If nothing else, the show highlights how messy war and conflict are. Yet, to complicate things further, the вЂњJedi CrashвЂќ arc is immediately followed by вЂњTrespassвЂќ (1.15), which actually provides for a scenario in which peaceful diplomacy is the ideal solution in contrast to aggressive interventionism. Certainly there are historical precedents where passive resistance or acquiescence have not halted or appeased a bloodthirsty oppressor. вЂњDefenders of PeaceвЂќ and its companion вЂњJedi CrashвЂќ (1.13) have no room for pacifists the ideology is portrayed as too naive to actually survive without outside intervention by occupying defenders. Messaging consistently reinforces a pro-war mentality, at least in the moment. Similarly, in вЂњDefenders of PeaceвЂќ (1.14), the Separatists intend to test a weapon that wipes out all organic life in its blast radius but leaves droids behindвЂ“and their intended target is a village of pacifists. In the same arc, the Separatists have blockaded a planet with a force field that kills anyone who tries to leave orbit, seemingly with the intent of preventing the export of the one raw material that can be used to produce a cure to the virus. The recreation of the Blue Shadow Virus for biological war in вЂњMystery of a Thousand MoonsвЂќ and in the virusвЂ™s eponymous episode (1.17) is a shocking atrocity, intended to quickly wipe out whole ecosystems on hundreds of planets. Yet that super-virus is another example of the seeming necessity of the war. And the clones have been manufactured to fight andвЂ“as Rex notes in the episodeвЂ“to die, yet the Jedi were perfectly willing to enlist them and use them as though they lacked in personhood or choice (a damning decision no matter how many Jedi befriended them between battles). Ahsoka is literally a child who is nonetheless invested with the powers of a military commander. In this case, Ahsoka, Padme, and several clone troopers are infected with a super-virus and almost die before Anakin and Obi-Wan can provide a cure. Returning to вЂњMystery of a Thousand Moons,вЂќ we see the Jedi once again putting innocents in harmвЂ™s way in an attempt to win a battle. In this war, a danger there is of losing who we are.вЂќДЄnd this theme manifests in at least small ways in almost every episode. As Yoda says in вЂњLair of GrievousвЂќ (1.10), вЂњTo answer power with power, the Jedi way this is not. While thatвЂ™s perhaps most emphasized in the final seasonвЂ™s episodes, the theme is present in moments with YodaвЂ“and in merely observing what the war does to Jedi and clones alikeвЂ“throughout the show. Yoda does a lot of wrangling with this moral crisis and imminent loss throughout the series. The Clone WarsВ readily acknowledges this burden.

And, of course, that theme of loss merely through engagement sees fruition in the collapse of the Jedi and the Republic in Revenge of the Sith. While leaving the trio to execution would have been an unacceptable ending to audiences and would have seemed too merciless, and while viewers know that the Separatists were preparing their own attack on the Republic, interfering with the laws of another government via open invasion is a shockingly imperialistic act for a group of alleged peacekeepers. This narrative emerges clearly enough in the films with the end of Attack of the Clones, with YodaвЂ™s admonition that вЂњthe shroud of the Dark Side has fallen.вЂќ Perhaps more subtly, that theme is present in the decision on the part of the Jedi and the Republic to assault a Separatist planet in the midst of heightened political tensions to rescue two Jedi and a Senator who had infiltrated that independent system to perform acts of political espionage, sabotage, and murder, and who were being punished under the laws of that system. Most interesting to me is the tension between the apparent necessity of the war in the moment in contrast to the audienceвЂ™s foreknowledge that the JediвЂ™s mere entry into the war was the trap that doomed them. IвЂ™ve gone into this re-watch with a few particular themes and contradictions on my mind, and the most current reviewed episode, вЂњ Mystery of a Thousand MoonsвЂќ (1.18), touches on most of them.

Star Wars: The Clone WarsВ offered such a rich variety of stories that there are an endless array of lenses to approach the themes within the series, both those unique to it and those that elaborate on the subject matter of George LucasвЂ™s six-film saga.

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