Heroes on Both Sides

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I don't remember exactly when I first took an interest in the idea of heroes being on both sides of the Clone Wars, but when I did, I thought it was one of the most fascinating things of all about Star Wars, more so than the Force itself. In a way, the Clone Wars are reminiscent of the American Civil War, because there were heroes on both sides of that war, too, as well as a real Republic and a real Confederacy. However, this is about the Clone Wars, not the Civil War, so I'll stick to the topic at hand. Star Wars is well known for exalting the Republic and its heroes, while demonizing the Separatists and their heroes, but here, I'm talking about the heroes on both sides, and the fact that there were villains on both sides, as well. Please don't flame me here, because while some of these characters are almost unanimously seen as heroes or villains, I know that it's all a matter of opinion, so readers don't have to agree with me on everything or every character to get something out of this.

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Confederacy of Independent Systems

In my mind, there are three general types of heroes in the Confederacy of Independent Systems, and the battle droids and Separatist Councilors like Nute Gunray and Wat Tambor do not count. There are the heroes who devoted themselves wholly to darkness and wickedness, many of whom had Force-sensitivity, and were usually driven by hatred of the Jedi and/or the Republic. Then, there are the heroes who were not necessarily dark siders, but fought mainly as an excuse to enjoy warfare and conquest of foreign worlds. And then, there are those who fought for moral and idealistic reasons, like a desire to defend their own people, an attempt to bring liberty and freedom to the galaxy, or trying to bring peace between the Confederacy and the Republic.

Count Dooku and Asajj Ventress definitely were driven by darkness and evil. They were in it because, like the de facto leader of the Separatist Alliance, Darth Sidious, they wanted a Jedi Purge to take in the galaxy, and they were determined to bring it about, though in different ways. Dooku and Sidious were using the Confederacy and the Clone Wars to bring down the Republic and create a Galactic Empire, while Ventress wanted the CIS to do the dirty work and was unaware of the Sith's secret Grand Plan. One other difference, though, is that Ventress truly cared about the Separatist cause, and was also a tragic figure with a scarred past who wanted revenge, making her a hero, whereas Dooku and Sidious just used the Confederacy and everyone in it, including Ventress, like tools to get what they wanted, making them villains. Other dark side heroes/villains of the Confederacy included Sev'rance Tann, Tol Skorr, Sora Bulq, and various other Dark Acolytes. Tann fought for Dooku for reasons similar to Ventress', Bulq wanted the Jedi to change into rulers and bring down the Republic, embracing a change in behavior, if you will, and Skorr, it seems, just wanted Dooku's dark powers. And then there's Durge, the malleable, hateful bounty hunter often partnered with Ventress, who fought for wages and a bloodthirsty desire to wipe out all Republic heroes, especially the Jedi.

There were many Separatist commanders who got a thrill out of warfare, and some of them liked to conquer planets for no good reason, also. Some of them count as heroes of the Confederacy too, in their own ways, at least to me they do. General Oro Dassyne of the Corporate Alliance really enjoyed warfare and took great pride in his superior firepower, though his pride cost him his life late in the war during an unexpected meeting with Jedi Generals Kenobi and Skywalker. Neimoidian General Lok Durd, who loved his promotions, had a callous disregard for life, but monetheless he led his droid troops to several victories in the war, despite his cowardice. Naval Captain Mar Tuuk was a little tougher than the average Neimoidian, and could have been a great fleet officer if he too hadn't underestimated Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan Ahsoka Tano. Admiral Trench was an accomplished fleet admiral, and had achieved legendary heroic status among his own people as well as the Confederacy and the Corporate Alliance. Karkaradon Riff Tamson was a strong but brutal killer who wanted to rule Dac, or Mon Calamari, after the Separatist Alliance took it over, and Whorm Loathsom believed in the principles of the Confederacy and was considered a hero by some Separatists for his victories, but was also very vain, and somewhat cruel. To sum up, these Separatist military commanders had their heroic points, and their villainous points, too.

Some Confederate heroes, however, desired to do the right thing for the right reasons, and some even had a purity of heart. Commander Merai, a Mon Calamari and another Corporate Alliance officer, who unsuccessfully tried to destroy the Kaminoan cloning facilities at the beginning of the war, desired the best for the galaxy, believing in the Confederacy's principles of justice, freedom, and liberty, and never defiling or tainting himself with its more questionable features that Grievous and Ventress practiced. While Jabiimi Nationalist Alto Stratus was another hatred-consumed man in the Separatist ranks, and hardly a pure man, he fought for the freedom of his people, the Jabiimites, and showed courage that was lacking in some other Separatist heroes. Nosaurian General Rootrock and his Captain Bomo Greenbark had less hate than Stratus, and also fought for the freedom and liberty of their people. Force-sensitive Tofen Vane of Valahari, tricked by Dooku into thinking that the Jedi murdered his father, fought with passion, bravery, and conviction for the Confederacy in his personal starfighter and was a true believer in the Confederate principles, too. Separatist Senator Mina Bonteri, however, may have been among the greatest Confederate heroes for her optimism, pure heart and complete lack of darkness in her soul. She attempted, again unsuccessfully, due to the machinations of the Sith, to forge a soft peace between the Confederacy and the Republic in an attempt to stop the war. And her young son, Lux Bonteri, though he disavowed his allegiance to the Separatists after his mother's murder, understood how not all the Separatists were as bad as the Republic and the Jedi thought they were, and convinced one Jedi, Padawan Tano, that this was true. And one more example of Separatist heroism is this: in the Battle of Viidaav, when General Grievous and Count Dooku set an explosive trap for both the clone army and their own forces, the Viidaav militia, and both sides learned of the trap, a clone commander and a Viidaav commander rushed to stop it. But the Viidaav shot the computer that operated the detonator while the clone commander shot him. In that battle, the Grand Army didn't win the day, the Separatist Viidaav militia did.

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Galactic Republic

The Republic heroes are of course the much more celebrated heroes of the Clone Wars, even in the real world, but they had their villains, too, and perhaps one difference between Confederate heroes and Republic heroes is this: the Separatist heroes usually stayed the way they were, a sort of "what you see is what you get" type of mindset, or, in uncommon cases, even improved on themselves and overcame some of their faults, like when many Separatist holdouts joined the Rebel Alliance years after the Clone Wars ended, while the Republic heroes started off as good, but later became bad, like Jedi corrupted by the war, Anakin Skywalker transformed into Darth Vader, and clone troopers carrying out Order 66 and becoming stormtroopers, or appeared good, but later revealed themselves as bad, like Chancellor Palpatine.

Although many Jedi were irredeemably corrupted by the Clone Wars, like Dooku, Sora Bulq, Depa Billaba, and Pong Krell, and the Jedi Council said and did some highly questionable things over the course of the war, particularly their treatment of Anakin, there were some Jedi who became heroes at least in the vision of the Force, if not on the HoloNet, which was routinely manipulated by Palpatine, and a rare few who were made better people by the war instead of worse. As stated above, Anakin and Obi-Wan made names for themselves as two of the greatest Jedi heroes during the war, with Anakin winning countless battles and campaigns, and Obi-Wan negotiating peace between many races and worlds, not to mention helping Anakin in many of his battles. Ahsoka Tano, Anakin's Padawan, could also be seen as a hero, for her own heroic deeds and actions, not the least of which was her eagerness to save lives, especially those of her friends, and her equally brave and selfless friend Barriss Offee overcame several ordeals with the dark side on Drongar in the second half of the war and made several friends who would remember her virtues and fortitude even in the face of anti-Jedi Imperial propaganda. Jedi Knight Aayla Secura also helped many worlds going through crises, including the forest moon of Endor, and was remembered for decades, maybe longer, as a mythical heroine, even by some of her treacherous troops. Her Master, Quinlan Vos, who served the Confederacy as a Republic spy and fell under the thrall of the dark side, was saved from darkness by Aayla, Master Tholme and the light of the Force, and survived Order 66 to live out many years secretly with his new family. And Master Kit Fisto, an amphibious Nautolan Jedi, helped save Dac and its Mon Calamari and Quarren inhabitants from the Separatist droid army twice.

Though the clones betrayed the Jedi and the Republic in the end, I think that many of them became heroes too, before Order 66. The old Star Wars Insider article "Guide to the Grand Army of the Republic", documented what made clone troopers into heroes, troopers like ARC Captain Fordo, Commander Bacara, Sergeant Fox, Delta Squad, Captain Jag, and Commander Deviss. Besides them, the five cadets of Domino Squad in The Clone Wars TV series proved themselves as fine soldiers, and three of them went on to do heroic deeds, with two of them, Echo and Fives, becoming ARC troopers, and Hevy sacrificing his life to save his brothers on Kamino. Maintenance clone 99 also showed the spirit of a true soldier, and Cut Lawquane displayed courage when he deserted the clone army and made a new life for himself on Saleucami with a farm and a family. Perhaps the Ghost Company scouts Waxer and Boil could be seen as heroes, because they showed a compassion for the casualties of war that was completely lacking in almost all stormtroopers, and Commander Gree may be one too, for his distinct individuality and love for alien species, especially since stormtroopers were conditioned to hate all aliens; I imagine that if Gree had survived Yoda's killing of him, he wouldn't have made one of the better stormtroopers. Of course, let's not forget Commander Cody, who fought bravely with Obi-Wan at many locations and remained his faithful friend until Order 66, and Captain Rex, who was an independent thinker who eventually could discern good orders from bad ones and freely chose not to turn in Cut for deserting. Some non-clone Republic officers could arguably be seen as heroes, too. Admiral Wullf Yularen was a strong and gallant fleet leader, and so was Captain Gilad Pellaeon. Even lowly Republic doctors, like those Barriss met on Drongar, had some brave devotion to idealism.

Even some senators were more idealistic and heroic than the supermajority in the Senate who were mind-controlled by Palpatine, which was certainly brave and rash considering that Palpatine had every intention of getting rid of all of them after the rise of the Empire, though they can be excused for it because none of those idealistic senators were aware of what was truly going on. Senator Padme Amidala of Naboo and Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan were two of the most compelling, with their ability to speak eloquently, their desire to do the right things for the right reasons, and their courage in the face of violent danger. Senator Mon Mothma, while not as adventurous as Padme and Bail, knew how to be a powerful speaker and not get in trouble for it. Onaconda Farr, while not necessarily an outright hero, was also a believer in peace and order. Riyo Chuchi, Senator of Pantora, gained courage through her adventures with Jedi Obi-Wan, Anakin, Ahsoka, and two Pantoran chairmen, and felt like nothing would scare her like it used to. Kin Robb of Taris may not have done any known heroic actions, but she apparently had enough love for peace that she'd rather side with Duchess Satine Kryze and her Council of Neutral Systems than let her world live out a ravaging war. And Satine, while not as optimistic as Padme, Mina or Mon Mothma, had her own pure heart because she would not take part in the Clone Wars, a very brave thing to do in such a controversial conflict.

As stated above, this is a matter of opinion. This essay says whom I think could count as heroes on both sides, each in their own way, and how some of them can also be seen as villains. I want to see if it can get Star Wars and Clone Wars fans thinking a little about how both factions in the Clone Wars had good people as well as bad people, and inspire them to form their own opinions, if they haven't already done so.

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As stated above, this is a matter of opinion. This essay says whom I think could count as heroes on both sides, each in their own way, and how some of them can also be seen as villains. I want to see if it can get Star Wars and Clone Wars fans thinking a little about how both factions in the Clone Wars had good people as well as bad people, and inspire them to form their own opinions, if they haven't already done so.

A/N: Please R&R!