20 years after Clone Wars were the perfect Jedi trap, deliberately orchestrated by Palpatine to undermine and destroy the Jedi. As Matt Stover put it in the tremendous Revenge of the Sith novelization:

The Clone Wars have always been, in and of themselves, from their very inception, the revenge of the Sith.

They were irresistible bait. They took place in remote locations, on planets that belonged, primarily, to 'someone else.' They were fought by expendable proxies. And they were constructed as a win-win situation.

The Clone Wars the perfect Jedi trap.

By fighting at all, the Jedi lost.

Order 66 was the climax of the Clone Wars. The clones turned on the Jedi in an instant, gunning down the Jedi who had served as their generals for the last three years. It's one of the most powerful, iconic moments in Revenge of the Sith, but - surprisingly - over the years it's been reinterpreted and retconned so many times.

7 The Clones Were Compelled To Obey Order 66... Via Inhibitor Chips

George Lucas Found A Way To Have His Cake, & Eat It

Let's start with the biggest retcon of all, one that came about because George Lucas wanted to develop the clones as heroes in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The problem he faced, though, was that viewers knew how the story would end; they knew the heroes they were coming to love would inevitably turn on the Jedi, becoming the template for the stormtroopers. How could they possibly get past Order 66, and empathize with the clones as heroes again?

The answer lay in a smart retcon: the clones had no choice. The Clone Wars ultimately revealed that the Kaminoans implanted the clones with inhibitor chips; when Palpatine uttered the phrase "Order 66," the inhibitor chips were activated, and the clones lost all free will. They never chose to turn on the Jedi at all, because they lost the ability to choose. Chillingly, this technically means that Anakin Skywalker - a former slave - effectively led an army of slaves when he attacked the Coruscant Jedi Temple.

Viewers Absolutely Loved This Clone Wars Retcon

Many Star Wars retcons have become controversial over the years - but this isn't one of them. It's a smart way of solving George Lucas' biggest problem; how to make the clones sympathetic, when their heel-turn had already been seen on-screen? Even better, the inhibitor chips create some incredibly powerful narrative arcs, including one in which the clone trooper Fives comes tantalizingly close to discovering their existence.

All this came to a dramatic conclusion in The Clone Wars season 7. The final episodes ran concurrent with Revenge of the Sith, centering on Ahsoka Tano as she was targeted for death by the clones. It's a powerful, emotional climax to the story of the clones - just as they deserved.

6 Star Wars Has Explained Why Some Clones Resisted Order 66

The Bad Batch Explained

Both Star Wars Legends and canon featured clones who disobeyed Order 66. In Legends, these were simply clones who decided this was one command they wouldn't choose to follow; in canon, it's a little trickier, because of the addition of the inhibitor chips. An explanation has been offered by Star Wars book Dawn of Rebellion: The Visual Guide, which reveals:

"The secret weapon of the Order 66 command, encoded into each clone's genetic make-up, needed complete, uniform subservience to work. When the time came, the order's execution largely succeeded, but there were a few strong-minded clones who resisted."

Order 66, it seems, was encoded on a genetic level - although strong-willed clones could resist. This fits well with Star Wars: The Bad Batch, which revealed that the mutant clones of Clone Force 99 all resisted Order 66 to some degree. The Kaminoan genetic experiments unwittingly compromised the efficiency of their inhibitor chips.

5 The Effect Of The Inhibitor Chips Faded With Time

Cody Proves The Point

Surprisingly, Star Wars: The Bad Batch revealed the effect of the inhibitor chips faded with time. In the months after Revenge of the Sith, clones began quietly slipping away into the shadows, abandoning the Empire. Some actively rebelled, pushing for inquiries, refusing to obey further orders - and likely meeting a grim fate.

The ultimate example is Obi-Wan's close friend, Commander Cody, who turned on Obi-Wan in Revenge of the Sith. As seen in The Bad Batch, Cody became wracked with guilt over his actions, struggling to reconcile what he'd done with his past friendship with the Jedi Master. Unaware of the inhibitor chip, he found the colliding emotions and sentiments too much to deal with, and left his post.

4 The 501st Sacked Other Jedi Temples Too

The Attack On Coruscant Was Just The Beginning

Now let's turn to Rodney Barnes and Ramon Rosanos' Inquisitors #4, which recently revealed a surprising change in Star Wars lore. This opened with a flashback to the planet Zondula, where a Jedi Temple had continued to function throughout the Clone Wars. In the aftermath of Order 66, the 501st continued their mission across the galaxy, ransacking other active Jedi Temples and killing the Jedi there. Order 66 was less a one-time event than it was the beginning of a process, one that may well have lasted several months.

This is actually quite a major change to the story of Order 66, bringing together multiple retcons at once. Until this comic, we'd believed the Jedi had closed all the other temples by the time of the prequel trilogy era, with the order based solely on Coruscant. Still, the addition of new Jedi Temples opens up some fascinating story possibilities, and it will be exciting to see what comes of them.

3 Some Inquisitors Participated In Order 66

A Shocking Change That Rewrites The History Of The Inquisitors

That wasn't actually the first shocking retcon that came from Barnes and Rosanos' Inquisitors miniseries. Another major one came in a brief flashback in Inquisitors #2, which showed Fifth Brother working alongside clone troopers in what was clearly an image of Order 66. This confirms what many had long theorized; that Palpatine laid the groundwork for the Imperial Inquisitors during the Clone Wars, turning Jedi to the dark side and training them in secret.

Why haven't we seen any hint of Inquisitors participating in Order 66 until now? Simply because the Star Wars stories have tended to focus on Jedi who were particularly sensitive to the Force (or to their equally-sensitive masters). Palpatine wouldn't dare send Inquisitors close to the likes of Yoda or Obi-Wan Kenobi, because they'd have sensed the dark side coming close, and they'd have been tipped off.

2 How Palpatine Recruited The Inquisitors

He Knew Which Jedi Had To Survive Order 66

Delilah S. Dawson's fantastic book Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade focuses on the story of Iskat Akaris, a Jedi with a propensity for violence who was destined to become one of the Inquisitors. The novel reveals that Palpatine had spies in the Jedi Temple, who helped him identify Jedi who would make good Inquisitors. Palpatine seems to have orchestrated a personal meeting with each candidate to evaluate them.

If they wouldn't turn, then they'd die.

When Order 66 was issued, the clone troopers had a list of Jedi who should be offered a chance to live - Jedi who could be swayed by Palpatine's lies about the Order, and who he believed could become Inquisitors. They would then be taken to Coruscant, where they would be imprisoned and assessed by the Grand Inquisitor. If they wouldn't turn, then they'd die.

1 More Jedi Survived Order 66 Than We Thought

Just How Many Order 66 Survivors Were There?

Revenge of the Sith seemed to imply that only a handful of Jedi survived Order 66. We've since learned that wasn't the case; Disney canon has introduced a surprising number of Order 66 survivors, including:

• Kelleran Beq
• Grogu
• Caleb Dume (Kanan Jarrus)
• Cal Kestis
• Cere Junda
• Jocasta Nu

It's worth noting that George Lucas himself intended there to be quite a few Order 66 survivors; his original plans for the sequel trilogy would see Luke working with 50-100 Jedi who'd emerged from the shadows of the galaxy, helping him rebuild the Jedi Order. To be fair, the idea that Palpatine successfully killed every single Jedi in an instant always seemed unlikely, especially given the additional Star Wars retcon of other Jedi Temples.