An Order 66 Easter egg explains Star Wars' biggest mystery

Since the very beginning, Star Wars fans have all agreed on one thing: stormtroopers have really terrible aim. Considering that the Empire is the most powerful force in the galaxy, this never made a lot of sense, and it made even less sense when we learned how capable the clone troopers were in the Star Wars prequels and the Clone Wars animated series. So what gives?

There are plenty of theories out there, but one subtle moment in The Revenge of the Sith might hold the key to answering this 53-year-old question once and for all.

On the Star Wars Speculation subreddit, one fan recently pointed out a subtle detail from that movie. When Emperor Palpatine announces Order 66, one of the clones who hears it seems to do a double-take. That clone trooper is CC-2224 (aka, Commander Cody), who was stationed with Obi-Wan Kenobi when all the clones were ordered to turn on their Jedi leaders.

We know what happens in the movie. Cody gets the order, says "Yes my lord," and tells his clone soldiers to point their blasters at Obi-Wan, who falls off a cliff into a body of water and manages to escape. After that, Star Wars canon doesn't have much to say about Cody's story.

However, in the non-canonical Star Wars Legends, Cody stayed on as a leader in the Empire's army and helped train a new generation of human stormtroopers on Kamino. It didn't go very well, though, and Cody's soldiers resented him and he didn't like them either. He was also on Kamino when it was attacked by the Rebel Alliance in what became the Rebellion's first big victory against Emperor Palpatine.

In other words, Cody wasn't that important to the core Star Wars story after Revenge of the Sith. Except, maybe he was. If Cody really did reject Order 66, as this Reddit theory suggests, it could change the way we think about the rest of his story, from his betrayal of Obi-Wan to his time spent on Kamino.

In the novelization of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, after Cody receives Order 66, he thinks to himself, "Would it have been too much to ask for the order to have come through before I gave him back the bloody lightsaber?" This might suggest that he went along with the order, but it also hints at a sliver of free will. It also suggests that Cody knew he and his men could never take out General Kenobi, meaning that even then, the clone commander realized Obi-Wan would survive — that also explains why he didn't send any soldiers to confirm Kenobi was actually dead and not just enjoying a nice swim.

More importantly, if we assume that Cody rejected Order 66, it could reframe how we see his behavior post-Revenge of the Sith. The fact that he was such a horrible commander to his new stormtrooper recruits makes a lot more sense when you consider that he hates them — and not just for replacing clones with inferior human soldiers.

If Cody is working against the Empire from the inside, perhaps he played an instrumental role in making sure Palpatine's stormtroopers had terrible aim. It's an overstatement to suggest one clone could have sabotaged an entire army, but he still could have influenced a lot of Imperial soldiers in his time on Kamino. And it that's true, it may finally explain why most stormtroopers are such terrible shots.

Taking things one step further, it's possible that Cody was even working with the Rebel Alliance to coordinate the attack on Kamino. He could have played a key role in the Rebellion's first big victory, which paved the way for future battles and the Empire's eventual defeat.

Is it possible that Cody played the longest long game in Star Wars history and was even more instrumental in defeating the Empire than Luke Skywalker, Yoda, or Obi-Wan Kenobi? It might be a stretch, but to misquote another leader of the Rebellion, you should never underestimate a clone.