10 Scariest Uses Of Force Power In Star Wars History
4. Emperor Palpatine Doomed Dead Imperial Pilots To A Hellish Afterlife As Starfighters
The Shadow Droid program is one of the lesser known Imperial weapons, but perhaps one of the most unpleasant.
Imperial researchers approached Palpatine with an idea to use the brains of dead (or dying) superior Imperial pilots in a weapons program. The Emperor, never one to waste anything, agreed.
Brains were taken from Imperial pilots and placed into a cocoon of nutrients, which was then placed into a starfighter called a Shadow Droid. The brains were hardwired to sensors, controls, and tactical computers. They had the ability to know what was going on around them and move, but had no independent will and still retained the knowledge of their previous lives as pilots.
The brains were stripped of every trace of humanity except for the ability to fight and fly. To give them an even greater edge, the Emperor gave the brains the ability to touch the Dark Side, which, while making them better weapons, also made them the Emperor's puppets.
Shadow Droids were trapped in a state of being technically alive and aware, but with no free will or ability to do anything aside from kill Rebels and remember who they had been.