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War Is Hell unless you have a Badass Family.

There have been several spinoff novels and short stories tying in with the computer game Star Wars: Republic Commandonote , known as the Republic Commando series and written by Karen Traviss. Although there is a degree of intertextuality between these stories, they can be split into several defined story arcs that can be read individually from each other. While clone commandos appear in many stories, such as Dark Lord—The Rise of Darth Vader and Jedi Trial, this list only deals with direct spinoffs from the Republic Commando franchise.

The Science Fiction book club released an edition of the first two Republic Commando books in an omnibus hardcover. There are five books total:

  • Hard Contact (2004)
  • Triple Zero (2006)
  • True Colors (2007)
  • Order 66: A Republic Commando Novel (2008)
  • Imperial Commando: 501st (2009)

A sixth book was planned, but was cancelled due to Traviss's contractual issues and continuity changes introduced by Star Wars: The Clone Wars. That series and the succeeding Rebels and The Mandalorian borrowed much of her worldbuilding for the Mandalorians in modified forms; however the exact plot of the novel series was almost entirely ignored.

The short stories, Omega Squad: Targets (set after Hard Contact; reprinted as a bonus story in Triple Zero) and Republic Commando: Odds (set after Triple Zero; reprinted as a bonus story in True Colors), were written by Traviss and published in the Star Wars Insider magazine.

The novel series, Legacy of the Force, was co-written by Karen Traviss and is an indirect sequel to the Republic Commando books, both series being published during the same time.


This series provides examples Of:

  • Arc Words: Vode an — Mando'a for Brothers All.
  • Armor Is Useless:
    • Averted heavily. The characters are either wearing the unbreakable Mando beskar armor, or the cutting-edge nigh unbreakable Katarn commando armor. There are numerous instances of damage being negated by it.
    • In one short story, Fi fires a Verpine shattergun — the EU version of armor-piercing rounds — at Atin purposely and the armor deflects it. The commandos are appreciative of their armor's durability and it helps them survive many a firefight. In the same short story, Fi is able to jump on a grenade and come out badly rattled, but alive.
    • Amongst other things, armor has withstood blaster bolts, bullets, flamethrowers, grenades, and vacuum.
    • When things are looking bad on Haurgab, Darman considers taking off his armor so he can die quickly.
  • The Atoner: Skirata. He sees raising the clones as his redemption for all the foul things he has done in his past.
  • A Real Man Is a Killer: Played with. The Mandalorians prize readiness for battle rather than battle itself, and aren't opposed to fighting smart, but they look down on characters such as politicians who don't do their own dirty work. Hokan also disrespects Dr. Uthan because she kills with germs rather than conventional weapons.
  • A Father to His Men: Skirata, full stop. Eventually he becomes this in more than sentiment, formally adopting many of his clones.
  • Action Girl:
    • Etain, a Jedi apprentice who survives the death of her master at the outbreak of the Clone Wars and becomes a badass in her own right.
  • Laseema had a rather glorious moment with using her knife to threaten a sleezy patron.
  • Adrenaline Makeover: Etain in Hard Contact. She goes from a poorly-focused Padawan with a dead Master to a badass (albeit scrawny) Jedi.
  • Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: In True Colors, the clones are horrified to discover there are teams of special Clone Troopers who hunt down and kill deserters from the Grand Army.
  • An Arm and a Leg: Corr was an EOD specialist who lost both of his arms below the elbows while disarming a bomb. He has mechanical prosthetics, and actually enjoys performing complex knife tricks that would slice up an organic hand.
  • Arc Welding Order 66 does a little of it to patch holes between the prequel trilogy canon and preceding EU — now Legends — material.
    • The Spaarti cloning cylinders from The Thrawn Trilogy make an appearance, explained as a different technology than used by the Kaminoans that can grow clones faster at the cost of reduced quality control.
    • Jedi Master Djinn Altis, first discussed in The Callista Trilogy, appears with his mobile Jedi Academy on the starship Chu'unthor, along with Callista Ming herself. They're explained as a Jedi splinter sect deemed semi-heretical by the Jedi Council, in large part for their acceptance of romantic relationships. They return in 501st and allow a couple of Jedi being sheltered by the Mandalorians to join them.
  • Back in the Saddle Skirata and Vau in Triple Zero
  • Badass Adorable: Kad Skirata. He's a baby, but he's the son of an elite solider and a Jedi and is Force-sensitive. In the Legacy of the Force series, he's grown up to be an awesome Mandalorian wearing a hodgepodge of armor from all of his uncles, and was trained in the ways of the Force by Bardan Jusik/Skirata.
  • Badass Army: The GAR (Grand Army of the Republic). Or Skirata's clan.
  • Badass and Child Duo: Skirata and his grandson, Kad. Woe betide anyone who ruffles a hair on the kid's curly head.
  • Badass Bookworm:
    • Jusik, and, surprisingly Maze are well-read men and lethal combatants.
  • Badass Bookworm: One of Dr. Uthan's fellow virologists goes for a knife when the squad come to capture Uthan. This earns her a blaster bolt to the torso.
  • Badass Creed: Mandalorian Tenants. Even their marriage vows sound badass.
  • Badass Driver: Bardan Jusik. He makes Ordo worry.
  • Badass Family: the Skiratas. You do not mess with them. They will own your shebs any day of the week. Even the baby.
  • Badass Native: the Mandalorians are the Star Wars EU equivalent of this
  • Badass Normal: Rede is a clone trooper who was flash trained, meaning he was trained in only one year and is technically still a year old when he becomes a commando. Yet during the second mission he goes on with Darman and Niner, he single handedly takes out a Jedi Master in close combat. He rushes in, punches the Jedi, then when the Jedi is down, he executes him, all in one move.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: When Maze is asked why he saved General Zey's life, contrary to initial appearances that he did execute Order 66 he replies that Zey always made coffee for the two of them despite Maze's Almighty Janitor status.
  • Berserk Button: Don't refer to any commando as a "clone", especially one that's been all but trained to buck any authority they don't like, such as Skirata and Vau's pods.
  • Beta Couple: Quite a few if Darman and Etain are the official couple:
    • Ny and Skirata
    • Fi and Parja
    • Atin and Laseema
    • Corr and Jilka
    • Ordo and Besany
    • Cov and Ruu
    • Gilamar and Uthan
  • Beware the Nice Ones:
    • Both Etain and Bardan get this treatment. All of the commandos are surprised at how they're able to handle themselves, and Skirata is caught off guard after Vau and Atin start fighting, causing Bardan to burst into the room, push them apart with the Force, then hold them against the walls while yelling at them that the hating will stop now.
    • Scorch as well, when he went temporarily insane following a base attack on Haurgab.
  • Big Bad: Interestingly, Palpatine still seems to play this role. Instead of a Sith Lord, however, he's merely perceived by the main characters as a manipulative politican who's much meaner than he looks. The fact that the protagonists realized this immediately while the Jedi are still unsure is a testament to their experience.
  • Big Eater: All of the clones. They especially like candy or other sweets. It's suggested it's a result of the caloric need demanded by their accelerated growth.
  • Blade Enthusiast: Skirata's three-sided blade is mentioned quite often, as it is his close-ranged weapon of choice that he keeps on him at all times. We discover in Order 66 that it used to belong to his biological father.
    • Corr enjoys performing knife tricks with his prosthetic hands.
  • Blood Knight: The Nulls. Kal Skirata. In fact, virtually every Mandalorian in the series.
  • Bolivian Army Ending: Order 66, with Etain dead, Darman catatonic, and Niner a broken spine, not to mention the unbeatable Delta Squad finally separated.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: Skirata, Gilamar, Mereel, and Jaing are shining examples of this trope.
  • Bond Villain Stupidity: Really, Hokan? Really? Did you need to go finish off your enemy with a knife vibroblade?
  • Bounty Hunter: If a male protagonist does not begin as a bounty hunter, he soon will be.
  • The Bus Came Back: Arligan Zey and Maze show up at the retreat on Mandalore as fugitives, despite the latter supposedly having executed the former in Order 66.
  • Call-Back:
  • Call-Forward:
  • Call to Agriculture: After the war, Clone Commander Levet and the commandos of Yayax Squad build a farm on Mandalore.
  • Canon Immigrant: The specific characters and events of this series were rendered Canon Discontinuity by Star Wars: The Clone Wars: George Lucas reportedly had a very different vision of the present-day Mandalorians than anybody working for him (his original idea of "New Mandalorians" became Satine Kryze's faction), and the series uses Restraining Bolts rather than Slave Liberation as an explanation for the clones to participate in Order 66. However, because of its popularity, Dave Filoni built a lot of his portrayal of the Mandalorians on Traviss's novels. Particular examples include:
    • Mando'a in new canon is essentially copy-and-pasted from what Traviss came up with. Best instances of its usage in new canon are the Mandalorian Kom'rk-class starfighters that debuted in The Clone Wars (also known as gauntlet starfighters, as kom'rk means "gauntlet" in Mando'a) and Sabine's landing hail to her clan in Rebels.
    • The lightsaber-resistant unobtainium beskar, introduced to canon in The Mandalorian, was created in this series as a partial explanation for how non-Force-sensitive Mandalorians could go toe-to-toe with Jedi in past conflicts and have any hope of winning the encounter. It's so important in their culture that the Mando'a word "beskar'gam" means not just armor made of beskar but armor in general.
    • The subplot in "The Deserter" involving Cut Lawquayne, a clone who deserted from ther army, bears a resemblance to a subplot in the later Republic Commando books where clones who try to leave the army are targeted for elimination.
  • Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough: While they don't outrank each other, Vau and Skirata are very much this trope.
  • Casual Danger Dialogue: All the clones before battle, especially Fi and Corr.
  • Catchphrase: Referring to absolutely everyone as 'son' for Kal Skirata.
  • The Cavalry: The LAAT/i "larty" gunships that Maze sends in on Haurgab.
  • Children Are Innocent:
    • Played to the hilt and then subverted on the same page when Kal Skirata first meets the Null Arcs. At the time they appeared four year-old innocent and helpless children in desperate need of Kal's protection from the diabolical Kaminoans... until they stole Kal's holdout blaster to defend themselves.
    • Early in the series, all clones qualified for this. Etain first sensed Darman as a 'child' through the Force, rather than a soldier. As the series progresses, this becomes less true as the clones grow up mentally.
  • Cold Sniper: Played straight with Sev, subverted with Fi.
  • Color-Coded Characters: Used with their armor colors — Skirata and Gilimar are gold, while Atin is purply, Sev and Ordo are red, Boss is orange, Fixer is green, Scorch is yellow, Fi is grey/red, Mereel is blue, Jaing is grey, and Vau is black.
  • Combat Medic: Gilamar. He claims he's only a simple country doctor, but his dialogue suggests something far more involved, maybe even formal training. Granted, being Mando'ad, he's also a badass killer. Also, Fi is the designated medic for Omega Squad, and he's far from sitting back and letting his brothers do the dirty work.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Skirata, full stop.
  • Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: In the cover artwork for the short story Omega Squad: Targets, Kal Skirata is unmistakably modeled after actor and Cool Old Guy Ed Harris.
  • The Complainer Is Always Wrong: A pregnant Etain wants to give her child a normal life, which she never had since she was a Jedi. Kal insists that because Darman is Mandalorian, so should the child be, to which Etain accepts without question, despite there being nothing wrong with giving the child a normal life and Kal has no business telling Etain how to raise her kid, making him not much better than how the Jedi dealt with Force-sensitive kids.
  • Conlang: Mandalorian, also known as Mando'a. Triple Zero even includes a Mandalorian dictionary in the back.
  • Contract on the Hitman:
    • The Nulls, Skirata, Vau, and other defectors after Order 66.
    • Any clones that defect, actually. Look at what almost happened to Sull.
  • Cool Old Guy: Kal Skirata. And Walon Vau. And Mij Gilamar. And Arligan Zey. It says a lot in Mandalorian culture to even get to a ripe old age.
  • Corrupted Contingency: Invoked in Order 66. In this novel, the eponymous Wham Line from Revenge of the Sith is shown to be part of a Sparse List of Rules covering over 150 hypothetical Godzilla Threshold scenarios for the Grand Army of the Republic: Order 37 allows the army to take a civilian population hostage to compel a high-value target to surrender themselves, while Order 65 requires the army to remove Supreme Chancellor Palpatine instead. A careful reading shows two key differences with Order 66: One, while Order 65 permits lethal force against the sitting chancellor if necessary, Order 66 commands the clone army to use lethal force against the Jedi. Two, while Order 65 must be ratified by either a majority of the Senate or the Security Council, Order 66 as written can be issued on the sole authority of the Supreme Chancellor. This difference went unnoticed by anyone but Palpatine, who had created the army of Slave Mooks in the first place as a trap for the Jedi, until it was too late.
  • Crazy-Prepared: Skirata when planning his escape (and his sons' defection) from the GAR. He'd been planning it practically from the start.
  • Cultured Badass: Vau. He's a disinherited Irmenu aristocrat, so he was raised with the manners, but then he joined the Mandalorians, making him an instant badass.
  • Cut Short: A sequel to 501st had been planned at the time it was written, but was later canceled; as a result, a number of arcs from that novel have gone unresolved. Disney declaring the old EU non-canon makes any sort of conclusion even less likely.
  • Da Chief: Jedi Master Arligan Zey, the head of Republic Special Operations and the nominal boss of Skirata, Vau, the Null ARCs and the various Commando squads.
    • Also Jaller Obrim, chief of Coruscant Security Force. He fulfills the more usual cliches of being a tough but experienced copper who has a conventional family life.
  • Dare to Be Badass: Walon Vau, patron saint of tough love:
    Vau: You have to know the limits of your physical and mental endurance, so you can recognize them and pass beyond them. This is why I will push you beyond any suffering you can imagine. You will not give up and die like lesser men; you will not crack up like lesser men; you will not lose heart in the direst circumstances like lesser men. You will carry on beyond your imagined limits. And you will be the last men standing, when the weaklings have opted to do the easy thing and die.
  • Darkened Building Shootout: The end of Triple Zero.
  • The Dead Have Names: The entire first chapter of Order 66.
  • Deadly Doctor: Gilamar. Just read about his total takedown of Dred Priest!
  • Deadpan Snarker:
    • Fi, mostly, but all clones do it as well. Corr especially in Order 66.
    • General Zey also has a moment in True Colors.
    Sev: (After dropping a box containing Ko Sai's head onto his desk and Zey looks inside) I think she's dead, sir.
    Zey: Do you now? You should take up medicine, my boy.
    • Vau has perfected this to an art.
  • Deconstruction: The books take the Slave Mooks nature of the clone army and the Concepts Are Cheap hypocrisy this implies of the Republic and the Jedi Order head-on in a way no Star Wars material before or since has tried. It also calls out the Jedi for separating children from their families and essentially turning them into Child Soldiers.
  • Deer in the Headlights: Several of Dr. Uthan's assistants are shot by the clones after they freeze in panic rather than follow their bodyguard's orders to duck and cover.
  • Demolitions Expert: Quite a few of the clones are this; Darman, Ordo, Scorch and Corr are the ones that stand out though.
  • Death Course: Commando training on Kamino consisted partially of this.
  • Defector from Decadence:
    • Bardan Jusik resigns from the Jedi Order and moves to Mandalore in Hard Contact after becoming disgusted with the Jedi Council's willingness to take part in the enslavement of the millions of clone soldiers. His What the Hell, Hero? speech to them is something else.
      "So how do we justify what we are doing now? Breeding men without choice, and without freedom, to fight and die for us? When do the means cease to justify the end? Where is our society heading? Where are our ideals, and what are we without them? If we give in to expedience in this way, where do we draw the line between ourselves and those we find unacceptably evil? I have no answer, Masters. Do you?"
    • Vau. It is revealed in the beginning of True Colors that his father is a rich man. Vau hated him so much he ran off and joined the Mandalorians.
  • Don't Explain the Joke: Notice how many times Jaing's grey, leathery gloves have been mentioned after Ko Sai hangs herself/the Nulls butcher her afterwards? If still you don't get it, this is why it's called Don't Explain the Joke.
  • Dramatically Missing the Point:
    • When the secret fleet of Star Destroyers and new Spaarti-grown clones show up at the Battle of Coruscant (The ships seen in the opening of Revenge of the Sith), Kal Skirata logically assumes that they are part of Palpatine's grand plan to trap Grievous and Dooku and win the war. He's wrong, they are actually the core of his new, soon-to-be revealed Imperial Army and Navy.
    • When Order 66 goes down, Vau assumes the Order was actually Jango Fett's idea, a way to take posthumous revenge on the Jedi for the massacre at Galidraan with a literal army of Jangos. Again, completely discounting Palpatine/Sidious's role in everything.
  • The Dreaded: A neat effect in ''Order 66': Jedi General Arligan Zey is found hiding under a desk, having barely survived his own personal Order 66'ing and flat fucking terrified of what Palpatine will do to him. Maze and Ordo mostly tell him where to stick it.
  • Drives Like Crazy: Bardan. One of his unfortunate clone passengers says that he's insane after they have a car chase through Coruscant traffic while being pursued.
  • Dual Wielding: Etain after Hard Contact. The lady is fierce with her and her old Master's lightsabers.
  • Easy Logistics: subverted repeatedly. One of the main problems the GAR faces is the area over which the clones are spread. Naturally, this makes for snarled supply transports and difficulty getting materials to the planet they need to be on, such as the beginning of Triple Zero, where Fi talks about how Procurement finally gave them the matte black combat armor that they wanted... just before they went to Fest, which is an ice world.
  • Elites Are More Glamorous: Most of the characters are ARC Troopers or Clone Commandos, the elite special forces of the Grand Army of the Republic.
  • Everyone Must Be Paired: The later books start to feel like this, as everyone including random side characters start finding someone to hook up with. Even Skirata gets a love interest!
  • Evil Cripple: Inverted with Skirata. His limp is emblematic of his priorities; he never gets around to fixing it because he's too busy with the army. Eventually, his sons make the surgery appointment for him.
  • Evil Me Scares Me: Darman after he beats the osik out of Skirata.
  • Extreme Mêlée Revenge: Darman beats the osik out of Skirata when he finds out that Kad is his son and Skirata kept it from him.
  • Faceless Goons: Inverted. Oh, shab. Another one of Kal Skirata's berserk buttons is when people think that the clones are automatons under the armor. In Triple Zero, Skirata has Ordo take off his helmet in public so that the civilians can see that their protectors are young men.
  • The Family That Slays Together:
    • The Skiratas. All of them are mercenaries, and more than half of them are elite troops, bred and trained to be the best.
    • Also, Dr. Uthan wanted a family before she became The Evil Genius, and using that knowledge Fi and Skirata manage to sway her to their side.
    • Of course, for Mandalorians male success is family, too. Their society is based around clans and families, with both fatherhood and motherhood being highly prized.
  • Fantastic Racism: Skirata and the Nulls have an understandable hatred of the Kaminoans. They're not too fond of the Jedi either...
  • Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Karen Traviss explicitly based her vision of the Mandalorians on the Picts and Scots, which has become the most enduring version of Mandalorian lore and was partially adopted by the canon Star Wars: The Clone Wars. They're farmers with a deep warrior tradition and an array of clans that are just as willing to fight each other as for or against outsiders. In Scottish fashion, one's Mandalorian clan is something one can be born to, but one can also be adopted, and one must also consciously choose one's clan.
    • There's also a bit of Judaism in there, seeing as Mandalorians are a diasporic people who go back and forth on keeping their homeland, were once a mighty kingdom in ancient times, and have a word in their language for "outsider" that can also be said like an insult - aruetyc in Mando, or goy in Hebrew.
  • The Force: Naturally, seeing how it's a Star Wars EU book series — although only a handful of main characters can use it.
  • Foregone Conclusion: All over the place, but especially in Order 66 when we know the end of the war is coming. This is especially worrying because several of the main characters are Jedi ...
  • Foreshadowing: Lots, but especially apparent before the quintessential Order 66.
  • Foil : Sev (the Cold Sniper) to Fi (The Heart).
  • Greasy Spoon: The diner that Skirata likes to frequent. Numerous times, attention is drawn to the fact that the food is excessively greasy and unhealthy, but that's apparently what makes it good.
  • Great Escape:
    • Subverted in freeing Ruu Skirata and Dr. Uthan. The breakouts are done quick, fast, and (from the characters' POV) easily.
  • Groin Attack: Implied to happen to an official in the hostage situation short story. Skirata does something, but Darman isn't exactly clear of what it is. Etain also tries it on Darman in Hard Contact, but since he's wearing groin protection on his armor it only hurts her leg.
    • Vau also teaches a hold in Order 66 that seems to involve grabbing the victim's uh, thermal detonators.
  • Handicapped Badass: Skirata with his shattered ankle.
  • Happily Adopted: All of Skirata's kids. It's not all formalized, though. From the beginning, he regards every one of his commandos and the Nulls as his sons, and lets them know it. But he doesn't get around to formally adopting them until True Colors, when having a family base starts to matter more. He also formally adopts Bardan to give him a place to stay, and makes it clear that spouses the boys take are also kids, since Mando law doesn't have the prefix "in-law."
  • Heartbroken Badass: Skirata and the gang after Etain's death.
  • Heroic BSoD: Darman after Etain's death.
  • Heel Realization: General Zey, when he meets Kad on Mandalore, and understands how terrified Etain was that the Jedi would take her son away if they discovered his existence.
  • Head-in-the-Sand Management: General Zey is portrayed with shades of ignorance about the culture of his troops and the ruthlessness of his superiors. He gets better.
  • Hero of Another Story:
    • Order 66 has the main commandoes briefly run into several disguised Jedi apprentices who escaped the massacre at the Jedi Temple and are trying to get off-planet (with at least one of them escaping after they are discovered). However, most of the commandoes would object to calling those Jedi "heroes" part of the trope, since the Jedi accidentally kill some civilians while deflecting blaster bolts in a closed space and one of them accidentally cuts down Etain when she tries to save a clone who reminds her of Darman.
    • Near the beginning of 501st, the Special Operations Brigade commandoes are given a list of clone troopers who deserted and ordered to remain on the lookout for them. While most of those commandoes are main or supporting characters who end up on Mandalore, the previously unmentioned Hyperion Squad is never seen or mentioned again. This suggests that Hyperion Squad is on the run from the Empire elsewhere in the galaxy, and that they have different motives for deserting than Clan Skirata.
  • Highly-Conspicuous Uniform: The whitish-grey armor that Omega Squad had while fighting on the forest world of Qiilura. This is later repeated, when the black armor Omega Squad asks for is what they get ... while fighting on a snowy world.
  • Historical In-Joke: Gilamar pulls one on Dr. Nenilin when he compares the scientist to Demagol. Nenilin thinks he's being flattered .... but Gilamar and Skirata both know that Demagol was a psychopathic monster of a Mandalorian scientist who did horrific experiments on children.
  • Hollywood Healing: Subverted. After Atin's fight with Vau he still has scars all over his body.
    • Played with after Fi is critically wounded in the line of duty. Though Bardan is able to use Jedi healing to accelerate his recovery, it takes many months for him to be able to walk and talk again.
  • Honor Among Thieves: Pretty much all of the Mandalorians have an unsaid mentality of 'us versus the auretii' when they're threatened as a group.
    • Subverted by Hokan and the Death Watch.
  • Identical Twin ID Tag: All the clones have the same DNA, but are distinguished by different scars or tans, depending on where they've been serving. It's noted that the clones are very good at reading body language because of this, as growing up like them makes you notice faster.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The first three book titles are officially titled Republic Commando: ___, while the fourth is titled Order 66: A Republic Commando Novel and the fifth is titled Imperial Commando: ___. Presumably, after the fifth, the series would've continued to use the "Imperial Commando" naming convention to show the transition between the Republic and the Empire, though why the fourth novel broke away from the naming is an enigma.
  • Impossible Mission Collapse: The end of Hard Contact.
  • Impressive Pyrotechnics: Also at the end of Hard Contact.
  • Instrument of Murder: Wad'e Tay'haai's beskar flute.
  • Invulnerable Knuckles: Inverted after Darman's No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on Skirata. His knuckles are scratched, bleeding, and generally wrecked.
  • Jurisdiction Friction: Between the GAR and Coruscant law enforcement during Triple Zero.
    • Subverted with Skirata and Obrim's friendliness to each other.
  • Just a Kid: Subverted with Kal Skirata's beginnings.
  • Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better: The ratio of praise that verpine rifles get to blasters is suspiciously lopsided.
  • Large Ham: Skirata has his moments.
  • Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: Subverted every time. Jango Fett himself is to have mentioned Skirata as "the dirtiest fighter I've ever known."
  • Living MacGuffin: In order to stop the clones' accelerated aging, Skirata and co need the Kaminoans' research. However, shortly into the Clone Wars the head of their cloning program Ko Sai went missing and took all her research with her. Much of True Colors is about tracking her down and convincing her to help them...
  • Loveable Rogue: Mereel, Corr, Skirata, and Fi, but Jaing has shades of it as well.
  • Magnetic Hero: Kal Skirata. It's debatable whether it's justified or not ... and is somewhat a touchy button for fans and detractors of the series.
  • Man Bites Man: Sull when Darman and Atin go after him. Played for laughs later on.
  • Mangst: Kal Skirata again. Ordo to a lesser extent. Darman all the way especially during 501st.
  • Manly Tears
  • Malevolent Masked Man: Hokan to Etain; she gets over it after getting used to the similarities between the clones' helmets, and the Mandalorians.
  • May–December Romance: Rare gender-flipped example in which Ruu is much older than her clone companion Cov.
  • Meaningful Name:
    • Lord Mirdalan literally means Lord Smarts/Intelligence in Mando'a.
    • Ordo means "order" in Latin.
    • No word on whether it's deliberate, but Etain is an Old Irish name usually considered to mean "fiery" or "passionate."
    • In-universe: Kal in mando'a is a take on stabbing, referencing the moment when Munin rescued him.
  • Military Maverick: Skirata, after he is recommissioned into the GAR.
    • And the Nulls, who are more or less under Skirata's control.
  • Mission Briefing: Used frequently.
  • Morality Pet: Aww, Lord Mirdalan .... But be warned. That Morality Pet can chew you into gihaal.
  • More Senior Subordinate: In Hard Contact, after rescuing Etain, Darman looks her as his lawful military superior: under the terms of the Military Creation Act, all Jedi assigned to the war effort were made officers in the Grand Army of the Republic. Poor Etain is just a Jedi Padawan who was on assignment with her now-deceased Master when the Clone Wars started and barely even has any idea what's going on.
  • The Musketeer: On the advice of the clones, Etain takes to using a Trandoshan concussion rifle in the field, only switching to her lightsaber at close range.
  • My Country, Right or Wrong:
    • Mandalorians in general. Subverted in Bardan's case, where he left the Jedi because he couldn't stand the fact that clones aren't treated with any respect, even when the Jedi are supposed to value all life.
    • Subverted in Imperial Commando when Fenn Shysa tries to convince Skirata to side with the Mandalorians in general, rather than his clan. Naturally, Skirata refuses.
  • My Dad Can Beat Up Your Dad: Boba Fett said this to Ordo when they were kids (Ordo's father being Kal Skirata). It didn't end well ....
    Fi: Ordo shoved his head down a fresher for bragging his dad could wipe the floor with Kal'buir.
  • My Greatest Failure:
    • Skirata, on being formally disowned by his sons.
    • Not being there for the Battle of Galidraan is hinted to be this for Vau in Order 66.
  • My Secret Pregnancy: Etain does this on Qiilura, but savvy Commander Levett isn't fooled for an instant.
  • A Nazi by Any Other Name: The idea of physical superiority is apparently well-espoused by the Kaminoans, to the point that they'll innocently and repeatedly ask a limping Kal if he minds being "defective." Fridge Logic sets in when you realize the Kaminoans make their money working for non-Kaminoan clients, so they at least have enough tact to not alienate their customers...
  • Nicknaming the Enemy: Seppies, bug-boys, wets, tinnies... and that's not even going into all the Mando'a swears.
  • Nitro Express: Used in Hard Contact but nothing bad happens.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Atin on Vau in Triple Zero. Jusik breaks them up before they can actually kill each other.
    • Also in Order 66 between Kal and Darman.
  • No One Gets Left Behind: Atin frequently tries to talk Niner out of this in Hard Contact. It is later subverted with Delta Squad leaving Sev behind on Kashyyyk.
  • No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: Dr. Uthan's clone-killing virus. Being a geneticist, she really should've known better.
  • Not in This for Your Revolution: Skirata. He holds a rank in the Army of the Republic but he's in it for his sons, not for the glory or money.
  • Not So Stoic: For a badass Mando, Skirata really wears his heart on his sleeve, crying multiple times.
  • Obstructive Bureaucrat: None when Kal Skirata is motivated.
  • Officer and a Gentleman: Vau, even though he technically doesn't have a rank anymore.
  • Oh, Crap!: Plenty of times, especially during the scene on Haurgab and the fight on Coruscant.
  • One Riot, One Ranger: Niner mangsts about this during Hard Contact.
  • "Open!" Says Me: With EXPLOSIVES!
  • Our Clones Are Different: This series fixes discrepancies between the prequel trilogy and the Thrawn trilogy by introducing Spaarti-grown clone troopers late in the war. Order 66 states that quality control with the Arkanian technology is not as good but it allows much faster production than the Kaminoan process.
  • Papa Wolf: YOU DO NOT MESS WITH KAL SKIRATA'S SONS!!
    • Lampshaded by Scorch: "If any barve so much as looked the wrong way at his precious little boys, Skirata would have his guts for garters."
    • Vau to a much lesser degree. He beats the osik out of his boys, but does care for them, enough so that he goes looking for Sev when he turns up missing. His trainees look up to him with a kind of respect, claiming that he made them stronger than any other commando group.
    • Darman is very protective of his son Kad, even when he's stuck light years away.
  • Pardon My Klingon: The Mando language is seen most often in swearwords. Right off the bat, we have:
    • Shebs, analogous to "butt" or "ass".
    • Shab or Shabla, analogous to the F-word.
    • The general insults di'kut and chakaar
    • The exclamation Fierfek. This one is preexisting Huttese for "hex" or "curse" (it's also used to mean "poison" but few poisons work on Hutts), but the commandos adopted it as a battlefield swear word.
    • And the insults mir'sheb and shabuir, which are understandable with context. Based on the meaning of sheb, mir'sheb probably means "asswipe", and considering the meaning of shab and that buir means "parent", well...
    • It's noted that swearwords circulate through the ranks faster than other Mandalorian words.
  • Pregnant Badass: Later on in the series Etain becomes one, fighting several major battles while heavily pregnant with Darman's child.
  • Propaganda Machine: In-series, the public is being misled about the size of the CIS forces. The holonews keeps saying "quadrillions". But as the protagonists point out, if there were quadrillions of battle droids, they'd have lost the war long ago. All of this is revealed to be a ploy by Palpatine to keep support for the war going. Out of universe, this was probably meant as a Take That! to other Star Wars Legends writers with No Sense of Units.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: The Mandalorians prize readiness to defend what one cares about, to the point where (as noted in Legacy of the Force: Revelation by the same author) their language lacks a word for "hero," not because they don't recognize the concept, but because they don't consider it particularly noteworthy. At least four of the Six Actions are tied partially or fully to martial arts. Though in practice the Mandalorians treat training to fight as something akin to militia service: Mandalore is an agrarian world and most of its inhabitants have day jobs other than being warriors.
  • Protagonist-Centered Morality: A little. Skirata is more concerned about preserving his sons' lives than winning the war, so he often encourages things like deserting the army or leaving the Jedi Order. His hatred of the Jedi comes across as completely irrational too, since we know they're not nearly as bad as he says they are...
  • The Purge: After Order 66.
  • Putting on the Reich: most obvious in Imperial Commando, and lampshaded by the clones when they get their Stormtroper plates.
  • The Quiet One: Fixer, in Delta Squad; Atin in Hard Contact.
  • The Radio Dies First: Kind of. In Hard Contact, Omega Squad can't contact Darman because if they used long-distance communication, then their signals will be intercepted, and the enemy will know they are on Qiilura.
  • Rated M for Manly: There is so much badassery, violence, and bromance that if you're a female you will go through a sex change.
  • Refuge in Audacity: "True Colors" details the legal nature of Order 66, explaining it was one of 150 Contingency Orders... And that Order 65 was an order to arrest the Supreme Chancellor and kill him if necessary. The only noticeable difference between Order 66 and the rest of the list is that Order 66 can be enacted purely on the Supreme Chancellor's say-so, where Order 65 requires sign-off of the Senate or the Security Council; the distinction is intentionally obscured by the Long List. Similarly, Order 65 tacks on an "if necessary" to the authorization of lethal force, a subtle but important distinction from Order 66: the Grand Army may use lethal force to remove the Chancellor... but must use lethal force to remove the Jedi.
  • The Remnant: The Death Watch, down to the same reasons of wanting to rebuild the old Mandalorian empire.
  • Retcon: This series did a number on the then-recent "History of the Mandalorians" article by Abel G. Pena. Instead of Spar being an insane, fanatical, and charismatic Mandalore who becomes a Shell-Shocked Veteran, he's a cynical puppet warlord who's Only in It for the Money, the Mandalorian Civil War was a minor affair that most Mandalorians ignored, and instead of only around 212 highly dangerous Mandalorians, we have an entire planet of them. Also, that totally awesome City of Bone from the Marvel Comics? Now a failed tourist trap. Of course, with the 3rd-person character POV the reader's provided with, we never do get the entire picture of just what was going on with Spar — and it all becomes a moot point, anyway, when just about everything in the series was retconned out.
  • Sergeant Rock: Skirata is this trope to a T.
  • Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: Lampshaded with the 1.2 million clone trooper number, which Traviss upped to 3 million: she was only following the lead of the higher-canon Attack of the Clones novelization from two years earlier and even mocks it in the short story "Odds". Order 66 introduces non-Kaminoan clones to compensate, reintroducing the "Spaarti cylinders" technology from The Thrawn Trilogy with the explanation that quality control with the Arkanian tech isn't as good but it allows a much higher rate of production than the ten-year-long Kaminoan process.
  • Screw This, I'm Out of Here!:
    • Bardan Jusik, a Jedi Knight sympathetic to the clone troopers, is eventually recorded giving the Jedi Council a "The Reason You Suck" Speech over their increasing willingness to sacrifice their stated ideals on the altar of My Country, Right or Wrong, then quits the Jedi Order as a conscientious objector and moves to Mandalore, and is adopted into Clan Skirata. Which proves to be a fortunate choice given what happens later...
    • Clan Skirata gradually prepares an "exit route" from the Grand Army of the Republic that they use when Order 66 goes down. They then set up a sanctuary so that any clone feeling the itch can follow after them. This can feel cruel, but as Skirata points out, clones don't get paid and don't have a retirement plan. This is just giving them the work benefits they're entitled to.
  • Screw You, Elves!: Jedi that aren't openly critical of using the clones as a slave army aren't viewed well at all by the Mandalorians. The protagonist clones openly ridicule Commander Cody for hero-worshipping Obi-wan Kenobi.
  • Secret Police: Palpatine's secret hit squads that hunt down AWOL clones. Regrettably, it is also made up of clones, which pisses off Omega something fierce.
    • It's shown that Palpatine has a number of these going to keep control of the war and smack down resistance. As Vau puts it, "people end up committing suicide whether they want to or not."
  • Shell Game: A very important one happens in True Colors, the consequences of which affect the rest of the series.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran:
    • Increasingly played with as the series goes on. It's a world of a difference to see Darman's personality at the beginning and end of the series. Shab, all of the clones.
    • Scorch gets a moment of this too, in the Harguab incident.
    • While Skirata handles it better due to his experience, he's noticeably strung out after Order 66.
  • Shocking Defeat Legacy: Galidraan to all the members of the Cuy'Val Dar.
  • Ship Tease: Between Darman and Etain in Hard Contact before their relationship became canon in Triple Zero. There is also plenty of subtext between Ny and Skirata.
  • Shout-Out:
    • True Colors and 501st contain appearances by "data bounty hunters" Gaib and TK-0.
    • Also, "So easy a caveman Weequay could do it."
  • Slave Mooks: This series takes a much less flattering perspective on the clone army than Star Wars: The Clone Wars later did. It's explicitly pointed out multiple times that breeding millions of intelligent beings for no purpose other than war is a form of slavery, no matter how well any given Jedi regards their clones or vice versa. Clones who are judged "defective" or who desert the army are hunted down and executed (the "Null ARCs" are a group of "defective" clones whom Kal Skirata stopped the Kaminoans from euthanizing as children and adopted), and Order 66 partly attributes the clones' willingness to fire on the Jedi to revenge for their enslavement.
  • Sleep Deprivation: With the commandos. It's noted that since the commandos are at half their planned strength (half of them died on Geonosis), they don't get much time between missions and snatch sleep whenever they can. When they're defending key positions during the Battle of Coruscant, they're awake for forty-eight hours and sleep a few minutes at a time.
  • Small Girl, Big Gun: Etain's LJ-50 is mentioned several times to be at least her height.
  • So Beautiful, It's a Curse: Poor Besany Wennen. So blonde and beautiful not even Ordo knows what to do with her when they first meet. They must have figured something out, because they marry in Order 66. Aww ...
  • Spanner in the Works: The series is built around the characters navigating the chaos of the Clone Wars, so a number of these show up.
    • In True Colors, Ko Sai killing herself majorly delays their search for an aging cure.
    • In Order 66, Geneticist Dr. Nenilin turning in his research to the Chancellor's office makes it a lot harder for Skirata to operate.
    • In the same book, the assault on Coruscant - AKA the beginning of Episode III - derails the plan to desert. on the plus side, it gets everyone back to Coruscant quickly.
  • Stupid Sacrifice: Etain sacrifices herself to save a clone from a Jedi padawan during Order 66. Said clone undoubtedly would have killed her without a second thought if he'd known she was a Jedi.
  • Submersible Spaceship: Kal Skirata spends some time tracking a runaway Kaminoan scientist, hoping she can reverse the clone troopers' accelerated aging. Since the Kaminoans are amphibious, he purchases a Mon Calamari-built shuttle for the purpose that's designed to double as a submarine.
  • Super-Soldier: Downplayed with the clone commandos. They're still Fett-genome clones like standard troopers and don't have significantly different equipment (in Order 66 they even transfer a standard clone into a commando squad), but were selected for special warfare training during their development. It's never really addressed whether this was meant to reflect natural developmental variations or if it was just random chance.
  • So Proud of You: Skirata to his boys, on multiple occasions. Usually before he starts crying ... again.
  • Space Marine: The commandos. Interestingly enough, the Mandalorians can be seen as this as well.
  • Sparse List of Rules: Order 66 is stated in this series to come from a list of at least 150 contingency orders, of which the novel of same name gives us the text of numbers 4, 5, 37, 65, and 66.
  • The Squad: The commandos again. They are even referred to as this: Omega Squad, Delta Squad, Yayax Squad, etc. Justified, with how the GAR is structured.
  • Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: A lot of the series is about employing this trope on events in the main Star Wars films.
  • Take That!: The main characters consider Boba Fett (a twelve-year-old as of this series) to be an entitled punk, and one of them gave him a swirlie off-screen. They also openly ridicule Commander Cody for actually liking Obi-Wan Kenobi, seeming to think he has Stockholm Syndrome.
  • Team Pet: Mird fulfils this function, despite being strictly Vau's pet. Mird is actually quite useful, seeing as it is an intelligent killing machine that can fly.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
    • All over the place. The Mandalorians do not like working for the corrupt Republic or the Jedi Order that tried to destroy them, but they do it out of respect and love for their clone troopers.
    • In the early books, Skirata makes it clear he hates Vau for his brutal training methods on Kamino, though they eventually warm up to each other by the end of the series.
  • Thicker Than Water:
    • Skirata, always, but he really proves this when he aids his sons (who have formally disowned him) in finding his missing daughter/their missing sister, Ruusaan, who he hasn't talked to in over thirty years.
    • Also subverted when Skirate also adopts Bardan Jusik. Family is family and you just never turn your back on them, blood is the least of it, since Mando frequently adopt orphans... or stray Jedi with daddy issues.
  • Took a Level in Badass:
    • Laseema, Besany, Etain, Uthan ... Notice, all women It should be noted that with the exception of Laseema -— who was either a Hutt slave or terribly mistreated Hutt employee —- the others are all competent, capable, professional women in their own right. In a normal setting, they would be plenty "badass" on their own. However, when placed within a general military science-fiction action series, alongside life-long warriors and borderline super soldiers, there's something of a need for them to step it up. Which they do. Magnificently.
    • Corr, oh so much. Was just a standard trooper before being picked up by Skirata's gang, and ended up being trained as an actual Commando. And Corr is a Handicapped Badass having had both arms blown off near the elbow. His weapon of choice? A Rotary Blaster Cannon, a freaking minigun in blaster form, that he enjoys plying about a little too much.
  • Twin Switch: The Nulls take advantage of this often, combining it with Bavarian Fire Drill to infiltrate Republic installations dressed as regular clone troopers. Notably, Ordo switching places with Corr in Triple Zero leads to him meeting and falling in love with Besany, and Corr eventually joining Omega Squad.
  • Underestimating Badassery: Apparently something that happens often with Skirata. Who knew the old guy with a limp could be such a badass Papa Wolf?
  • Underground Railroad: Nyreen Vollen is a freight hauler who helps deserting Clone Troopers run away from the war. After the war, she also helps smuggle a few Jedi away from those who want them dead.
  • Violence is the Only Option: Oh, HELL YES IT IS!
  • Vow of Celibacy: As is frequently the case, the Jedi Order's ban on romantic relationships (not sex) produces plenty of drama. Etain and Darman have a Secret Relationship that produces a son. There's also a cameo by Callista Ming from the earlier-written Callista Trilogy, who as in that series' backstory has a boyfriend. The series fixes the conflict by establishing that Callista is a member of a Jedi splinter sect that encourages romantic love, which the mainstream order considers semi-heretical.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy:
    • All Vau's men want this out of him. Vau, of course, never says a thing.
    • Vau himself, ironically. To say the man has daddy issues is an understatement. It needs to be noted that Vau is not jealous of Skirata. He finds the notion absurd. He is, however, jealous of Skirata's boys.
    • All of the Null ARCs to a degree, but Ordo most of all. Having Kal be disappointed in him is the worst thing in the galaxy as far as he's concerned.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Bardan Jusik calls out his fellow Jedi for using an army of slave soldiers when he quits the Jedi Order;
    Bardan: So how do we justify what we are doing now? Breeding men without choice, and without freedom, to fight and die for us? When do the means cease to justify the end? Where is our society heading? Where are our ideals, and what are we without them? If we give in to expedience in this way, where do we draw the line between ourselves and those we find unacceptably evil? I have no answer, Masters. Do you?
  • Would Hurt a Child: For all his talk that children are sacred, Skirata still murders padawans after Etain jumps in front of one's lightsaber. It's not noted if they're exactly children, but it's still very jarring.
  • Wouldn't Hit a Girl:
    • Subverted, seeing as the commandos have no trouble shooting anyone at all.
    • A saying Skirata taught his boys is "Soldiers don't always wear uniforms."

Oya!

Alternative Title(s): Republic Commando

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