On today's episode of Star Wars Factions compared we examine the Royal Guards of the Empire

First-Order

Republic and Confederacy of Independent Systems

Hey guys, this is EckhartsLadder. Hello and welcome to another episode of Star Wars

factions compared. Today

we are looking in-depth at the Imperial Royal Guard, the Senate guard, the Magna guard, and

Snoke's Praetorian guards from the new movie The Last Jedi. Now, when I talk about snoke's guards, there will be some spoilers

for the new movie.

So if you haven't seen it yet, you may wish to skip this video.

The focus today will be on which one could best protect its subject from a variety of threats;

Which ones are the most lethal, the most deadly, and the hardest to defeat? Before we do continue though

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Content. As we typically do

We'll start first with the Empire and an examination of the Royal Guards

Although the Royal Guards weren't the only Guardsmen within the Empire there were for example the shadow guards as well

They are easily the most recognizable variety

And they were the personal protectors for Emperor Palpatine

Despite their lack of real action in the original trilogy the Emperor's Royal Guards were actually extremely talented

Warriors the standard Royal Guard however was not the most elite unit in the Empire

We see for example sovereign protectors who had the added advantages of force sensitivity don't be fooled though Royal Guards were still

Extremely well trained Royal Guards were selected from the best the military had to offer usually special forces

Stormtrooper divisions then they'd be put in very small classes usually of fifty students of less then these numbers would be whittled down even further

Often just one student it truly was a survival of the fittest environment students were not only trained by Darth Vadar

But were also often put in head-to-head battles to the death and remember

This is after candidates have been screened for fitness and loyalty to the empire upon graduation

Troopers would be completely loyal to Palpatine even willing to kill other troopers if necessary given the structure and intensity of their training

They're also able to fight together extremely

Effectively able to work together to protect the emperor from any number of threats whether internal assassins Jedi or traditional assault by rebel forces

Weapon wise Imperial Guards wore a red robe with full armor underneath

They typically would wield a force pike as well as vibro blades and blasters for ranged combat

There's not a lot known about the armor other than that it was inspired by previous warrior castes

I will say well the guards do seem to have almost unmatched

Training and loyalty to the Empire their weaponry and armor is modest at best

I imagine the idea is that their body is the most dangerous weapon possible and that everything else was just an extension of that next

Up we have the Galactic Republic and it's Senate guards

similar often in appearance to the Imperial Guards

Except clad in blue rather than red Senate guards were not only the personal protectors of Senators and those within the Senate district

But also played a somewhat investigatory rule when safeguarding against threats

against democracy and the Republic generally because the Republic was far less

Militarized than the Empire Senate guards were not selected from the military

But rather from law enforcement agencies that being said by the time of the Clone Wars

The selection process had become somewhat corrupted and persons were chosen often for their family connections

Rather than their skill in serving the Republic not much is known about the Senate Guard training

But unsurprisingly it does seem like the process is much less rigorous than that of Imperial Guards

It is also worth noting that like in the Empire certain Senate guards would be selected for a higher position

specifically Senate commandos

however

It does seem like these ranks were more common than the Imperial equivalent onto equipment Senate Guard outfits came in two varieties

One that was very functional and one that was more ceremonial now even in their robes

They were still capable of fighting however if anything serious needed to be done

They would likely switch over to their armor which provided additional

protection and was less rusev Senate guards were also trained in a form of martial arts and typically used blasters and for spikes

Next we have the Confederacy of Independent Systems and their IG 100 magnet guards magna guards were an extremely

advanced form of battle droids capable of even fighting Jedi now a single Magna guard

Probably wouldn't take on and beat a Jedi in one-on-one combat however two or more would have a chance I G

100's were actually designed to fight Jedi and because of this they used lightsaber resistant for staffs and could survive even

They could easily pick up and use other weapons without more programming

What's more is that the guards were actually?

individually trained by Grievous not only in standard combat

but in the seven

Lightsaber forms now being a droid in the Star Wars universe does mean that you always will be at somewhat of a disadvantage

When compared to organics however you'd be foolish to ignore the impressive programming of the magnet as well as their incredible build quality

Next we have the first-order and their

Praetorian guards from Star Wars the last Jedi now if you have not seen the new movie yet

I very highly suggest that you stop watching right now based on their appearance the Praetorian guards seem to be a much more powerful

efficient and practical version of the Emperor's Imperial Guards whether that's exactly true

We don't know for sure we always seen the Praetorian guards in the last Jedi

We don't know anything about their training

But we can talk about what we do know the first order has generally emulated the Empire making

Improvements where possible we don't know for sure, but it does seem like the Praetorian guards are an improvement on the imperial guards

We don't know about their training

But at least equipment wise they are given more to work with

They aren't weighed down even a little bit by a ceremonial cloak and they have very practical very powerful weapons

I also will assume that their training is the top of the line in the last Jedi if anyone so much as

motions toward Snoke the guards snap in action showing literally no fear we also see that though

They eventually do lose to Kylo and Rey they put up a hell of a fight and Kylo and Ray them to be a new generation of very powerful force users and at veracious points Kylo and Rey seem close to death and Kylo throughout is so

Overwhelmed that he is unable to use his very advanced force powers to hold them in place however

We cannot ignore that even with an eight to two advantage against kylo and Rey they are

Eventually killed the fight does show us that they have very powerful

Armor and weaponry we see various

Praetorians take lightsaber strikes and continue without even so much just showing your cut and each guard seems uniquely trained in their own weapon type

Which adds an interesting mix for anyone trying to assault someone that they're protecting all in all I wish I knew more

But I think now we should move into the ranking stage

Which one of these guards is the best in which one is the worst well?

I think the best guard is the one we just recently

discussed the praetorian guard by all accounts the first order improves upon the design of the empire as I mentioned earlier the

Praetorian guard seems like a more practical or at least equally as practical version of the Imperial Guard however

I do think that they have better equipment and armor whether their training is as good

I think has not been seen yet and perhaps will not be seen but it is clear that the Supreme Leader is very capable of

Inspiring devotion and those who follow him sure they were beat by Rey and kylo

however these two have something incredible going on and I don't think that any of the other guards on this list would have

Lasted nearly as long as the Praetorian guards that brings us to number two

and I think there's no denying that if the Praetorian guards are number one the next best has to be the

Imperial Guards

When training imperial guards you take the best of the best and then make them kill each other the ones who survive get to protect

The most important man in the galaxy Emperor Palpatine sure we've never seen these guys in action

But I mean just looking at them you can tell there's something special

They wear

red in an otherwise white and black

Empire they surround Emperor Palpatine when no one else seems to they're even with him in his private chambers

When he's otherwise alone admittedly we do see Yoda just throw to Royal Guards against the wall

But I'm not going to hold that against him Yoda is the most powerful

Enemy that the dark side has ever seen at least by the time of the Clone Wars

The only real thing

holding the Imperial Guards back from the number one spot is that they seem to have the worst armor and weaponry than the

Praetorian guards, I mean admittedly we don't see the armor the robes

But it does seem to be

Significantly less bulky and their weapons are admittedly fairly simple still I think they're an excellent guards unit and certainly worthy of the number two

Spot on this list if not number one number. Three is the IG 1000 magnet droids

These are basically as good as battle droids could get at least for the time of the Clone Wars

Magna guards were leagues ahead in intelligence when compared to the average b1 and they had nearly indestructible

Armor this armor as well as their ability to continue fighting even despite suffering otherwise grievous injuries

Did you guys see what I did there puts them second to none in terms of durability on

This list the only thing holding them back is the fact that generally in the Star Wars universe

Droids will never be as good as organics

I don't think programming and the Star Wars universe can ever equal

Selecting the best of the best and then giving them the most difficult training

imaginable still these guys were real force to be reckoned with and

They could even at times defeat a Jedi in one-on-one battle finally in the last spot. We have Senate guards now

I don't think Senate guards work bad or anything like that

but they certainly couldn't match the

Training of say the Imperial Royal Guards and their equipment didn't seem to match that of other Praetorian guards or IG 100s

There's also the fact that by the time of the Clone Wars

corruption had entered into the service and training and

Regulations probably weren't up to where they needed to be finally keep in mind that the best Senate guards were selected to be Senate commandos

Which in a way weakens their ranks so in my mind we have Praetorian guards Minh royal Imperial

Guards IG won hundreds on the in Republic Senate guards that however is just my opinion

Let me know what you think do you think that a squad of the Empire's guards could take on Snoke Praetorian guards?

Do you think I got this one right wrong?

what would you like to see next time let me know all of that and more down in the comments section don't forget guys I

Got the new merch line. It's only here for a limited time if you guys like it

However there will be more in the future anyway. Thank you so much for watching guys as always may the force be with