Stormtrooper

Stormtrooper
Position	Soldier
Homeworld	Varies
Birth	n/a
Death	n/a
Species	Human
Sex	Male
Distinctions	white armor
Weapon	E-11 Blaster, Repeater, Rocket Launcher
Affiliation	Galactic Empire Empire Reborn
Appears in	*Jedi Outcast Jedi Academy

Stormtroopers are the main enemies in Jedi Knight series. They appear in all the games starting with Dark Forces and later in Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy

Background

Stormtroopers are main military force used by the galactic Empire to establish and maintain its regime on numerous worlds around the Galaxy. In most cases these soldiers wear white armor with their face covered at all times, which made them look more intimidating both for the enemies and ordinary citizens alike. Quite often they served both as the army (invading force) and as police on the planet, allied with the Empire. Sometimes stormtroopers had special equipment or armor to be used in different environments, thus sand troopers were made to patrol the desert and towns of Tatooine, and snow troopers were deployed during the Battle of Hoth some three years later. During battle of Endor scout troopers were used quite often to explore the forests of the Sanctuary moon.

Many of the stormtroopers were part of the 501st legion, which often assisted Darth Vader in various operations. One such mission was to capture princess Leia Organa of Alderaan and find the stolen plans for the Death Star. Luke Skywalker and Obi Wan Kenobi encountered many of sand troopers in Mos Eisley, who were searching for two missing droids. Many more would try to kill the young Jedi and his friends aboard the Death Star itself.

Stormtroopers were used to occupy the streets of Bespin after Lando Calryssian decided to save Leia and Han from the Empire, however his friend was put into carbonite and taken to Jabba the Hutt by Boba Fett. Years later the Cloud City was liberated from the Empire. Years after Palpatine's death stormtroopers were still in use by different Imperial fractions, serving many of those who saw the title of the Emperor for themselves. 30 years later the stormtroopers served a different master, who was leading the newly formed First Order, with a redesigned armor, though still white and intimidating.

Appearances

In Jedi Outcast

Stormtroopers are the primary enemies of Kyle Katarn during his first two missions to Kejim and Artus Prime. Often they are assisted by Imperial officers and AT-ST in these levels. During this period this Remnant group is led by Galak Fyyar, who was a secret ally of Dark Jedi Desann. Together they experimented on infusing the Force into living beings, the experiments conducted in the labs, guarded by the stormtroopers.

Kyle later meets the Empire again, when investigating the mercenary activities on Bespin. From where he would take a cargo howler to get to the Leniko Belt, which was home to Imperial Cairn installation. It was the place where the Doomgiver, Galak's ship, was stationed before leaving to attack Yavin IV. Stormtroopers are the main force used by Galak and Desann to destroy the Jedi, though many droids, Reborn warriors and shadowtroopers were also part of the Empire Reborn forces. The swampy area of Yavin IV were explored by the swamp troopers.

In Jedi Academy

A few years later stormtroopers would be spotted on Yavin IV again - by Jaden Korr and Rosh Penin, who crash landed on the surface after their ship was badly damaged. When Jaden killed the Imperials, a cultist would appear, and later three more people would be seen using some sort of scepter to gain energy from the Massassii temple. Later events revealed that Tavion Axmis was using a Sith Cult to resurrect Marka Ragnos, and the Imperials offered their stormtroopers on many occasions as the primary force to complete her tasks.

A small group of stormtroopers was also present during the battle of Korriban. For the most part, the Disciples of Ragnos relied more on their cultists and New Reborn warriors.

In JK series

Stormtroopers are seen in the very first level of Dark Forces, where Kyle infiltrates the base on Danuta to steal Death Star Plans. In this game they were a 2d animated enemies, walking around 3d locations. They were the primary enemies on most levels, often assisted by the Imperials and Probe droids. In Dark Forces II stormtroopers are 3d models and are divided into classes, indicated by their pauldron. There they serve the Dark Jedi Jerec, looking for the Valley of the Jedi about a year after Palpatine's death. They guard his Palace on Sulon, as well as the fuel station outside the city. They accompany the cargo ship Sulon's Star to Ruusan and later patrol the many Imperial installations near the Valley of the Jedi.

In Mysteries of the Sith stormtroopers are part of the Remnant group attacking the Republic base on Altyr V. Here they engage in a fight with the Republic soldiers, often assisted by TIE bombers in the sky. Kyle would eliminate the threat and the new Imperial weapon - artificial asteroid, that was close to the planet. Mara Jade would see the stormtroopers in the Katrasii spaceport, where they patrol the streets and often ignore the Jedi. However they act aggressively after learning her motives.

In other stories

Stormtroopers have become a very iconic character in the whole Star Wars franchise. Not a single game would have come out without including these soldiers and their memorable white armor: Shadows of the Empire, Galactic Battleground, Force Commander, The Force Unleashed and many others. Like in the movies stormtroopers are easy to kill, but in larger numbers they might prove a threat. Often their shooting needs improvement, a trait that created a certain mem in Star Wars - 'the stormtrooper effect', meaning, that the bad guys shoot a lot, can't hit the main characters and eventually are killed (often by a less skilled shooter).

Until Episode II the origin of the stormtroopers wasn't clear: Kyle Katarn himself was an Imperial soldier at one point, which further added to the idea, that the stormtroopers were the enlisted humans. The new film showed, that the stormtroopers were the successors to the Republic soldiers, actually clones created from a DNA of one person, Jango Fett. These clones were used in the Clone Wars against the separatists, which greatly relied on their own army, comprising of battle droids. It was believed that the clones were far superior to droids, due to their creativity and personality.

When the war was over and the droids were banned in the Galaxy, the army of the newly formed Galactic Empire used the clones only for some time until the technology was also abandoned. This idea was further developed in the TV Series of Rebels, which specifically hinted on the fact, that stormtroopers are not clones.

In some books and comincs stormtroopers are mentioned to have been in use twenty, thirty and even 130 years after Battle for Yavin IV. In most cases they retain their common traits like white armor, however they become much more diverse: the Empire accepts females, as well as aliens - which explains some changes in the armor. With the reboot of the Expanded Universe materials in Star Wars the idea still remains, though the new stormtroopers no longer serve the Empire, but the First Order wearing a new more stylish armor, which some compared to modern design of some devices such as smartphones.

See also

• Galactic Empire
• Galak Fyyar
• Desann
• Imperial

External Links

• [1] - Stormtroopers on wookiepedia.