Andrew Meisner

Professor Schultz

Star War: Resistance, Rebellion, and Death

12 November 2019

Ethics of Stormtroopers

Throughout the course of Star Wars, the audience is presented with a world that seems to be constantly at war. As a result of this, both sides within the conflict need to rely heavily on soldiers to fight their battles. This does not seem out of the ordinary until the way in which these soldiers are supplied is presented. The majority of the soldiers that are supplied for this fight are programmed for one task from birth, and that is war.. The first soldiers that are presented are the clone troopers. These were a group of clones that were designed to be perfect for warfare. After this the stormtroopers are presented. Although they are no longer clones, they still bear a resemblance to the previous clone troopers. This raises a few questions: Is this ethical? Do they have any rights? Can the soldiers break free?

The main issue that this brings up is is this ethical? This really is not ethical because sentient beings are being created for the sole purpose of dying in battle. This essentially strips these beings’ ability to act on their own accord. These soldiers have been reduced to just a mere tool to help whoever is in charge get what they want. They have become no different than a droid.

This makes it appear as if these soldiers do not have any rights within their respective organizations. Throughout every movie they can be seen having to bend to the whims of whatever their commander tells them to do. They even take on missions that could easily result in many of them getting killed. This shows that the soldiers lack the ability to speak for themselves, and are forced to just be tools to achieve a goal.

Although it seems that the Jedi are the good side, and the Sith are the bad side, both sides use their soldiers in similar ways. Both sides use their soldiers in battles, and do not seem to care how many of them die. There are many instances within Star Wars where countless soldiers die, and both sides move forward and act like nothing happened. This can be seen with the destruction of the Death Star. After the Death Star blew up, there was no mourning for the soldiers that died in the explosion. Instead, the Empire continued on with its mission without a thought about the soldiers who died. 

Similarly, the Jedi treat the clones the same way. There are multiple times when the clone troopers are sent out to battle and many of them are lost. The Jedi do not feel anything when this happens because more soldiers can just be bought from the cloners. However, this is wrong because these soldiers are being treated as if they are a tool, and not like a human being. The way in which the Jedi treat the clone troopers is no better than how the Empire or First Order treat their storm troopers. 

The first instance of human soldiers being designed solely for the purpose of war occurs in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. In this movie it is revealed that there is an army being made on the planet of Kamino. Each of these soldiers was created with the sole intention of following orders no matter what they were. This is why each of these soldiers was implanted with a chip that would enable them to be turned. This shows that the clones were never really in control of their actions, but rather always were forced to act under the orders of their commanders. This is best represented in a scene during the Clone Wars series. During one episode a clone trooper by the name of CT-5385 has his chip activated too early. This causes him to turn on the Jedi earlier than expected and he says “Good soldiers follow orders.” This shows that the clone troopers have been mentally programmed to believe their sole purpose is to follow orders no matter what they are (Star Wars Episode II).

In Star Wars Episode VI: The Force Awakens, the character of Finn is introduced. During one point in the film he says specifically that he was programmed from birth to be a stormtrooper. This is something that is confirmed by General Hux. When arguing with Kylo Ren over which soldiers are better for the task at hand he says “My men are exceptionally trained. Programmed from birth.” This shows that the first order was mantally conditioning their soldiers for the specific purpose of being war machines. The purpose of this was to create an army that would give its absolute allegiance to the First Order. However, this system was not infallible as some stormtroopers may have been able to overcome the programming they had received. Although these soldiers seem to act less like they came off of an assembly line they are forced to give all that they have to the First Order just like a machine (Armitage).

Additionally, these soldiers are reduced to nothing more than a step above droids. Being a stormtrooper appears to be the lowest of the low if you are a sentient being in Star Wars. At no point is there a storm trooper that is referred to by an actual name. Instead they are referred to as either a nickname or a number that is like a serial number. For example, Finn’s number is FN-2187. The only other type of species that is seen to have names like this are the droids. Some droid names are R2-D2 or C-3P0. Also like droids the stormtroopers are created to look like they were taken off of an assembly line somewhere. This means that they are meant to look like  The stormtrooper army is no different from the droid army of the prequels. Like the droid army all the soldiers look the same, and sound the same. 

However, having the stormtroopers act like this brings up several ethical debates. Among them it is right to program humans like this, or even if it is right to even clone storm troopers. These soldiers are just being trained for being a disposable soldiers and nothing more. Their personalities are stripped, and they are forced to be the same as each other. This is contrary to what happens in Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View where many of the stormtroopers are seen to have individual personalities. Some of them even have doubts about being stormtroopers. It is completely wrong for the Empire to strip the soldiers of their own personality and desires (Star Wars: from a Certain Point of View). 

The cloning of people raises many ethical issues that go against the idea of having basic human rights. One problem with this is that many of the soldiers do not have a choice to make their own decisions. This can be seen when Order 66 is being implemented, and the clone troopers switch allegiances without giving a second thought. This was the order that forced the clone troopers to turn on the Jedi after receiving the command to execute Order 66. 

In The Force Awakens we can see this effect with Finn. Under the mental conditioning he received he lost the ability to act under his own accord. As he put it to Rey he was raised to do one thing. This shows that the mental conditioning can be broken. The other stormtroopers however, have not broken their programming and slaughter the people of the village without a second thought. 

There have been many reasons for and against human cloning throughout the years. In today’s society technology is beginning to be developed where cloning humans is actually possible. However, this raises many more problems in the realm of ethics. Such as if cloning is used for a specific purpose, and if these people’s sole purpose is to live their lives as a human experiment (Star Wars Episode VII).

Circling back to the clones, they were bred for the sole purpose of being soldiers. In order to make this a reality they had many of their traits altered to be better soldiers. Among the traits that were altered were making them fiercely loyal to whoever was in charge while enhancing their aggression, and causing them to grow at twice the rate of a normal human. This puts the soldiers in a different light when it is evident that many of them would only be around 9 to 10 years old if they were allowed to grow at a normal rate (Clone Trooper). 

The problem that arises is that these soldiers cannot be held accountable for their actions. This is due to the fact that they do not know any better. This is due to the fact that these soldiers are either genetically modified to obey orders, or have been conditioned to do so. All they have been taught since the beginning of their life is that they are supposed to follow orders no matter what they are. This infringes on the concept that they are autonomous beings. This violates the idea of what it means to be human, and reduces these soldiers to no more than mere tools. 

Through the process of cloning these soldiers are pretty much reduced to the same role as droids. Throughout the course of Star Wars it can be seen that droids are one of the most disposable types of characters. They are constantly lost in battle without anyone being sad over their death. Similarly, this can be seen with the lives of the soldiers. Many times countless numbers of soldiers are lost in battle, and there is no remorse from the people in charge over their lives. This shows that these soldiers are seen more as tools instead of as their own individual person.

The main dilemma that Star Wars presents is that the soldiers are seen as not being human. This is meant to take the audience’s focus off of the stormtroopers, and more toward the main characters. However, when the treatment of the stormtroopers is looked at more closely, it can be seen to be very unethical. These soldiers have been stripped of everything that makes them human, and have been made to look like a copy of one another. Although they are humans, it is easier for them to resemble machines in order to justify the cruel treatment they receive. 

 

Works Cited

“Armitage Hux.” Wookieepedia, starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Armitage_Hux.

“Clone Trooper.” Wookieepedia, starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Clone_trooper.

“Order 66.” Wookieepedia, starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Order_66.

Star Wars A New Hope. Screenplay by George Lucas, 20th Century Fox, 1977.

Star Wars Attack of the Clones. Screenplay by George Lucas, 20th Century Fox, 2002.

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Directed by J.J. Abrams, Lucasfilm, 2015.

Star Wars: from a Certain Point of View. Century, 2017.

“Stormtrooper.” Wookieepedia, starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Stormtrooper.