By George & Josh Bate
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Jar Jar #1
He may not exactly be Darth Jar Jar, but everyone’s favorite Gungan certainly plays an integral role in a galaxy far, far away.
The new one-shot comic Jar Jar #1 written by Ahmed Best and Marc Guggenheim was teased to reveal the key role that Jar Jar plays in the development of the Rebellion. Now that the comic is out today, we know what this tease was suggesting.
Long have fans humorously posited that Jar Jar Binks served as a secret apprentice to Emperor Palpatine. This led to the Darth Jar Jar theory, which was bolstered by George Lucas saying Jar Jar Binks was “the key to all this” as he was the senator who called for Palpatine to receive emergency powers. Darth Jar Jar even featured in LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy and as a playable character in Fortnite.
Jar Jar #1 reveals that Palpatine and Jar Jar did indeed come to an agreement, but not the one proponents of the Darth Jar Jar theory would suspect.
At the end of the comic, Jar Jar and Kelleran Beq have successfully saved Mira Bridger (Ezra Bridger’s mother) from bounty hunters during a precarious situation on the planet Urubai. Here, Palpatine’s Republic are essentially enslaving locals and making them work for materials that will eventually be used for the Death Star.
As the comic wraps up, Palpatine names Jar Jar the “Voice of Urubai,” as the Chancellor underestimates the Gungan senator and believes that Jar Jar’s oversight on the planet will allow him to continue abusing the Urubai locals. Jar Jar is smarter than he appears, however, as his intuition tells him Palpatine’s motives may be insidious.
With suspicions raised, Jar Jar speaks with Kelleran Beq about creating a network of the galaxy’s “unseen.” Here, he is seemingly referring to assembling people who have been mistreated by the Republic (and soon to be Empire) in an effort to rebel. In this sense, Jar Jar is starting his own network of rebels that will eventually be one of the rebel cells that forms the collective Rebel Alliance.
So, Jar Jar Binks may not be Darth Jar Jar, operating as Sidious’ secret apprentice. Rather, the clumsy Gungan is more intelligent than he appears and, as such, begins to enact a secret agenda that will go against the wishes of the soon-to-be Emperor.