When the Clone Wars ended and the Republic shifted into the Galactic Empire, the clones found themselves in a strange place. For years, they had fought with complete loyalty. Every battle, every order, every sacrifice was for the Republic, and later, for the Emperor’s new rule. Fighting was their purpose, their identity. So when word came down that the cloning facilities on Kamino were shutting down, it struck them hard.
The First Blow: Learning They’d Be Replaced
The news spread quickly during the Empire’s early months. Rumors circulated through the ranks that the Empire had halted Kamino’s cloning operations, leaving only one generation of soldiers with no successors to follow. For soldiers who had lived only to fight, it felt like their whole future was collapsing.
In one account from Darth Vader (2017) #2, clones like Kicker and his brothers vented their frustrations while assigned to inventory forgotten Jedi relics.
“The best soldiers in the galaxy, and here we are, stuck making an inventory of a bunch of Jedi junk at the far end of space. What a waste.”
Another clone complained that despite surviving a hundred missions, this quiet duty felt like the one that might finally kill him—of boredom.
But the banter soon gave way to deeper concerns.
“Take this seriously. Every mission is important. If Emperor Palpatine wants this done, then we get it done. We beat the Separatists—great. You think they’re the only enemies out there?”
“No. I just don’t think we’ll be the ones fighting them.”
“What do you mean?”
“I heard they shut down the facilities on Kamino. They’ll train up the last batch of clones and that’s it.”
The revelation shocked them. If not clones, who would protect the Empire? Yet one soldier voiced the unspoken fear:
“Don’t know, Kicker. But it won’t be us. We get to pack up old Jedi way stations and crate everything back to Coruscant. I think our fighting days are done.”
Many, such as clones Ding and Kicker, openly pondered the fate of their kind and the Empire’s future. Older clones dreaded the thought of retirement, seeking ways to remain in service, even if it meant joining elite groups like the Emperor’s Royal Guard. The looming reality that their people would dwindle with time—not from battle, but from accelerated aging—brought not just shock, but grief for the loss of an entire brotherhood.
The thought of being pushed aside stung deeply. Fighting was the one thing they understood, and some even loved the rush of it. To hear they would be reassigned to support duties, or worse, made to step away from the frontlines entirely, felt insulting. They weren’t built to run cargo or do desk work. They wanted to be in the thick of battle, as they always had been.
Aging Soldiers in a New Era
By the fifth year of the Empire, the shift was clear. Most clones had already been phased out, with only a handful still serving among the stormtroopers. But even those who stayed couldn’t escape the toll of accelerated aging. Bodies that once moved like machines on the battlefield now betrayed them.
There’s one telling story: a clone stormtrooper lost his grip on a valuable cargo crate when strong winds knocked him off balance. Vader himself told the soldier to retire, saying he wasn’t as strong as he believed. The clone refused to step down, but the shame cut deep. It was a moment of truth—proof that their glory days were behind them.
In later years, the few who remained in service often became instructors. They trained the new human recruits, passing on skills they had mastered in war. It gave them a new role, but it never erased the feeling of loss that came with being replaced.
Legends Take on the Transition
Legends material adds more depth to this uneasy transition. For a while, clones still made up the majority of the stormtrooper corps. But the Empire began producing clones from different templates, moving away from Jango Fett’s line.
By the seventh year, tensions boiled over with the Kamino rebellion. Kaminoan scientists, unhappy with the Empire, created their own private army of clones to resist. The rebellion failed, but it gave Palpatine a reason to widen stormtrooper recruitment, reducing his reliance on cloned soldiers who might one day turn on him.
The clones who remained didn’t take kindly to this change. They saw themselves as the Empire’s pure fighting force, forged in war and hardened by discipline. To them, the human recruits diluted the ranks. They considered the new stormtroopers weak, sloppy, and unworthy of the armor.
A Legacy of Pride and Bitterness
As time went on, Jango Fett’s clones became a minority. Only the 501st Legion kept its reputation as a full unit of Fett’s line. Others who survived—whether still serving or retired—watched the stormtroopers stumble through battles with less skill and less courage. Many felt embarrassed on behalf of the armor they once wore with pride.
Even those who trained recruits, like Commander Cody in some versions of the story, couldn’t shake their judgment. They saw the new soldiers as unfit to carry the legacy of the Grand Army of the Republic. For the clones, being replaced was both losing their jobs and watching their legacy handed over to men they believed could never live up to it.