As this season of The Mandalorian has gone on, I’ve done a series briefly explaining who the “guest stars” are. So I’m continuing that today, even though the discussion might seem obvious to most: who is Boba Fett?
He’s one of the most iconic characters in all of Star Wars, and yet I would venture to guess that most people don’t really know much about him apart from the fact that he looks cool. But there’s a lot more about him than just that, so let’s dive in.
Boba Fett was a clone of his father, Jango Fett, who was one of the galaxy’s most notorious bounty hunters. Fett was approached by Darth Tyranus to serve as the template for a secret army of clones for the Republic. These clones were genetically modified and had accelerated growth, making it far easier and faster to create a grand army. Fett agreed, receiving a large sum, but also had one other stipulation: that an unaltered clone be made, and Jango raised him as his son.
Jango taught and instructed Boba in the way of bounty hunting as they lived on Kamino, and Jango brought Boba along on some of his missions. When Boba was around ten years old, one of Jango’s missions took him to Coruscant, hired to assasinate senator Padmé Amidala. The plot was foiled by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, and Jango’s use of a kaminoan dart inadvertently led Kenobi to Kamino. There, the Jedi discovered the Grand Army of the Republic that had been built, and was introduced to the Fetts. Realizing that the Jedi was onto them, the Fetts hurried to leave the planet – but not before Kenobi fought the elder Fett and placed a tracking beacon aboard their ship, the Slave I. This led Kenobi to Geonosis, where he learned of a sinister Separatist plot and was captured. Soon, Anakin and Padmé were captured as well after trying to rescue Obi-Wan, and the three were set to be executed. But the Jedi arrived en masse and faced off against the Separatist droid army, kicking off the Clone Wars. As Boba looked on, Jango sprung into action; he killed Jedi master Coleman Trebor, then flew into the arena to face Mace Windu. But Fett’s jetpack was damaged by the reek, leaving him vulnerable, and Windu seized the opportunity; after Jango killed the beast, Windu killed Fett by cutting off his head.
In the aftermath of the battle, Boba made his way down to the arena and retrieved his father’s helmet, pressing it against his head as he mourned the loss of his dad. He determined that he would kill his father’s murderer, Mace Windu. At some point after this, Fett teamed with bounty hunters such as Aurra Sing and Bossk in a plot to kill the Jedi Master. Using his identity as a clone to his advantage, Boba infiltrated a Republic cruiser by posing as a cadet. He far surpassed the other cadets in drills, and then snuck into Windu’s quarters on the ship, planting a bomb. The plot nearly worked, but killed a clone trooper instead of Windu. The ship was badly damaged and on high alert, so Fett – still undiscovered as the culprit – joined other cadets in evacuating via the escape pods. The other bounty hunters then approached in the Slave I to pick Fett up from the escape pod, before they headed down to the wreckage of the Republic cruiser on Vanqor. They took Republic prisoners, and Fett rigged another trap for Windu. This time, he planted a bomb in his father’s helmet, hoping to catch the Jedi’s eye with the familiar helmet. This worked, and Windu and Skywalker wound up trapped in a ship that would soon explode. Upon seeing the helmet, Windu was able to deduce the identity of his attacker, realizing that it must be Jango Fett’s son.
With the two Jedi trapped, Skywalker’s droid, R2-D2, was sent to get help. R2 piloted Anakin’s Jedi starfighter and managed to escape Slave I before jumping to hyperspace, later to return with a team of Jedi to help rescue Windu and Skywalker. Boba’s plan had again failed, but he would not give up. The bounty hunters used the Republic prisoners to taunt the Jedi in an attempt to lure Windu to hunt after them. Boba only wanted Mace Windu hurt, but he was overruled as Aurra Sing killed one of their prisoners. The bounty hunters made their way to Florrum to seek the help of the pirate Hondo Ohnaka, but the Jedi tracked them there – only it wasn’t Windu that was sent by the Council, but Plo Koon and Ahsoka Tano. A series of confrontations and standoffs happened on Florrum, ultimately leading to Slave I being badly damaged and Boba Fett and Bossk being taken into Republic custody. Before they were taken away, however, Boba was persuaded to give away the location of the prisoners, allowing the Republic to rescue them.
Fett met with Mace Windu before heading to prison and promised never to forgive him, and then was taken to the prison on Coruscant. At one point during his stay there, he encountered Obi-Wan Kenobi, disguised as the bounty hunter Rako Hardeen, who was undercover in an attempt to foil an assassination plot on Chancellor Palpatine.
Sometime later, Fett started and led the Krayt’s Claw, a syndicate that contracted various bounty hunters and operated out of Tatooine. He frequently worked with some notable bounty hunters like Bossk and Dengar, but also worked with the former Sith apprentice Asajj Ventress at times, including on a mission to protect secret cargo on the planet Quarzite, and then later on a mission to try to rescue Jedi Master Quinlan Vos. Fett continued to grow into a formidable bounty hunter, drawing on what he learned from his father and his growing experiences and skills, eventually becoming the galaxy’s most notorious and well-known bounty hunters. Though it’s not currently known when, Fett eventually donned his father’s Mandalorian armor, adding some different tricks and trinkets himself.
Over the years, Fett came to work frequently for the crime lord Jabba the Hutt, who operated on Tatooine. On one such occasion, Fett was present when Jabba confronted Han Solo at the Mos Eisley Spaceport concerning Solo’s unpaid debts. But Fett also came to work for an even more dangerous boss, the Sith Lord Darth Vader. At one point, Vader arrived at Jabba’s Palace looking for bounty hunters. Jabba recommended Boba Fett and Black Krrsantan, and Vader sent them each to track down personal vendettas for him. He tasked Fett with hunting down the Rebel pilot who destroyed the Death Star. Boba Fett began investigating around Tatooine for information about this mysterious farmboy, and he eventually came to find out about this kid, Luke Skywalker. As Fett predicted, Skywalker returned to Obi-Wan Kenobi’s hut on Tatooine before long, where Boba attacked him, blinding him with a sudden flash grenade. The two engaged in a lengthy duel, but Fett was knocked unconscious as Luke used the Force. Without the kid, Fett still had valuable information to report to Lord Vader, revealing that the pilot’s name was Luke Skywalker.
Three years later, Fett would again work for Vader. As the Sith Lord hunted down the Millennium Falcon, he enlisted a variety of bounty hunters, including Boba Fett. It was Fett who ultimately proved successful in tracking the ship, predicting Han Solo’s next move and lying in wait with the garbage before tracking the Falcon to Cloud City. Fett, Vader, and the Empire all arrived before the Falcon, allowing them to set a trap. Solo was tortured and frozen in carbonite, and then was given to Fett to take to Jabba the Hutt.
Fett took other jobs for Jabba the Hutt in the year that followed, and was present at Jabba’s Palace when Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Chewbacca, and Lando Calrissian launched a plan to rescue Han Solo. The plan was seemingly foiled and the group was taken to the Great Pit of Carkoon to be executed… but Skywalker sprung the trap, rescuing the others and fighting Jabba’s pirates. Fett sprung into action as well and fought Skywalker, but Solo accidentally hit Fett’s jetpack, triggering it and sending the bounty hunter flying into the Sarlacc, seemingly to his death.
But that was not the case! Somehow, Boba Fett returned, and five years after falling into the Sarlacc, tracked down Din Djarin to the planet Tython to retrieve his armor. With his father’s armor back in his possession, Fett pledged to help Djarin protect the Child, Grogu.
Star Wars Thoughts 