Stormtrooper ( First Order ) Stormtroopers , also referred to as First Order stormtroopers , were the military infantry units of the First Order . Like their predecessors , the original stormtrooper s of the Galactic Empire , the First Order ' s trooper s were equipped with stark white body armor ; its design reminiscent of the Imperial style as well as the version worn by the clone trooper s of the Galactic Republic . Additionally , the First Order provided its soldiers with the F - 11D blaster rifle — the successor of the Imperial E - 11 blaster rifle — and SE - 44C blaster pistol as their standard weapons . The new generation of stormtroopers was composed of human conscripts , trained from birth and given unit designations instead of personal names . This form of training , combined with years of Imperial - inspired propaganda , worked to produce an army of elite soldiers who were personally loyal to the First Order and Supreme Leader Snoke . During the cold war between the First Order and the Resistance , the training of stormtroopers was overseen by Captain Phasma , a veteran officer and member of the First Order ' s commanding triumvirate along with General Armitage Hux and Kylo Ren . By promoting ruthlessness , yet also improvisation on the battlefield , Phasma endeavored to turn her trainees into the finest soldiers in the galaxy . As a result of her relentless training program , First Order stormtroopers were considered more dangerous than their Imperial precursors . After the fall of the New Republic and the subsequent destruction of Starkiller Base , the First Order moved to seize control of the galaxy through the vast military resources at its disposal . However , while pursuing the Resistance to the remote world of Crait , Snoke was assassin ated by Kylo Ren while Phasma and a large number of stormtroopers perished during an attack on the " Supremacy " . With the rest of the First Order unaware of his involvement in Snoke ' s death , Ren succeeded his slain master as the new Supreme Leader . At his command , the stormtroopers participated in a direct attack against the Resistance base on Crait , and although the battle concluded in victory for the First Order , several members of the Resistance managed to escape . History . Once the dominant power in the galaxy , the Galactic Empire suffered a catastrophic defeat in the Battle of Endor , resulting in the death s of its two leading figures — Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader . The victorious Rebel Alliance , now known as the New Republic , ultimately forced the shattered Imperial remnants to sign the Galactic Concordance , a formal peace treaty between the ascendant Republic and the fallen Empire . As a result of the accord , the Empire was reduced to a rump state , deprived of its once - vast military and economic resources due to severe disarmament treaties and war reparations . Unwilling to accept the outcome of the Galactic Civil War , a group of former Imperial officer s , noble s and technologists endeavored to restore the Empire to power . In the Unknown Regions of space they established a military junta known as the First Order ; from there they began violating the Empire ' s treaties with the Republic by conducting a vast rearmament program , resulting in the secret creation of new fleet s and armies . Through this policy emerged a new generation of stormtroopers ; an army of soldier s inspired by their clone and Imperial predecessors , they were taken from their parent s at birth and raised to be absolutely loyal to the First Order . Thirty standard year s after the Battle of Endor , the First Order ' s stormtrooper legion s were led by Captain Phasma in addition to other notable leaders such as General Armitage Hux and the dark warrior Kylo Ren . Around this time , the First Order was engaged in a conflict with the Resistance — a private military group founded and led by the Rebel hero Leia Organa , the Resistance fought to prevent the First Order from restoring Imperial rule to the galaxy . In addition to the First Order ' s goals , which included the destruction of the New Republic and the Resistance , it also supported Kylo Ren ' s quest to destroy the last Jedi , Luke Skywalker . To that end , Phasma and an armed force of stormtroopers conducted an assault on Tuanul , a village on the planet Jakku where Ren hoped to gain information pertaining to Skywalker ' s hidden location . After executing the village leader , Lor San Tekka for refusing to cooperate , Ren directed Phasma and the stormtroopers to exterminate the village ' s entire population . All but one trooper — FN - 2187 — complied with Ren ' s order , firing into the crowd until the last villager was dead . The experience of witnessing the First Order ' s brutality and the deaths of his comrades influenced FN - 2187 ' s decision to commit desertion by abandoning his life as a stormtrooper . The pursuit of Skywalker led Kylo Ren and an armed force of stormtroopers to the planet Takodana where the dark warrior attempted to capture BB - 8 , a Resistance astromech droid that contained part of the information regarding the last Jedi ' s location . The stormtroopers assaulted a castle belonging to Maz Kanata during their search for the BB unit , then pursued BB - 8 and Rey into the forest where several troopers were killed before Ren apprehended the scavenger . During the battle , FN - 2199 confronted the traitor FN - 2187 , now referring to himself as " Finn . " After a brief duel FN - 2199 defeated Finn in single combat , only to be shot by the smuggler Han Solo . The remaining stormtroopers ultimately withdrew from the battle on Ren ' s orders , the dark warrior having discovered that Rey already accessed the information he wanted from BB - 8 . At Starkiller Base , Kylo Ren interrogated Rey in an attempt to get the map out of her , but his efforts were in vain , as Rey resisted him and revealed herself to be Force - sensitive . Ren went to inform his master , Supreme Leader Snoke , about his discovery and left a stormtrooper to keep watch over Rey . After two failed attempts , Rey managed to perform a mind trick on the stormtrooper , forcing him to to free her . When Ren returned and found that Rey had escaped , he angrily called the guards and destroyed the interrogation chair with his lightsaber , prompting two passing stormtroopers to quickly turn and walk away to avoid confrontation . Shortly after , the Resistance launched an assault on Starkiller Base , and the First Order responded with a counterattack , resulting in a large dogfight in the air . On the ground , Han Solo , Chewbacca , Finn and Rey headed to the oscillator to destroy it , engaging multiple stormtroopers along the way . As Solo and Chewbacca planted the explosives , Ren and a squad of stormtroopers headed to the oscillator to find them . When Solo confronted Ren , the stormtroopers aimed their blasters at him . Solo tried to convince Ren to return to him and his mother , but the dark side had consumed him too much and so he killed Solo . Enraged , Chewbacca shot Ren and his stormtroopers before detonating the explosives , killing the remaining soldiers and blasting a hole in the oscillator . As a result , the X - wing pilot Poe Dameron was able to fly in and destroy it . With the oscillator destroyed , the planet soon collapsed into a star , killing all remaining stormtroopers on the planet . Despite the loss of Starkiller Base , the First Order moved to impose its rule over the galaxy through military force , having removed the New Republic as an obstacle . Simultaneously , the First Order endeavored to destroy the Resistance once and for all , forcing Organa and her followers to abandon their base on D ' Qar . Hoping to disrupt the First Order ' s ability to track the Resistance fleet ' s movements through hyperspace , Finn and Rose Tico infiltrated the " Supremacy " — the flagship of Supreme Leader Snoke — but were ultimately captured by Phasma and her stormtroopers . After bringing the prisoner s to a hangar containing a large gathering of stormtroopers , Phasma sentenced Finn and Tico both to summary execution . Just as the stormtrooper executioners moved to carry out the death sentence , the Resistance flagship " Raddus " jumped to hyperspace while facing in the direction of Supremacy . The act served to split the " Mega " - class Star Dreadnought in half , leaving a huge gap open to space where many crewmembers and stormtroopers perished , including Phasma . By then , Snoke had been assassin ated by his apprentice , Kylo Ren , who then defeated the slain leader ' s Elite Praetorian Guard s with the help of Rey . When she rejected his offer to rule the galaxy with her by his side , Ren blamed Snoke ' s death on Rey and assumed control of the First Order along with its stormtrooper legions as the new Supreme Leader . As his act , he commanded Hux to send their forces to the planet Crait where he intended to annihilate the Resistance in a direct assault on their new headquarters . Although the Battle of Crait concluded in victory for the First Order , a small group of survivors managed to escape aboard the " Millennium Falcon " . Training . The First Order ' s stormtrooper training program was designed to produce an army of super - soldiers . As a result , members of the new generation of stormtroopers were trained from birth to become elite soldiers with a single purpose in life — to serve the First Order . This form of training drew inspiration from the ideals of Commandant Brendol Hux , who was inspired by the combat prowess and dedication of the Jedi Knight s and Republic clone troopers , both of which were instructed from youth to become efficient combatants . According to Phasma , the ideology of the First Order stormtroopers did not allow for any emotional elements such as sympathy , since they were to specifically act as an extension of the Supreme Leader ' s will , and by extension that of the First Order , alone . During the fall of the Empire , Counselor Gallius Rax conscripted roughly two dozen orphans from his home planet of Jakku and gave them to Hux , who turned them into a force of child soldiers and assassin s loyal to Rax . Prior to his death , Rax placed Hux ' s illegitimate son , Armitage in command of the child soldiers . As an adult , Armitage incorporated his father ' s ideals into the training program for the First Order stormtroopers . The First Order employed Jinata Security to kidnap young children and babies for the Stormtrooper program . . As children , stormtroopers were initially trained under the oversight of Captain Cardinal , a former child soldier who instructed his cadet s in hand - to - hand and melee combat , marksmanship , and battle simulations on the " Resurgent " - class Star Destroyer " Absolution " . When deemed ready , Cardinal ' s trainees were transferred to the " Finalizer " where they would complete their training under the watch of Captain Phasma . As the commander of the stormtrooper legions , Phasma endeavored to mold the stormtroopers into the finest soldiers in the galaxy and constantly vigilant against any signs of weakness of disobedience . To this end , behavioral and personality conditioning was critical in the training of First Order stormtroopers . In an effort to control their psychological development , the First Order provided its trainees with a steady amount of subliminal sleep messages and First Order propaganda , resulting in the production of soldiers who possessed absolute loyalty to the First Order . In addition rigorous combat exercises and psychological conditioning , the First Order strongly emphasized the values of uniformity and conformity . They were therefore given alphanumeric designations instead of names . As such , their emphasis of uniformity and conformity was strict enough that Stormtroopers weren ' t allowed to even remove their helmets unless specifically ordered to do so , with the penalty of doing so usually being mandated psychological counseling . Likewise , stormtroopers were not allowed to initiate contact with First Order officer s . Although modern stormtroopers were modeled largely on the stormtroopers of yesteryear , their combat training differed substantially from that of their Imperial predecessors . Unlike the Empire , which resorted to the use of numbing routine for its troopers , the First Order ' s training simulations , live - fire exercises , and sparring practices encouraged stormtroopers to embrace improvisation on the battlefield . They were therefore more effective in battle than the stormtroopers who served as their template . In addition to combat training , all First Order stormtroopers received medical training in order to treat injuries such as blaster wounds . During training , stormtrooper cadets slapped the rears of other troopers to motivate each other . Despite General Armitage Hux ' s confidence in the stormtrooper programming , not every trooper was a successful product by the First Order ' s standards . Although FN - 2187 was a capable soldier , he did not possess the same devotion that his comrades felt for the First Order . His lack of zeal for the First Order ' s cause , combined with his unwillingness to execute unarmed prisoners , led him to doubt his loyalties before ultimately forsaking his allegiance to the First Order . Kylo Ren regarded FN - 2187 as a renegade , as well as a prime example of a stormtrooper training program which he viewed as flawed . He theorized that a clone army could serve the First Order in a better capacity . However , Hux remained confident in the collective reliability of the First Order stormtroopers , believing the rogue FN - 2187 to be an anomaly in an army of loyal soldiers . The average First Order stormtrooper stood 1 . 83 meter s tall and weighed 80 kilogram s — the same averages that once applied to the Grand Army of the Republic and the Imperial Military . Equipment . Members of the First Order ' s infantry forces wore white armor that was reminiscent of the Galactic Empire ' s stormtrooper armor , as well as the Old Republic ' s Phase I and Phase II clone trooper armor s . Aside from some aesthetic differences , First Order stormtroopers bore a close resemblance to their Imperial predecessors . To denote rank , stormtrooper officer s wore color - coded pauldron armor plates . First Order stormtrooper helmets could filter out smoke , but not toxins . To deal with toxins , a stormtrooper needed to engage one of several special filters , depending on the specific contaminant . Identification was the province of one or two squad leaders . In terms of armor strength , stormtrooper armor was held in high regard . Captain Phasma once claimed that not even a Wookiee was strong enough to break First Order armor . To keep weight down , most First Order stormtrooper helmets lacked advanced imaging gear , requiring stormtroopers to use separate quadnoculars in the field to provide them with enhanced imaging . However , standard stormtrooper helmets were still equipped with integral polarized lenses , night vision , communications and targeting systems . The F - 11D blaster rifle was the primary weapon of standard stormtroopers . A successor to the Imperial stormtroopers ' E - 11 blaster rifle , the F - 11D was mass produced and provided to the First Order ' s soldiers by Sonn - Blas Corporation . In addition to the F - 11D , Sonn - Blas also designed the SE - 44C blaster pistol as a side arm for the First Order stormtroopers . Specialized stormtroopers . In addition to standard stormtroopers , the First Order possessed a variety of specialized troopers like the Old Empire before it . Specialist units were trained and equipped to function in various fields . Additionally , they could also be deployed alongside infantry units , supporting regular troopers in an auxiliary capacity . Behind the scenes . Daniel Craig makes a cameo appearance in as the First Order stormtrooper who frees Rey from captivity on Starkiller Base after falling under the influence of her Jedi mind trick .