Aberrant clones were genetically flawed clones of Galen Marek, a Human male Force user who served as the secret apprentice to the Sith Lord Darth Vader until his redemption and death in 2 BBY. In seeking to overthrow his Sith Master, Emperor Palpatine, Vader sought to create a new apprentice by using Marek's dead body as a template for a clone who possessed all of Marek's skills, none of his emotional attachments, and was fully committed to the dark side of the Force.
Utilizing an experimental version of the Kaminoan cloning process, Vader's scientists duplicated Marek's genetic code but encountered numerous setbacks as a result of attempting to replicate a Force-sensitive template. The initial test subjects were physically deformed and driven insane by the inherent memories of their progenitor. The procedure was gradually improved by the Lead Cloning Technician, who succeeded in creating a new batch of clones that physically resembled Marek at the time of his death. Nevertheless, they too suffered from an identity crisis due to the memory flashes that were meant to aid in their training. Ultimately, the aberrant clones were kept in stasis within the cloning facility of Timira City on the planet Kamino. Vader personally oversaw the training of clones who showed potential, casting aside each failure in an effort to find the one who met his expectations.
In 1 BBY, the Alliance to Restore the Republic attacked the Timira City cloning facility with the help of "Starkiller," a renegade clone who fled from Kamino after Vader deemed him another setback in a long line of failures. The rogue encountered multiple aberrant clones while attempting to rescue Juno Eclipse from Vader. Although Starkiller defeated the clones who attacked him, he regarded the manner of their deaths as a form of fratricide given that they were all created from the same source. He also recognized the mental instability of his clone brethren, having experienced his own sense of identity crisis due to the memories he possessed of another man's life.
Darth Vader's initial efforts to clone the original Starkiller resulted in multiple aberrant failures.
The aberrant clones came into existence as a result of clandestine project to replicate the late Galen Marek, the former Sith apprentice of the Sith Lord Darth Vader. Shortly after Marek sacrificed his own life in defense of the Rebel Alliance founders—senators Mon Mothma, Garm Bel Iblis, Bail Prestor Organa and Jedi Master Rahm Kota—Vader transported the apprentice's body to the planet Kamino, intending to preserve the corpse as a template from which the required DNA samples for cloning would be harvested.
Many obstacles hindered the project's success rate, however. First, the Dark Lord's scientists resorted to using the accelerated cloning process, an experimental procedure that produced full-grown subjects in under a few weeks; the drawback being that all clones bred through this process would inevitably succumb to madness due to their rushed growth cycle. Another dilemma that confounded the cloning technicians was the Force itself. By then, it had long been believed that clones could not be successfully created from Force-sensitive templates. There was no definitive explanation for this phenomenon, but Ni-Ke-Vanz theorized that the Force inherently hindered the cloning process. The third and most problematic obstacle was memory. In order for the new apprentice to utilize his inherent Force powers and combat skills, Marek's memories would have to be imprinted on his replacement's own brain, thus transferring his knowledge and experience to his clone. But through this, the clone would also develop an identity crisis as a result of possessing the memories and emotions of another person.
Despite these obstacles, Darth Vader proceeded with his plans and the initial results produced a batch of hundreds of aberrant clones, all physically deformed and mentally unstable, and none of whom were considered successful by Vader's standards or his lead cloning technician. The aberrant clones were put into suspended animation within their cloning tanks; the mistakes in their design would be gradually corrected, resulting in less flawed clones. Meanwhile, Vader personally trained several promising test subjects in the hopes that at least one clone would prove sufficient enough to become his new apprentice.
The renegade clone Starkiller saw several other clones of the same genetic source while experiencing a Force vision on Dagobah.
After months of failed attempts, the project was finally deemed a success when a single clone succeeded where all of his predecessors failed—he overcame the memory imprints of Galen Marek. By compartmentalizing and isolating Marek's memories, he was able to differentiate his progenitor's thoughts from his own. Around the same time, another clone had nearly succeeded in his own trials, only to disappoint Vader when he failed to overcome his ingrained attachment to Captain Juno Eclipse, a trait that his successful counterpart also inherited but later suppressed. Realizing that he would be disposed of as a failed test subject, the renegade clone managed to escape from Kamino, but later returned at the head of the Rebel Fleet in order to rescue Captain Eclipse.
Just as the fighting began, Boba Fett—a cloned bounty hunter hired by Darth Vader—encountered a lone aberrant clone who was armed with a red-bladed lightsaber. Driven by a sense of mindless rage, the clone attacked and nearly killed Fett, only to be killed when Fett desperately launched a missile from his Z-6 jetpack at the clone.
During the fighting, the renegade clone—by then referred to as "Starkiller," the former codename of his template—infiltrated Timira City where he was confronted by Darth Vader and the aberrant clones. Until this point, Starkiller did not believe that there had been other clones before him. The sight of his "brothers," however imperfect, forced him to confront what he had believed from the start—he was a clone and the original Starkiller had perished, just as Vader had told him. In the aberrant clones, the only emotions he sensed were hate, rage and an overwhelming desire to kill. Yet they also exhibited confusion; they were all equally confused over their own identities.
The aberrant clones were destroyed by Starkiller, another clone of the late Galen Marek, during the assault on Kamino.
While defending himself against the clones, Starkiller took time to study his precursors. He noted that the first wave to attack him were the weakest and easiest to kill; the second group was cautious enough to keep their distance from their target who was armed with dual lightsabers. The last waves included clones who wielded Force lightning, and those armed and trained in lightsaber combat. Despite the fact that they too possessed Marek's Force sensitivity, none of them could defeat the renegade clone in open battle. The ones who rushed at him were cut down, others were overpowered by his own command of the Force, and the rest attacked each other due to their unstable minds.
As the Assault on Kamino concluded with a decisive Rebel victory, Starkiller successfully rescued Juno Eclipse and defeated Darth Vader, who was then taken into Alliance custody. In spite of his success, Starkiller remained conflicted over his ordeal with the aberrant clones. Aside from their differences with him and each other, as clones they all possessed the same attributes as Galen Marek in greater or lesser degrees. As such, Starkiller came to struggle with his own guilt for killing the aberrant clones, an action which he considered to be a form of fratricide—even suicide, since they were all genetic copies of the same man.
Some of the aberrant clones were trained to wield two lightsabers, just like Starkiller and the Dark Apprentice.
Despite their many genetic flaws, the aberrant clones possessed Galen Marek's powerful affinity to the Force. But due to the psychological damage that they suffered in the cloning process, the clones would never be able to utilize Marek's abilities in a concentrated and focused way of combat. Since they were the first and most flawed versions of the clones, the genetically-inherited abilities of the original Starkiller were not evenly distributed among the aberrant clones.
Some clones were more skilled at using Force attacks such as Force lightning and Force push. Other clones were equipped with dual lightsabers and specialized in the Jar'Kai fighting style. All of the aberrant clones, however, were capable of shielding themselves from basic Force attacks, except for Mind Control. Even so, they were helpless against the full power of a Force Repulse when used by the renegade clone, as shown by how they were rendered into a fine bloody mist.
In the Xbox/PC/PS3 versions of the game, the aberrant clones' lightsabers have silver crystals. In the Wii version, they are colored purple, red, or orange. These different colors can help the player identify which clone uses what technique. Red lightsaber clones are melee, purple ones use Force Lightning, and the orange ones use Force Push, as evidenced by how they break out of their tanks to attack Starkiller by the sound of Force Repulse.
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II: Prima Official Game Guide
- Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide: Updated and Expanded