Star Wars Has Finally Redeemed Its Most Mistreated Characters
Have you heard the tragedy of Darth Jar Jar? How about Darth Rose?
The Star Wars franchise doesn’t get many opportunities to poke fun at itself. That’s a shame, as its central story, riddled as it is with weird plot holes and accidental gags, is often ridiculous. So many of these have become cherished inside jokes, while some fans have even taken it upon themselves to remix parts of the saga to their liking. The fandom’s imagination has powered a parallel Star Wars universe for decades, and while those two worlds rarely intersect, the latest entry in the Star Wars canon offers a delightful crossover informed by fan meta-commentary.
LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy is the saga’s answer to Marvel’s What If...? The four-part event is set after the events of Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, and it follows a spunky hero (voiced by Stranger Things alum Gaten Matarazzo) as he accidentally remakes the entire galaxy. Familiar events, characters, and even ships are completely reworked, and since this is a LEGO story, it’s not too difficult to reassemble the world. Rebuild the Galaxy also shares the LEGO franchise’s meta sense of humor, which means that many of its choices, like turning Jar Jar Binks and Rose Tico into Sith Lords, work on multiple levels.
The Origins of Darth Jar Jar
“Darth Jar Jar” was a running joke long before Rebuild the Galaxy. The theory was introduced on Reddit nine years ago, and hinges on Jar Jar’s uncanny physical capabilities and consummate lucky streak seen throughout the prequels. The theory is that Jar Jar was secretly a Sith Lord merely pretending to be a bumbling fool as he manipulated the Republic’s downfall, and while it’s become something of a meme, Reddit user Lumpawaroo hoped it could alter the fandom’s opinion of the character, even marginally.
“I think the idea of somehow ‘justifying’ his character might be appealing to fans,” Lumpawaroo told Inverse in 2015. “Jar Jar has become the poster child that epitomizes the things people perceive as flaws in the prequels. Fix Jar Jar and you necessarily assuage much of the disappointment felt by so many.”
Lumpawaroo wasn’t wrong. The character has long been one of Star Wars’ most reviled characters, even becoming the subject of a torrid hate campaign when he was introduced in The Phantom Menace. Jar Jar played a diminished role in the films that followed, likely to avoid more backlash. Twenty-five years later, however, fans seem a bit more receptive to the Gungan, and that’s thanks in part to the Darth Jar Jar theory. One thorough Reddit post turned Jar Jar into an enigma and a cult icon rather than a nuisance.
Could “Darth Tico” redeem Rose?
Could LEGO Star Wars, of all things, bring Rose Tico back into the fold?
Darth Jar Jar has a formidable ally in another divisive Star Wars character, Rose Tico. Like Jar Jar in the prequels, Rose’s introduction in The Last Jedi was punctuated by waves of online hate. Unlike Jar Jar, that hatred was motivated by racism and misogyny. When she reappeared in The Rise of Skywalker, her screentime added up to one measly minute. It seemed that, like Jar Jar, she’d been sidelined to avoid the wrath of the fandom’s worst elements. Rebuild the Galaxy marks Rose’s first appearance since Rise, and reimagining her as a Sith Lord feels like a direct response to her mistreatment in the sequels.
According to the creators of Rebuild the Galaxy, “Darth Tico” was borne out of a deep love for the character. “I love, love, love Kelly Marie Tran,” Dan Hernadez recently told Gizmodo. “She is just the most incredible performer. And I wanted to see more. I wanted to see more nuance... It was really exciting for us to get to pick some of these characters that we wanted to spend more time with and then really kind of explore these other iterations.”
It’s ironic to expect nuanced characterization from an animated LEGO series, but Rebuild the Galaxy can’t do any worse than The Rise of Skywalker. Maybe Darth Tico will allow fans to reevaluate their relationship with Rose, opening the door for her return in live-action. That may be expecting a lot from a LEGO series, but stranger things have happened in the Star Wars saga.
