STAR WARS: AFTERMATH Answers RETURN OF THE JEDI’s Biggest Question

Happy Force Friday!

A massive deal was made about the release of all the fancy new toys for Star Wars: The Force Awakens which officially go on sale today, as well as their unveiling over the past day or so (remote-controlled BB-8!!!). However, what most people are forgetting is that this isn’t just a day for toys. This is all merchandising for the movie. That includes books.

A couple of months ago Disney unveiled a huge Journey to The Force Awakens range of books, aimed at filling the gap between Return of the Jedi and the new movie. Two of the novels – Aftermath and Lost Stars – are post-ROTJ (as well as a comic starting next week, Shattered Empire) and follow minor and supporting characters, and the other three are set during the time of the Original Trilogy focusing on Luke, Han and Leia respectively. Their connective tissue is that they all contain some hints regarding the plot of The Force Awakens, or at least this new and expansive history. Today we’re focusing on Aftermath because that’s what I know about, and it contains an awesome little nugget of information.

I’ve actually known this for a few days now but didn’t go and run it here in case it turned out to be false, and what with the actual release so close at the time it wasn’t worth the risk and potentially pissing off a bunch of people (and maybe Lucasfilm). But now the book is officially in stores and the information is out there, so let’s go with it. This will obviously contain big spoilers for Star Wars: Aftermath and it answers a pretty important question from within the mythos, so if you don’t want to know then leave now etc etc.

Did Boba Fett survive the Sarlacc Pit?

Fans have been debating this over and over since 1983 (poor nerds). Did he shoot his way out and live to fight another day? Did he become Sarlacc poop? Well, in the old EU canon he did survive, however that was always secondary to the canon established by the films so even then there was a lot of back-and-forth. Earlier this year there was a big story about how Boba evidently did survive because he’s seen in some trailer for the upcoming Battlefront game on Jakku (or it could be Tattooine) but it was never concretely confirmed. Now we have it.

This was posted to the Star Wars Reddit page a few hours ago – take a look!

“From the box, he withdraws a helmet. Pitted and pocked, as if with some kind of acid. But still – he raps his knuckles on it. The Mandalorians knew how to make armor, didn’t they?”

Obviously it doesn’t outright confirm this is Boba Fett’s armour but I think it’s pretty damn obvious. However, it raises more questions than answers: did he discard the armour? Was it taken? Did he escape and then die? Where is the real Boba now? We’re probably not gonna know until Disney decide to make a solo book for the character or just send out a statement. While we don’t know what happens to thewa man, we do know what happens to the armour.

I haven’t seen this talked about in the hours since the book’s release, but given that the spoilers were right about every other detail I’m guessing they’re also right about this.

This figure talked about in the photo, Adwin, is meeting with the Jawas who are selling the trash (from the wreckage of Jabba’s cruiser, I’m guessing). He then meets another guy, Cobb. They root through the goods and find the Mandalorian armour; Cobb then takes it for himself, appointing himself as a lawman and shoots Adwin.

So, we have a guy pretending to be Boba Fett running around in between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens.

Back when Boba Fett: The Movie was still a thing, there was a rumour that the plot kicked off with the real Boba getting killed and the armour claimed by another bounty hunter, and that’s obviously been amalgamated into this book. It’s possible the original rumour was from Aftermath all along and there was just some misinformation, but regardless, it was correct – just for the wrong piece of Star Wars cake. I have no idea what this could mean for the Sequel Trilogy, or whether this fake Boba will actually appear, but the possibility seems to be there.

If that rumour ended up being true then it’s possible others have as well. A couple of weeks ago one did the rounds that the lead character in Rogue One, played by Felicity Jones, is actually the daughter of Boba Fett. Character and actor ages don’t add up so I disregarded it, however now I’m wondering whether there will be a daughter but in another book, comic or movie. Could she be the female character that Episode VIII is currently casting for? The folks over at Making Star Wars did comment that there might be a female villain…

I dunno. Lots of information to digest.

To summarise, Boba Fett survived the Sarlacc Pit, his armour was discarded and then claimed by another killer. Whether Boba is still alive now is anyone’s guess. The fan in me hopes so since it would be interesting to see how his character has changed after that whole ordeal, however I have a feeling that this may be the last we really hear of the guy, and it was just an attempt at finally sealing the deal.

Case closed on this one, I think.