The 666th Legion, sometimes known by their nickname 'The Dark Legion', or their later nickname 'The Lost Legion' after the end of the war, was a Clone legion in the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars.
History[]
Formation[]
The legion was created in 23 BBY, one year before the start of the clone Wars and assigned to the Jedi Master Urde Ra'akdoon. Ra'akdoon spent some time with the Legion to begin to understand them and what he was now in command of. Whilst learning about his men, with the help of Captain CT-25/07 'Cutter', he decided that he would try to only recruit the 'outcasts' or 'misfits' from the clone batches, clones who were seen as 'defective' or had caused problems that would have led to them being killed as defects. This gave Ra'akdoon a Legion of initially hard to control men, though these clones quickly turned into fiercely loyal troops who bonded together and with Ra'akdoon who gave them a second chance at life and living.
Early combat[]
After getting to grips with his new command, the legion first saw action in the First Battle of Geonosis, where several notable troopers gained notoriety in the legion. After his original second in command was killed, the legion was surrounded in a droid factory, where Ra'akdoon encountered a captured clone being experimented on. The clone had lost his recent memory of all points between finishing his training on Kamino and waking up in the droid facility on Geonosis. He was only known by his armor designation, which was nearby, leading to Ra'akdoon naming him 'Lieutenant'.
Also during the battle, CT-1945 had, during the battle, shown his affinity for any and all weapons, saving the lives of his squamates multiple times during the battle. CT-1346 and CT-441 had shown themselves to be excellent marksmen as well as being able to shut down droids easily via other methods. Whilst Ra'akdoon was quizzing Lieutenant about how to came to be in the research facility, the droids attacked, with Captain Cutter being killed and CT-476 being quickly felled by an explosion, burning his face and damaging his helmet. Ra'akdoon, however, saved him using his Dark Side Force power to save him from death. After the battle was won and CT-476 had been treated by the medical droid, Ra'akdoon realised their worth and got them together with a proposal. CT-1945, CT-1346 and CT-441 were offered a position as the Legion's elite unit and Ra'akdoon's bodyguard, whilst CT-476 felt indebted to Ra'akdoon for saving his life, agreeing to join the squad. He dubbed them the 'Four Troopers of the Apocalypse' and gave them the nicknames of 'War', 'Disease', 'Famine', and 'Death' respectively.
During the siege of the factory, Ra'akdoon overheard two clones talking about programming and engineering, though keeping it quiet to avoid being overheard. Ra'akdoon kept it in his mind as the siege continued, making a mental note to search out the clones for some answers to this. However, near the end of the battle, CT-404 was felled by an explosion and the other clone, CT-1959, called for aid. Ra'akdoon recognised the two troopers as the ones who had been talking earlier, so once again used his Dark Side power to save CT-404. In the medbay of his Venator, Ra'akdoon found CT-1959 at the side of CT-404, concerned for his friend. Whilst the medical droid prepared to install cybernetics into CT-404's head to save him, Ra'akdoon asked CT-1959 about what they were talking about. After trying to bluff his way out, he told Ra'akdoon that the two were deserters who had been designated to engineers to be kept away from the fighting, though they wanted to be infantry. As such, they stowed away with the 666th to see combat as infantry. When Ra'akdoon discovered this, he gave them an offer. Either they could both go back and face desertion of duty for running away with the 666th or Ra’akdoon could ‘convince’ people they were assigned to the 666th the whole time and they could reprogram captured droids for the Legion, as well as handle the more engineering or programming side of combat. CT-1959 agreed to the second option for the both of them and thanked Ra'akdoon for helping them. A bank of computers was placed in CT-404's head to replace the damaged part of his brain and Ra'akdoon named two troopers 'Data' and 'Chip' after that for their programming prowess.
Order 66[]
The legion had stopped to meet another clone legion commanded by Jedi Knight Seculoo Onderas and her Padawan Gurtaka Kida, where Ra'akdoon had met them on the bridge of the Infiltrator II to exchange information. Ra'akdoon needed information on a Separatist fleet they were chasing whilst Seculoo needed information on a planet they were heading to after leaving Ra'akdoon. However, Order 66 was activated by Darth Sidious and the clones from Seculoo's legion turned on the Jedi, whilst a couple of Ra'akdoon's own clones were about to turn on the Jedi as well. Ra'akdoon knocked out his own clones whilst Seculoo and Gurtaka killed their own. Ra'akdoon was not targeted by the clones, which puzzled them, and Lieutenant and Death did not turn on the Jedi at all.
After Lieutenant convinced the other clone legion that their Jedi were dead and they left the system, Ra'akdoon led the 666th back to Coruscant with the hopes of retrieving both his and the Jedi's belongings from the Jedi Temple. Upon reaching the planet, the fleet remained in orbit whilst Ra'akdoon left to the planet below with Lieutenant, Death and the two Jedi who were disguised in some clone armor. They bluffed their way past the troopers of the 501st Legion, and managed to retrieve the Jedi's belongings as well as find recordings of the Siege of the Jedi Temple. After retrieving their belongings, Ra'akdoon led the fleet away from Coruscant towards the Outer Rim in order to place the legion in exile.
Whilst travelling, Ra'akdoon and his companions discovered the cause of Order 66, a bio-chip planted in the heads of the troopers. The reason for Lieutenant, Death and Data not turning is that their bio-chip had been unknowingly removed earlier in the war due to life saving head surgery, causing them to be unaffected. Ra'akdoon had the medical droid in the medbay of the Infiltrator II conduct a surgery on one of the injured troopers there to remove the chip. When that successfully nullified the cause of Order 66, he ordered a legion-wide 'medical check-up' for all the medical droids to remove their bio-chips. After this was a success, Ra'akdoon told his men of the end of the war and ultimate betrayal of the Chancellor and the destruction of the Jedi and Republic.
After this, Ra'akdoon led them into exile on Tokanga III after dropping off the Jedi on a different planet in the system. On Tokanga III, Ra'akdoon had them construct a farm and become farmers to serve the people of the planet, who swore themselves to secrecy about the clones.
Galactic Civil War[]
The legion quickly settled down to their new role as farmers, modifying their supply of vehicles and equipment to reach the more secluded towns and villages with their new produce. A large farm could supply the planet with plenty of food and supplies, which were far easier to distribute with the collection of clone equipment and vehicles. Under Ra'akdoon's guidance, the planet prospered and the Legion served them dutifully. When needed, the legion defended the planet against pirates and smugglers, though they made sure to hide when forces of the Galactic Empire occasionally came to the planet. If any of 666th Legion's troopers wanted to sign up to the Empire, they were free to, but very few took this up. Likewise, if any Rebel Alliance units came to the planet, Ra'akdoon did not stop his men from joining, but he also did not volunteer them to join the Rebellion. As far as he was concerned, his Legion was in retirement.
Final dissolution[]
Due to the advanced aging of the clones, shortly after the end of the Galactic Civil War, the 666th Legion's troopers started to pass away due to age, despite Ra'akdoon's efforts to give them advanced medical aid. Ra'akdoon gave them all a choice for when they died. They could either die and be buried with full military honors in a special graveyard for the 666th near the farm, they could be given the B'omarr Monk treatment and have their brains transferred to harmless droids so they could walk around in peace, or they could have their brain transferred to one of the legion's various reprogrammed droid models so they could continue to function somewhat normally, just in a droid body. Most chose to die and be buried, however some chose to be placed in droid bodies to continue serving Ra'akdoon when they died. Most notably of these were Lieutenant and the Four Troopers. Regardless of what they chose, upon the death of the last trooper some time around 10 ABY, the Legion was considered officially dissolved.
Legacy[]
The Legion was considered one of the better Legions in the Grand Army of the Republic under Ra'akdoon. With him in command, the Legion had one of the least casualty rates of the entire Army, despite their disposition of serving under Ra'akdoon. Due to Ra'akdoon's past, the Jedi were keen to place him and his men in any sort of tight spot they could, which resulted in the Legion constantly seeing heavy fighting against often far superior odds. Despite this, the Legion came out on top every time, though they still were given the nickname 'The Dark Legion' by other clones and even Jedi due to Ra'akdoon.
At their sudden disappearance at the end of the war, the Legion was spoken about with near spectral properties, with their sudden disappearance often cited as a result. Many theories were spoken about over the years, with things ranging from the Legion being quietly dissolved by the Empire to Ra'akdoon leading the Legion into the Unknown Regions to never be heard from again. Due to this mystery, the legion earned a new nickname of 'The Lost Legion'.
Behind the scenes[]
- The legion's number of 666th is a reference to the supposed 'number of the beast' and the fact that Urde Ra'akdoon was a former Sith.
- The main clone trooper's CT numbers are references to their nicknames.
- CT-1945 and his nickname 'War' is a reference to the end of WWII in 1945 AD and the only nuclear strikes carried out, mimicking the clone's affinity for all weapons.
- CT-476 and his nickname 'Death' is a reference to the fall, or 'death', of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD.
- CT-1346 and his nickname 'Disease' is a reference to the first occurrence of the Black Death in Europe in 1346 AD.
- CT-441 and his nickname 'Famine' is a reference to the first recorded famine in Ancient Rome in 441 BC.
- CT-404 and his nickname 'Data' is a reference to the well known internet error code '404' when a webpage can't be found.
- CT-1959 and his nickname 'Chip' is a reference to the year of the invention of the first integrated computer chip by Robert Noyce in 1959 AD.
- The name of Ra'akdoon's bodyguard clone group 'The Four Troopers of the Apocalypse' is a reference to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
List of appearances[]
- Morsian-Lutrinian Meet (first mention)
- The 666th Legion Chronicles
- The 666th Legion Chronicles: Geonosis (first appearance)
- The 666th Legion Chronicles: Jakkor
Gallery[]
