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Continuity & Analysis

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Holocron Heist (2009) [S2E1]
A lesson learned is a lesson earned.
"Jedi trapped on Felucia! Clones are surrounded by droid forces. Their only hope is to escape
on Republic gunships waiting to land on the embattled surface. Jedi cruisers have managed
to blow a hole in the droid defenses, and have sent gunships to the rescue."
Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Cargo of Doom (2009) [S2E2]
Overconfidence is the most dangerous form of carelessness.
"Stolen secrets! Villainous mercenary Cad Bane was hired by Darth Sidious to steal a holocron
from the vaults of the Jedi Temple. After fleeing the scene of the crime, Bane hunted down
and captured Master Bolla Ropal, who has a crystal which holds the secrets of the Jedi Order.
As a Separatist fleet arrives to help the bounty hunter, Anakin Skywalker races in to cut off
their escape and stop Bane from delivering the stolen holocron."
Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Children of the Force (2009) [S2E3]
The first step to correcting a mistake is patience.
"A thief hunted! In a daring assault Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan Ahsoka boarded
the warship of cunning bounty hunter Cad Bane to recover a stolen holocron containing a list
of the galaxy's Force-sensitive children and future Jedi Knights. After a desperate chase and
duel with the villain, Anakin and his troops defeated Bane, but were forced to evacuate
his doomed vessel without the holocron..."




CONTINUITY
These three episodes form a single storyline about Cad Bane and the holocron heist. The chronological order of episodes is as given by Lucasfilm,
and follows their release order. The planet Devaron and the Rogue Antar system are seen for the first time. Six worlds are seen in these episodes:


- Felucia is an important planet located in the Thanium Sector, in the Trans-Hydian region of the Outer Rim, near to the Perlemian Trade Route, one
of the oldest and most significant hyperlanes. Felucia is a terrestrial planet with a fungi-dominated ecosystem, and is the homeworld of
the Felucians, a short, testudinoid species. The planet is extremely valuable due to its production of fungal crops, including nysillin, and as a result
is also the location of the headquarters of the Commerce Guild, one of the galaxy's trade guilds and major economic concerns. While the planet
no doubt contains cities, spaceports, and more built up areas, much of the planet is an unspoiled wilderness or agricultural land.


- Commander Wollfe, CC-3636, of the 104th Battalion under General Plo Koon, is seen for the first time since the Malevolence storyline.
He has since sustained a combat wound which left him with a scar and a cybernetic right eye, which becomes his defining feature.

- Jocasta had previously boasted of the completeness of the Jedi archives in Episode II, and here expounds upon their uniqueness. There are texts
and information within from the furthest reaches of the galaxy, as well as antiquity, including material that is exceedingly rare or otherwise lost to
the galaxy at large. The more closely guarded information of the Order is kept on holocrons in the holocron vault, including texts which contain
secret and even forbidden knowledge about the Force. Only a Jedi can open a Jedi holocron using the Force, and only members of the Jedi High
Council are ordinarily allowed access to the vault. Holocrons are more than Force activated computers, they also conduits to the Force, through
the kyber crystals which serve as their memory and processor. The abilities this gives them are somewhat nebulous, but their potential to access
knowledge can theoretically be outside the limits of what is contained on the specific crystal within, rather, accessed remotely through the Force.


- Sidious was interrupted during his call to Cad Bane, likely because he had to be Palpatine briefly and doesn't want to arouse suspicion. Bane knows
his client is a Sith Lord, and refers to him as exactly that. He later tells Sidious that kidnapping children seems like "small-time for the likes of you",
which shows that he has a good idea of the Sith's methods and reputation. The Jedi tell Bane they think the "fear of whoever you work for outweighs
your fear of us", further evidence that Bane knows just how powerful a Sith Lord truly is. Bane certainly seems like a knowledgeable person, and it is
also the case that the Sith are both historical and even somewhat mythological at this point in history, so the idea that Bane knows who they are and
something of what they are about is not surprising. The fact that Dooku seems to be known, at least among those who follow such things, to be a Sith
Lord at this point in time means characters are less likely to be surprised to learn they are working a job for a Sith Lord, although how widely Dooku's
Sith identity is known in the galaxy, and in what circles, is at best unclear.
Main Article: Awareness of the Jedi and the Sith


Cad Bane wants a Rogue-class starfighter with a cloaking device. The intent of the creators seems to have been
to suggest just how much money Bane was being paid by Sidious, since a cloaking device small enough to fit in
a starfighter must be extremely advanced and therefore rare and expensive. Nevertheless, the very existence of this
device 25 years before Episode V, where an officer remarks that no ship as small as a freighter has a cloaking
device, is a significant continuity issue. The implication has always been that cloaking devices are large or require
strong power sources to operate, or both, and that only large ships might have the ability to blind tracking systems.
Main Article: Scanners, Sensors, and Cloaking Devices


- Yoda has prophetic vision from the Force about intruders in the Jedi Temple. This is not simply the predictive sense of the Force, as this was an event
to take place in the near future, not immediately. This shows that the prophetic visions of the Force are still at times informing powerful Jedi about
the future, especially related to things and people close to them. It also shows the limitations of this type of insight in truly illuminating the future.
When the Jedi are looking for their missing younglings, they are able to see some of them through the Force, although in this instance this is Force
vision that is showing them the present, or the very near future, which is a more accessible type of Force vision than the prophetic Force visions.

- Ord Enisence was not only killed by Bane, he was moved to Bane's Coruscant hideout without the Jedi or other authorities becoming aware of his death.
That he was able to accomplish this shows both Bane's skill as a fighter and operative, as well as the vulnerable position of Jedi in the galactic instability.

- It is revealed that the Jedi transmitter codes, first mentioned in Episode II, are being used by the Jedi to track all their ships and forces throughout
the galaxy. The Jedi communications center in the Temple therefore holds every piece of troop information in one place. It can be assumed from
this that ships without transmitter codes cannot be tracked by Republic central authorities, including the Jedi.
Main Article: Hyperspace Communications


Why didn't Jocasta and Ahsoka not sense that the changeling impersonating Ord Enisence isn't strong with the Force?
What the Force reveals to a Force wielder isn't always predictable, and identifying a specific individual by how they
present in the Force usually requires some emotional bond between the two persons. Identifying how strong
an object, place, or person is with the Force, on the other hand, seems to be quite basic and straightforward for
Force wielders. Jocasta only seems suspicious based on his demeanor and rude conversation, and yet she is clearly
not suspicious enough, as the changeling still gets the drop on her.


- Devaron is a planet located in the Duluur Sector, in the Southern Core region of the Colonies. It is a warm terrestrial world with mountainous
regions, rivers, lakes and a water-cycle, and heavily covered in forest and jungle. It is the homeworld of the Devaronians, a technologically
sophisticated species who began exploring space earlier than even the Humans of Coruscant. The planet has ben part of the interstellar
culture of the Core, and usually the Republic, for many millennia. The Jedi Temple of Eedit is located in a remote region of the planet.


- Bolla Ropal is the keeper of the kyber memory crystal, which contains the list of every known Force sensitive child in the galaxy. It appears to be
the same type, or similar to, the central crystal of any Jedi holocron. This list lends credence to the idea that the Jedi are in charge of searching
out Force sensitive children, as opposed to some department of the Republic's central or local governments. There are thousands of children
on the list, giving us some idea of how rare but yet also numerous Force sensitive children are.



Why is this particular Separatist fleet so ineffective against a single Republic destroyer? Ordinarily, a couple of frigates
can at least stand up to a destroyer in a fight. Why are the battleships not seen fighting at any stage of the battle?
The answer seems to be that they used stock footage of a Separatist fleet from another episode for the introduction
montage, and then for no reason showed the Separatist ships, which are all frigates, fan out to be destroyed one by
one, barely firing their cannons, if at all. The battleships first shown, appear to have left for no reason.


- Jedi Padawans who come from species which don't grow hair use beads, or something similar, to add to over time. This shows their advancement as
a student, and serve as a kind of rank indicator among Padawans. Part of Ahsoka's chain is taken by Bane as a trophy, but was reclaimed by Ahsoka.

- When Ahsoka tries to charge the prison shield with her body, it appears to hurt. These seem to be the typical kind of shields used on prison doors,
which have the appearance of the 'flat' single-plane ray shields also seen used on flight decks exposed to space. These shields seem to apply
force that is equivalent to the Force being used against them, and as an energy field are understandably painful to organic beings.
Main Article: Shields, Deflectors, and Ray Shields

- Anakin believes that Bane is dead, but that he can still sense him, which is yet another example in this same storyline of wildly conflicting Force abilities.
Jocasta and Ahsoka couldn't even tell the changeling wasn't a Force wielder, but now Anakin can sense a guy he has spent only brief times around
over a couple of days, very specifically. It can be argued that Anakin is very strong with the Force, and as these episodes show, Bane has a dynamic
mind and likely a correspondingly unique presence in the Force. Nevertheless, Anakin couldn't tell it was Obi-Wan entering a cell he was in during
previous episodes, among other examples of how this Force sense is either highly unreliable, or works differently when the writers need it to.


The end of 'Cargo of Doom' and the beginning of 'Children of the Force' show the same sequence of the shuttle
arriving on Yularen's destroyer, yet in the second instance, Yularen isn't there to talk with Anakin, and there isn't
nearly enough time passing for Anakin to have had his conversation with the Admiral before being shown talking
with Ahsoka and an unidentified clone. Yularen is shown to have made it back to the bridge less than 30 seconds
later, which considering the size of the ship, the location of their conversation on the hangar deck, the location
of the bridge, and the fact that he casually walks away from his conversation with Anakin, it is extremely unlikely
this is possible, even with the most imaginative explanations.


- The existence of Jan-gwa City shows that the Gungans don't just live in their underwater capital of Otoh Gunga, also known as Gunga City. While it is
possible some new cities have been constructed since Episode I, it is unlikely the principal Gungan population that was seen in that film represented
the entirety of the species on their native planet, no more than the Humans of the city of Theed represented the entire Human population on
Naboo. Jan-gwa City shows us that not all Gungan cities are underwater, although those that aren't are likely all water adjacent as this one is.



Cad Bane's Rogue-class fighter has a remote which closes the canopy when parked. Why is it that so many ships,
flying craft, and personal vehicles seen in SW don't require a key to operate or steal, and even worse, need to
be left wide open when parked? These don't seem like difficult features to add, and considering that losing a ship
or a vehicle can mean death or being stranded in many cases, it seems like these would be popular with customers.


- Mustafar is shown to have an orbit that at times brings it very close to the nearest other planet in the star system, the gas giant Jestefad. This unusual
planetary alignment would ordinarily result in a planet like Mustafar becoming a moon of Jestefad, or being flung to a different orbit by its gravity,
possibly even ejected from the star system. In this system, a delicate gravitational balance is maintained by the pull of the next nearest planet,
the gas giant Lefrani. The extreme gravitational forces are a significant factor in the unstable state of Mustafar's surface, and intense volcanism.


- The Jedi mind trick verses a strong mind isn't very successful, even with multiple Jedi Masters trying it at once. It amounts more to a form of torture
than it does to a useful way of compelling someone. It seems very antithetical to Jedi philosophy, but in this instance they seem to have felt
the ends justified the means, or perhaps this is another example of the Clone Wars twisting the Jedi's values under the shadow of the dark side.

- Anakin sides with Palpatine against Mace and Obi-Wan's position that Jedi matters such as those related to the holocron are not Republic business.
Besides implicitly trusting the Chancellor and his point of view, Anakin also feels that a Jedi's place is as a loyal servant and soldier for the leaders of
the Republic, rather than a semi-autonomous leadership in its own right. When Palpatine meets with Anakin, it is clear that he doesn't like Ahsoka.
He is naturally dismissive of those he considers inferior, and certainly Ahsoka is of no use to him, but he is likely also concerned about the positive
influence a good-natured companion can have on Anakin, and the Jedi values he might learn through teaching her.

- The Rogue Antar system is located in the Steniplis Sector, in the Western Reaches of the Outer Rim. It is the location of the Rogue Antar
asteroid field, which at this time hosts a small spacestation, Black Stall Station. Its hyperspace coordinates are 673117-7RB71.


- The destruction of this facility on Mustafar, with the future of the Jedi sinking into the lava, is an inversion of the events of Episode III, with both
events being the predictable result of the culmination of Sidious' plans. This time, with the aid of the Chosen One, the Jedi frustrate the plan and
save their children from becoming devotees of evil, or falling into the lava, thus saving the future of the Order. The next time, with Anakin no longer
on their side, he who was the Jedi's child becomes Sidious' follower and falls into the lava, all as part of the fall of the Order. Yoda seems to sense
the connection between the events and the dark shadow which looms over the Force, and he notes how uncertain the future of the Jedi is.


ANALYSIS
Felucia is a planet with valuable resources, located near one of the galaxy's most significant hyperspace routes, that is also the seat of major galactic
economic concerns. Combined with its proximity to the Separatist capital of Raxus, these factors lead to a nearly continuous state of warfare, on
the planet's surface and in the sky above, for the entirety of the Clone Wars. Over three and a half years, the momentum of the battle with swing in
both directions, but at this stage, the Republic's intense efforts to retain control over the planet have temporarily resulted in failure. With the loss of
the naval battle in orbit, and now lacking air and space dominance of the battlefield, the Republic ground forces and their Jedi leadership have
become encircled. The Republic reinforcements which arrive to break the blockade and land evacuation ships, to evacuate their remaining Forces.
Master Plo leads the fighter group, as along with Skywalker and Master Tiin, he is considered to be among the Order's top fighter pilots. As discussed
in the episode, this setback on Felucia has effected the Republic's efforts in the entire sector, critical to both sides of the war. Major planets with
large populations, and significant economic interests lie in Thanium Sector, and the surrounding sectors along the Perlemian Trade Route, and
adjacent to the populous Tion Cluster, bitterly divided between loyal Republic worlds and Separatist ones, including the planet Raxus, home of
the Separatist Parliament. Felucia and other important planets in the region are thus destined to bear the full brunt of the conflict.

Jedi council is as always concerned about Ahsoka's insubordination, just as they used to be, and sometimes still are, about Anakin. The Council put
Ahsoka with Anakin, knowing that each had advanced abilities, were found at a relatively old age for a Jedi youngling, and have a history of lacking
patience or maturity. They then repeatedly act surprised or dismayed at their impertinence or impatience, which is more confusing than it is out of
character. The Jedi's millennia-old system of training and guidance which has a nearly perfect success rate in producing well-balanced and functional
adults with supernatural abilities really dropped the ball with several aspects of Anakin and Ahsoka's training. The Jedi Council and much of their Order
have become so institutionalized and large that the machine they have become sometimes overlooks the people which are the heart of it, very much
the same as what has happened to the Republic. The Jedi Council's endless obsession with politics, caution, and not making any critical wrong steps,
has left the organization somewhat paralyzed and inflexible when it comes to meeting challenges. This also makes their actions far more constrained
and predictable, a fact which Sidious uses to great advantage against them. Ahsoka again shows her impatience and overconfidence by going after
Bane herself, and nevertheless is powerful and skilled enough that she nearly succeeds. Despite several lapses in patience in this storyline, she yells
at Anakin about patience, which shows that Anakin has only come so far, and that Ahsoka can't see her own faults as clearly as she sees those of others.

The Separatists invade the planet Devaron, a loyal Republic world in the Colonies region of the Core, simply to capture Master Ropal. This type of operation,
like the assault on Coruscant to capture the Chancellor in Episode III, are typical of the actual agenda of the Separatist leadership. Their war machine
is at times sacrificed to secure political objectives, or in this case, to accomplish Sith goals. Since the Republic expects the Separatists to make strategically
sound moves with their large forces, these types of assaults are difficult to predict or defend against. Master Ropal may have been located at the Temple
of Eedit, an important Jedi facility located on the planet. Ropal was likely engaged in some business related to his work as keeper of the kyber memory crystal
and its list of Force sensitive children. It would stand to reason that Ropal was the Jedi in charge of this program, considering he is in charge of this list.

Gunray got his orders regarding this mission directly from Sidious, which shows that he is sometimes reporting directly to him. Gunray describes these
ships as part of "the Federation fleet", and yet they are clearly marked with the insignia of the Separatist Alliance. This suggests the guilds still retain some
propriety over their assets which are part of the Confederate military, and shows why the Separatist Council must reflect the significant military and
industrial components which comprise it. The fact that the Trade Federation contributed the majority of the Alliance's initial fleet, and a sizable portion
of its army, is probably why they have two seats on the Separatist Council, when the other trade guilds only have one. Bane tells Gunray that Sidious will
pay him for the ships lost if they get the crystal, a testament to the financial resources at Sidious' disposal. His plan for a slave-conditioned army of
Force sensitive spies is a devious and ingenious plan, and well suited to his needs. Not only would it create an Order of ultra-loyal oracles using
the Force to massively increase the scope and intensity of knowledge gained by looking through the Force, it would find a productive use for
Force sensitive beings he would otherwise kill in most circumstances, to prevent any possible threat.


FURTHER ANALYSIS
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