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Sure, this bunch of Star Wars characters were baddies. But were they really completely evil?
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00:00You may think all of these Star Wars baddies are as vile and detestable as they come,
00:05but the truth is a little more complex, and highlights how these bounty hunters,
00:10Sith and soldiers, weren't quite as evil as you've been led to believe.
00:14So I'm Gareth from WhatCultureStarWars and here are 10 Star Wars villains who weren't as evil as you think.
00:21Number 10, Jango Fett
00:23Long before his baby boy became one of the galaxy's most feared bounty hunters,
00:27Jango Fett could be found helping the likes of Count Dooku slash Darth Tyranus,
00:32playing a part in the attempts to assassinate Padme Amidala,
00:35and clashing with a few Jedi during Episode 2, Attack of the Clones.
00:39All that tells the story of a Beskar-sporting bounty hunter who didn't care which side of the fight he
00:44was on,
00:45only that he got paid.
00:47But there was actually a lot more to the genetic template for the entire clone army than that.
00:51On top of being classed as an honorable man by old friend slash pirate Hondo Onaka,
00:56Jango evidently cared for his additional request after agreeing to be the clone's genetic template,
01:02his unaltered clone son, Boba.
01:05Jango took the time to train and raise his boy,
01:08teaching him valuable combat skills and the ruthlessness needed to survive in this unforgiving galaxy,
01:13before his shocking death via lightsaber on Geonosis.
01:16Again, the Mandalorian armor-wearing mercenary wasn't what you class as a perfect role model by any means,
01:22but he clearly loved his boy and had an excellent relationship with his clone son.
01:279. Maul
01:28When he first strutted into the Skywalker saga during Episode 1, The Phantom Menace,
01:33Darth Maul looked and felt every bit like the personification of pure evil.
01:38However, in the wake of relentlessly doing his master's bidding and cutting down a beloved Jedi master in that flick,
01:44fans began to learn more about the sliced-in-half Sith Lord and his rather tragic backstory.
01:50You see, Maul was actually the son of a rather powerful Nightsister leader known as Mother Talzin,
01:55and there was even a time there when Darth Sidious himself considered making her his apprentice before the time of
02:01the prequels,
02:02with Sheev Palpatine instead sensing the potential within her baby boy
02:06and stealing him away to mold the Dathomirian into his new apprentice.
02:10Along with being dragged away from his family at a young age
02:13and manipulated into despising the Jedi Order by his horrible master,
02:17the hate-filled Maul would also later watch one of the only people he truly cared about,
02:22his brother, Savage Opress, be murdered by Sidious during the Clone Wars.
02:26He still did some absolutely diabolical things during his quest for revenge against both Obi-Wan Kenobi and Palpatine,
02:32of course, killing Duchess Satine Kryze and blinding Kanan Jarrus over the years.
02:37But this consumed-by-pain, Darkseid user never asked to be thrown onto this path
02:42and have his life gradually destroyed by a cackling Sith Lord.
02:46Oh yeah, and speaking of Sith Lords, who is your favourite of all time?
02:49You let me know in the comments section right down below.
02:52Number 8, Balen Skull
02:53Cutting through a number of New Republic officers and clearly stating he and his apprentice
02:58were anything but Jedi during his first on-screen moments in the Star Wars universe,
03:03Balen Skull swiftly became yet another hugely fascinating villain within the galaxy far, far away
03:08during the first season of Ahsoka.
03:10Far from just being yet another cold gun, or should that be lightsaber, far higher,
03:15there was far more to this one-time Jedi Order member than met the eye.
03:20After somehow surviving the purge that wiped most of the Jedi from the galaxy,
03:24Skull became a mercenary and would eventually join forces with Morgan Elsbeth
03:28as the Nightsister looked to locate the lost Grand Admiral Thrawn.
03:32But it soon became clear that Skull only wanted to discover the Chiss' location on Peridia,
03:37as he felt it would lead to a great power that called to him.
03:40That power wasn't one that he desired so that he could rule the galaxy, however.
03:45It was one he felt could break the cycle of orders falling and empires rising.
03:50Balen may have assisted the baddies throughout that Disney Plus show,
03:53and murdered a few people along the way.
03:55But Skull is still a man who tries his best not to repeat the mistakes of the past,
04:00or kill his fellow Jedi,
04:02and is determined to create a better tomorrow,
04:04even if his methods are a little questionable at times.
04:08Number 7, Barriss Offey
04:09Speaking of Jedi who ultimately became disenchanted with the Order,
04:13former Jedi Knight Barriss Offey was once a dedicated member of the side,
04:17seemingly fighting the good fight.
04:19However, she'd eventually go down in history as the person responsible for bombing the Jedi Temple
04:24during the Clone Wars animated series.
04:26With it being revealed that the frustrated Force user had framed her pal Ahsoka Tano,
04:31to make it look like she was behind the shocking attack.
04:34At a glance, anyone who opts to target the place where the current and next generation of Jedi were taught,
04:40may seem like a piece of work.
04:42But once Offey finally stepped forward and explained her violent actions,
04:46it soon became apparent that the Jedi weren't dealing with a purely evil figure here.
04:50This traitor had simply become disillusioned with the Order,
04:53feeling the people she'd been trained by were the ones responsible for the Clone War.
04:58Offey explained how the Order had become the villains in the conflict,
05:01and that all of the members within the organization should be put on trial
05:04for their part in the battles going on around the galaxy.
05:08And while you can't exactly condone the murdering of her fellow Jedi to get her message across,
05:12Offey definitely had a point.
05:14The Jedi had lost their way,
05:16and had now become an army rather than keepers of the peace.
05:19Number 6, Armitage Hux
05:21General Armitage Hux wasn't always the ruthless and horrendous bloke
05:25found blowing up multiple planets in the sequel trilogy.
05:28Long before he became a high-ranking officer within the villainous organization,
05:32young Armitage was savagely bullied and abused by his own father,
05:36Commandant Brendol Hux.
05:38He would be physically and verbally assaulted by his dad,
05:41with Armitage also having to deal with the gossip that came with being a bastard child.
05:46Hux unquestionably did some rather unforgivable things during the years
05:49that would follow that cruel upbringing,
05:51even murdering his own father Brendol at one point with a little help from Captain Phasma.
05:56But after spending those formative years being physically abused and called pathetic and useless
06:01by his lovely daddy,
06:02you do still have to feel a little sorry for that innocent kid,
06:05who eventually grew up to become a rather sensitive and volatile military leader.
06:10Underneath all that screaming and backstabbing was just a young lad who needed a hug.
06:14Thanks for checking out this video today,
06:16now go and hit that subscribe button down below for more WhatCulture Star Wars in your life.
06:21Number 5, Cyril Kahn
06:23From an abusive father creating a bit of a Star Wars monster,
06:27to an abusive mother doing precisely the same thing in the first season of Andor.
06:31Throughout that Disney Plus show,
06:33Cyril Kahn is shown to be a ridiculously obsessive civil servant,
06:36determined to prove himself to those in a position of power within the Empire.
06:40He's a little creepy, sure,
06:42stalking ISB supervisor Dedra Miro,
06:45and this unsettling antagonist also becomes entirely obsessed with capturing Cassian Andor,
06:50as he looks to be of service to his empire.
06:52But the more you analyse the character's relationship with his mother, Edie,
06:56the easier it is to understand this dangerously needy soul.
07:00Cyril didn't grow up with a father,
07:02according to the star playing the character Kyle Soller,
07:05meaning he was raised by his stage mother from hell, as he put it.
07:08And as seen during the scenes involving Cyril and his mom,
07:11Edie is quick to physically abuse her boy,
07:14undermine him,
07:15and regularly make him feel like he will never be enough.
07:17After all that, and what must have been a rough upbringing,
07:20it's no wonder the guy spends the majority of his life trying to impress those above him.
07:24He's not a purely evil presence in this galaxy far, far away.
07:28He's just a rather intense man trying to fill a hole in himself, as Soller put it.
07:33Number 4, Slick
07:35Introduced as one of the many clone troopers seen fighting alongside the Jedi
07:38during the Clone Wars animated series,
07:41Clone Sergeant Slick would eventually be revealed as a traitor to both the Order and the Republic.
07:45But it wasn't that Slick simply wanted to earn some money,
07:48and was willing to stab the Jedi and his clone brothers in the back by leaking information to
07:53Asajj Ventress, Count Dooku's right-hand woman, to do so.
07:56This clone was just tired of following orders,
07:59and he wanted to save the rest of his fellow soldiers from the war that was taking so many of
08:03their lives.
08:04Admittedly, his attempts to bring down the Jedi, who he felt were enslaving himself and his brothers,
08:09actually ended up putting them all at risk.
08:11But much like Barriss Offee, he did have a point.
08:14The clones were being treated no better than the Separatist battle droids throughout the war,
08:18and this clone spy Slick just wanted himself and the brothers he loved to be free from the war
08:23they were being forced to fight for the Jedi and the Republic.
08:26Number 3, Grievous
08:28Anyone who has enjoyed the prequel ending ride that is Episode 3, Revenge of the Sith,
08:33will know that the terrifying General Grievous isn't the biggest fan of the Jedi Order.
08:37But why was he so obsessed with hunting down Jedi and stealing their lightsabers?
08:42Well, it turns out that the Order did him dirty before his prequel's debut.
08:46His people on the planet Kali found themselves being invaded by the Yamri race,
08:51from the world of Hook,
08:52and Grievous eventually led his people against those invaders,
08:55pushing them off his homeworld and back to their own.
08:58Now, sure, Grievous probably didn't need to then unleash all hell on the planet Hook in the aftermath,
09:03but the people of Kali had every right to be a little upset after being targeted by the Yamri first.
09:09In the end, though, those same Yamri ultimately asked for backup from the Republic,
09:13leading to the Jedi intervening as the Kaleesh were fined and punished for their actions.
09:18The fact hundreds of thousands of his people died due to the starvation caused by the Jedi helping out their
09:23enemies,
09:24understandably left Grievous holding quite the grudge against the Keepers of the Peace.
09:28Like a lot of the folks on this list, he still did an awful lot of absolutely unforgivable things over
09:33the years,
09:34but he was far from a mindless killer.
09:36He was a devastated Kaleesh looking to avenge his people.
09:402. Morgan Elsbeth
09:41While on the subject of General Grievous doing some pretty horrific things over the years,
09:46that Kaleesh warrior all but wiped out the Nightsisters of Dathomir during the Clone Wars.
09:51However, one of the human survivors of that massacre would ultimately do everything in her power to avenge her fallen
09:57sisters.
09:58Though that awful event did eventually lead to the Mandalorian and Ahsoka's Morgan Elsbeth,
10:03joining forces with the oppressive Empire throughout their reign.
10:07Searching for, finding, and eventually helping Grand Admiral Thrawn return to the galaxy far, far away,
10:12fans know and love, was certainly not the most heroic move, admittedly.
10:16But Elsbeth wasn't just driven by the pursuit of power in the end.
10:20The Great Mothers on Peridia had been secretly communicating with and guiding Elsbeth in another galaxy.
10:26With Morgan eventually helping make the Eye of Sion that would transport her crew to Thrawn and those Nightsisters far,
10:32far away.
10:33And though the eventual official Nightsister would ultimately die before getting to see those Mothers return to her homeworld,
10:39her vital sacrifice helped Thrawn and those other Nightsisters return to Dathomir.
10:44By that point, she was willing to pay the ultimate price to ensure the potential future of her people.
10:49And proved she was far more than just a selfish villain looking out for herself and the Empire.
10:54Put simply, this survivor was just doing it all for Dathomir.
10:58Number 1. Count Dooku
11:00Once a respected member of the Jedi Order trained by Master Yoda himself,
11:05Count Dooku eventually walked away from it all after sensing the corruption within the Galactic Senate.
11:10He would obviously end up becoming Darth Sidious' next apprentice post-Maur being sliced in two in the wake of
11:16that exit.
11:17But that was largely down to Sidious taking advantage of his feelings towards the Corrupt Republic and the Arrogant Order.
11:23With the Sith Lord offering him the chance to lead a new Separatist movement.
11:27Sure, he would then go on to gradually become consumed by the Dark Side and turn out to be little
11:32more than another one of Palpatine's puppets.
11:34And that once somewhat understandable quest to bring an end to the Corrupt Republic also eventually saw him shockingly cut
11:41down Jedi Masters and attempt to assassinate Padme Amidala.
11:44But Dooku clearly just wanted to see some much needed change at one point there.
11:48And felt that the only real way to bring peace and justice to the galaxy involved him teaming up with
11:53the Sith and bringing down the broken bureaucracy of the Republic.
11:56In the end though, Dooku simply became another power-hungry Sith who longed to overthrow his master.
12:02With the political idealist only realizing way too late that he had merely been a pawn in Sidious' grand plan
12:08all along.
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