Obi-Wan understood this fundamentally and knew that
it would produce better morale and results on the battlefield. He truly was a remarkable
Jedi Knight and an incredible General during the war… Really does make the final encounter
between Obi-Wan and Commander Cody on Utapau just that much sadder!
On top of all of this, Obi-Wan wanted to wear the armor to show to his men that they were
all one unit. No matter the difference in rank, difference in training or different
beliefs, he and his men stood on the same level ground. They were all fighting for the
one cause, which was the republic, and they would do whatever it took to protect that
Republic from the onslaught of the separatist army across the galaxy…
Now towards the end of the war, a very unfortunate thing happened, which pretty much stopped
Obi-Wan from being able to wear Clone trooper armor as much as he wanted to. Things began
to change after the Jedi council soft-banned Jedi general from wearing Clone Armor in almost
every situation, because they were beginning to get very worried that the public’s perception
of the Jedi Order was beginning to change, and not in a good way. The council was deeply
afraid that the regular citizens of the Republic were starting to view the Jedi more as warriors
and soldiers of the war, and forgetting that their primary focus was to b e peacekeepers
and diplomats, out there to solve disputes. And to to be quite honest, the public were
pretty much right about this… all thanks to Palpatine’s plan…
One of the major parts of Palpatine’s grand plans was to shift the public’s perception
of the JEdi to be brutal soldiers, preparing them for the events of Order 66, to justify
it in their minds… There’s no way he could have killed the entire Jedi order which had
protected and kept peace in the Republic for many years without first discrediting them,
and distancing them from the regular people of Coruscant, Corellia and everywhere else.
No question about it, Palpatine did a ridiculously good job of discrediting the Jedi and their
supposed morals by making them fight in a war…
So after this soft-ban came into place, the council pretty much made the Generals of the
Republic wear their traditional Jedi robes again, in hopes of reminding the public that
they *were* still peacekeepers and not just brutal soldiers. As you probably know, this
didn’t really work at all as a lot of the general public did believe that the Jedi committed
treason against Palpatine by trying to kill him without tria… and they were technically
correct, because it wasn’t illegal to be a Sith lord, it was simply a religious dispute
and against their Jedi morals… but that’s definitely a story for another video.
But let me know down below if you agree with the Council’s reasoning for stopping the
use of Clone Armor, trying to save their image… Do you think they were wise to do this when
it could have potentially endangered their Generals? Let me know below!
So that is the full story of why Obi-Wan Kenobi chose to wear Clone Trooper armor during the
Clone Wars, to support his men and prove to them that he was just like them, fighting
side by side almost as brothers. If you enjoyed the video and want to see more awesome Star
Wars content just like this, make sure you subscribe and like the video and let me know
what you’d like to see next. Thanks so much for watching, really hope you enjoyed the
video. Cheers guys, hope to see you in the next one!