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Every Way Clone Wars Retcons The Star Wars Prequels

Star Wars: The Clone Wars improved the Star Wars prequels in a lot of ways, but it also retconned a lot of elements from the prequel trilogy. Following the releases of the 2D micro Clone Wars series and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars returned to that time period with a 3D animated film, 2008’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The movie was followed by a Clone Wars TV show, one that ran for seven seasons total and reinvented the prequel era.

While the Star Wars prequels had an incredible amount of worldbuilding and new lore, the movies themselves had many flaws. Star Wars: The Clone Wars made use of that world blind to create a more concise and overall better-received story, which explains why the show is still so well-regarded. More recently, the importance of Clone Wars to the Star Wars canon became even bigger, as the Disney+ Star Wars shows like The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett heavily reference events from the animated series.

It is important to note that Star Wars: The Clone Wars retconned elements not only from the prequels but also from the old Expanded Universe and the larger Star Wars saga as a whole. That said, given how Clone Wars is a product of the prequel trilogy, it is strange to see how much the show changes the way audiences perceive Episodes I, II, and III. Here’s every way The Clone Wars retcons the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

Anakin Had A Padawan

Perhaps the biggest Clone Wars retcon was the idea that Anakin had a padawan, Ahsoka Tano. In Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, Anakin himself was still a padawan, and by the time audiences meet him again as a Jedi Knight in Revenge of the Sith, there was no mention of any padawan whatsoever. Anakin’s emotional arc in Revenge of the Sith centers around Padmé and Obi-Wan only, which made it difficult to believe, at first, that the character had had a padawan during the Clone Wars. Contrary to what many might think, Ahsoka’s debut in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie was not too well received. However, the character quickly grew to become a fan favorite and is now as important to the Star Wars canon as characters who debuted in the live-action movies.

The Clones Had Personalities

One interesting concept that made Clone Wars possible was that each clone had its own personality. Not much is seen about the clones in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, except for the action sequences. In Clone Wars, on the other hand, the clones became real characters. There was nothing in the movies suggesting that those artificial soldiers had distinct personalities and emotions, a notion that Clone Wars changed right from the beginning by making the clones as important characters as the Jedi.

Darth Maul Was Alive

In the Star Wars prequels, Darth Maul had two lines of dialogue and died at the end of the iconic Duel of the Fates fight in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. However, in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, it was revealed that Darth Maul survived being cut in half by Obi-Wan due to sheer hate and desire to seek revenge against those who did him wrong. In Clone Wars, Darth Maul rose as the leader of the galaxy’s underworld, killed Duchess Satine, and wielded the Dark Saber to become the ruler of Mandalore for a brief time. Not only that, but Darth Maul survived the Clone Wars, and he was still alive and free during the events of Revenge of the Sith. In the movies, however, Darth Maul’s return would only be acknowledged in Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Obi-Wan And Anakin Fought Dooku Several Times

At the beginning of Revenge of the Sith, Anakin mentions how his powers have doubled since the last time he and Count Dooku met. Considering that Attack of the Clones ended with Anakin fighting Dooku, that exchange in Revenge of the Sith was clearly meant to be a callback to the previous movie. However, in Clone Wars, it was revealed Anakin and Obi-Wan ran into Count Dooku dozens of times during the war.

Obi-Wan Spoke To Qui-Gon Jinn (But Forgot About It)

Obi-Wan learns about Qui-Gon Jinn being able to communicate from the afterlife at the end of Revenge of the Sith. He then gets to speak with Qui-Gon Jinn’s Force ghost in Obi-Wan Kenobi, set ten years after Revenge of the Sith. However, in Clone Wars’ Mortis arc, Obi-Wan was able to communicate with Qui-Gon’s Force ghost due to the fact the planet was incredible power in the Force. Still, at the end of the Mortis arc, Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka all had their recent memories erased – which avoids any sort of complications.

Anakin Knew He Was Going To Become Darth Vader (But Also Forgot About It)

Similarly, during the Mortis arc, Anakin was shown what his future was going to be like. That includes his fight with Obi-Wan, Padmé’s death, and his transformation into Darth Vader. This was one of the memories erased from Anakin’s mind at the end of the Mortis arc, but still, Anakin did technically learn he was going to become Darth Vader before the events of Revenge of the Sith.

Obi-Wan Had Been In Love (& Lost Someone)

Not much is shown about Obi-Wan’s past or personal life in the Star Wars prequels. Obi-Wan’s backstory also remains mostly a mystery in Clone Wars, but the show does reveal that Kenobi used to be in love with someone, Duchess Satine. Not only that, but Clone Wars also see Obi-Wan witnessing a terrible tragedy, as Satine was killed by Darth Maul right in front of him. In hindsight, Obi-Wan could relate to Anakin and Padmé’s story better than Revenge of the Sith made it seem.

There Was A Third Party In The Clone Wars

Episodes II and III establish the Clone Wars as a conflict between the Republic and the Separatist Alliance, the latter represented by Count Dooku. However, in Clone Wars, there were also neutral systems that would fight to not join the fight. The biggest example is Mandalore, a planet that, during Satine’s government, avoided fighting at any cost – to the point a civil war started. There was a faction in Mandalore, the Death Watch, that wanted the planet to go back to its warring origins, something of which Palpatine and Dooku took advantage of.

Star Wars’ Sifo-Dyas Typo Problem Was Fixed

Who Jedi Master Sifo-Dias was, and what exactly did he have to do with the creation of the Clone Army was one of the Star Wars prequels’ biggest mysteries. Sifo-Dyas was not even the name that the character was supposed to have, as revealed in the Attack of the Clones DVD commentary. Instead, the “Jedi” who ordered the clone army to be created was going to be Sido-Dyas, an alias for Darth Sidious. Curiously, a misspelling in one of the early drafts for Attack of the Clones created the name Sifo-Dyas, which George Lucas eventually decided to use. There were a lot of loose ends in the story of this Jedi Master who happened to have ordered the Clone Army ten years before the war, which Clone Wars tried to retroactively fix by explaining how Darth Tyranus and Darth Sidious took over the clone project after Sifo-Dyas’ death.

Yoda Suspected Order 66 Was Going To Happen

In one of the three Clone Wars’ endings, the one in the Lost Missions season, Yoda goes on a journey of self-discovery by vising a planet strong in both the Living and the Cosmic Force. At the end of the arc, Yoda has a vision of the dark future that awaited the galaxy – including flashes of Order 66. It’s not clear how much concrete information Yoda was able to extract from those visions, but the Jedi Master did realize something terrible was about soon happen. Yoda also admitted that they had already lost the war but that new hope would eventually rise.

The Chosen One Prophecy Was Literal

The Chose One prophecy was first mentioned in The Phantom Menace, and it continued to be an important part of Anakin’s story throughout the prequel trilogy. It foretold that a Chosen One would bring balance to the Force, something that always sounded like a metaphor for bringing peace and stability to the galaxy. However, in the Clone Wars Mortis arc, Anakin was brought in front of entities who embodied the dark side and the light – the Son and the Daughter. Anakin is literally put between the dark side and the light as if finding the balance of the Force was something tangible.

The Clones Had A Chip

Revenge of the Sith’s Order 66 scene is one of the most tragic moments in the Star Wars franchise. However, it was never clear why the clones answered Palpatine so easily, especially considering that it had been a Jedi who ordered their creation. In Star Wars: The Clone Wars, it is revealed that Darth Tyranus, also known as Count Dooku, ordered the Kaminoans to insert a controlling chip on every single clone – one that would be activated with the “execute Order 66” command.