Given their unethical — to put it lightly — creation and inability to do anything other than serve others, it’s no surprise that the Decraniated became laborers for crime lords like Dryden Vos. At the same time, by pure happenstance, there are a few out there who had the chance to leave a more positive impact on the galaxy instead of serving drinks to criminals. As seen in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” Dr. Evazan and his Aqualish associate, Ponda Baba, are in the Imperial-controlled world of Jedha. Their goal? As stated in “Star Wars: Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide,” it’s to turn those injured during the insurgency attacks into Decraniated drones.
The two criminals are successful to some extent, though their operation is cut short when the Empire turns the Death Star superweapon on Jedha City. In the aftermath of the attack, Evazan and Baba leave Jedha behind, likely to cause more pain and misery elsewhere in the galaxy. They leave their Decraniated subjects behind and a few go on to fight a noble cause. They join the remaining members of the Partisans resistance group and do what they can to interfere in the Empire’s ongoing kyber mining operation that has greatly harmed the planet.
Still, even though some of them fought the good fight against the Empire, there’s no denying that the Decraniated should’ve never come to exist. The heinous acts committed by Dr. Evazan to create them make it clear exactly why he had the death sentence in 12 systems.
