I can't believe it took Star Wars 22 years to REALLY show how horrible the Clone Wars were

Notice! This post contains SPOILERS for Star Wars: Skeleton Crew episode 4Skeleton Crew episode 4 presents a dark parallel to the prequel trilogy, which shows how horrible the Clone Wars in fact they were. Arriving on the similar but war-torn planet of At Achrann, the children of Attin encounter two rival clans known as the Troik and Hattan. To that end, it's hard not to see a key element of the Troik warriors as an indictment of the Jedi Order.

Previously on Skeleton Crew episode 3, Jude Law's Jod Na Nawood took Wim, KB, Fern and Neel to their old contact Khy'mm, an owl-like astronomer who gave them coordinates to a system that could be their lost homeworld, Attin. To that end, Skeleton Crew episode 4 brings the crew of The onyx gray for At Achrann, another “Jewel of the Old Republic” with its dark parallels to The Clone Wars.

In Achrann shows the horror of child soldiers

Troik children are treated like adult warriors in Skeleton Crew episode 4

Shortly after landing on At Achrann, the children encounter two child warriors belonging to the Troik clan.. One of these child soldiers is named Hayna, daughter of the Troik's top general. It is from her that the children of Attin learn that this world (which looks so much like theirs) has been at war for a long time. Likewise, the children of the Troik are viewed in the same light as the adult warriors of the clan and as such are called upon to fight against the rival Hattans.

This revelation explains Hayna's skill with a blaster, as well as why her father demands that Attin's children prove their bravery before he agrees to help them find Attin. However, children have difficulty reconciling themselves with the idea of ​​fighting and always being at war, especially Neel. After all, Attin is a much more prosperous world that has never experienced war or conflict (at least during the children's lifetimes). Regardless, it's a pretty dark concept for the Troik to force its own children to fight in its wars.

In Child Soldiers of Achrann, the children remind me a lot of the Jedi

Padawans during the Clone Wars

What makes this idea Skeleton Crew Episode 4 is even darker when you start thinking about The Clone Wars. After all, recruiting and putting children on the front lines is basically what the Jedi did with their Padawans after the Jedi Order agreed to serve as generals in the Republic's war with the Separatists. Padawans became commanders leading troops into battle, and the testing of apprentices was accelerated so that more Jedi Knights were ready to lead even more forces into battle during the three-year conflict.

A prime example is Ahsoka Tano, who began her training as a Padawan and led troops into battle with Anakin Skywalker at the age of fourteen.. That's about the same age as Hayna appears to be Skeleton Crew episode 4. As such, it's hard not to see the dark parallel, once made, between the events of the Clone Wars and those that took place decades later, during the New Republic Era, between the Troik and the Hattan.

Star Wars is finally acknowledging the darkness of the Clone Wars

The beginning of the end for the Jedi Order

The Troik's child soldiers certainly seem like a chilling and intentional comparison to the Clone Wars. However, it is only the latest for the Star Wars franchise that was made recently. After all, 2023 Ahsoka featured an adult Tano struggling with the trauma she suffered in her youth, as seen during Clone Wars flashbacks during Ahsoka's encounter with her former master in the vergence of the Force known as the World Between Worlds.

In Ahsoka's mind, she felt as if she had been trained only to be nothing more than a soldier, a product of the time in which she was trained and the widespread galactic conflict that had gripped the galaxy. However, Skywalker's spirit eventually shows Ahsoka that she was always more than that, and there also appears to be hope for Hayna, who has been shown to genuinely respond to Neel's feelings and consider doing things differently. when one day she inherits leadership of the Troik from her father. As such, this further supports the idea that the parallel to the Clone Wars was made intentionally in this new Star Wars series.

New episodes of Skeleton Crew releasing Tuesday nights on Disney+.