Umbara
In "Darkness on Umbara" (The Clone Wars 4.7), Clone Troopers mount a military campaign on the planet Umbara. The name "Umbara" evokes the Latin "umbra," meaning "shadow." In English, "umbra" refers to the darkest, most fully shaded part of a shadow. These are apt associations: the opening narration refers to Umbara as a "shadowy world," and its inhabitants, the Umbarans, are called "the shadow people." Both visually and emotionally, the Umbaran campaign is arguably the darkest part of the Clone Wars, with the Clones suffering heavy losses under the command of the insane Jedi Pong Krell before finally mutinying against him.
Darkness implies blindness. It is literally difficult for the Clones to see in the darkness on Umbara: one trooper complains, "I can't even see the enemy!" This motif comes to tragic fruition in "Carnage of Krell" (The Clone Wars 4.10) when the Clones, blindly following Krell's orders, wrongly see another company of Clones as enemies and fire on their own brethren. Meanwhile, Krell's "sight" is precisely what has driven him insane: he has "foreseen" the dark truth that the Jedi will lose the war and the Republic will fall.
The Latin "umbra" can also refer to a "shade" – the ghost of a dead person. The newsreel that begins "Darkness on Umbara" specifies that the Republic campaign to control Umbara begins with a strike into a "remote ghost nebula." These motifs frame the campaign on Umbara as a kind of descent into the underworld or the land of the dead.
Finally, the name "Umbara" is a clue to the fact that these episodes are inspired by the 1979 film Apocalypse Now, which was in turn inspired by Joseph Conrad's 1899 novella Heart of Darkness. The second episode of the arc, "The General" (The Clone Wars 4.8), is directed by Walter Murch, who was an editor on Apocalypse Now. George Lucas was originally going to direct Apocalypse Now, and the name of the character "Colonel G. Lucas," played by Star Wars star Harrison Ford, pays homage to him. Like Apocalypse Now, the Umbara episodes center on a mission into a hellish environment – a "heart of darkness" – and climax with the assassination of a military leader who has gone mad with power and abandoned the cause he was originally fighting for.
EXPLORE FURTHER…
Characters: Pong Krell
Shows: The Clone Wars
GO DEEPER INTO THE ARCHIVES…
Concepts: death / ghosts / light and darkness / names / sight and blindness / underworld
Influences: Apocalypse Now / Heart of Darkness
READ MORE ABOUT…
Follow The Jedi Archives on…