Retired clone trooper

In 3 ABY, a year before the Battle of Endor which occurred a year later, a retired stormtrooper—a first-generation clone of the bounty hunter Jango Fett—penned a personal journal that supposedly detailed his life as a soldier in the Imperial 501st Legion. This trooper, along with countless other clones originating from the same genetic source, was bioengineered in the Kamino cloning centers specifically to serve as a soldier for the Galactic Republic. He was among the earliest combat-ready soldiers that made up the newly established Grand Army of the Republic in 22 BBY. Shortly after surviving the opening battle of the Clone Wars, the trooper enlisted in the 501st Legion, an elite unit of clone soldiers commissioned by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine.

The following three years saw the escalation of a civil war between the Galactic Republic and the Separatist rebellion. The trooper and a detachment of the 501st were frequently moved between battlefields during the Outer Rim campaign. His service history included missions on Mygeeto, Felucia, Kashyyyk, and Utapau. He also functioned as a pilot in the Battle of Coruscant. During these final engagements of the Clone Wars, the trooper served under the leadership of various Jedi commanders, including General Ki-Adi-Mundi, General Yoda, and General Obi-Wan Kenobi. However, just before the Clone Wars concluded, Chancellor Palpatine initiated Order 66, the contingency order that commanded all clone troopers to eliminate their Jedi commanders in the event of a "Jedi rebellion."

The clone trooper, along with the rest of the 501st, was assigned to carry out a mission known as Operation: Knightfall, with the objective of killing everyone inside the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Under the command of the Sith Lord Darth Vader, the trooper and his comrades slaughtered numerous Jedi students and Temple guards, including three Jedi Masters who died defending the Temple. Subsequently, Palpatine was declared Emperor of the newly formed Galactic Empire; the remaining Fett clones were rebranded as the first stormtroopers of the New Order.

During the reign of the Empire, the former clone trooper took part in numerous secret operations personally overseen by the 501st, which was now known as "Vader's Fist" because of its brutal efficiency and unique position as Darth Vader's personal legion. Over the next decade, they quashed insurgencies on Naboo, annihilated one of the last Separatist strongholds on Mustafar, and were even compelled to eradicate an army of renegade clone troopers that had been bred by a Kaminoan resistance group.

The trooper's final years of service were marked by the rise of a new rebellion, formed by a growing organization called the Alliance to Restore the Republic. In 0 BBY, a Jedi prisoner spearheaded a revolt involving Rebel and Wookiee captives on the DS-1 Orbital Battle Station, known as the "Death Star." The trooper and a contingent of the 501st responded by suppressing the prison riot, but ultimately failed to prevent the Rebels from transmitting the battle station's schematics to the Alliance's base on Polis Massa. As a consequence of their failure, the 501st was tasked with tracking down and recovering the stolen plans before the Rebels could discover any critical weaknesses in the Death Star's design. After surviving a challenging engagement against Alliance soldiers on Polis Massa, the trooper participated in an attack on the Tantive IV, capturing Alderaan Senator Leia Organa in the process.

Following the Battle of Yavin, which resulted in the Death Star's destruction, the trooper and other surviving members of the 501st joined other Imperial units in a major counteroffensive against the Rebel Alliance. They successfully pushed the remaining Rebel forces away from Yavin 4, although the trooper considered it a pyrrhic victory due to the loss of the Death Star, the countless Imperial lives lost, and the reduction of the 501st to a third of its original strength.

The trooper's final journal entry detailed his reflections on the Battle of Hoth and its aftermath. In 3 ABY, Darth Vader and the Imperial Navy discovered the Alliance's secret base on Hoth. The trooper was deployed to the planet's surface with a large assault force consisting of snowtroopers and several All Terrain Armored Transports. After destroying the planet's shield generator, the 501st—led by Darth Vader himself—assaulted the Alliance base and engaged the remaining Rebels in a firefight outside the main hangar. They successfully planted a homing beacon beneath one of the last GR-75 medium transports, allowing an Imperial Star Destroyer to destroy the transport from orbit. The trooper and other soldiers of the 501st gathered around the burning wreckage of the fallen Rebel starship and celebrated what they believed was a sign of the Rebellion's final demise.

By the time he was discharged after years of active duty, the retired trooper was a veteran of both the Clone Wars and the Galactic Civil War. He fondly remembered the Rebel Alliance's defeat at the Battle of Hoth, an event he also believed was responsible for restoring order to the galaxy. Knowing that a new and larger Death Star was under construction, the former trooper felt confident that the Galactic Empire had triumphed once again, an accomplishment he attributed to the clone soldiers of Darth Vader's 501st Legion. However, his confidence in the Empire's ultimate victory proved to be misplaced. A year following the Battle of Hoth, the Alliance achieved a decisive victory at the Battle of Endor, which led to the collapse of the Empire and the disbandment of the 501st Legion.

The clone trooper was an intensely loyal soldier who had strong beliefs in the purpose for which he and his brethren were created: an army of highly efficient and obedient soldiers. As a young clone, he was initially uncertain about his readiness for war, admitting that the years of training on Kamino were no match for the realities of a real battlefield. However, the Republic's initial victory on Geonosis bolstered the trooper's morale, making him feel battle-hardened and prepared to serve the Republic in the Clone Wars.

In several entries in his journal, the trooper expressed respect and even admiration for certain members of the Jedi Order, especially Aayla Secura, whom he credited with single-handedly saving the 501st during their mission on Felucia. The clone also held Yoda's combat abilities in high esteem, acknowledging that the Jedi Grand Master's presence on Kashyyyk virtually guaranteed the Republic's success against a Separatist invasion force.

Despite his unwavering loyalty to the Republic, the trooper occasionally questioned some of his orders in private, particularly those he didn't understand or agree with. Although he later developed a newfound appreciation for the combat skills of the Wookiee warriors, the trooper was initially dismayed at the thought of so many clones dying for a species he dismissed as a "bunch of walking carpets." After Order 66 was initiated, the trooper quietly mourned Secura's death, hoping that she had at least been granted a swift end. During Operation: Knightfall, he concealed his own reservations about the order to execute every member of the Jedi Order. Nevertheless, he remained focused on his duty, carrying it out with the same silence and cold determination that had consumed the 501st Legion as they stormed the Jedi Temple.

Afterward, the clone adapted well to his new role as an Imperial stormtrooper. He firmly supported the ideals of the New Order and dutifully enforced Emperor Palpatine's rule through the brutal tactics that earned the 501st its reputation as "Vader's fist." When remnants of the former Separatist movement threatened to reignite civil war, the trooper expressed utter hatred and contempt for the clones' battle droid counterparts. He couldn't bear the thought of fighting against more of his enemies from the Clone Wars, all of whom he bitterly referred to as "gearheads."

His loyalty to the Empire was so complete that he had no qualms about fighting against his own kind, specifically an entire generation of Fett clones that had been engineered to take up arms against the Empire. Yet despite his subservient nature, the trooper didn't approve of the Emperor's decision to marginalize Jango Fett's progeny with additional clones based on different templates. As the years passed, the trooper lamented how the Imperial Army steadily became more diverse, much to the dismay of the Fett clones.

The trooper, like many of his fellow Clone Wars veterans, secretly enjoyed suppressing local insurrections, simply because they provided the stormtroopers with something to do in a time when few were willing to oppose the Empire's military might. When the Rebel Alliance declared war against the Empire, the trooper complimented the Rebellion's organization and growing numbers. After the Death Star's destruction, the trooper was filled with hatred for the Rebels, whom he blamed for the deaths of so many Imperial soldiers, including two-thirds of the 501st, some of whom he had served with since the beginning of the Clone Wars. Thus, he came to view the Rebellion as a dangerous threat, not only to the Empire but also to the peace and security of the galaxy.

The trooper was initially equipped with the standard gear of rank-and-file clone troopers, including the Phase I battle armor, the DC-15A blaster rifle, the DC-15S, and thermal grenades. Near the end of the Clone Wars, his armor was upgraded to the more advanced Phase II successor, which featured the distinctive blue markings of the 501st Legion.

When the Republic was reorganized into the Empire, the trooper upgraded to the standard stormtrooper armor. His primary and secondary weapons were changed to the E-11 blaster rifle and the SE-14r light repeating blaster, respectively.

Temuera Morrison voiced the battle-worn clone trooper, who is identified as the "retired clone trooper" in the credits of Star Wars: Battlefront II.