"Tool of the Empire" is a story in the canon one-shot comic Revelations (2023) 1. The story was written by Greg Pak, illustrated by Salvador Larroca and Nolan Woodard, and published by Marvel Comics on December 20 2023.
Plot summary
- "Much simpler to be a droid. Wipe our memory banks, reprogram us. It's all the same. But imagine being a creature of flesh, mangled, nearly killed in battle, and having the most vital parts of your body replaced by machinery only to find yourself the tool of your enemy?"
- ―Rebel Protocol Droid to Darth Vader and ZED-6-7
In the Imperial medical laboratory on Mustafar, a 2-1B-series medical droid and ZED-6-7 overlook the bodies of several Death Troopers who were slain by Darth Vader after his master, Darth Sidious, commanded them to attack the Sith Lord. Vader enters the medical lab, asking the droid if they would ever betray the dark lord, which their programming forbids. Understanding Vader's thoughts, ZED-6-7 suggests that the troopers were superior due to the organic brain and benefitted from years of training. With the troopers having the ability to make their own choices, Vader seeks a way to correct such weaknesses. A group of IG-RM droids begin firing on a group of rebels, but the rebels fight back and successfully defeat the droids. From the smoke, Darth Vader descends upon the insurgent group and slaughters them all. Overseeing the damage taken to the droids, they can no longer support the Sith Lord, but served their purpose to distract the rebels. Inside the rebel base, a rebel Protocol droid is outraged by the empires' intrusion, but is cast aside by Vader. ZED-6-7 looks at the data the rebels were defending, finding information on the greatest rebel warriors in the sectors and where they are currently deployed. ZED-6-7 explains to the protocol droid that with the use of neuro ports would implant the cyborgs with the cognitive units of Imperial Droids, running their bodies instead of their organic minds. The droids find it simple to be a droid, being able to have memories wiped and reprogrammed, but being human and having the vital aspects of a body replaced by machinery to push the desires of someone else to be an unfortunate fate. Vader connects such thoughts to his own experience of transitioning from Anakin Skywalker into the mechanical Darth Vader. In response, Vader takes out his lightsaber and slices the droid in two.
Media
Collected in
Appearances
| Characters | Organisms | Droid models | Events | Locations |
| Organizations and titles | Sentient species | Vehicles and vessels | Weapons and technology | Miscellanea |
Characters
|
Droid models
Events
|
Locations
|
Organizations and titles
|
Sentient species
Weapons and technology
|
Miscellanea
Sources
Darth Vader Returns to Mustafar in Marvel's Star Wars: Revelations (2023) #1 – Exclusive Preview on StarWars.com (backup link)
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6
A new Star Wars: Revelations comic teases the future of the galaxy far, far away on GamesRadar (backup link)
- ↑ The events of "Tool of the Empire" take place after the Escape from Cloud City and before the Rescue of Han Solo, which are dated to 3 ABY and 4 ABY, respectively, by Star Wars: Galactic Atlas.
- ↑ "Tool of the Empire" — Revelations (2023) 1
