Hey everybody and welcome to Leia’s Lair. In today’s video,
we will be going over what happened to the battle droids after the prequel trilogy.
While the end of the Star Wars prequel trilogy saw the clone army of the Republic being phased
out in favor of recruited troops for the newly risen Empire, what happened to the Separatist
battle droid armies? According to Count Dooku, the dawn of The Clone Wars saw the droid army
outnumbering the clones by the millions, and more were continually produced as the war raged on.
However, where did they all go once the war ended? While Star Wars: The Bad Batch provides
some new details, not every battle droid saw its end alongside the war's conclusion.
The Separatist battle droid army was primarily comprised of B1 standard battle droids,
first seen during the Battle of Naboo in Episode I, though they were joined by the rolling and
shielded destroyer droids known as Droidekas. Additionally, the stronger and more durable B2
super battle droids were created at the dawn of The Clone Wars, first seen in Episode 2.
As the war progressed, new types were added as well such as commanding tactical droids, droid
commando units, as well as MagnaGuards used to protect high profile members of the Confederacy,
and the entire army was led by the Confederacy's General Grievous. However, the end of the Clone
Wars saw Darth Sidious sending his new apprentice Darth Vader to kill the Separatist Council as well
as to issue a shutdown order for all battle droid forces throughout the galaxy as seen in Episode 3.
So what exactly happened to all the battle droids? The Bad Batch, season 1,
episode 6 "Decommissioned" provides some answers when we see scores
of deactivated battle droids being melted down on the planet Corellia,
there were millions of units across the galaxy, and small holdouts managed to survive.
One group in particular had its leading tactical droid believing that the deactivation order was a
Republic trick, and he kept his garrison online long enough to be found by Clone Captain Rex
and Jedi Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger years later during the events of Star Wars Rebels.
Not only that, but Darth Vader himself reactivated a droid factory on Geonosis,
desiring his own private army to overthrow his master, though the Emperor was aware of
Vader's clandestine actions and his plot fell through. Furthermore, the bounty hunters 4-LOM
and Zuckuss also used a battle droid garrison in their hunt for the cyborg hunter Beilert Valance.
That being said, the majority of the droid army were either melted down or found deactivated in
junkyards across the galaxy. However, the Resistance pilot Snap Wexley once modified
a B1 to be his bodyguard and friend when he was a boy after the end of the Galactic Civil War,
seen in the Star Wars: Aftermath trilogy of novels. As a result,
it's not out of the realm of possibility to imagine that units here or there were kept
online to serve various uses or needs, despite the droid army as a whole having met its demise.
In any case, the Separatist droid army had a very specific purpose: to give the Republic an enemy to
fear and fight in order to plunge the galaxy into war, purely in order to further Palpatine's own
goals. Once Darth Sidious got what he wanted and was able to turn the Republic into his new Empire,
he had no further use for the droids and they were discarded as a result.
We do, however, think it is pretty cool that some have managed to survive
and they continue to pop up every now and again in the Star Wars galaxy.
And there you have it! Thanks for watching everyone. What did you think
about this video? Were you surprised by what happened to the battle droids?
Let us know down below in the comment section. And remember to like, share, and subscribe to
the channel for more great videos to come. We hope to see you all again in Leia’s Lair.