There's much more to these unassuming Star Wars characters than you think.
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00:00 Star Wars is perhaps the richest and most expansive franchise of all time.
00:04 An impossibly dense universe that fans can lose themselves in for, well, basically forever.
00:09 It's a world that's become populated with literally thousands of characters over the
00:14 last 45 years, and though we're all familiar with the principal players by now, it is easy
00:19 to dismiss those smaller roles as being inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.
00:25 That, of course, would be a mistake.
00:28 I'm Josh from WhatCulture.com and these are 10 Star Wars Characters Far More Important
00:33 Than You Realised.
00:34 10.
00:35 Bolvin You probably won't remember his name and
00:38 you certainly don't know his face, but Imperial gunnery Captain Bolvin played a major unintentional
00:44 role in the Empire's downfall.
00:46 See, at the very start of A New Hope, he famously told his subordinate officer, "Hold your
00:52 fire, there's no lifeforms, it must have short-circuited."
00:55 When said officer prepared to open fire on the escape pod, jettisoned from the captured
01:00 Tantive IV.
01:01 But of course, the escape pod in fact contained C-3PO and R2-D2, who were in turn able to
01:08 flee to Tatooine with the Death Star plans, where they would eventually cross paths with
01:12 Luke Skywalker.
01:14 Had Bolvin ordered the pod to be fired upon then, Luke's heroic rise would have likely
01:19 been prevented, as would the fall of the Empire.
01:22 Hilariously, in the wider universe, it's actually revealed that Bolvin was encouraged
01:26 not to fire upon the pod due to the Empire's obtuse promotion system, which was tied to
01:32 an officer's hit-to-kill ratio.
01:35 Had Bolvin fired upon and exploded an empty pod, which wouldn't have counted as a kill,
01:40 he would have been knocked down the pecking order for promotion, which is kind of amazing.
01:45 9.
01:46 Barriss Offee Jedi Knight Barriss Offee appeared in Attack
01:49 of the Clones for all of about 30 seconds.
01:52 Hanging out in the background during a meeting of the Jedi Council, and later being seen
01:56 fighting during the Battle of Geonosis.
01:59 But Offee had a much larger role in the Clone Wars animated series, where it's revealed
02:04 that she grew disillusioned with the Jedi throughout the Clone Wars, enough so that
02:08 she eventually plotted the bombing of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, and framed her former
02:13 friend Ahsoka Tano for it.
02:15 This ended up having wide-reaching implications far beyond what she ever could have anticipated.
02:21 For starters, Tano was herself exonerated for the bombing, but then refused an invitation
02:26 to rejoin the Jedi Order, having lost faith in it.
02:29 Tano then left to take part in the Siege of Mandalore, ensuring that she wasn't around
02:33 for her Master Anakin's turn to the dark side, which she potentially could have played
02:38 a role in preventing.
02:40 As a result, Offee's influence on the entire Skywalker saga is really quite immense when
02:44 you think about it.
02:46 8.
02:47 Poggle the Lesser Forgive his silly name, and just appreciate
02:50 that Poggle the Lesser, who first appeared in Attack of the Clones, has a much larger
02:55 role in proceedings than you probably remember.
02:58 Sure, he's a public leader of the Geonosians during the Clone Wars, but it's often forgotten
03:03 that Poggle both designed the Death Star, and during the Battle of Geonosis, gave the
03:09 plans to Count Dooku, who then gave them to Palpatine set in construction in motion.
03:14 As such, Poggle had a pivotal role in how the Galactic Civil War played out, even if
03:18 he doesn't usually get much recognition for it.
03:21 But without his involvement, things would have turned out quite differently, and the
03:25 Empire would have been looking elsewhere for somebody to design their epic superweapon.
03:30 7.
03:31 Admiral Kendall Uzzel The most diehard Star Wars fans often credit
03:35 Admiral Kendall Uzzel with ruining basically everything for the Empire.
03:40 Enough so that there are even theories that he was actually a rebel spy all along.
03:44 See, in The Empire Strikes Back, Uzzel initially oversaw the Battle of Hoth, until he was force
03:50 choked to death by Darth Vader for his incompetence.
03:53 His big miscalculation?
03:55 Well that was pulling Empire ship The Executor out of lightspeed too close to the Hoth system,
04:01 which allowed the rebels to quickly detect their presence and realise an attack was imminent,
04:06 giving them precious time to shield up.
04:08 Had this dude adopted Vader's preferred tactic of exiting lightspeed further out and entering
04:13 Hoth more or less undetected, they could have conceivably crushed the rebels outright.
04:18 But this one foolhardy decision gave the rebels the breather they desperately needed, and
04:23 so his role in galactic history, albeit one he'd probably prefer not to be remembered
04:28 for, shouldn't be underestimated.
04:30 6.
04:31 Quinlan Vos Casual Star Wars fans may not know the name
04:35 Quinlan Vos, though they might remember the distinctive looking individual hanging out
04:39 in the background during Jar Jar Binks and Sir Bulba's confrontation on Tatooine in
04:45 The Phantom Menace.
04:46 At this point in time, the character didn't have any, well, character.
04:51 But because he caught the eye of many fans watching the movie, he was eventually given
04:55 a name and a wider backstory in various Legends stories such as Star Wars Republic.
05:00 And long story short, Quinlan Vos was a Jedi Master with the ability to perceive people's
05:05 memories by touching objects they'd made contact with, making him an extremely skilled
05:11 tracker.
05:12 In the canon novel Dark Disciple, it's also revealed that Vos teamed up with Ventress
05:16 on a mission to assassinate Count Dooku.
05:18 A mission which of course, failed.
05:20 Vos has also appeared in an episode of The Clone Wars and has been referenced in both
05:24 Revenge of the Sith and the recent Obi-Wan Kenobi series, the latter seemingly confirming
05:29 both that he did indeed survive Order 66 and has been helping smuggle Jedi and Force-sensitive
05:35 children to safety.
05:37 So yeah, that's quite the fleshed out story for a cool looking guy seemingly just chilling
05:41 out during The Phantom Menace.
05:44 5.
05:45 Mas Amedda
05:46 Mas Amedda first appeared in The Phantom Menace and is best remembered by many Star Wars fans
05:50 as that blue collared guy often seen standing behind either Supreme Chancellor Valorum or
05:56 later on Palpatine.
05:57 Though you might assume that he was just a random, relatively inconsequential dignitary
06:01 in the grand scheme of things, Mas Amedda was actually the Vice Chair of the Galactic
06:05 Senate which eventually made him one of the most powerful people in the galaxy.
06:10 Despite his lack of on-screen action though, he had a major role in the trajectory of Star
06:14 Wars as we know it, aiding in Valorum's ousting while going on to serve Palpatine's
06:20 interests and being one of the very few aware of his Sith Lord alter-ego, Darth Sidious.
06:26 This guy served Palpatine throughout The Clone Wars and even managed to outlast his superior
06:31 yet perhaps his single most important action saw him eventually surrender the Empire to
06:36 the New Republic.
06:37 So yeah, not bad for a guy who most people remember for his unique look above all else.
06:43 4.
06:44 Davin Felf
06:45 When Stormtroopers are combing the Tatooine Desert for Rebel Droids in A New Hope, one
06:49 of them comes across a metal remnant from C-3PO and tells their superior officer "Look
06:55 sir, droids!"
06:56 Now you'd reasonably assume this Stormtrooper was just a nameless nobody, but this being
07:01 Star Wars that of course is not the case at all.
07:04 In Legends continuity, it's established that this Stormtrooper goes by the name of
07:08 Davin Felf, and though much of Fienth's backstory is technically non-canon now, it's
07:13 still fascinatingly comprehensive, and much of it doesn't directly contradict what we
07:18 actually see on screen.
07:19 It turns out that this guy was originally an ambitious Imperial officer who pointed
07:24 out a fatal flaw in the design of the AT-ATs, prompting Colonel Maximilian Viers who oversaw
07:30 the development of the AT-ATs to assign him to Stormtrooper duty in an attempt to cover
07:35 up his own embarrassing mistake.
07:38 Ultimately, Felf came to appreciate the Empire as evil, and decided to help the Rebels by
07:43 acting as a spy from within the Stormtrooper's ranks.
07:46 Though it's basically self-parody at this point that even the most insignificant Star
07:50 Wars characters have hilariously elaborate backstories, at least this one's really
07:55 interesting, no matter its lack of canonicity.
07:58 3.
07:59 Rick Olley
08:00 Rick Olley appears in The Phantom Menace as the pilot of Padme's ship while escaping
08:05 Naboo, and though certainly not a background character who disappears into the periphery,
08:10 few would assign him too much importance.
08:13 Yet it's crucial to remember that Olley did one absolutely pivotal thing in The Phantom
08:17 Menace, and that's he taught Anakin Skywalker how to pilot a ship.
08:22 Without this impromptu lesson, Anakin wouldn't have been able to fly into the Federation
08:26 droid control ship and destroy it from the inside.
08:29 Olley's role is also significantly fleshed out in the Expanded Universe, where he joins
08:33 a resistance group called the Amidallans who committed themselves to avenging Padme's
08:38 death.
08:39 And in the 2020 comic Star Wars Darth Vader Vol. 1 #4, Olley ends up crossing paths with
08:44 Darth Vader himself, who promptly runs him through with a lightsaber, killing him dead,
08:50 and further proving Anakin's monstrous transformation from the sweet boy he used to be.
08:55 2.
08:56 Ki-Adi-Mundi
08:57 Though Ki-Adi-Mundi's infamous one-liner in Revenge of the Sith, that of course being
09:01 "What about the droid attack on the Wookiees?" made him seem like more of a meme than an
09:06 actual character, this Jedi High Council member is actually a vital piece of the narrative
09:12 puzzle.
09:13 See, even if Mundi's question seems a little off topic at first, it has major consequences
09:17 for the rest of the prequel trilogy and beyond.
09:21 After all, if Mundi hadn't mentioned the Wookiee attack, Yoda wouldn't have travelled
09:25 to Kashyyyk to help defend it, and instead likely remained on Coruscant.
09:29 Given that Anakin's turn to the dark side unfolds while Yoda is away, things would have
09:33 almost certainly been very different if he remained on planet, and potentially prevented
09:38 him from being corrupted by Palpatine.
09:41 So let's give Ki-Adi-Mundi a hand here for sending Yoda off on a mission when, in terms
09:46 of the bigger picture, he desperately needed to stay put.
09:50 1.
09:51 Finis Valorum
09:52 Finis Valorum was the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, and as the only character
09:57 on this list played by a major actor, the one you'll surely recognise above all others.
10:03 Yet despite Terence Stamp's casting in the role, Valorum appears for all of around 2
10:07 minutes in The Phantom Menace, even if he was an instrumental figure in Palpatine's
10:12 rise as Supreme Chancellor and later Galactic Emperor.
10:16 After all, it was Valorum's inability to stand both corruption in the Galactic Senate
10:20 and the bureaucratic trade crisis in Naboo which allowed Palpatine to persuade Padme
10:25 to call a vote of no confidence, resulting in Valorum being replaced with Palpatine himself.
10:31 Basically Valorum let Palpatine play him like a damn fiddle.
10:35 He was a pawn who, through his political inaction, ultimately aided Palpatine's ascent to Galactic
10:40 Emperor.
10:41 So that's our list, what do you guys think down in the comments below?
10:44 Did you know about the wider lives of these characters?
10:47 And are there any other secretly important ones I missed off here?
10:51 Let me know and while you're down there could you please give us a like, share, subscribe
10:53 and head over to whatculture.com for more lists and news like this every single day.
10:57 Even if you don't though, I've been Josh, thanks so much for watching and I'll see