Star Wars Villain Is Much Cooler Thanks To Retcons
When Star Wars fans are discussing their favorite villains, one name that hardly ever comes up is Admiral Motti, the mouthy bureaucrat who insults Vader’s religion before getting Force choked. However, Motti is arguably made that much cooler by one of Star Wars’ first retcons. As George Lucas himself once put it, Vader is “not even an all-powerful bad guy, he’s kind of a flunky” in that first film, but after subsequent films portray him as the scariest guy in the galaxy, it retroactively makes Motti’s insults to the Sith Lord the ballsiest thing in the entire franchise.
Admiral Motti
While he’s really only in one scene, Admiral Motti makes a big splash in A New Hope because he’s the ultimate Death Star fanboy. He insists that the Empire doesn’t have to worry about the Rebel Alliance because “this station is now the ultimate power in the universe.”
That’s when Darth Vader decides to put the admiral in his place by saying “the ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.”
That’s when Admiral Motti goes buck wild, telling the Sith Lord “don’t try to frighten us with your sorcerer’s ways” and criticizing his “sad devotion to that ancient religion.”
All Star Wars fans know what happens next: Vader Force chokes the man, giving us the iconic line “I find your lack of faith disturbing.” At a command from Grand Moff Tarkin, Vader releases Motti, allowing the bureaucrat to live another day.
Vader Is No Emperor
However, what most Star Wars fans never ask themselves is why Admiral Motti felt so comfortable mouthing off to the galaxy’s biggest monster and why Vader was taking orders from Tarkin.
The answer is quite simple: according to George Lucas himself, the others in the room “know the Emperor is the final word,” and while “everybody worries about the top man, they don’t worry about his goon.”
Interestingly, he claimed they knew the Death Star was more powerful than “this mumbo-jumbo Sith guy,” which is why Vader gets “pushed around…he’s kind of a flunky.”
From Flunky To Galactic Terror
That may sound surprising because, starting with The Empire Strikes Back, Vader is treated as the ultimate authority in the Empire. He commands the biggest Star Destroyer, he executes anyone who disappoints him, and he answers only to Emperor Palpatine.
This is seemingly a huge retcon of the man who was just a powerful flunky in the previous film, though you could argue that everyone belatedly had to acknowledge Vader was the Empire’s best weapon after the destruction of the second Death Star.
Motti Had Guts
However, retcon or no retcon, this change to Darth Vader’s status in the Empire retroactively makes Admiral Motti a much cooler and much bolder villain. We all know Vader as the kind of guy who instantly executes people for something as simple as making tactical decisions he disagrees with.
But here’s this feisty bureaucrat telling Vader to his face that his religion sucks and that if he had any real juice, the Force would have helped him already find the Rebel base.
Don’t Mess With Motti
Obviously, none of this changes the fact that Darth Vader successfully puts Admiral Motti in his place by demonstrating how powerful the Force really is, but in a weird way, that makes me love this strange Imperial that much more.
He is seemingly aware that Vader could kill him from across the room without any real effort, but he’s still so sick of hearing about the Force from this robotic goon that he risks his life to go off on Tarkin’s raspy attack dog. He didn’t have the Force or a lightsaber, but Motti still stood up to Vader like nobody before or since.
Forget the Death Star, guys. Judging from this scene, it’s actually sassy, middle-aged dudes with nothing to fear who are the real ultimate power in the universe.
Source: Rolling Stone
