33. Droid Army
When Did They Die: Episodes I-III
What Were They: Built and fielded by the separatist movement against the Galactic Republic in the Clone Wars, the Droid Army performed at just about every level of Count Dooku’s attempts to manufacture a reason for Palpatine to take power
How Did They Die: In just about every manner you can possibly imagine
On a collective level, the Droid Army were a palpable force in the Trade Federation’s efforts to resolve the trade dispute with Naboo and the later separatist movement that built around those efforts’ failure.
On an individual level, however, the droid army is nothing but cannon fodder. There’s good reason for this on multiple levels. From the perspective of the Separatists, they are a cheap and endlessly replaceable army that virtually no one will mourn if they die in battle, even if it is in absolute droves.
From a production and storytelling level, the droid army gave George Lucas an unsympathetic victim for just about every hero in the movie to kill. The Jedi in particular need to be kind and merciful. Were they up against an army of living beings who were merely fighting for a cause they presumably believed in, it would have been a lot harder to cast Obi-wan Kenobi or anyone else within the Jedi Order as pinnacles of virtue and caring.
Instead, thankfully, they have a bunch of lifeless automatons to dismember, behead, blow up and generally slaughter at will.
Next: 32. Clone Troopers