Temuera Morrison as Boba Fett. Or is he?
Disney/Lucasfilm
The E book of Boba Fett wasn’t fairly what Star Wars followers anticipated; the trigger-happy bounty hunter survives to grow to be against the law lord who doesn’t wish to commit any crimes (in truth, Boba really cracks down on crime, by destroying the spice commerce).
The present didn’t fairly reside as much as The Mandalorian; even the showrunners appeared conscious of this, as Din Djarin, together with lovely animatoric Grogu, stole the highlight in the direction of the tip.
All through the collection, it’s by no means made clear why Boba needs to grow to be a kinder, gentler crime lord, or why he needs to remain in a spot like Tatooine.
Cad Bane even ponders the query throughout their closing duel, however Boba Fett can’t appear to articulate his ambition. Earlier within the present, when Fennec asks why he needs to steer against the law household, Boba merely responds with, “Why not?”
An intriguing fan theory, nevertheless, shines new gentle on the collection, offering a proof for Boba’s new angle, and his rising unimportance because the present progresses.
The idea speculates that the Jango Fett clone we comply with within the present just isn’t really Boba Fett – Boba died within the Sarlacc pit. As a substitute, the unfortunate Stormtrooper we see within the stomach of the beast is the one who crawled out and inherited Boba’s armor.
Bear with me – the speculation is much less absurd than it sounds. There’s a stunning quantity of proof to again it up, helped by a couple of inconsistencies from the collection.
First, is the truth that Boba doesn’t care to take revenge on Luke Skywalker or Han Solo – he doesn’t even appear to consider the lads who virtually killed him. His “rule with respect” method additionally exhibits a shift in character that isn’t actually defined by his time with the Tuskens, who’re pretty brutal towards their enemies.
The scene the place Boba escapes from the Sarlacc exhibits him crawling out of the sand, the place his armor is straight away stolen by the Jawas. Nevertheless, after teaming up with Fennec, Boba instantly flies again to the Sarlacc, and appears confused when his armor isn’t contained in the beast. Both Boba forgot he was sporting it, or he’s a Jango Fett clone who wasn’t sporting it in any respect.
Technically, the Stormtrooper we see within the Sarlacc is sporting a helmet that marks him because the era that got here after the Clone Troopers, a volunteer recruit – a lot of the clones had been functionally extinct by this time, as a result of they had been engineered to age quicker.
However we are able to assume that out of the tens of millions of clones, some didn’t age out as meant attributable to mutations, or errors, and remained preventing for the Empire lengthy after the cloning program wound down. Let’s additionally assume that certainly one of them ended up within the Sarlacc pit with Boba, as a result of hey, poetic coincidences occur in Star Wars on a regular basis.
Therefore, the scene the place Boba steals the Stormtrooper’s oxygen could possibly be in comparison with Tyler Durden punching the protagonist of Struggle Membership – a distortion, considered from the angle of an unreliable narrator.
This random, unimportant clone escapes the pit and is captured by the Tuskens, the place he experiences a life far faraway from being the Empire’s lowly cannon-fodder. And he is aware of precisely who Boba Fett is – the Clone Troopers used to speak about him with reverence, the way in which the galaxy’s moisture farmers, presumably, discuss Luke Skywalker.
Therefore, the clone decides to steal the narrative of Boba Fett and grow to be kingpin of the native crime households – it is sensible for a slave soldier, who has lived below the thumb of the Empire all his life, to hunt energy of his personal. It additionally is sensible to remain on Tatooine, a small backwater planet the place his secret may be contained.
The clone understands that the actual energy of Boba’s armor lies in its fearsome repute – Beskar is simply an added bonus. As he admits to Fennec, “with out my armor, I’m much less persuasive.”
Boba being a random Jango clone explains why he’s such a clumsy fighter and crime lord, spending half his time inside a Bacta tank – he had no concept what he was taking up, and no actual plan to perform it.
The idea additionally explains why the clone is a lot kinder and extra empathetic than the cruel Boba, and even why he takes the time to restore and repaint his armor – it’s an emblem – the actual Boba by no means cared that he appeared like a strolling rubbish can.
This clone has faked it to the highest, and this interpretation not solely explains his behaviour, and diminishing significance all through his personal collection, but in addition imbues his closing standoff in opposition to Cad Bane with an unstated rigidity.
Cad’s questioning of Boba’s motives appears to unsettle him – does Cad suspect that Boba isn’t actually who he says he’s? When Cad pulls the clone’s helmet off and takes a superb take a look at him, does the considered an imposter enter his thoughts?
In spite of everything, the standoff appears to reference a deleted scene from The Clone Wars, a bit of unfinished animation that may hardly be considered as canon.
Maybe Boba’s repeated references to his “father” and his childhood, are simply bluffing, as he fears that Cad may expose his huge secret to the inhabitants of Tatooine.
The fan principle actually makes The E book of Boba Fett extra fascinating, turning an unfocused story right into a story of a confidence man with a conscience, who cleans up a drug smuggling operation with the assistance of a cool set of armor worn by a galactic legend.
Very like “Darth Jar Jar,” the “Clone Boba Fett” principle is a enjoyable little bit of fiction that elevates a mediocre Star Wars story – however nonetheless, possibly there’s a grain of reality to it.
