Sister

Sister was the name of a trans female clone trooper who served in the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars. In 22 BBY, she participated in a battle alongside Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, Clone Commander Cody, and Jedi Padawan Anakin Skywalker as part of the 7th Sky Corps. After the battle, Sister and Skywalker discussed how she had received her name from her brother troopers in affirmation of her gender identity.

The same year, the Republic sent Sister on an aid mission to the planet Langston alongside Skywalker and the Republic's 302nd Battalion. Sister was mentioned by Clone Captain Rex in his book, The Secrets of the Clone Troopers, which was published following the Galactic Civil War's end in 5 ABY.

Biography

A rocky planet

A trans female clone trooper who took on the name Sister^[1] was created on the planet Kamino as a clone of the human male bounty hunter Jango Fett.^[2] She served in the Grand Army of the Republic by the start of the Clone Wars, a galaxy-wide conflict between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Prior to leaving Kamino, she was given the name Sister by her brothers^[1] in the 7th Sky Corps,^[4] who wished for her to feel a firm sense of belonging and support of her gender identity from them. Although Sister was initially scared of not being welcomed by her Jedi commanding officers due to her gender—which differed from many of her brother troopers—she proved able to work well with her superiors once the Clone Wars began.^[1]

In 22 BBY,^[5] Sister participated in a battle on a rocky planet while serving in Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi's 7th Sky Corps alongside Clone Commander Cody and Jedi Padawan Anakin Skywalker. Saddened by the deaths resulting from the battle, Sister arranged the helmets of her fallen brothers beneath a tree as a memorial. When asked by Skywalker for her name, she explained the origins of her name and the strong support of her gender identity among her brothers. Intrigued, the Padawan told her about the Jedi belief of rising above things, comparing it to Sister transcending the concepts of gender that she felt existed among clones. As both humans walked toward Kenobi's location for a rendezvous, she agreed with the sentiment of his statement.^[1]

Langston and legacy

In the same year,^[5] the Republic deployed Sister on an aid mission to the mining planet Langston alongside Skywalker and the Republic's 302nd Battalion. In charge of a transport, she and other troopers waited in a launch bay while waiting for further instructions. When the Jedi signaled to her, Sister informed him that his ship was ready for departure while gesturing to the troopers awaiting his command. As Skywalker and the Jedi Initiate Mill Alibeth moved to board the vessel, Sister saluted the pair.^[6]

Sister was remembered by several of her fellow troopers long after the Clone Wars' end, including by Clone Captain Rex, who served as Skywalker's second-in-command for much of the conflict. Rex mentioned her in^[4] his^[7] book—The Secrets of the Clone Troopers^[4]—which was published at some point following^[4] the 5 ABY^[7] end of the Galactic Civil War between the Republic's successor state, the Galactic Empire, and the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Rex recounted Sister's initial fears of needing to hide how she expressed her gender identity, noting that she acquired her name from her brothers to always remind her she belonged.^[4]

Personality and traits

As a clone of Jango Fett,^[2] Sister^[1] was 1.83 meters (6 feet) tall, had tan skin,^[2] and weighed eighty kilograms.^[3] She had long, dark hair^[1] that she kept styled in rows of tightly woven braids.^[6] By the time she served under Kenobi, Sister considered herself a loyal Republic trooper. She grieved her brothers when they fell in battle, opting to arrange their helmets in a respectful way as a monument to remember them. Although she was initially nervous about embracing her femininity in front of her commanding officers, Sister gained confidence in her gender identity through the support of her brothers^[1] and later from the acceptance of the Jedi she served under.^[8]

Equipment

At birth, like the other clone troopers, Sister was implanted by the Kaminoan scientists with a behavioral modification biochip to ensure that the trooper would not resist certain orders.^[2] While in battle, she wore clone trooper armor^[1] and her armor^[4] and helmet were painted with vertical blue and magenta stripes.^[6] Sister also wielded a DC-15A blaster rifle and had a rangefinder on her helmet.^[4]

Behind the scenes

Milestones

Sister first appeared in Queen's Hope, a young-adult novel written by author E. K. Johnston^[1] and published on April 5, 2022.^[10] On March 8, 2022, Johnston shared a drawing of Clone Commander Sticks to announce the beginning of an art contest she was hosting on Twitter. Following this, the author revealed her design for Sister in a reply to Sticks' artwork and included an art commission of her done by Uzuri Art.^[9] In the image, Sister is depicted with Phase II clone trooper armor that is painted light blue and pink^[9] in the shades of the transgender flag.^[11] The commission also showed Sister with braided dark brown hair—parts of which were dyed pink—and a DC-15A blaster rifle.^[9] Later, the 2024 reference book Star Wars: The Secrets of the Clone Troopers written by Marc Sumerak and illustrated by Alberto Buscicchio marked Sister's first visual depiction in canon, bearing the same design in Johnston's commissioned piece.^[4]

Prior to the design's first visual depiction,^[4] author Mike Chen's novel Brotherhood, published on May 10, 2022,^[12] textually describes Sister with the braided hairstyle and blue and magenta helmet first depicted in her commissioned artwork.^[6] Chen later noted that he had been sent the commissioned piece as a reference upon agreeing to cameo the trooper in Brotherhood, having agreed immediately to Johnston's request for her inclusion.^[13] The author's novel had been written in consultation with Johnston to ensure the plots of their books aligned.^[14] Later, in 2024, when some news outlets incorrectly assumed The Secrets of the Clone Troopers marked Sister's first appearance in canon, Chen corrected them and restated that she had first been introduced in his and Johnston's novels two years before.^[15]

Johnston remarked that Sister was created to be shared with readers and other Star Wars writers but that due to her limited role in Queen's Hope, she would not be used in the novel's promotional materials.^[9] When asked about the trooper's introduction in the novel, she hoped that the queer representation in Queen's Hope would help readers feel that someone was fighting for them to be included.^[16] The author also hoped that any writer who worked in the time period could easily use the character if they needed a clone trooper and was optimistic she would receive more appearances in the future. Sister was not present in the first version of Queen's Hope, but the author had been considering her addition for several months before her introduction to the plot.^[8]

Development

When Johnston submitted the first draft of the novel to Lucasfilm Story Group's Jennifer Heddle^[8] at some point between December 18, 2020 and May 4, 2021,^[17] the Story Group asked the author if she would be willing to change the aide Tepoh's character to be transgender instead of genderfluid. Although she refused, Johnston began thinking of how to fill the other requests made regarding the next draft^[8] and introduced Sister at some point by May 27, 2021.^[18] The author created Sister for the scene she is depicted in with Skywalker in Queen's Hope, as the Story Group also wanted the Jedi to feature more in the novel. Despite the shortness of Sister's scene, Johnston took care to write about her gender identity in a very non-subtle way. She also wanted readers to see Sister and the Jedi's reactions in a moment reflecting the "innocence and genuineness" of Jake Lloyd, the actor who portrayed Skywalker as a child in^[8] the 1999 prequel trilogy film Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace,^[19] and specifically his immediate acceptance of the trooper.^[8]

Some elements the author intentionally wrote in the scene included a "terrible pun," Skywalker's lack of shock after seeing Sister take off her helmet, and the Jedi's compassion so that the reader could mentally compare it to how harsh he became as a character afterward.^[20] Johnston stated that there was no pushback in adding Sister to the book^[8] and that she had instantly decided what her name would be. When creating the character, she intentionally avoided assigning the trooper a designation number to include Skywalker asking for her name as a plot point. The author noted that the woman had put off choosing a name because she was unsure what the Kaminoans would do to her at first and was later given the name Sister by her brothers.^[20] Her addition was celebrated alongside Tepoh's incorporation by the Story Group's Emily Shkoukani, with whom she had several conversations regarding the character.^[8]

When drafting Skywalker's lines in Sister's Queen's Hope scene, Johnston aimed to capture the same energy as^[8] Jedi Master^[19] Yoda's empathy for the clones serving under him in^[8] "Ambush," the first episode of the first season of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated television series, which first aired on October 3, 2008.^[21] She mirrored Yoda's request for his troopers to take off their helmets by having Skywalker ask the same of Sister in the novel, both scenes of which she felt showed each Jedi's care for the clones' lives. However, she also indicated that the moment Sister and Skywalker met reflected the character qualities portrayed by^[8] Jedi Master^[19] Qui-Gon Jinn's open acceptance of individuals, a quality she felt the Jedi Order as an entity often not known for. Johnston also agreed with the notion that Skywalker would be able to relate with Sister as he felt he was an outsider within the Jedi Order, somewhat tying to the trooper's worries about acceptance.^[8] The author briefly considered moving Sister's part in the book to be the clone who interacts with Amidala instead of Sticks but eventually opted against it.^[20]

Appearances

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Audio · Images

• Queen's Hope (and audiobook) (First appearance)
• Brotherhood (and audiobook)

Sources

• Star Wars: The Secrets of the Clone Troopers (First pictured)

Notes and references

External links

• Words Words Words — Any update on the Sister art piece? on Tumblr (backup link)