Lance corporal

Lance corporal was a military rank used by the Sith Eternal army for Sith troopers assigned to command a triad, a fire team consisting of two corporals and the commanding lance corporal.

Description

The lance corporal rank was used by the Sith Eternal cult for the Sith troopers of its army. As the fire team's commanding officer, a lance corporal was a part of a triad fire team alongside two lesser-ranking corporals. The three lance corporals that commanded three triads were then under the command of a Sith trooper sergeant in an overall squad. That command structure would then build to Sith trooper legions, each of which was built around five thousand Sith troopers.^[1]

As Sith troopers, lance corporals donned red trooper armor, wielded ST-W48 blaster rifles, and stood as elite soldiers of the First Order. Furthermore, as Sith troopers, lance corporals were either the children of the Sith Eternal cultists^[1] or had started off life as children stolen away by the First Order, only for their potential to be noticed, leading to them being whisked away to the Sith Eternal to become Sith troopers.^[2]

History

The lance corporals of the Sith Eternal commanded triad fire teams (a lance corporal at the center of a Triad, pictured).

Like their fellow Sith troopers, Sith troopers assigned the rank of lance corporal were elite soldiers readied for galactic conquest by the Sith Eternal—which hoped to usher in a new Sith Empire under Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith and former ruler of the Galactic Empire—and the First Order, a regime puppeteered by Sidious^[1] during the buildup of the Sith Eternal's forces.^[3] However, the First Order at large remained unaware of the Sith troopers and the general existence of the Sith Eternal for much of its existence.^[1]

Like the rest of the Sith Eternal army, Sith trooper lance corporals and the triads they commanded were active during the war between the First Order and the Resistance, but the entire army was kept secret^[1] until 35 ABY. That year,^[4] the power of the Sith Eternal was revealed to the galaxy at large by Sidious via a broadcast and the unveiling of the Final Order fleet. However, despite the efforts of the cult and Sidious himself, the Sith Eternal was crushed during the subsequent Battle of Exegol by the Resistance and gathered Citizens' Fleet, preventing the re-emergence of the Sith Order and its followers.^[3]

Behind the scenes

An enlisted Imperial with the rank of lance corporal in Star Wars Legends gives a salute. — An enlisted Imperial with the rank of lance corporal in *Star Wars* Legends gives a salute.

Lance corporal is a real world military rank^[5] that, in the current Star Wars canon, was first pictured in the hardcover book Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – The Official Collector's Edition, which was edited by Jonathan Wilkins and featured an image of three Sith troopers standing together.^[6] After The Official Collector's Edition was released on December 19, 2019,^[7] the next day saw the release of the reference book Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary by Pablo Hidalgo.^[8] Within, the same image of three Sith troopers—identified as a triad fire team—was used, with the central Sith trooper being identified as the commanding lance corporal, marking the first outright mention of a lance corporal in canon. Unlike what is said to be the case for the in-universe ranks of the Sith Eternal army,^[1] a real-world lance corporal ranks below a corporal.^[5]

In the real world, the title "lance corporal" effectively translates to "one who has broken a lance in combat," suggesting someone who has earned the rank to be a skilled leader or soldier.^[5] In the Star Wars Legends continuity, the lance corporal rank first appeared in the 2003 video game Star Wars Galaxies,^[9] in which it was presented as the second-lowest enlisted rank of the Galactic Empire's military forces.^[10]