Jar Jar Binks Is Responsible for the Creation of Darth Vader

Jar Jar Binks was supposed to be for The Phantom Menace what C-3PO and R2-D2 were for A New Hope: a comedic side character who could deliver exposition to the audience or fill in plot holes.

Of course, the now famous droids far exceeded expectations. They were helpful in a crisis, brave, endearing, even witty—quite a feat considering R2 communicates solely in a series of beeps.

Witty is not how fans (or anyone) would describe Jar Jar. Unlike the droids’ smart and salty banter, the gangly Gungan is clearly built for slapstick: he’s clumsy, he’s obtuse, he does gross things when he eats. He feels out of place, especially in a movie that devotes so much of its runtime to trade negotiations, the Tatooine slave market, and senate council meetings.

It’s true that Binks is, in a certain sense, useful. Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi use him to gain access to the Gungan City. On Tatooine, his clumsiness creates a fight with Sebulba, which is the reason the Jedi meet Anakin again. And, toward the end of the film, Jar Jar (sort of) leads the Gungan army to victory against the Trade Federation’s droids.

But it's not what he does so much as how he does it that makes Jar Jar an unlikeable character. When his actions harm or on rare occasions help our heroes, the consequences usually aren’t intentional. In fact, the character rarely makes own decisions. He just executes one floppy-eared pratt fall after another and things happen around him.

It’s naked plot convenience without humor or heart. That, and his voice is super annoying.

Now, more than twenty years after The Phantom Menace’s initial release, Jar Jar is still one of the most disliked characters in the Star Wars universe, to the point that the opinion almost seems necessary for acceptance into the fandom.

When the Gungan appears in Attack of the Clones, his role is largely diminished. Even so, Jar Jar doesn’t need to literally fall on his face in order to figuratively fall on his face, and this time with galaxy-wide consequences.

After multiple assassination attempts on Senator Amidala’s life, Anakin, now a young Jedi Knight, spirits her away to Naboo for her protection, leaving Jar Jar to fulfill her role as acting senator. While the pair are off talking about sand and how it gets everywhere, Chancellor Palpatine makes a play for emergency power in the senate.

This bid is important as it’s what cements his power over both sides of the coming war. It ensures Order 66 and secures the rise of the Empire. And Jar Jar, in maybe one of the character’s only active decisions, is the one who nominates him.

In the second episode of Disney’s Gallery - Star Wars: The Mandalorian, Dave Filoni describes Darth Maul’s now iconic fight in Phantom Menace as a literal duel of the fates: “[Qui-Gon Jinn’s] fighting because he knows he’s the father that Anakin needs, because [he] hasn’t given up on the fact that Jedi are supposed to actually care and love…That’s why it’s the duel of the fates. It’s the fate of this child. And depending on how this fight goes, [Anakin’s] life is going to be dramatically different.”

Jar Jar’s nomination of Chancellor Palpatine is just as thematic and consequential in Attack of the Clones. It’s a change of fate, one that allows Darth Sidious to command the military might of both the Separatists and the Republic.

If Darth Maul is responsible for leaving Anakin without the right master, Jar Jar is the reason Anakin’s new master, his dark master, is granted the highest powers in the galaxy.

Meesa thinkin’ this is no so good.