- “Galactic Empire? We're soldiers of the Republic.”
- ―Echo about the Empire.
Echo (birth number CT-1409) is a former soldier of the 501st Legion, the last surviving member of Domino Squad, and a member of the Clone Force 99. He is a minor character in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and one of the tritagonists in Star Wars: The Bad Batch.
Background
Echo was created on Kamino a few years before the start of the Clone Wars. He then spent his early life training with the other cadet clones, Heavy, Fives, Cutup and Droidbait. His comrades quickly nicknamed him Echo because of his insane habit of repeating the orders they heard in training.
Personality
Like all clone troopers, Echo is a loyal and dedicated soldier since he was trained from birth. The notable difference between him and the rest of his brothers is that he tends to follow protocol too much, which earned him his nickname because he never stopped repeating orders to his comrades. Also because of this peculiarity, Echo is known to never adapt to the situation, at least in these early days. He got along quite well with his longtime comrade Fives as well as Captain Rex and was a firm believer in the Republic.
After his accident, Echo went through a brief period of dementia until his rescue. His return to the Republican military proved that he remained loyal to Rex and the Republic itself, although his original personality was altered. As a member of the Bad Batch, Echo went beyond his conviction to follow every directive but instead became much more judgmental than before. The end of the Republic left Echo bitter, quickly despising the new Galactic Empire before even knowing its true face. He was also having trouble adjusting to life as an Imperial fugitive, showing that somehow Echo doesn't yet know how to fully adapt to the situation. Another thing that hasn't changed about him is his friendship with Rex.
Appearances
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Echo became a full member of the Grand Republic Army after the Domino Squad finally passed the test at the start of the Clone Wars. Originally assigned to Rishi Moon's outpost until a Separatist attack left only Echo and his comrade Fives as the only survivors. They both later became members of the Arc Troopers primarily under Captain Rex, helping mostly protect Kamino during Grievous' attempt to destroy the clone factories. Around the middle of the war, Echo took part in the rescue mission at the Citadel and apparently perished in the blast of an explosion, as Fives and Rex looked on.
Unbeknownst to all, Echo actually survived but was severely mutilated as a result and then captured by the Techno Union and made a guinea pig for separatist leader Wat Tambor on Skako Minor. Towards the end of the war, Rex began to believe that Echo was alive and eventually tracked him down to the city of Purkoll with the help of Clone Force 99, a team of modified clones also known as the Bad Batch. Having become a cyborg and hooked up to a supercomputer to serve as an algorithm against Republican forces due to his knowledge, the Bad Batch briefly suspected Echo of siding with the Separatists after his rescue, but Echo ultimately always turned out. be on the side of the Republic. After Admiral Trench was defeated, Echo was invited by Hunter, the leader of the Bad Batch, to join them due to having become more like them. Encouraged by Rex, Echo became a member of Clone Force 99.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch
Season One
Echo first appears meeting with Jedi master Depa Billaba and her Padawan Caleb Dume on the planet Kaller. Echo and the rest of the Bad Batch take Caleb with them to take out some Separatist forces as they hear the Clone Wars is coming to end. Suddenly, Echo and the rest of the Bad Batch witnessed Billaba's death at the hands of her own clones. After Caleb flees into the woods, Hunter orders Echo and Tech to find out the meaning of Order 66, with the two learning that it is an order to eliminate all Jedi for treason.
Following these events, the Bad Batch returned to Kamino. In their neighborhood, Echo is outraged that the clones on Kaller is so coldly daring to turn against Billaba despite their many years by her side, an act Tech relates to clone programming whose original members of the Bad Batch are not submitted to. due to their genetic mutation while Echo is immune to it due to his accident at the Citadel. Soon after, Echo and the clone troopers listen to Palpatine's speech about the Republic becoming a Galactic Empire, much to Echo's dismay. The team then encounters a young girl named Omega who serves as a medical assistant on Kamino and who admires the Bad Batch.
During a fight in the cafeteria, Echo notices Tarkin, the man he had once rescued at the Citadel the day of his accident, only to be knocked unconscious by a hit to the head with a tray. Waking up in the medical wing, Echo becomes panicked upon seeing the AZI-3 droid's scanner until Omega assures her that everything is fine. He then warns the others about Tarkin, knowing himself of this man's unsympathetic nature towards clones before the entire squad is summoned to the training room by Tarkin to be tested as soldiers of the Empire. The Bad Batch managed to defeat the training droids despite having gone into live fire, reinforcing Echo's distrust of Tarkin who then met with the five clones to assign them a mission to eliminate Separatist insurgents on Onderon.
Arrived on the planet, the Bad Batch finds the camp of the insurgents but Echo notices the presence of children, meaning that they are not separatists. The squad is then surprised by Onderon's soldiers and led to their leader, Saw Gerrera. The former Freedom Fighter tells them that the Empire actually sent them to slaughter innocent people who just rebelled against Imperial authority. This cleared up, Gerrera breaks camp and allows the clones to leave due to their help during the Clone Wars, advising him to turn their back on the past to better survive. Returning to the Marauder, Echo criticizes Crosshair when the latter insists on completing the mission despite what Gerrera revealed, then prompting Hunter to notice a change in Crosshair since Kaller before taking down a probe droid that was spying on them. Echo easily deduces that Tarkin sent the droid. The Bad Batch then head to Kamino to retrieve Omega after Tech is revealed the girl was an altered clone like them.
Captured upon their return by Tarkin who accuses them of treason and locks them in cells, the squad nevertheless finds Omega who had been imprisoned earlier. Once Crosshair was taken away by the Shock Troopers on Tarkin's orders, the rest of the Bad Batch managed to escape using the cell's air ducts. Returning to the Marauder who remained in the hangar and recovering their equipment, the clones find themselves confronted by clones led by a Crosshair whose inhibitor chip has been amplified, making him totally loyal to the Empire and ready to kill his former brothers in arms. Despite this setback, the Bad Batch and Omega manage to flee Kamino.
Now fugitives, the Bad Batch make a stopover on Saleucami where Echo meets the deserter clone and old friend of Rex, Cut Lawquane. The deserters also learn that all clone troopers have inhibitor chips in their heads which is the reason for their betrayal against the Jedi. The team later helps Cut and his family leave Saleucami by creating chain codes for them to leave from the port station, but the Marauder is badly damaged in their own escape, forcing them to stop on Ordo Moon. Although an Ordo Moon Dragon steals the Marauder's capacitor, Omega manages to recover it.
Lacking supplies, fuel, and the ship's signature being wanted, the clones make a stopover on Pantora to try to fix all these problems at once. Echo poses as a droid and is sold to a trader then recruits several droids to help re-assemble the ship once Tech has finished installing the signature jammer. While on Pantora, Omega was nearly captured by a mysterious bounty hunter, prompting Echo to suggest meeting with a former Jedi informant named Cid living on Ord Mantell. However, Cid only agrees to give them the info if the squad is going to rescue a certain Muchi. Accepting the mission, the clones find themselves confronted by the Zygerrian slavers but nevertheless save Muchi who turns out to be in reality a teenage Rancor, a detail that Echo criticizes Cid for not having said. As promised, the identity of the bounty hunter is revealed and turns out to be Fennec Shand.
The team then moved to Ord Mantell for a while. Their next mission given by Cid is the recovery of a tactical droid from the foundry of Correlia but it ends in failure due to some complications and as if that were not enough, they are now in debt to Cid for several miscellaneous taxes. Echo meets Rex again after the latter learns of their whereabouts on Correlia. Rex's revelation about the dangerousness of the chips still in each Bad Batch member forces the team to join the former clone captain on Bracca where material left over from Venator's wreckage can suppress their chips. On the way, Rex tells Echo about their old friend Fives who had first discovered the fleas. Unfortunately, Wrecker succumbs to his chip and nearly kills everyone but is overpowered by Rex and his chip removed along with those of the others.
After Rex leaves, the Bad Batch collect ammo and bombs in an effort to pay their debt, though Echo is upset that they haven't joined Rex and are easily turning their backs on their lives as soldiers. Spotted by the scrap metal guild, the Bad Batch finds himself confronted by Crosshair and the Imperial forces but manages to escape by fighting his way through the Venator's ion engine. In the run, Omega is captured by Cad Bane and while trying to find her, the clones learn that Omega is actually a pure clone of Jango Fett, meaning the Kaminoans are behind the bounty on her. They later end up rescuing Omega on Bora Vio.
The Bad Batch successively complete a mission to rescue a Separatist Senator on Raxus during which Echo overcomes his contempt for the Separatists and Omega paying the debt to Cid, then a weapon delivery on Ryloth for Gobi Glie. Shortly after the delivery, the team is spontaneously hired by Hera Syndulla to free her parents imprisoned by the Empire following a set-up. Despite Crosshair's presence, the clones and Twi'lek prisoners manage to escape with the help of clone Captain Howzer.
During the other mission, Rex contacts the Bad Batch to go save a friend of his on Daro and it is partly Echo's opinion that tips the scales in Hunter's decision. When during the reconnaissance on the secret imperial base of Daro, Hunter and Tech prefer to turn back due to the lack of information but Echo reminds them that the circumstances are the same as on Skako when they freed him there, the pushing to initiate infiltration. Fighting their way through the TK troopers, the clone trooper replacements, the clones find Rex's friend, the clone commander Gregor who defected to the Empire. Although the Bad Batch manages to evade Imperial forces, Hunter is captured.
Following a Hunter's comm transmission to Kamino, the team is ambushed by Crosshair. The latter offers a chance to his former brothers in arms to join the Empire, which they all purely refuse. After facing new battles against reprogrammed training droids, the Bad Batch discovers that Crosshair has had his chip removed but remains loyal to the Empire. At the same time, Admiral Rampart opens fire on all of Tipoca City while the clones are still inside. Surviving the destruction of the Kaminoan labs, the team manages to make their way to Nala Se's secret lab and then back to the surface with the help of AZI-3 who leaves all of his battery there. They then survey what remains of Tipoca City before climbing back into the Marauder and leaving Kamino for good, leaving a Crosshair still loyal to the Empire behind.
Trivia
- Originally, Echo did not survive the escape attempt from the Citadel until Disney renewed Star Wars: The Clone Wars for a seventh and final season, revealing Echo's survival.
- In Common Ground, Echo says "Live to fight another day", a sentence that clone trooper Hardcase once said before his death.
- As of right now, Echo has never been told exactly what had happened to his brother Fives.
- Fives was mentioned in Episode 8 of The Bad Batch, but Rex never told Echo that Fives was dead. Echo also never expressed a reaction to Fives' death.
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