In all my life as a Star Wars fan, I have never seen a character more hated than Jar Jar Binks. Surprisingly, more hated than Rey, Rose, or any of the other sequel trilogy characters; none of them compare to the hate that our favorite gungan received. This character has been parodied in everything from Robot Chicken to How It Should Have Ended and even to The Amazing World of Gumball, where he would either die a hilariously over-the-top death or be revealed as the Sith Lord behind Palpatine.
However, I strongly believe that Jar Jar doesn’t deserve all this hate, especially to the degree that fans have been giving him since 1999. Aside from the fact that the actor behind Jar Jar was driven to consider suicide, people don’t even stop to think of Jar Jar’s actions or even his heart, both of which have dutifully served the galaxy well. I can see why people think he’s annoying, and even misplaced in the seriousness of the franchise, but this extremely high level of animosity is unwarranted.
Darth Jar Jar
What’s especially unwarranted is quite possibly the most outlandish theory in the history of the whole franchise, which is the previously mentioned idea that Jar Jar was secretly a Sith all along. This frustrates me to no end because this theory has literally never been proven true once, and even if George Lucas or Ahmed Best hinted at it in interviews, they’re still teases or theories nonetheless. However, that doesn’t seem to stop fans from insisting he’s a Sith Lord.
People simply appear to look for any and every reason to validate this theory, such as Jar Jar using the Force to accomplish acrobatic feats, or supposedly the way he motions with his hands or mouths words during conversations. The most obvious fact, though, is how he’s impacted the Star Wars story by moving for emergency powers to be granted to Palpatine. But again, these are just cases of people grasping at straws. The subtle ways he gestures or supposedly mouths words doesn’t automatically make him a Sith, otherwise every background character would be one. And yes, he helped put Palpatine in a higher position, but he was simply fooled by the Sith just like everyone else. Basically, if any of this “evidence” was true, then how come we haven’t gotten anything in recent canon that confirmed it to be fact? The closest we have is Rebuild the Galaxy, but that’s not even canon.
Palpatine Wasn’t Jar Jar’s Fault
As recently stated, Jar Jar was tricked into helping Palpatine instead of doing it intentionally, but people still hate him regardless. After all, if it weren’t for Jar Jar, Palpatine wouldn’t have gotten all he needed to take over the galaxy and eventually wipe out the Jedi. However, let’s not forget who set Palpatine on his throne in the first place, because I personally believe that this is slept on a lot.
Back in The Phantom Menace, Palpatine was just a humble Senator of Naboo, until Queen Amidala came to the Senate to plead for help against the Trade Federation’s droid army. When no one was listening to her desperate cries, Palpatine encouraged her to move for a Vote of No Confidence against Chancellor Valorum. Oh, but it gets better, as she also moves Palpatine forward as the next candidate! So people can blame Jar Jar all they want, but by their logic, Padmé had just as much responsibility for Palpatine as Jar Jar was.
The only reason Jar Jar was chosen to serve as Padmé’s replacement were because of the dire circumstances surrounding it. There probably weren’t a lot of available people who were capable of handling the responsibility, but even if there were, Jar Jar was a key part of Padmé’s past that she trusted him more than anyone else. In addition, Jar Jar was never really the brightest bulb in the box, and Palpatine took advantage of that. He manipulated the whole situation to where Jar Jar would have no choice but to bring this motion forward, and desperately wanting to honor his friend’s wishes and do a good job for her, he bravely did what he believed was right at the time. Thirdly, and most importantly, the whole galaxy was about to enter a war. Padmé, Anakin, and Obi-Wan were all either captured or about to be, and the threat of the Separatists was becoming bigger than anyone expected. There was no time to think, no time to debate in a Senate pod, there was only time for action. Jar Jar must’ve felt a massive amount of pressure from all of this, just like anyone else would. In the end, though, he would be tricked just like everyone else by the culmination of the Sith.
Gungan With A Heart of Gold
We now reach what I believe to be a prime example of focusing too much on the negative, while completely ignoring the positive. In this case, people seem to dwell on how annoying and clumsy Jar Jar is whenever he’s on screen. Sure, most of his mistakes almost cost the good guys victories at worst or inconveniences at least, whether it’s ticking off Sebulba or accidentally destroying Padmé’s ship.
However, Jar Jar has worked tirelessly to make up for it multiple times, especially in the beloved Clone Wars show. For instance, when Padmé got captured by battle droids while trying to negotiate with an old family friend, the only backup he had was C-3PO who (of course) wanted to hide in the ship. But Jar Jar wasn’t about to just sit back while Padmé was in danger, so he bravely set out and risked death multiple times until he befriended a giant slug monster, using his newfound friendship to squash the droids and save his friend. If that isn’t enough, though, another example lies in the episode where Anakin, Obi-Wan, and even Count Dooku get captured by Captain Hondo’s pirate gang. Originally bringing the spice as ransom payment for Dooku, the ship that Jar Jar was in got shot down by some renegade pirates who wanted the spice. Most of the crew died, leaving Jar Jar in charge of the few clones who survived. It’s at this point where fans would undoubtedly presume Jar Jar would fail at every turn and the clone commander would have to consistently save Jar Jar or take over as leader. Yet Jar Jar defies those expectations and shows a surprising amount of wise leadership, such as when the rogue pirates arrive, the clones think they’re the ones they’re supposed to meet, but Jar Jar was the only one who suspected they were the ones who shot them down, and it turned out that he was right. After the attack, the gungan told everyone to hide in an acid-spraying geyser until the pirates left, and advised they leave when the animals up above would run.
Conclusion
Having said all of this, is Jar Jar still the sharpest tool in the shed? Not really. Is he Star Wars’ best character? Definitely not. But nonetheless, don’t judge a book by its cover, or a gungan by its brains. Just like any of us, Jar Jar showed there was more to him than fans believed, and we can’t be so quick to forget that.
