This ARC Trooper Waged War On The Republic

Star Wars

Oct 23

Black background with a Mandalorian trooper on the right

In Star Wars, there is an entire galaxy of individual stories that are obscure yet fascinating. Adding in the dimensions of the Force and exceptionally advanced technology, you have quite the pot of ingredients. In this pot is a story during the Clone Wars involving an ARC Trooper with a compelling story arc.

ARC Troopers were a select number of clone troopers with no personality tampering. Mostly, they were loyal and responsive to the indoctrination process they went through via the Kaminoans clone engineers. As a result, they had a 99% success rate with these clones. However, one clone trooper responded poorly, the clone Alpha-02. He had all the skills and physical makeup of all the other clones; however, in one instance, he rebelled and did not respond to the indoctrination process. The punishment for this was death.

RELATED:

Featured

What Do We Know About The Jedi Master Who Discovered Ahsoka Tano?

Alpha-02, who acquired the nickname Spar, decided he didn’t want to die, so he acted as though he was responding well to the indoctrination process, “good soldiers follow orders.” However, after some time had passed, Spar overheard a story about one of Jango Fett’s exploits, and this brought an entirely new set of memories to Spar’s mind that was not his own but of Jango Fett’s. So now, on top of Spar’s other problems, he has this war in his mind where two opposing memories are fighting.

Spar decided he would begin faking insanity to get an appointment with the doctor for injured ARC Troopers and Commandos, Mij Gilamer. This doctor agreed to work with Jango Fett to smuggle Spar away from Kamino. The attempt was successful, and Spar became the Grand Army of the Republic’s first deserter. Jango ended up leaving Spar at a spaceport, where Spar became a bounty hunter, doing odd jobs to survive. At one point after the battle of Geonosis, Spar heard that Jango Fett had died.

A group of marching ARC Troopers all helmeted except for the one in the middle — Image Source: YouTube

To Spar, Jango Fett was the last known Mandalorian, so Spar decided to resurrect the Mandalorians by first allying with two people, Fenn Shysa and Tobbi Dala. At this point, Spar claimed to be the real son of Jango Fett and, therefore, the rightful heir to the throne of Mandalore. Accordingly, Spar claimed the title of Mandalore the Resurrector and formed a band of warriors known as the Mandalore Protectors.

After the destruction of Mandalore, three main factions vied for control of Mandalore and the surrounding space. Maul’s Shadow Collective, Bo Katan’s Death Watch loyalists, and Spar’s Mandalore Protectors were the three factions. While the other two factions mainly fought for the planet’s surface, Spar conquered rural planets and most of the Mandalorian Space by 20 BBY.

Four Mandalorians flying through the air with their jetpacks — Image Source: ComicBook

Spar’s Mandalore Protectors rose to prominence so quickly because they had Separatist allies. Spar hated the Jedi and wanted to dole out some revenge because of what they did to Mandalore and Jango Fett. Spar had no real loyalty to the CIS; he just wanted to kill as many clones and Jedi as possible.

After many victorious outings, Sidious considered them a threat to his plans for the Clone Wars, so Sidious sent Republic assassins to kill Spar with no success. At this point, Sidious enlisted the Protectors to capture Senator Amidala on Norvall II. However, when Spar and his protectors got to Norvall II, it was a trap, and they found themselves outnumbered and surrounded by Republic forces. Due to this, only three Protectors, Spar, Fenn Shysa, and Tobbi Dalla, survived. As a result, the Protectors officially disbanded, and Spar went on to other goals.

Phase II clone trooper with embers floating around him — Image Source: HDQ Walls

He worked with other ex-clones to reverse the accelerated aging gene placed in the clones by the Kaminoans. He decided to be their guinea pig, but he didn’t stay in that job for long. One of the reasons for this was because the two sets of memories in him (his own and Jango’s) were making him increasingly mad. The shock of the final battle, where almost all his men died, caused it to worsen. Spar eventually decided to go into exile to be alone on Extricarium Nebula.

His life was finally reaching its end, although he had no way of knowing. By the will of the Force, Spar met Boba Fett’s estranged daughter Ailyn Vel. Ailyn, of course, had it out to get revenge on Boba Fett for rejecting her. When she saw Spar, she immediately thought it was Boba Fett and shot Spar, killing him. A sad end to the character. Ailyn Vell wasn’t the only one to mistake Spar for Boba, though, years later, many others thought it was Boba Fett who led the Mandalorian Protectors during the Clone Wars.

That is the story of the ARC Trooper who waged war on the Republic. This entire series of events and story of this character reminds me of why I love Star Wars. Every character has countless possibilities, twists, and turns, ultimately ending in tragedy or victory. Spar’s story can be read in Karen Traviss’ novels Order 66: A Republic Commando Novel and Imperial Commando: 501st.

READ NEXT:

Featured