WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 7, streaming now on Disney+.

Moral philosophy is certainly nothing new to Star Wars, but the latest episode of The Clone Wars takes it to a new level. Facing down a horde of battle droids, like countless Jedi have against millions of droids before them, Mace Windu issues an ultimatum to the Droid Army: Surrender and submit to reprogramming or fall like the past 100,000 droids Windu has slain. Essentially, Windu gives them a choice... but is it a choice they really have?

The question is somewhat paradoxical. If the droids were capable of deciding against taking the actions they were programmed to take in the first place, why would they need to submit to reprogramming? What would it mean for a droid programmed for a task to elect to be reprogrammed for the opposite task? And perhaps most importantly: is this even possible?

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One would certainly suspect that the offer is legitimate, and that Mace Windu is not just blowing hot air when offering the Droid Army the option. But even the fact that he makes the offer complicates the morality of the countless Jedi before him who did not present the same alternative. The Clone Wars' latest season is its seventh, and in all past seasons, including those immediately leading up to the latest one, Jedi struck down innumerable droids without ever offering them the choice to surrender. Was that really in keeping with the often-pacifist moral code the Jedi keep?

Moral justifications for physical force are diverse and multitudinous, encompassing reasons including the circumstances, self-defense, theaters of war or religious beliefs. But to bring up the issue of whether or not there has been a more peaceful option for the Jedi to explore throughout the entirety of the Clone Wars only now is an extremely complicated X factor to toss into the equation. What's worse, it's one that Windu himself does not even seem to take all that seriously. He attempts no further negotiations once the violence begins, and goes right to chopping down droids like anyone else.

This begs the question of just how legitimate was Windu's offer. Could any of the droids really have chosen to lay down their weapons and opt out of the battle, possibly submitting to reprogramming at a later date? That in itself delves into an age-old question for Star Wars. Droids are not depicted as being mindless automatons carrying out their business like soulless pieces of equipment. Quite the converse, the world has gone to great lengths to demonstrate that droids have personalities, beliefs and willpower all their own. To see that, a fan need look no further than R2D2 and C3PO.

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The two perennial droid heroes of Star Wars often served as lighthearted comic relief, but were also critical to the franchise's plot from the very beginning. The two argue like an old married couple, and R2's bold insistence on pressing on and doing the right thing often clashes with Threepio's cautious finger-wagging. If they were truly mindless programs with no decision-making abilities of their own, neither could ever carry out an action they disagreed with. There would even be little reason for them to talk at all since their programming would make the results of any conversation a foregone conclusion from the outset.

The question of droid personhood persists in Star Wars media even beyond the main films. As recently as The Mandalorian, the droid IG-11 presented interesting moral questions after a heel-turn instituted by reprogramming. Though he was initially a bounty hunter droid committed to executing The Child, the Ugnaut Kuiil successfully reset him to protect the precious infant. This seems to be the realization of exactly the option Mace Windu offered the Droid Army... only the decision was made for IG-11 rather than the droid making it for himself.

Streaming on Disney+, the final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars stars Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker, Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano, Dee Bradley Baker as Captain Rex and the clone troopers, James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Katee Sackhoff as Bo-Katan and Sam Witwer as Maul. A new episode arrives each Friday.

NEXT: Star Wars' Anthony Daniels Says C-3PO Isn't Done With the Franchise