Star Wars bioweapons are horrifying

I thought it would be fun to take a moment and look at the history of Bioweapons in Star Wars Legends. We'll talk all that and more on today's video.
Thumbnail art is repurposed work by surrealist artist Zdzislaw Beksinski
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[@johnweems4586]

It's important to remember that ifyou have an army of identical clones, anything that will infect and kill one, will infect and kill all of them.

[@horsehay]

Rip genetic diversity 😢😢😢

[@slambam2665]

and if you have an army made of droids, the only thing that can infect them is a computer virus which you can easily combat, unlike a disease

[@joinGOL489]

here is an idea, I dont think the clones are real clones. I mean look at the hair, you see a wide variety of hairstyles indicating genetic diversity

[@thug-shaker-fc7fv]

@@joinGOL489that’s not how genes work, hairstyles are personal choices, not dictated by DNA

[@joinGOL489]

@@thug-shaker-fc7fv well, not necessarily. If you look at certain clones you will see their hair is actually super curly or wavy or smth of that sort. Now of course you probably could get that from working on your hair but something tells me clones arent quite that interested in changing their hair

[@EclecticBuddha]

As a wrestling fan and former Star Wars fan, it's so much fun watching you Kayfabe writer choices into a cohesive universe. Congratulations on almost hitting 1 million subs. I read so many books as a kid and I'm so glad you can remind me of those memories.

[@racobjeba]

Former Star Wars fan?

[@stevenschnepp576]

​@@racobjeba Disney has done a lot of damage and turned a lot of people from genuine fans to merely somewhat liking Star Wars, if not outright disliking it.

[@-SpaceFrog-]

I'm a wrestler and I love star wars too

[@Ed.Arthur]

🍻

[@RedPandaReal]

​@@stevenschnepp576star wars fans when they realize they can ignore the parts they dont like

[@thecatfather857]

The mysterious virus that stripped the Rakata of their ability to use the Force could've been a bioweapon too.

[@crogsmash1611]

I like to imagine the virus gained force powers

[@thecatfather857]

@@crogsmash1611 There's a terrifying thought.

[@lazyporcupine2360]

@@crogsmash1611 ahh so the Flood?

[@sakkra93]

Indeed, imagine if the Separatists, for instance, managed to find and weaponise it?

[@indianajones4321]

One some important bioweapons I think deserved a mention were Trihexalophine 1138, the poisoning of Honoghr, and Swamp Gas. Also the defoliator would be an excellent weapon to use against the Yuuzhan Vong.

[@conornorton1183]

Lol that first bioweapon name is a reference to THX 1138, George Lucas’ first film. There are loads scattered throughout the movies and lore

[@gavinboyer4634]

When you stop and think about it, the clone troopers were weapons of a sort, and they were certainly biological.

[@commondirtbagz7130]

I mean by that logic all soldiers are bio weapons so, not sure what you thought you were doing there

[@gavinboyer4634]

@@commondirtbagz7130 The clones were designed that way, though.

[@Wolfeygames]

​@@commondirtbagz7130Yeah, but soldiers aren't generally genetically modified and raised from birth with the sole purpose of being soldiers. Which is why the oc say they could be considered bioweapons, which I disagree with on a technical level, but I get what they're going for.

[@stampybird742]

From a certain point of view

[@TheWhiteDragon3]

​@@commondirtbagz7130When they're manufactured in tanks, raised from birth to be soldiers, and deployed and expended on the frontlines without their consent, yeah, they're bioweapons, which makes their stories especially tragic when they're being deployed against a subhuman army

[@digitalcharon3639]

The hapans didn't drop the nano virus. The imperials did as revenge for fett's attack on a star destroyer that killed a bunch of moffs. The imperials also targetted the hapan royal family with a strain of the nano virus, killing much of it on the flag ship of the hapan fleet.

[@aliastheabnormal]

Would the defoliator even work on the Yuuzhan Vong? I can't help but think that they would have countermeasures for bio weapons since everything the use is biological.

[@Daemon2k15]

The defoliator isnt organic. It was a bomb that only affected organic matter. Somehow similar to a dirty bomb

[@stampybird742]

It looks like basically just a giant incendiary round so if the Yuushan Vong landed on planets, it might work

[@aliastheabnormal]

@@stampybird742 Well that was goddamn anticlimactic Admiral Thrawn.

[@joma-lt2nk]

@@aliastheabnormal Grand

[@phoenixx913]

I don't think the defoliator is ever described to be a bioweapon sure it targets organic matter but at the end of the day it basically just releases a very large and wide wave of intense flames that turn everything they touch to ash. If anything it's more of a incendiary weapon.

[@ashtoncavin5774]

Did you use Zdzisław Beksiński’s classic painting, “sight of termination” as a thumbnail?

[@ashtoncavin5774]

I agree. It’s one of my favorites from Beksinski

[@FHT1883]

the Bo'tous insects from "Hero's Trial" were super disgusting. Also whatever the Vong used to turn Ithor into black sludge

[@erez87xp]

How about a video about the force itself? Where it comes from, how it started, what is it, etc…

[@FHT1883]

The Force didn't "start" to anyone's knowledge, and it presumably predates sapient life. And it's a good thing nobody has ever tried to write a story about its origins, there is literally no way for such a story to be good

[@toast6375]

Better idea, the first person to discover/use the force

[@RamielNagisa]

The only two plagues I knew of from Legends was the krytos Virus you mentioned--that was a wild book--and the Blackwing zombie virus, both largely or completely immune to Bacta treatments. I'm not counting the Vong viruses.

[@ImTheReverse]

Don’t forget about the Black Seed Plague from Planet of Twilight

[@beskarbaron6503]

There is also the Rakghoul plague

[@wedgeantillies66]

@@beskarbaron6503 That was all due to Sith magic of the maur talisman, rather than being an actually bioweapon. Basically creating a mindless army for the wearer to command.

[@wedgeantillies66]

Forgetting the nano virus used by the imperial remnant against both the Mandelorians and Hapans during the course of the second galactic civil war.

[@GoldAxoMC]

wasn't the blackwing virus mngal mngal? (sorry if i butchered spelling)

[@MichaelV118]

I would love to see more of the videos about bioweapons, and the force related illness/bioweapons

[@mattmorehouse9685]

Yeah, force related bioweapons sound really interesting.

[@M4ndalore]

Interesting video, but why didn't you mention the rakghoul plague? It was originally created to be a bioweapon by a Sith Lord, did you decide to omit it because it was never really deliberately weaponized on a large scale or is there a different reason?

[@matrix-5466]

I think he was basing the video around the timeline of the films.

[@Spicy-Dragon-fruit]

@@matrix-5466 but he mentioned another Sith virus from the bane trilogy which is set roughly 1000bby right? also i think he missed that that sith technoplague also added lasers as well as the book that features it mentions a converted rancor with a laser cannon around its shoulder i think?

[@lanster77schannel]

It's just a video for fun! :)

[@joewilson5631]

Another force based power I'd like you to talk about is in Legends with Bardan Jusik repairing Fi's brain molecule by molecule then later helping Boba Fett with his wife in the same fashion in the FOTJ cuz that shit was nuts

[@Theology.101]

my guy its bioweapons. Umbrella Company has got my perspective screwed to high hell

[@rpgmusik2172]

What were they even trying with some of them? Sure, lickers and tyrants are handy, but what did they think they were gonna use the Neptune for?

[@kritizismmusics9737]

​@@rpgmusik2172I knew Palpatines ugly ass had to have some sith aides or some shit or sifilis ate his braine xD

[@Mijo__]

Its been a while since ive read them, but there was also the bioweapon in the clone commando novels. Only thing i can remember from that was they made an anti virus that had cold like symptoms and those who took it just went into mandalore to cough on everything in order to help spread it

[@PetesHQ]

When you take the Death Star into account. Bio weapons in the Star Wars universe are the absolute thing of nightmares

[@PityOnlyFools]

no rakghoul virus mentioned

[@DrMutran]

Thoughts on other videos? What’s your opinion on the Droch boarding ship? Is it an effective tool, or unnecessary for boarding actions?

[@ObsidionshadowX]

Love that I always learn something new in your videos, and on the note of what other videos you could do.. ..Though I doubt there's all that information on it, I'd love for a possible breakdown of the different generations of clone armor/equipment, maybe even a prototype armor if that ever existed.

[@rhythmsection3054]

Nice Beksinski on the thumbnail. Dude's stuff is 🔥🔥

[@Ezramando16]

Reminds me of when Tiplee spoke of a possible biological weapon to effect the clones in S6 of the clone wars.

[@gabrielsanchez3901]

I wanna see more use of crazy science in Star Wars especially bio weapons could make an interesting movie

[@hyperdunkzhd22]

Gimme death troopers as a limited series or movie 🤤

[@ImTheReverse]

@@michaelandreipalon359I pray to god that we never get any semblance of artificial or manufactured force powers in Star Wars. Having a scientific explanation via midichlorians is enough. A way for someone to harness the force and give it to a non-Force sensitive is a ridiculous, cliched and all around bad idea. But that’s just my opinion.

[@wesleyward5901]

@michaelandreipalon359 Muggles are from Harry Potter but the idea of pumping a non-force sensitive full of midichlorians is reslly interesting. Though it does sound like some Nazi scientist type shit which would be perfect for the Empire.

[@baldrian22]

there is one from the book red harvest i think (turned people, and animlast etc into zombies basicly) and han and chewbacka run into one to in one of the legend books. quite devestating weapon to, made people complelty bonkers and hungry for flesh, i guess its simular to the rage virus from 28 days just imagtion the sith virus loose on corrosunt. it would have devestated the entire planet.

[@argentofox2567]

Been really enjoying the Thrawn books, wondering if you could do a list of species from the unknown areas of space. I had looked for a breakdown a races in the unknown region, but unfortunately there is not a lot of content, or at least not a lot of detailed content.

[@PurposefullyIneloquent]

I like to imagine the delight Albert Wesker would feel getting to study some of these viruses.

[@davidragan9233]

Computing is state of the art, *for the late 1970's early 80's*. My head-canon on that is they had one species with one part up to 70's/80's and another group/species that had a Quantum Crystal (Droid AI?) and they merged them together but never really advanced the electronics part letting the Quantum or even Kyber Crystals take the main load of things.

[@AnotherCleverName0987]

Bro please talk about the force illnesses and let's do some stuff battle Sims and explore it! I don't mind theory crafting where the future of star wars should go. You provide lots of well thought out insight.

[@Thaumh]

There was an episode of the 80s 'DROIDS' cartoon where a bioweapon called "ruz" or "rooz" (dunno spelling) that was a pink mist which caused organic flesh to just disintegrate, leaving your empty clothes behind. Anyone else remember this?

[@WhatIsThatThingDoing]

So it's not just me either? I definitely remember something like that.

[@minimalbstolerance8113]

Yep, that was a thing. It was called Rooze disease.

[@Thaumh]

@@minimalbstolerance8113 And some Imp with Dr. Claw's voice had weaponized it, and in the end it was used against him.

[@wyattbodet335]

This is my first non-sports video I've watched of yours and it is so bizarre to hear you talking about bio-weapons rather than hockey news

[@ironxcrosss]

I'm kinda shocked we didn't see the virus that took the Force away from the Rakata. There where enough Rakata and similar species alive around the time of the empire (legends anyway, Canon is a toss up) I can imagine someone who thought like Kreia or found old teachings of hers to find the force itself abhorrent and fine, isolate, and mutate a virus like this to target all species to rid them of the force. Idk feels more like a D&D star wars campaign but the pieces are there

[@ajm2872]

Holy fuck I was not prepared for the cOoM sPoRe 😂

[@Mrbones-hy1zl]

So glad you gave the art credit to Beksinski

[@alexanderellison8748]

Hey Eck. Recently my friend and I were playing Battlefront II and we wondered “What makes Droidekas continue rolling?” If you could cover the topic of Droidekas and answer my question, that would mean a lot. Thank you for reading :)

[@SephirothRyu]

40k: Not so different from us now, huh, droid lovers?

[@austinmeans7294]

Keep it up Eck! Loving this video style, hearing more what you have to say! 👌👌

[@opticalduck2587]

King Buffalo thumbnail jump scare lol

[@AncalagonTheDread]

The Tuk'ata were my favorite bioweapon. They literally tracked force sensitive prey via their force connection.

[@tomtom21194]

Space mining stations and technology? I remeber in legends lando has ships with massive solar heat shields to protect visitors to his mining operation at one point. Might be an interesting little topic

[@atruenobody6189]

A Beksinski-painting as thumbnail? You are tuly a man of culture.

[@JohnPates]

The Rakata robotic zombie plague quests in SWTOR really got to me when thinking about it... especially the Imperial side of those quests.

[@gluckspils-lp9949]

The Thumbnail is the cover from King Buffalo - the burden of restlessness. Cool Band

[@Fizzypee124]

Zlidslaw thumbnail goes kinda hard

[@dmon7056]

The album that uses the thumbnail art is awesome stuff

[@alloftheexperts2111]

The exerpt "Infection & disease have killed more soldiers than combat" is directly taken from our own history, and the way the Star Wars universe seems to fix that with advancements such as Bacta humankind in the real world have done the same thing. That quote is a direct representation of wars fought in our own history where more soldiers would die from disease and infection or something else outside of combat itself. Some examples: The Napoleonic Wars infectious diseases claimed 10x more lives than actual combat and this was true for most wars up until the First World War. By 1914 Bacteriology had made it's way as a proper science leading to less casualities due to disease directly on the battlefield (There still was a influenza wave in 1918 of global proprotions but cant be attributed to the War itself).

[@andrewsams8035]

I'm certain the thumbnail is an album cover from King Buffalo and the album is called 'The Burden of Restlessness'. Good band, highly recommend, Dead Star is an awesome EP.

[@SMunro]

To target fett or his relatives? So basically it was designed to target cloned stormtroopers?

[@marrqi7wini54]

Though at that point most of the Fett clonescare likely old or dead so they don't matter much.

[@beagle3247]

Just be thankful no one has realized what you can do with sf6 and other heavy gases I had an idea about it one day and it's absolute pain and suffering and made me wonder what the governments might be hiding.

[@arthurbrandonnielsen]

I'm actually kind of surprised you didn't mention the Emperor's Storehouse

[@salz2830]

7:40 small Kthulu :D

[@HisLordsh1p]

Honestly I'm disappointed one of the more goofy star wars bio-weapons didn't get mentioned: the slime that feeds off of negative emotions the empire developed in the Galaxy of Fear? series.

[@minimalbstolerance8113]

I thought I was the only one who remembered that. The Galaxy of Fear series had some incredible, if silly bioweapons. The virus that turns you into slime, Eppon, D'vouran the living planet...

[@trifecta189]

0:01 who's the artist? 3:36 who's the artist? 5:00 who's the artist? 6:53 who's the artist? 7:31 who's the artist?

[@TimV93]

Is Eckharts Ladder a King Buffalo fan? That thumbnail is their cover art for their album “The Burden of Restlessness”

[@Mk_Hallsy]

Love your vids eck!

[@chromatinkiss]

Coom spore lol

[@ImaginaryPerson1138]

I would unironically love it if you went over the deathtroopers book. It's bad and campy, but still good enough to be respected (in my eyes)

[@Rorywizz]

Zdzislaw painting thumbnail epic

[@alastor8134]

blackwing/the crimson are fuckin scary

[@user-fu3rn1vq3u]

Star Wars fans: Our bioweapons are horrifying! 40k fans: *Laughs in Nurgle*

[@hermannmakuta3311]

Please do a Video about the Muur-Talisman

[@st.haborym]

I've been too badly traumatized by the real world and the horrors that exist in it to be phased by make believe stuff like this anymore.

[@Stonehawk]

my hypothesis regarding computing in the star wars canon: The Force has made digital microcomputing impossible: If you teleported any computer we built after, say, the early 1980s into the universe of star wars, its circuitry will immediately short out due to electron quantum tunneling. The reason of this is that The Force has rendered observation-based wave form collapse (all quantum phenomena) *extremely suggestible.* People "use" The Force by selectively observing what MIGHT happen to influence the outcome of it happening. And they perform this selective observation by visualization of their desired outcome. *Merely mentally modeling a desired outcome with sufficient clarity will influence otherwise 'random' fluctuations to resolve in ways conducive to what one visualizes.* This has rendered all computing either extremely slow and chunky OR forced it into an analog black box where it's not so much a deterministic program, but _a set of impulses that don't even truly understand THEMSELVES._ Deeper into headcanon: furthermore, it's intentional. The galaxy is like that specifically to stop digital microprocessing. It was made that way by a civilization that came eons prior to even the deep progenitors of the lore. There had been a digital microprocessing *apocalypse* on an interstellar scale with a nanite swarm of gray goo consuming EVERYTHING. The only way to stop it was to render digital computation on that scale intrinsically and fundamentally impossible. The solution: fuck up quantum physics so bad that nothing below the scale of electrons can be relied upon to behave in a deterministic manner anymore. The Force is _a side effect_ of this.

[@Crysta1Pisto1]

King Buffalo thumbnail? Great band!!

[@jrod19437]

dope vid, interesting topic !

[@rodolfohernandez3303]

Of all the bioweapons The Krytos Virus takes the number one place

[@lm1169x]

Enjoyed the video. Definitely a unique topic. 👍

[@lizstroud9029]

Solid outro 🥰

[@jacksondavis8940]

I just read wedges gamble and the krytos trap a few days ago

[@Starman_Dx]

War Master Lah: Prepare to face our coomb, new republic! Wait, why are they laughing? They always laugh when I wish to spread our coomb across their worlds! Why are you laughing now, Nom Anor?!

[@tenminutes4876]

Do a video or a short on what your dream star wars game would look like

[@Techn0mancer]

You should make a video about what you think is the best blaster in starwars, it could be categories or just an all around favorite!

[@lol34.]

That I agree with

[@mikoaj.sobolewski3125]

The Zdzisław Beksiński's art in the thumbnail took me by surprise

[@midragga]

Bro 40k life eater virus on istvaan 3 is fucking terrifying

[@dietricklamade7417]

rakghoul plague is a cool one that could be its own episode

[@Pastry656]

Truly the greatest Bio-Weapon is the dreaded… Gizka menace!

[@gdc4736]

Coom spore 😅

[@unfortunatereplica8442]

Some of this sounds like ol papa nurgle was fooling around

[@KyleDornez]

Death Seed.

[@brickcraftproductions3065]

Time to reread The Essential guide to Warfare again.

[@Henricksenfamily]

Perfect for watching before bed

[@fabianreinelt163]

I love how people seem to replay the outro

[@jeffagain7516]

Interesting Topic Eck, thanks. It brings to mind during my military training, The topic of bio-weapons. One of our key subjects of training was known as NBC training, which stood for Nuclear, Biological and Chemical warfare. Nuclear, of course was focused on radiation exposure. Chemical was dealing with the destructive nature of a variety of chemical contingents, from the WWI Mustard gas to the use of some of the newer and no less deadly nerve agents. I recall once asking the instructor "what are the preventive or corrective measures available for Biological contingencies. His answer was short and to the point; "We're F*CKED". Pretty much sums it up and not something I think any military or civilian agency is EVER going to be prepared for, since there's so many variables involved; i.e. there are a LOT of nasty viruses out there than can be delivered via water supply, aerosol, soil saturation, etc. Except perhaps Droid armies but then, they've got a host of issues as well, not the least of which is the release of a well placed EMP.

[@Joe_Potts]

I don't know if you already have, but can you talk about the Rakghoul Plague of the Old Republic era? They were (sort of) Sith created creatures that would turn other beings bitten by them into more Rakghouls. Actually rather terrifying stuff if you think about it.

[@danielsamonte1586]

Great outro

[@OK-rx3xl]

As per suggestions. I would like to see a video about the nightlife of Coruscant as seen though the eyes of a wealthy senator.

[@brother_bear_one7340]

That thumbnail... Looks like that was right outta SCORN.

[@kenshi21]

Beksinski arts are great.

[@thekillerkiwi9879]

Can you do a breakdown of the force world between worlds from rebels? That's always been a super interesting part of the force

[@wesleyward5901]

Even in a universe with planet destroying super-weapons, literal magic, lightsabers that can cut through solid steel, murderous robots, etc., it's almost funny how bioweapons are still the most terrifying things to exist. Guess our universe and the SW one isn't so different..

[@IlikeScriabinandBach]

I see the Beksinski painting!

[@Trentrick_Lamar]

COOOOOM

[@dromhawr3707]

"You can read wookiepedia for that." How based.

[@peterroberts7832]

Ayyy King Buffalo thumbnail

[@wintersking4290]

The Rakgul plague is definitely a pretty freaky force based bioweapon.

[@Dirili]

Almost a million, mate.

[@jahmirwhite7807]

This is definitely interesting. Would love to see you cover bioweapons in the Star Fox universe or even the Metroid universe!

[@grimr3vp3r84]

What about targeting a specific blood type ,based of the structure a of cell and target specific things. That’s sounds dangerous.

[@ApprenticeMors]

I’m surprised he didn’t talk about the rakghoul plague.

[@snorlaxmunch8675]

The chiss fleet composition or chiss fleet ship analysis if it has not been done could be an idea