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I thought it was odd that a Stormtrooper would be running around a battlefield, dodging blaster fire, with what amounts to a gigantic futuristic sword. When we first see him, I don't think he even has a blaster ( maybe he's dropped it? ), so I assumed the gigantic futuristic sword his only weapon.

It raised many questions in my easily confused mind:

  • What was that weapon called?
  • Why would a Stormtrooper be armed with such a large melee weapon to begin with?
  • Was it specifically designed to duel with a lightsaber?
  • Was that Stormtrooper trained to fight against Jedi ( he really seems to do a better job against Finn than Kylo Ren ) ?

So what was the deal with that weapon?

Community
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Daft
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    Not a duplicate - this question is "what", the other question is "why". It addresses #2 and #4 of Daft's bullets, but not really #1 or #3 (SS-3's answer mentions the name, but doesn't really explain what it is, because that wasn't the question). Daft: might be worth replacing #2 and #4 with a "related reading" link to reduce confusion? – user56reinstatemonica8 Jan 15 '16 at 16:45

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It's called a Z6 riot control baton (https://www.starwars.com/databank/first-order-riot-control-stormtroopers). They were used by the stormtroopers tasked with riot control by the First Order. These troopers would likely have been specifically trained to use melee weapons such as the Z6 baton, and would have been send to control and subdue civil unrest. Wookieepedia states that these troopers would have used the baton alongside a shield, which I think the trooper in the above scene discards before he attacks Finn. The "charged" section of the baton bears some resemblance to the staffs once used by General Grievous' guards, and may have been inspired by or adapted from such weapons.

DavidW
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maguirenumber6
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  • Can you add links to some kind of canonical source to support your answer? Answers are always improved when they show through direct sources that what they say is fact. :-) – Janus Bahs Jacquet Feb 17 '16 at 14:59
  • @JanusBahsJacquet Added a link from starwars.com's Databank. Is that suitable? – maguirenumber6 Feb 17 '16 at 16:45
  • Better images in this answer (to which this question is a dupe) http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/110919/what-is-this-first-order-weapon-that-can-block-a-lightsaber/110921#110921 – NKCampbell Feb 17 '16 at 18:04