Star Wars: 10 Truly Disturbing Side Character Backstories
Jabba the Hutt was way more depraved than you think.
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00:00Over the years, many of the Star Wars characters have gone on to have their personal histories
00:04fleshed out, but with a universe filled with bounty hunters, slave traders, and intergalactic
00:09crime bosses, it's no surprising that sometimes this content has gotten pretty dark.
00:15So with that in mind, I'm Josh from WhatCulture.com, and this is Star Wars 10 Truly Disturbing
00:20Side Character Backstories.
00:2310.
00:24Klee-Glaz
00:25Klee-Glaz appeared briefly in Star Wars Attack of the Clones, informing Anakin of the fate
00:29of his mother and pushing him one step closer to the dark side.
00:33We meet Glaz just one month after the kidnapping of his wife and Anakin's mother Shmi.
00:38At this stage of his life, he's a grizzled and tired man, and it's not really surprising.
00:43Born on the desert planet, Glaz only ever knew the harsh and difficult life of a moisture
00:48farmer.
00:49When he was a child, his brother was killed in a speeder accident, and his first wife,
00:53the mother of Luke's Uncle Owen, died after the birth of their son.
00:57Already that's enough to make you a bitter old codger, but in his later years, he did
01:02find a new love for life after meeting Shmi.
01:05He bought, freed, and then married her, but tragedy for Glaz struck again when Shmi was
01:10abducted.
01:11At this point, Glaz gathered up 30 farmers and launched a rescue attempt, but only four
01:15of his party survived the encounter.
01:17The desperate fight to rescue his wife not only failed, but also resulted in the loss
01:21of his leg.
01:239.
01:24Salacious B. Crumb Jabba the Hutt's palace was filled with
01:27all manner of eccentric and questionable characters, but one of the most memorable creatures inhabiting
01:32the place was the monkey-lizard jester and greatest named little freak you'll ever see,
01:38Salacious B. Crumb.
01:40Crumb didn't have a single line of dialogue that we could understand in the movies, but
01:44his maniacal laugh and place of honor made him a standout feature.
01:51Now Crumb might have been a twisted little creature, but it could have all been an act
01:55just in order to survive, and that's because roughly 12 years before we see Crumb in Return
02:00of the Jedi, he was found hiding on one of Jabba's ships.
02:04Rather than kill the stowaway outright, however, Jabba made an agreement with the creature,
02:09whose race was known for their humorous abilities.
02:11The deal went something like this.
02:14If Crumb could make his new master laugh at least once a day, then he would enjoy every
02:19luxury available to him.
02:21If he failed just once though, Jabba would straight up murder him.
02:25So if you were under that kind of pressure daily for 12 straight years, it's probably
02:30no wonder that you too would develop some kind of unhinged cackle.
02:37As we've just established, Jabba the Hutt was a pretty reprehensible character.
02:40When he wasn't orchestrating his criminal empire from the comfort of a chaise longue,
02:45he was taking pleasure in the discomfort of others.
02:48Having an appetite for flesh, Jabba often bought enslaved Twi'leks, who were famed
02:52for their dancing skills to feast his eyes upon.
02:55One unlucky individual though was Oola.
02:58Originally born into a high status Twi'lek family, she spent years training at a highly
03:02acclaimed dance school, going on to flaunt her skills on Tatooine.
03:06By some misfortune however, she found herself enslaved and forced into servitude by Jabba.
03:12This is where it gets more than a little disturbing though.
03:16In the Star Wars Expanded Universe, we get far more information about Oola's life in
03:20Jabba's palace.
03:21For instance, Jabba forced her to dance for him and quote-unquote, give him pleasure.
03:26She's described as being quote, defiled by the worm.
03:30She was beaten when she refused his quote, carnal embrace, and even considered committing
03:34suicide to avoid the ordeal of being Jabba's slave.
03:37So yeah, it's truly messed up stuff, and it's worth mentioning that since Disney took
03:41over the Star Wars franchise, all of these details do resign in the books, now ascribed
03:46as legend rather than canon, and that's probably for the best.
03:49This character received less than a minute of screen time in the original Star Wars trilogy,
03:57but he's still remembered for his distinctly unfriendly manner.
04:00His encounter with Luke on Tatooine ended when Obi-Wan Kenobi stepped in, brandishing
04:05his lightsaber.
04:06If it wasn't for Kenobi's presence though, things could have turned out a lot worse for
04:10the young Skywalker.
04:12The former practicing surgeon had a huge bounty on his head, and was wanted by both the Empire
04:17and the Rebel Alliance.
04:18So yeah, his brag about receiving the death sentence in 12 systems wasn't just the tough
04:23talk of a drunk.
04:25Before going on the run, he'd been one of the most sought-after cosmetic surgeons in
04:28the galaxy, but soon began performing outlandish and depraved procedures on his patients, mutilating
04:34many of them in the process.
04:36Eventually he began just kidnapping victims to practice his experimental techniques on,
04:40which included detaching limbs and reattaching them in the wrong place.
04:45His facial scars were the result of narrowly escaping capture by one of the many bounty
04:49hunters out to claim the huge reward on his head.
04:55Just from looking at this guy, you know he's a slimy character.
04:58This male Twi'lek was essentially Jabba's secretary, orchestrating the goings-on in
05:03his palace, and serving the giant slug in whatever way he needed.
05:07He grew up in an affluent family, and had a better start than most on his homeworld
05:12of Ryloth.
05:13As a rule, Ryloth had little prospects, and most Twi'leks moved off-world to better fortunes,
05:18and many even sold themselves into slavery out of desperation.
05:21Fortuna, being the crafty, awful bastard that he is, took advantage of this, and spent his
05:27younger days as a slave trader, specifically dealing in his own people, exploiting the
05:32less fortunate with no regard for their well-being.
05:35So yeah, this guy is a total piece of garbage.
05:40To Chewbacca's friends, he's something of a gentle giant.
05:44To his enemies, though, he's a force of fury nature.
05:47Like so many characters who ultimately ended up fighting the Empire, Chewie's disdain
05:51for them was not unwarranted, with two specific events likely contributing to his anger.
05:58Towards the end of the Clone Wars, his people were betrayed by their former clone trooper
06:01allies, and he witnessed many Wookiees killed or sold into slavery, and was eventually captured
06:07himself.
06:08Forced to work and tormented by his captors, the Wookiee became increasingly more animalistic.
06:13The restrictive and oppressive life of slavery had a marked impact on a creature who once
06:18roamed the forest planet of Kashyyyk.
06:20Part of Chewbacca's legend's history, though, involved he and Han being incarcerated on
06:25an Imperial prison barge.
06:27In this story, the barge breaks down but stumbles across a seemingly derelict Star Destroyer,
06:32which can be used for spare parts.
06:33However, a boarding party soon discovers that the destroyer was the site of a biological
06:38weapons experiment.
06:40Only a handful of inmates and prison guards survived after being exposed to a deadly virus,
06:45and Chewbacca and Han were among them.
06:47What followed is essentially Dawn of the Dead in space, with the survivors battling hordes
06:52of undead stormtroopers, reanimated by the virus.
06:57Besides from the Emperor and Darth Vader, Tarkin was one of the most senior and powerful
07:03members of the Imperial High Command.
07:06All of his decisions were informed by his ideology that fear was the only true motivator.
07:11If he could weaponize fear, then he would have dominion.
07:15In the early days, Tarkin's early military career brought him a degree of fame, serving
07:19in an anti-pirate task force.
07:22He dealt with his opponents in effective but brutal ways, and he rose to further prominence
07:26during the Clone Wars, serving in the Republic Navy.
07:29Although he gained a huge amount of experience during these years, his cold and calculated
07:33character was formed out of a much younger childhood experience.
07:36That's because Tarkin's homeworld was a harsh place, and his ancestors had struggled
07:41to colonize and subjugate the planet.
07:43When he was barely a teenager, family tradition also dictated that he must go into the wilderness
07:47and learn the struggle of survival.
07:50This experience though totally traumatized him.
07:53He was forced to fight off hostile creatures, being physically and mentally scarred by the
07:58ordeal.
07:59It was drilled into him here that fear could be the most crippling emotion, and that mastering
08:03fear and using it on others was key to maintaining power.
08:073.
08:08Ponda Baba Ponda Baba is best known for his dislike of
08:12Luke Skywalker and his unfortunate-looking friend, Dr. Cornelius Everson.
08:17Baba's drunk aggression towards Luke made his brief appearance in the movie memorable,
08:21not least because the altercation saw him lose an arm to Obi-Wan Kenobi's lightsaber.
08:25Babin, like his horrid accomplice, was also wanted by several planetary governments, although
08:31he was somewhat less notorious than his partner.
08:34He actually saved Everson during an altercation with a bounty hunter, and despite the Doctor
08:38being scarred during the incident, he did hire Baba as protection from then on.
08:43Together they worked for the Hutts as smugglers and general enforcers, but Baba also helped
08:47kidnap people for Everson, assisting him when the Doctor performed his twisted and
08:52cruel experiments.
08:53This general hatred that many had for the pair forced them to adopt aliases at different
08:58points in their life as well, because nobody wanted to be mates with them.
09:022.
09:03Kia De Mundi We like to think of the Jedi as all-wise,
09:07perfect examples of moral fortitude, but in reality they were just as flawed as any other
09:12group.
09:13By the time of the Clone Wars, the Jedi were in a fairly sorry state, and the Order was
09:17riddled with orthodoxy and arrogance.
09:20Years of relative peace had made them complacent, and even its most prominent members were misguided.
09:25When Kia De Mundi was gunned down by his clone troopers during Order 66 then, viewers felt
09:30a pang of sadness.
09:32When you look at his backstory though, he was actually kind of an unlikable character.
09:37At every opportunity he denied the possibility of the Sith returning, and even doubted Count
09:41Dooku's part in it.
09:43His arrogance however, was only the tip of the iceberg.
09:46That's because Kia De Mundi had certain privileges afforded to him that other Jedi weren't
09:50privy to.
09:51His species was unique in that males were drastically outnumbered by females, and therefore
09:56the species had a low birthrate.
09:58Due to this, Mundi was permitted to forgo the Jedi rule forbidding marriage, and he
10:02had four wives simultaneously and seven children, all of whom were killed during the Clone Wars.
10:09Now you might be thinking, Josh this just sounds like a tragic backstory, but the thing
10:12is, his devotion to the Jedi tradition was apparently so sincere that he refused to mourn
10:17his family, and seemed kinda unfazed by their deaths.
10:21So yeah, sounds like a cool guy.
10:241.
10:25Paige Tico The opening sequence of The Last Jedi depicted
10:28a tense and thrilling space battle showing the brave escapades of Paige Tico, a young
10:33pilot who manages to destroy an Imperial Dreadnought, allowing the Resistance fleet to escape.
10:39Along with her sister Rose, Paige is motivated to join the Resistance after witnessing the
10:42horror inflicted upon her people by the First Order.
10:46Originating from the Audemars system, Paige's mining homeworld was occupied by the First
10:50Order, and they worked her people to death in order to extract all the resources they
10:56needed.
10:57Soon the world became polluted, with many more of the inhabitants dying as a result.
11:01Sadly, sometime after joining the Resistance, the two sisters received the news that their
11:05home planet had been destroyed.
11:07After draining the planet of resources, the First Order had little use for its people,
11:11and used them as target practice, shelling the world from orbit.
11:16So that's our list.
11:17I want to know what you guys think down in the comments below, did you know about the
11:19backstories of these characters, and are there any interesting and disturbing ones I missed
11:24off here?
11:25While you're down there as well, can you please give us a like, share, subscribe, and
11:27head over to whatculture.com for more lists and news like this every single day.
11:31Even if you don't though, I've been Josh, thanks so much for watching, and I'll see
11:34you soon.