Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for Star Wars: Sanctuary (A Bad Batch Novel) by Lamar Giles.While the Clone Wars era has become one of Star Wars’ most expansive, there are still ways to completely transform it, which this story based on Star Wars: The Bad Batch has certainly accomplished. The Bad Batch TV show takes place just after Order 66, exploring the earliest days of the Galactic Empire’s reign.

Following Clone Force 99, who made their debut in Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 7, The Bad Batch has provided audiences with a glimpse at what it was like to watch the Empire’s oppressive might reach throughout the galaxy. The brand-new book Star Wars: Sanctuary (A Bad Batch Novel) by Lamar Giles provides even more context for this.

Purchase Star Wars: Sanctuary (A Bad Batch Novel) Here

Taking place between The Bad Batch season 2, episode 13 “Pabu” and episode 14 “Tipping Point,” Sanctuary doesn’t just focus on the current standing of the Empire. It also completely transforms several major aspects of the Clone Wars, forever changing the way we see this galactic conflict that paved the way for Palpatine’s unjust regime.

7

One Senator Pushed For A Wounded Clones Bill During The War

To say the clone troopers were mistreated during and after the war is an understatement. Created by the Kaminoans based on bounty hunter Jango Fett’s model, the clones were often prejudiced against and reduced to nothing more than Republic property by much of the galaxy, even those within the Republic Senate.

Despite this, Sanctuary reveals that a newly elected senator, Elem Tyzdel, drafted a Wounded Clones Bill that involved taking several wounded clones from Kamino to Coruscant to stand before the Republic Senate. One of the senators in support of this bill was, unsurprisingly, Padmé Amidala herself, though the bill ultimately lost traction and was abandoned.

6

The Separatists Had Spies Inside The Republic Senate

The character Sohi, also known as Gayla Reen, reveals in Sanctuary that she was a Separatist spy stationed inside the Republic Senate itself. This was made possible by her standing in as an aide to Senator Tanner Cadaman, where she was given access to classified information that included troop movement, weapons development, and the like.

The fact that Sohi was able to infiltrate the Republic Senate so easily makes it even more plausible that she wasn’t the only spy inside the senate. Who knows where else these Separatist spies could have been, and what battles they could have sabotaged for the Republic? It’s certainly a chilling thought to have in retrospect.

5

Clones Had A Supersтιтion About Soldiers Who Lost Their Squads

In Sanctuary, the clone trooper Ponder, now Sohi’s partner, tells the story of how he lost his leg during the war, leading to him having to work in the kitchen on Kamino. An explosion took out the entirety of his squad aside from him, a loss that completely prevented him from returning to the war.

It’s Tech who explains why that is. As it turns out, the Regs, or regular clone troopers, like Ponder had a supersтιтion that whenever a clone trooper lost their entire squad, the surviving trooper was thus bad luck. No other squad was willing to take them in, thus relegating them to a job on Kamino instead.

4

The Delegation Of 2000 Wasn’t Exactly A Well-Kept Secret

The Delegation of 2,000 was a group of Republic senators, many of whom were also a part of the Loyalist Committee, who openly opposed the powers Palpatine had been granted during the Clone Wars. Deleted scenes from Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith show Padmé, Bail Organa, and Mon Mothma as crucial members.

While this group wasn’t necessarily a secret, given the fact they had an open peтιтion backing them, their true concerns about Palpatine himself were perhaps more common knowledge than they realized. Sohi mentions the Delegation of 2,000 to Hunter, Omega, and Phee Genoa in Sanctuary as an excuse for her being an Imperial fugitive, which proves this point.

3

Republic War Propaganda Fixated On The Importance Of Unity

The existence of war propaganda during the Clone Wars isn’t a new thing. We’ve even seen the clone troopers themselves outfit their barracks, ships, and more with posters that promote the Grand Army of the Republic and call for the galaxy to support their troops and the Jedi who lead them.

Sanctuary, however, gives us a more in-depth look at this propaganda, and the meaning behind it. Wrecker particularly analyzes propaganda that’s based on unity, something the clone troopers took very seriously both on and off the battlefield. The rest of the galaxy, however, didn’t resonate with that sentiment as much, leading to one particular poster being defaced.

2

Clones Could Biologically Sire Children

The age-old question of whether the clone troopers could biologically sire children or not has finally been answered in Sanctuary. For a long time, the common belief has been that clones are not capable of doing so, given the fact they were engineered purely to be good soldiers who would have no need for reproduction.

Sanctuary, however, makes it clear that Ponder is the biological father of his and Sohi’s baby girl, Coru. This provides the definitive answer that clone troopers can indeed have children biologically should they wish to, something Tech and Phee even discuss together at one point in the book. This is great news for Wrecker, who loves being an uncle.

1

Plan 99 Was Crafted Before The Bad Batch’s First Mission

While this may not have major implications for the Clone Wars writ large, it does for Clone Force 99 specifically during the Clone Wars era. The only glimpses we truly have of them during the conflict are in The Clone Wars season 7 and Michael Moreci’s comic miniseries Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories — The Bad Batch — Ghost Agents.

Finding out that Plan 99, as tragically utilized by Tech in The Bad Batch season 2 finale, was crafted before their first mission almost completely changes their outlook during the entire war. They were more than ready to sacrifice themselves for one another at any point from the get-go, proving that they never truly expected everyone to survive.

Star Wars: Sanctuary (A Bad Batch Novel) is available for purchase now.