Everyone who has seen at least one Star Wars movie (unless they've only seen the the prequel trilogy) knows who the stormtroopers are and what they look like. They aren't clones, and they wear all-white armor with a peculiar looking helmet, which is why they are sometimes referred to by the derogatory name "bucketheads." Judging by their record fighting the Rebellion, perhaps they deserve it. It may seem like there isn't much to know about stormtroopers, but they actually have a rather interesting history.

With that in mind, here are 15 Things You Never Knew About Stormtroopers.

15. Stormtroopers originally had lightsabers

For those of you who don't know who the late Ralph McQuarrie is, he was the visionary concept artist responsible for the majority of how the original Star Wars trilogy (and thus Star Wars as a whole) looked and felt. Darth Vader (and his breathing apparatus), R2-D2, C-3PO, the rebels on Hoth, all the films' sets, and so much more -- he was responsible for it all. In fact, his drawing of Artoo and Threepio on Tatooine is what convinced 20th Century Fox to fund Star Wars in the first place.

While a lot of what McQuarrie designed ended up in the Star Wars galaxy, certain things were removed or altered, such as the Stormtrooper Corps. Some of McQuarrie's concept art for the original trilogy have been published in various collections over the years, and one of the earliest concept art drawings shows stormtroopers wielding lightsabers. That's right, the people who apparently can't hit a stationary object once used a far more elegant weapon than a blaster rifle.

14. Most Stormtroopers in the Original Trilogy were left-handed

In our world, approximately ten percent of the population is left-handed. It makes lefties all the more unique. But it looks like left-handed people are a lot more common in the Star Wars galaxy, because the vast majority of stormtroopers in the original trilogy were left-handed (or at least carried their blasters like they were).

Sure, things may be different in a galaxy far, far away, but for argument's sake, let's say they aren't. Let's say the Star Wars galaxy also has left-handed people making up about ten percent of its population. Going based on that statistic, there is likely a far greater ratio of lefties with the stormtrooper ranks.

Unfortunately, there isn't a canonical or Legends (formerly known as the Expanded Universe) explanation for why stormtroopers were left-handed in the original Star Wars trilogy. But one thing's for sure, whatever the reason was, the First Order seems to have fixed/changed it, because their stormtroopers are practically all right-handed. Just look at Finn, and his one-time friend, Nines.

13. 30,984 Stormtroopers died in the Death Star explosion

The Empire killed billions of people when they blasted Alderaan using the Death Star, and the Rebels retaliated by destroying their battle station/murder machine. They may not have killed as many people as the Empire, but the Rebels surely put a dent into their Stormtrooper program, because a lot of their soldiers died on the Death Star.

When it comes to canon, it's unclear how much personnel (and how many stormtroopers among those personnel) were aboard the Death Star when it exploded. However, when we take a look into Star Wars Legends, we see that there were 265,675 people on the Death Star when it met its fateful end. Among those people were 30,984 stormtroopers.

These numbers come from various sources within the Legends continuity. While we can't be one hundred percent sure there were just under 31,000 stormtroopers aboard the Death Star, it would be strange if the unknown, canonical number is all that far off. It seems like a rather trivial thing to alter.

12. Commander Cody thought Stormtroopers were inferior to clones

Clone troopers were phased out of the Imperial Stormtrooper program early on in the Galactic Empire's history, but a few remaining clones stayed on temporarily. In Legends, however, some remained within the ranks for a lot longer than the rest of their clone trooper brethren, such as Commander Cody.

Star Wars fans will recognize Commander Cody, who was a high-ranking clone trooper assigned to Obi-Wan Kenobi during the Clone Wars. Although clones were initially part of the Stormtrooper Corps, over time, they were replaced by human recruits, and that is something Cody didn't like. He believed that they were ineffective and couldn't live up to the standards the Clone Army was once known for having.

Even Captain Rex agrees with the Commander's opinion. In fact, the Captain also believes stormtrooper armor is significantly worse than the armor clone troopers wore during the Clone Wars, something he's mentioned time and again in the Star Wars Rebels animated series.

11. Why clone troopers were replaced, according to George Lucas

For a long time, casual moviegoers assumed that all stormtroopers were clones, but that general sentiment changed when J.J. Abrams and Lucasfilm cast John Boyega as a First Order stormtrooper in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. We even got a short backstory of how the First Order obtains their candidates for the Stormtrooper Corps.

Immediately, it's evident that the First Order's troopers are much more skilled than their Empire predecessors. And the clone troopers that came before those stormtroopers were even more skilled than the First Order. So, the question is, why would the Empire choose to end the clone program and invest in human recruits?

According to George Lucas, whose notes were revealed during a Star Wars Rebels at New York Comic-Con 2013, stormtroopers would be inherently more loyal than clones. An exact quote wasn't given during the , but Lucas' notes stated that clones were becoming too individualistic, and stormtroopers proved to be more patriotic.

10. Stormtrooper training and female Stormtroopers

In The Force Awakens, Finn reveals that he was taken from birth and trained his entire life to become a stormtrooper. That may be how the First Order handles their recruits -- and it may be an effective method, for the most part -- but it's not how the Empire filled their ranks with loyal fighters.

According to George Lucas, people who ed the Empire willingly were more likely to remain loyal to the Emperor and his reign of terror than they were to eventually defect (which is something that pretty much never happened). Once recruited, prospective stormtroopers are charged with enduring two grueling years of training at the Carida Academy.

Several officers in the Imperial Army, Navy, and Stormtrooper Corps trained at the Academy, which was one of many that the Empire created throughout the galaxy. For instance, female cadets who were interested in becoming a stormtrooper trained in all-female units at places like the Academy for Young Imperials on Lothal.

9. Specialized Stormtroopers

When people think of stormtroopers, they think of the standard, all-white stormtroopers seen throughout the original Star Wars trilogy, as well as in The Force Awakens and Rogue One. But as we've come to learn, those aren't the only types of stormtroopers running around. The Stormtrooper Corps consists of several divisions that specialize in different equipment, environments, and purpose. They aren't really a new concept either, as we saw the first specialized stormtroopers on Tatooine way back in A New Hope: the Sandtroopers who were searching for R2-D2 and C-3PO.

In addition to Sandtroopers, there are Snowtroopers who, obviously, specialize in wintry conditions, like attacking the Rebels on Hoth. Aside from the traditional specializations, there are shadow troopers, who wear cloaking-enabled all-black armor and use T-21 repeating blasters, Spacetroopers, who wore packs that allowed them to survive/function in space, and Magma Troopers, whose specialized armor allowed them to fight in intense heat. There are plenty more, but one set of stormtroopers worth mentioning are the newly unveiled Death Troopers.

Death Troopers make their first theatrical appearance in Rogue One, acting as the personal guard of the film's big bad, Director Krennic. He isn't unique, though -- Death Troopers served the elite bodyguards of all high-ranking in the Tarkin Initiative, a covert think tank that's part of the Empire's Advanced Research Division. In addition to protecting military leaders, Death Troopers served in Imperial Intelligence, and they specialized in all sorts of weaponry, including short-range blasters and long-range sniper rifles.

8. Elite Stormtroopers protect the Emperor

Star Wars fans know that the Imperial Royal Guard protects the Emperor (and apparently Darth Vader, since his Rogue One appearance) at all times, but what about in combat? Sure, we've never seen the Emperor in a warzone or anywhere among regular people (at least in the movies). And when he was still the chancellor, he rarely went anywhere outside of Coruscant.

When he did, however, he was protected by Shock Troopers. These elite stormtroopers wore red-painted armor similar to their clone Shock Trooper predecessors. Some of the Empire's troopers even continued to wear the Phase II clone trooper armor from the Clone Wars, presumably believing the armor to be better (which is something Rex would agree with).

If you play the video game Star Wars: Battlefront (the latest DICE installment), you'll notice the Shock Troopers protecting the Emperor in combat whenever a player obtains a token to redeem the character. The developers didn't just dream up the idea; it's canon. We just wish we had the chance to see it on the big screen.

7. Stormtroopers are highly trained, elite warriors