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The Star Wars galaxy is more than just a battle between the Light and Dark Sides. It's a universe filled with unique cultures and factions, each with its own set of strange and unbreakable rules. Discover 10 of the craziest laws that characters from Wookiees to Stormtroopers are forced to follow.
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00:00The Star Wars universe is a place ruled by good and evil, heroes and villains, the light side
00:04and the dark. But this galaxy is also governed by regular old laws. Whether they are the sacred
00:10texts of the Jedi or the ways of the Sith, every race and culture have their own set of rules
00:14that
00:14they must abide by. With that in mind then, I'm Josh from WhatCulture.com and these are 10 crazy
00:19in-universe rules that Star Wars characters follow. Number 10, The Wookiee's Life Debt.
00:24If a person's life is owed to another, they can pledge to protect their saviour for the rest of
00:28their life. This custom, known as a life debt, is common amongst many cultures in the Star Wars
00:33universe. I mean, Jar Jar Binks owed a life debt to Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi after they
00:37rescued him in The Phantom Menace, and similarly, Chewbacca vowed to protect Han Solo after he came
00:43to the Wookiee's aid. As understandable as this decree may be, Wookiees in particular take it to
00:48a radical extreme. The hairy creatures from Kashyyyk are so willing to honour the custom that it's not
00:53rare for the recipient of the life debt to turn the Wookiee into a slave. Even if the Wookiee is
00:57able to fight back or flee from their so-called messiah, the fussball won't even try. Since its
01:03devotion to the life debt is too strong to break. And this is quite sadly ironic, as can be observed
01:08in Solo A Star Wars Story and Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, as one of the more common
01:12reasons
01:13that Wookiees make life debts in the first place is because they're freed from slavery.
01:17Number 9, Stormtroopers don't have names. To ensure the Stormtroopers are of the highest
01:22calibre, each soldier goes through painstaking reconditioning during their induction into the
01:27empire. Not only are they trained physically, but mentally. They are broken down on a psychological
01:31level to ensure that they are unequivocally obedient to their superiors, no matter how
01:36unreasonable their requests might be, which is almost always very, very unreasonable. Because
01:41the original Stormtroopers were clones who aged at double speed, there was little time for a
01:46personality to develop. Since each member didn't have any real personal traits to separate them from
01:50one another, it makes sense why they were designated by operating numbers rather than names. When the First
01:56Order abandoned the cloning program and hired, or forced, regular soldiers to serve as Stormtroopers,
02:01the higher-ups continued to refer to the cadets by these operating numbers. By dehumanizing them like
02:07this, the First Order believed that their cadets would function more mechanically, making them follow
02:11orders unconditionally. Hell, some Stormtroopers were taken into the First Order at such an early age that
02:16many of them have forgotten their name, if they ever even had one to begin with.
02:20Number 8, Jedi can kill, but never out of revenge. For generations, the Jedi have depicted themselves
02:25as peaceful monks. In the wise words of Mace Windu, we're keepers of the peace, not soldiers.
02:31However, this philosophy is a big fat lie, since Jedi do kill all the time. I mean hell,
02:37Mace Windu himself didn't look particularly peaceful when he lopped off Django's head in Episode 2. Since
02:41Force wielders then are often in the thick of battle, one can only imagine how many lives they've taken.
02:46But according to the Jedi teachings, they are strictly forbidden to kill out of revenge. As
02:51Anakin Skywalker proved, a vengeance can easily lead one to the dark side. While Anakin may have
02:56been arrogant and childish in his youth, he was still mostly guided by morals. But when his mother
03:01was enslaved and killed by Tusken Raiders, he became consumed by revenge, resulting in him slaughtering
03:06the entire tribe. This was the first time Anakin tapped into the dark side, and is often regarded as
03:11his first real step to becoming Darth Vader. 7. Imperials can't hurt people without reason
03:17As hard as it is to believe, members of the Empire are, on paper anyway, forbidden from harming others
03:23unprovoked. To put it another way, the guys who blew up Alderaan are not supposed to hurt anybody.
03:29Because the Emperor pretends that he has the people's best interests at heart,
03:32he can't just have his subjects shoving blasters in front of citizens' faces with no rhyme or reason.
03:37So, he often just invents a reason, a really flimsy reason. Unless you've never seen a Star Wars movie
03:42though, you should probably be well aware that every Empire employee under the sun has failed to
03:47abide by this rule. For as long as the Empire has existed, Stormtroopers have imprisoned,
03:52tortured and shot anyone who had the misfortune of crossing their path. I mean, just because Uncle
03:56Owen and Aunt Beru found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time, Stormtroopers had them
04:00burned to a crisp, through no fault of their own. Because the Empire is passionately prejudiced against
04:05aliens as well, Stormtroopers are known for being more ruthless with non-humans,
04:09jailing and killing them for the most minor of crimes. Despite the fact that it's illegal for
04:14Imperials to harm civilians, history has proven that this law only exists on paper, not in practice.
04:206. Female Stormtroopers Must Train Harder
04:23Even though several Imperial officers have appeared throughout Star Wars, all the Stormtroopers initially
04:27were suggested to be male. However, there is no law restricting women from donning the white
04:31helmet and armor. Although they don't appear in the original trilogy, George Lucas did confirm
04:36that female Stormtroopers were stationed on the Death Star and other Empire control units.
04:40Because the female enlisted cadets are trained separately though, you would think that this is
04:44the main reason we rarely see them. But there is another factor why women are rarely spotted
04:49marching through Star Destroyers and Empire Sea stations. And that's because the Empire forced
04:53women to work much harder physically to match the male trainees. Because of this, one can only imagine
04:58the grueling experience that Captain Phasma must have endured to work her way up the ranks to become
05:02the head Stormtrooper. 5. Bribes in the Empire are a no-no
05:06The Empire is a profoundly immoral dictatorship, populated by employees which will commit any
05:12atrocity to further their agenda. Since its creation, these fascists have enslaved millions of
05:16blown up planets and obliterated entire star systems. Despite the boundless evil they've committed though,
05:23there is one law which the Empire takes very, very seriously, and that's bribery. Even though
05:28payoffs are illegal in real life as well, it's baffling why this is the one crime that causes
05:33Imperials to suddenly take the moral high ground. After all, wouldn't accepting bribes be a really
05:38effective tactic to learn crucial information to smoke out vigilantes, say? I mean, will Darth Vader
05:43really care if a scout trooper is bribed a few space credits if he learns the location of a rebel
05:48base?
05:49Considering the Empire has allied with scum like the Hutts and countless bounty hunters, it's genuinely
05:54bewildering that they act holier than thou when it comes to accepting a few kickbacks. I mean,
05:58I'm sure the paperwork for building three Death Stars wasn't legit, and a few palms were greased to
06:03get those battle stations up and running, right? Number 4. A Laugh-A-Day keeps the Jabba away.
06:08Jabba the Hutt loves nothing more than to be surrounded by all manner of little freaks.
06:13His den is a hive of scum and villainy, and as you might expect from a demented crime boss,
06:17he runs a pretty tight and tough ship. He has all manner of rules that his subordinates have to
06:22abide by in order to win his respect, but none of his subjects live under quite as much fear
06:26as one salacious B. Crumb. Now, while you might not know this little rat by his real name,
06:31you will remember him from Return of the Jedi, where he essentially served as Jabba's hype man
06:35and jester. While that's not the worst job in the world to have, Crumb doesn't exactly perform it
06:40under ideal conditions. See, in a twisted way, Jabba saved Crumb from death. However,
06:45it wasn't out the goodness of his heart. Instead, Crumb lives under a tight contract,
06:50whereby he has to justify his life by making Jabba laugh at least one time per day. And if he
06:55misses
06:55the mark, then, well, Jabba will just off him. So, Crumb existed under this rule for a good while,
07:00only to end up dead in the end anyway. Number 3. Sith must respect each other,
07:05but can kill one another. As a student to a Sith Lord, one is expected to carry out every order
07:10without question or hesitation. Any form of defiance will be met with a punishment of the highest order,
07:15so as a result, an apprentice should be utterly obedient to their superior. However,
07:20the only way for an apprentice to complete their training as a Sith is to kill their master. Even
07:25though Sith Lords spend years or decades training their student, they know it's only a matter of
07:29time before the apprentice turns on them. In fact, Darth Vader has battled the Emperor in the comics,
07:34books, and video games on many occasions in a vain attempt to usurp his master's throne. If the
07:39apprentice wishes to challenge their mentor, they're expected to take part in a lightsaber duel.
07:43But since the Sith are, well, the Sith, they often rely on less direct methods to dispose of their
07:48rival. Sadly, Darth Plagueis learned this the hard way when Darth Sidious murdered him in his sleep.
07:53What makes the Sith's hypocritical code of honour more ridiculous though, is how the Darksiders
07:57would probably have succeeded at destroying the Jedi Order eons ago if they weren't so busy trying to
08:01kill each other. Number 2. Some Mandalorians can't show their face. Of the multiple factions of the
08:06Mandalorians, the most well known is the Children of the Watch. Because these bounty hunters are not
08:10permitted to show their faces, the other tribes regard the Watch as a religious cult. Some children
08:15of the Watch take this rule so seriously, in fact, that they won't remove their helmet while eating
08:19alone or even sleeping. If a member shows their face to another person, they will be disowned by
08:23the entire tribe. Now, the lead character in The Mandalorian, Din Djarin, was so immersed in the
08:29Watch's way of life that he never even questioned his comrades. No, did he realise that he was being raised
08:33by
08:33zealots. Until Bo-Katan set him straight, he had no idea that Mandos outside the Watch could whip
08:38their helmet off whenever they wanted. The divide between the Watch and the other tribes eventually
08:42led to a culture war though, which concluded with Din Djarin's people locating to another planet.
08:46This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as the Watch were off-world when Mandalore was
08:50decimated during the Night of a Thousand Tears. Ironically, the Children of the Watch were only spared
08:55because they were too stubborn to change. Number 1. Jedi cannot have attachments.
08:59To become a Jedi, being able to wield the Force isn't enough. If one is truly sincere about being
09:04inducted into the Order, they must give themselves to the light side completely. These monk-like
09:09warriors are expected to give up leisure, non-practical possessions, and family, all in the name of living
09:14up to being a Jedi. Likewise, Jedi are not allowed to give in to negative emotions such as greed, envy,
09:19or hate, since such feelings can lead to the dark side. However, Jedi are also expected to never
09:23embrace love physically or mentally. If a Jedi is caught having a relationship with another,
09:27they will be excommunicated from the Order immediately. Even though Anakin Skywalker was
09:31fully aware of this, he was unable to control his feelings for Padme Amidala, and so married
09:36her in secret. At first, one might assume that this rule is put in place to ensure Jedi weren't
09:40impaired by distractions, but history in this world has proven that love is the most powerful,
09:44as well as the most dangerous, of all emotions. After all, it was not hate that brought about the
09:49collapse of the Republic and the Jedi Order, but love. Well, love and fear. When Anakin had a vision that
09:54he would lose Padme, he vowed to do anything that would save her, including turning to the dark
09:58side. Had Anakin never experienced mutual love, it could have prevented the Empire for ever taking
10:03over the galaxy in the first place. At least on paper. So that's our list. I want to know what
10:07you guys think down in the comments below. What do you think about these rules? How many of them did
10:10you know? How many of them didn't you know? And are there any interesting ones I missed off here?
10:14While you're down there as well, could you please give us a like, share, subscribe, and head over to
10:17WhatCultureStarWars for more lists like this on the regular. Even if you don't though, I've been Josh,
10:20thanks so much for watching, and I'll see you soon.
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