Stormtroopers have been an iconic part of Star Wars since the very beginning, as they debuted in A New Hope alongside many of the franchise’s most legendary characters. In fact, the very first Jedi mind trick—yet another Star Wars staple—ever shown in Star Wars movies and TV shows is used on a stormtrooper, when Obi-Wan Kenobi (famously) tells the stormtroopers, “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.”
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Stormtroopers have also continued to play a role in the franchise, not only in movies and shows set during the Dark Times, from Andor and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story to Star Wars: The Bad Batch and Star Wars Rebels, among others, but also in projects set after the original trilogy, including the sequel trilogy and The Mandalorian. Despite this decades-long prominence, there are still several things about stormtroopers that don’t make sense, and these 5 are among the biggest.
The First Order Kidnapped Children To Be Stormtroopers
Stormtroopers came back in a major way in the sequel trilogy, with the First Order essentially copying how the Empire had implemented these soldiers into their ranks. However, whereas the Empire’s stormtroopers had elected to join the Empire, many of the First Order’s stormtroopers, including Finn, had been abducted as children and forced into the role. While this may seem to make sense on the surface, there’s actually a lot about this that is confusing.
For one, by abducting children, the First Order would have to wait years for them to grow up and be able to fight, which just feels inefficient. Additionally, whereas the Empire had put on a front in many ways and pretended to be for peace and order, this action made the First Order obvious villains, and it would have meant countless infuriated families now being against them. It’s also difficult to imagine that kidnapped children would have been more loyal than soldiers who opted in, and the sequels seem to prove that.
The Stormtroopers Were Easy to Infiltrate
At several points throughout Star Wars movies and shows, it’s clear that, although they were the main fighting force of the Empire, the stormtroopers’ ranks were surprisingly easy to infiltrate. As just one example, in Rebels, Ezra Bridger enters the Imperial Academy under the guise of training to become a stormtrooper while actually acting as a spy. Sure, the trainees might not be as scrutinized as the full-fledged stormtrooper ranks, but it still shouldn’t have been this easy to get in.
This also is far from the only time that Star Wars characters have gone undercover as stormtroopers and pulled it off. In fact, the very first time Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa see one another, Luke is dressed as a stormtrooper because he was able to use that disguise to get around. Clearly, the stormtrooper ranks had some security problems that they never seemed to address.
The Empire Opted for Humans, But Clones Were So Obedient
The first mention of the Clone Wars had been in A New Hope, when Obi-Wan told Luke that he had fought with his father in the war, but audiences didn’t actually get insight into what that meant until Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. Finally, in that movie, the clone troopers themselves were revealed, and the Battle of Geonosis officially kicked off the war. Both Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: The Clone Wars then went on to reveal in even greater detail how obedient the clones had been.
This was especially true with the clone inhibitor chips, of course, which allowed Palpatine to simply give a verbal command and have the clones carry out his bidding against their will during Order 66. That level of control makes it all the more confusing that when Palpatine took over, he opted for human stormtroopers rather than new clones. Using human soldiers adds so many variables and increases the likelihood of defection, so why would Palpatine make that change?
The Imperial Remnant Made No Changes to Stormtrooper Armor
As mentioned, stormtroopers have remained even after the Empire fell in Return of the Jedi, most recently in The Mandalorian and Grogu. In that movie, the stormtroopers are still working with the Imperial Remnant, which is how Din Djarin and Grogu end up running into them. What is especially weird about that, though, is the Imperial Remnant’s decision not to alter the stormtroopers’ appearance at all.
After all, the Imperial Remnant was in large part attempting to fly under the radar and not be discovered by the New Republic at this point in the timeline, yet the stormtroopers were a dead giveaway. Surely, it would have been better to disguise or at least change the appearance of the stormtroopers during this period.
Stormtroopers Have Terrible Aim
Finally, one of the most well-known aspects of stormtroopers is that they have terrible aim. This has been a long-running joke in the fanbase, but it is actually true of the soldiers. Some have argued that this is because their helmets provide limited visibility, and Luke’s comments about not being able to see a thing in the helmet also support the idea that this was the problem.
However, were that the case, then presumably the Empire would have altered the helmets so that the stormtroopers would have better visibility and therefore better aim—something that would have been important given their roles. It therefore makes no sense that stormtroopers continued to have this problem, even if that was the reason.
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