The Best Character in Star Wars

We have a character; let’s call him Bob.

Bob is an outcast from his people. So he lives in solitude until a chance encounter with someone important, and ends up embroiled in a conflict that will decide the fate of everything. He proves himself to be a hero in the eyes of his people, and is given the rank of General in their army. He then leads his army to victory against their most powerful foes. It’s a shaky victory to be sure, but it’s still a victory. Now he’s a war hero on top of everything else. Over the next ten years he becomes embroiled in the politics of his people until one day he finds himself a Senator. He makes friends with a few other senators, and enjoys his new life without all of the fighting. Then one day his senator friend is asked to lead the government. Bob trusts this man implicitly, and is his friend. So when the senate votes on the issue of this friend’s power, Bob gives his support. The friend goes on to rule the government with an iron fist, and turns out to be a very bad man. What then does Bob do?

That character arc is awesome. It’s real, it’s full of turmoil and twists. An unredeemable man is redeemed, twice. And then he makes a terrible mistake and needs to be redeemed again. Except this time he might not choose the right path.

That character arc also belongs to Jar Jar Binks. The personality of the character was over-the-top goofy, and completely unnecessary to Episode 1, but that isn’t all there is to the character. Despite only existing to draw children into the theater, and despite being pointless on the surface, Jar Jar actually was an important character to the franchise. Without him, Naboo would never have been freed from the Trade Federation’s clutches. Without him, Amidala would never have become a senator. Without him, Palpatine would never have risen to power in the senate.

And with Episode 3‘s end, Jar Jar finds himself in a precarious position that we never get to see the resolution to. Two of his three best friends are evil and running the Empire together. The other is dead. Will he remain loyal to those closest to him, doing terrible things in the process? Or will he do the right thing and turn on the only people who care about him?

Jar Jar did both good and bad in his lifetime. He was more real than anyone else in the Prequel Trilogy. And yet, he remains the most hated character in the franchise because people can’t overlook his goofy personality in a single movie, despite him not acting like that in the other two films.

Jar Jar deserves his own book in the Disney EU. He deserves to be remembered for what he is, not what he looks like on the surface.