We talk a lot about the dark parts
of the Clone Wars on this channel, about the aspects of the conflict that
made life a living hell for most clones. Not all assignments clones received were created
equally, however; some were much worse than others. There were some planets in the galaxy that
weren’t half-bad for a clone to be stationed on, where clones could relax as much as it was
possible to relax during a galactic-scale war. In this video, we’ll be taking a
look at the top five such worlds. First things first, we should note that this
list is extremely subjective. By and large, we don’t know of the garrisons that had it
easy because, well, that doesn’t make for a good story. We can guess at what positions would
have fallen into that category by picking out the worlds that were far from the front lines and
comparing their respective environments and such. However, due to the dilemma imposed by the CIS’
Stateless Strategy and the constant shortage of clones, it can be hard to tell which
worlds would’ve actually been garrisoned and which would’ve been passed off as
safe. But we’re gonna try our best. First up, we have Alderaan. This is a bit of an
obvious choice, as Alderaan was an idyllic world, after all, one of the most pleasant in the
galaxy. But there are factors that put it at the bottom of this list, which we’ll get to later.
During the Clone Wars, Alderaan was usually far from the front lines, and it was one of the few
truly peaceful worlds left in the galaxy. But there were clones here. Alderaan was the
headquarters of the Fourth Sector Army, which meant there was at least a small garrison assigned
to the protection of this renowned paradise. Alderaan was a world of tremendous natural
beauty, which its largely human inhabitants went to great lengths to preserve and enshrine. Many
Alderaanians were pacifists, and indeed, during the Clone Wars, every last weapon on the plant
was rounded up and shot off into space as a formal gesture. The planet was well off enough to keep
crime and similar issues to a minimum, and even soldiers fighting in the largest war in galactic
history could find peace and entertainment there. With that said, there are mitigating factors at
play here. Alderaan was attacked once during the Clone Wars, at the end of Operation
Durge’s Lance, and in that conflict, General Grievous is said to have nearly destroyed
the planet in retaliation for its acceptance of refugees from Separatist worlds like Ando. The
Republic beat Grievous back from Alderaan, but that battle would not have been pleasant for any
clones stationed here, which is why Alderaan is ranked at the bottom of our list. Nonetheless,
it was an exceptionally beautiful planet, and it would’ve been otherwise enjoyable enough for
clones for us to consider it despite the battle. On the surface, Toydaria doesn’t really sound
like an ideal candidate for this list. It was a foul-smelling swamp world, inhabited by a
number of dangerous predators and a species of flying antisemitic caricatures. The planet was
located in Hutt Space, and indeed the Toydarians as a species were Hutt vassals. The Hutts
nonetheless allowed them to govern themselves, albeit under the jurisdiction of Nal Hutta, which
wanted a piece of any profits the Toydarians made. But Toydaria did have a Republic base,
and its location in Hutt Space granted the clones stationed there something they would be
hard-pressed to find anywhere else - security. One of the most important rules of the
Star Wars galaxy is that you never, ever, ever frak with the Hutts. This is why the Republic
having a base on Toydaria was so strategically important - the Confederacy would never dare mess
with it. Toydaria was indeed never attacked during the Clone Wars, though Dooku’s Dark Acolytes
repeatedly attempted to interfere in its affairs, and it never had to fear an attack either. The
clones stationed there could rest assured that they were safe, something that next to no
other garrison in the galaxy could say. There were definitely drawbacks to
being stationed on Toydaria as well, of course, but clone helmet filters were probably
capable of blocking out the worst of the smells, and that’s most of the drawbacks right there. All
told, Toydaria was a good place to be stationed. At spot number three, we have Aargau, a planet
you may or may not have heard of. Aargau, which was located fairly close
to Coruscant in the Clone Wars, was one of the most important
banking worlds in the galaxy. The Bank of Aargau was a powerful member of the
InterGalactic Banking Clan, and while the IGBC was largely aligned with the Confederacy, the
Aargau branch insisted on remaining neutral. Unlike the similarly aligned Scipio branch, the
Bank of Aargau actually kept its word on that one, and as a result, it was never attacked by
the Confederacy. However, due to rumors of Aargau selling weapons to the Confederacy,
there were clones stationed on the planet. The presence of clones actually caused a ton
of controversy on Aargau, as it violated one of the Three Statutes, the guiding laws of the
planet. The second of those statutes stated that it was illegal, on penalty of death,
for outsiders to carry weapons on Aargau; conversely, it was illegal for citizens to be
unarmed. The armed clone units violated this rule, which caused quite a stir but, ultimately,
didn’t result in any trouble for the clones. Aargau was a fairly safe world for clones,
as the planet’s dangers mostly consisted of getting involved in the wrong financial
scheme. Since clones generally didn’t have bank accounts or really any credits, they
didn’t have to worry about any of that, and so Aargau was both safe and pleasant to be
on, due to the economic prosperity of the world. Speaking of safe and pleasant worlds, we have
Ithor, home of the pacifistic, nature-loving Ithorians. The Ithorians largely followed what
they called the Law of Life, which decreed that, for every life they happen to destroy, they must
create two more to replace it. Generally, this law related to plants, in that Ithorians would
plant two plants for every one they harvested. As a result of this law, the Ithorians
carefully preserved their planet, living above it in giant
floating cities called herdships. The massive jungles of Ithor were
practically untouched by sentients, as only a few Ithorians ever made the pilgrimage
down into what they called Mother Jungle. It is unknown if there was ever a clone garrison
on Ithor, but if there was, it would’ve had an easy job. Ithor was never attacked, as the
Ithorians were almost universally respected, and an assault on their beloved homeworld would’ve
been indefensible, even for the likes of General Grievous. Furthermore, the Ithorians themselves
would not have given the clones any trouble; they fully supported the Republic, and
in any case, they respected all life, including the lives of their enemies. This,
plus the natural beauty of Ithor itself, would have made the world a nice
spot for a clone to be garrisoned on. One of the Core Founders of the Republic,
Caamas was the home of the Caamasi, a scholarly birdlike species that, like the
Ithorians, was universally respected. They too were known for their pacifism, and it is even said
that they were the ones who taught the early Jedi morality. They were ardent supporters
of the Republic they helped create, and though they opposed the Military
Creation Act and the Clone Wars in general, they did continue to support the Republic during
the conflict. They likely had a clone garrison due to their planet’s importance, but unlike
the clone garrison on neighboring Alderaan, this one never came under attack, and they
never really had to fear attack either, as the Confederacy never came close to attacking
Caamas and probably wouldn't have dared, either. Like Ithor and Alderaan, Caamas was a paradise
world, a lush planet teeming with life. Also like the population of those worlds, the Caamasi went
to great lengths to preserve this environment, but they were much more tolerant of outsiders
than Ithor and weren’t in as much danger as Alderaan was. The Caamasi disliked the Clone Wars
and believed the Republic brought it upon itself, but they nonetheless helped by assisting refugees,
and they would have tolerated and been respectful towards any clones stationed on the planet
regardless. All told, there likely wasn’t a better place for a clone to be stationed than on Caamas.
Unfortunately, the clones didn’t repay the Caamasi all that well for their graciousness. In 19 BBY,
just a few months after the end of the Clone Wars, they destroyed the whole surface of the
planet over Caamasi distaste for the Empire. So, those were our top five best worlds for
a clone to be stationed on. But what do you think? Did we miss any good ones? Feel free
to post your thoughts in the comments below.
