Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace will be remembered for a number of infamous things: midi-chlorians, racism, and uninspired acting, among them. But there's one face (and voice) that comes to mind when conjuring up the worst of the worst that the first (cinematically speaking) Star Wars film has to offer: Jar Jar Binks. This goofy Gungan klutz stumbled his way into the Skywalker Saga, becoming a military officer and ill-advised politician along the way. Binks not only drew criticism and outright hatred from fans of the Star Wars universe in our world, he also became the whipping boy (tadpole?) for rebels everywhere, having inadvertently granted Senator Palpatine emergency powers, powers he would go on to use to become the Emperor.
Binks has redeemed himself somewhat over the years thanks to his role in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but his part as a political player was vastly diminished in the prequel trilogy and abandoned altogether in other media, such as the animated LEGO Star Wars: Droid Tales, in which he's found floating through the vacuum of space outside the Death Star...
But as far as canon goes, what's the ultimate fate of Jar Jar Binks? Well, that's about to be revealed in a new novel from Chuck Wendig. "Star Wars Aftermath: Empire's End", the concluding book in his trilogy which will be available next Tuesday, occurs between Episodes VI and VII and will reveal Binks' status, among other anticipated story conclusions. Consider this your spoiler warning if you want to wait and read it for yourself.
As Mashable reports, Binks has become an exile among his own people, shunned by those who know of his greatest mistake. He's now quite literally a clown performing tricks for children on the streets of Naboo. Yeah. Gizmodo has Wendig's setup before the ultimate reveal, which you can read below:
Since children started coming in by the shipload as refugees, the Gungan has served them, performing for the kids once or twice a day, He does tricks. He juggles. He falls over and shakes his head as his eyes roll around inside their fleshy stalks. He makes goofy sounds and does strange little dances. Sometimes it’s the same performance, repeated. Sometimes the Gungan does different things, things you’ve never seen, thing’s you’ll never see again. Just a few days ago, he splashed into the fountain’s center, ten pretended to have the streams shoot him way up in the air. He leapt straight up, then back down with a splash. And he leapt from compass point to compass point, back and forth, before finally conking his head on the edge and plopping down on his butt. Shaking his head. Tongue wagging. All the kids laughed. Then the Gungan laughed, too.
The clown, they called him “Bring the clown. We want to see the clown. We like it how he juggles glombo shells, or spits fish up in the air and catches them, or how he dances around and falls on his butt.”
The adults, though. They don’t say much about him. Or to him. And no other Gungans come to see him, either. Nobody even says his name.
When a young refugee boy asks why no one talks to him, the Gungan answers:
“My no so sure.” The Gungan makes a hmm sound. “Mesa thinks it cause-o Jar Jar makin some uh-oh mistakens. Big mistakens. Der Gunga bosses banished me longo ago. Mesa no been to hom in for-ebbers. And desa hisen Naboo tink I help the uh-oh Empire.”
So there you have it, Jar Jar Binks the Sad Gungan Clown. Does this fate make you feel worse for Jar Jar, perhaps finding some remorse for a much-maligned character? Or is this just deserts for a character who was fated to fail from the beginning? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
