The last words a villain utters before their demise speaks volumes about their character,
their history, and the story they came to tell. Star Wars is no different;
these are the last words of every fallen Star Wars villain.
Darth Vader - or Anakin Skywalker, depending on your entry point in the franchise - is as
distinctive a villain as any of pop culture's various bad guys. From the "Imperial March"
that introduces him, to the plot twist heard round the world that defined him,
to the prequel films that attempted - in vain - to provide him with an origin story,
it's hard to top the villainous treachery of Lord Vader himself.
After Vader hurls Emperor Palpatine down a massive chute in the end of Return Of The Jedi, suffering
fatal wounds in the process, we're shown the true form of Anakin Skywalker: a sad, frail old man,
concealed under a façade of cruelty and evil. Anakin is content knowing that he's done for, but
Luke insists that he needs to save his newly redeemed father. Anakin, resolute, responds:
"You already have, Luke. You were right. You were right about me. Tell your sister, you were right."
Anakin, now free from the imposing mask of Darth Vader, has come to terms with
the evil he has perpetrated, and has no one but Luke to thank for his redemption.
If Darth Vader was the vicious, Force-wielding muscle of Star Wars, then Grand Moff Tarkin
was the sly, menacing brains of the Empire's villainous plot in A New Hope.
Before the franchise expanded to include a massive universe of media, one could easily
see Tarkin as the primary antagonist of the Death Star plot. Even if Vader's flashier,
more aesthetically appealing stylings would become the focal point of the series' villainy,
it was Tarkin who kept the trains running on time.
Hs final line uttered was a simple, but assured directive to his crew:
"You may fire when ready."
If only Tarkin knew of that slight design flaw in the Death Star's core,
which allowed one lone X-Wing pilot to shoot into that one small exhaust port with ease.
Perhaps the most famous question to come out of the original Star Wars saga might just be
"Who shot first? Han or Greedo?" If you're a true Star Wars loyalist, you obviously know the right
answer, but George Lucas' many revisions over the years have certainly muddied the waters
surrounding this most famous Cantina brawl. Lest we forget the source of the life-ending argument:
The Rodian bounty hunter, sent to collect payment from Han Solo on behalf of Jabba the Hutt.
Han doesn't give up so easily, promising Greedo he has the money, but it's just not
on him at the moment. Greedo's heard that one before, so he tells Han, in Huttese:
"Ches ko ba tuta creesta crenko ya kolska!"
...which loosely translates to
"I've been looking forward to this for a long time."
Han blasts him from under the table, ending the cat-and-mouse chase once and for all.
A sad last line for a sad bounty hunter, made even more sad by Lucas' latest edit,
providing Greedo with one more odd alien utterance:
"Maclunkey," a Hutt word that loosely translates to "This will be the end of you."
In all of the Star Wars universe's array of colorful characters, no one might be
more aesthetically displeasing than the grotesque, slug-like gangster Jabba the Hutt. One of the most
feared crime lords in the galaxy, Jabba makes his first onscreen appearance in Return of the Jedi,
though Lucas would later edit him back into A New Hope in far less imposing form. Set in his lush
palace among an array of equally freakish alien criminals is the way we prefer to remember him.
Sadly - for us - Jabba doesn't get a noble send-off line before his demise; during the last
clear line, he simply orders those beneath him to throw Luke Skywalker into the dreaded Sarlacc Pit:
"Put him in."
Soon after that, he's brought down by the captive Princess Leia,
who weaponizes the chains of her own captivity to strangle her disgusting
jailer. Ultimately, a less-than-noble death for a far-less-than-noble alien mob boss.
A deadly Sith force for evil with a flair for the dramatic, Emperor Palpatine's journey from
a creepy villain who pops up at the end of Return of the Jedi to the ultimate binding
character of the entire Star Wars film saga crept up on the culture pretty quickly,
which seems pretty on-brand for a deadly former senator turned lightning-throwing space wizard.
It would've been all well and good for the Emperor to remain dead after being cast
into oblivion by Darth Vader, but Disney just couldn't leave well enough alone.
His final lines uttered while torturing Luke with force lightning would have been pretty apt too:
"You have paid the price for your lack of vision. Now young Skywalker, you will die."
Of course, those no longer qualify as Palpatine's final words. Thanks to the dark power of the Sith,
Palpatine rose from the grave to lead Kylo Ren into a new reign of
terror - and to reunite with his inexplicable granddaughter, Rey.
In his final showdown with the hero of the sequel trilogy, it seems as if Palpatine has Rey on the
ropes. In his final attempt to consume her and take her youthful power, he tells her:
"You are nothing. A scavenger girl is no match for the power in me. I am all the Sith."
Fortunately for the galaxy, Rey is able to summon the power of
all of the Jedi and use it to finally defeat Palpatine once and for all.
If any good did come from The Phantom Menace and the prequel trilogy,
it was the fantastically designed new characters and creatures, including Darth Maul,
the main antagonist of the first prequel entry. His distinctive red and black makeup, devil horns,
and double-sided lightsaber truly make him one of the series' most memorable villains.
While Maul is typically known as a silent character,
he actually does have a few brief moments of dialogue in the middle of the film.
He speaks primarily in conversation with his master, Darth Sidious. He says to him:
"At last we will have our revenge."
This, sadly, wouldn't be true for Maul,
as he would apparently meet his end after being cut in half by Obi-Wan in battle.
It wasn't until much later that Maul appeared again, during the animated series Rebels,
where Obi-Wan finally defeats him in battle for the last time, where he says of Luke Skywalker,
"He will avenge us."
In its seemingly endless quest to explain every single facet of classic Star Wars lore,
the prequel trilogy, of course, had to answer the question burning in everyone's mind:
"Where did Boba Fett come from?" Sadly, the answer appears to be that Boba Fett is a clone.
In the grand plot to create an army of clones for the Republic,
Jango Fett was selected to serve as the model from which all Clones would be created.
As part of his payment, Jango received one unaltered clone that he could raise as his
son - who we know as the one and only Boba Fett.
After a quick fight through an asteroid field with Obi-Wan and the jedi mentor's subsequent capture,
Jango and a bunch of alien bug people catch up with Anakin and Padme as they look for Kanobi at the Droid Factory.
Here Jango captures them and brings them to the fighting arena on Geonosis, saying:
"Don't move Jedi. Take him away."
Upon entering combat in the Arena later on,
Jango loses his head to the purple blade of Master Windu.
In the elaborate plot to kill Senator Amidala in the first act of Attack of the Clones,
Senator Palpatine hires Count Dooku, who hires Jango Fett, who hires shapeshifter Zam Wesell,
who programs a robot to send two deadly wormlike creatures to kill Padme.
Even with all this twisting and turning to off the former queen,
the plan is stopped dead in its tracks by young Padawan Anakin Skywalker and his master, Obi-Wan.
After an exceedingly long and elaborate chase atop speeders,
across skies, and through seedy nightclubs, they eventually track Wesell down and interrogate her.
She's is only able to muster up one hint about who hired her:
"It was a bounty hunter called ..."
Jango Fett puts a quick end to the shapeshifter before she can divulge
any sensitive intel. Her final words before dying translate to,
"Bounty hunter slimeball."
Before his passing, it was well established that if you wanted your sci-fi or fantasy
film to reach epic heights, you hired Sir Christopher Lee to play your villain. The
storied English actor's credits include the Count Dracula and Saruman from Peter
Jackson's Lord of the Rings – you don't get much more iconic than that.
Lee brought his sinister booming voice and towering presence to the Star Wars prequels
in the role of Count Dooku, yet another evil apprentice to Palpatine.
Dooku proves a worthy enough foe, cutting off Anakin's hand
and holding his own against Master Yoda in Attack of the Clones' most exciting lightsaber fight,
but it's in the concluding chapter of the prequel trilogy, Revenge of the Sith,
that Dooku must finally meets his maker. In his final face-off against a newly revitalized Anakin,
Dooku, wielding his lightsaber as confidently as ever, utters to Anakin:
"I sense great fear in you, Skywalker. You have hate, you have anger, but you don't use them."
Dooku knows more than he realizes, as Anakin does let his anger and hate overcome him,
resulting in the gruesome beheading of Dooku,
an act that certainly contributes to Anakin's transformation into the evil Lord Vader.
It's fair to say that Nute Gunray set the whole prequel series in motion.
Alongside his casually racist voice and his completely off-putting design,
Nute had the gall to go to war with the planet of Naboo, and become part of the Separatist
Movement that continued the escalation of Palpatine's plan for galactic domination.
So, you could say that he deserves it when he gets slaughtered by the newly anointed Darth Vader
alongside his fellow Separatists. Just before his death, he tries to plead with Vader:
"The war is over! Lord Sidious promised us peace! We only want..."
Not good enough, Nute. He's cut off mid-sentence by Anakin's wrath. It's
fair to say that among the many, many inhabitants of the Star Wars Universe,
Nute Gunray is about as likely to be resurrected as Jar Jar Binks.
Among the onslaught of new characters thrown into the mix in the prequel trilogy was General
Grievous, a secondary antagonist introduced and quickly defeated in Revenge of the Sith.
He was responsible for the kidnapping of Senator Palpatine that kicks off the film,
and he serves as a catalyst for one of the more exciting action sequences in the film:
a multi-lightsaber-wielding duel against Obi-Wan Kenobi. He mocks him and the incoming troops:
"Army or not, you must realize, you are doomed."
Evidently not, it seems! Eventually, Obi-Wan is successful in grabbing Grievous' blaster and
absolutely demolishing the squishy alien remnants
that lie beyond Grievous' hideous robot exoskeleton.
In its wartime retelling of the events leading up to A New Hope, Rogue One chronicles the completion
of the first Death Star by the Empire, and the Rebel plan to steal its schematics in
an attempt to destroy it. The mastermind behind the Empire's plans is Orson Krennic,
Director of the Imperial Military Department and enemy number one of all "Rebel scum".
The final confrontation between Krennic and our hero, Jyn Erso, is an especially tense one. As
ever, Krennic boldly declares his victory — not only for himself — but for the Empire at large:
"All your ships in the air will be destroyed. I lose nothing but time. You, on the other hand,
die with the rebellion."
As if by fate, at that very instant, he is struck by the blaster of Cassian Andor,
and immediately falls dead in his tracks. You'd think these Star Wars villains would
learn to dial down the hubris by now, but they never will, it seems.
In Solo: A Star Wars Story, we follow the rise of a young Han Solo as he gains
a lifelong friend in Chewbacca, meets his on-again off-again frenemy Lando Calrissian,
and flies the Millenium Falcon with gusto.
Solo's wild lifestyle attracts nefarious characters like Tobias Beckett, someone
Han almost thinks of as a mentor — until he betrays him at the worst possible moment in their
mission. We learn that Beckett has been working with the film's true antagonist — Dryden Vos.
Ultimately, Han and Beckett end up in a blaster stand-off,
and in traditional Star Wars-villain fashion, Beckett goes off monologuing,
providing Han the opportunity to plant a perfect kill shot. Just before he goes, Beckett tells Han:
"You made the smart move kid,
for once. I woulda killed you. I really was gonna learn to play that valachord."
This references his earlier dreams of retirement from the life of looting and thieving,
dreams that will have to go to his grave with him. Beckett did teach Han an important lesson,
though: Be careful who you trust in this galaxy.
In Solo, the main evil organization is the crime syndicate Crimson Dawn led by the previously
mentioned Dryden Vos. He only shows up a few times throughout the film, but it's ultimately revealed
that he and his partners in crime are planning to use the stolen coaxium from Han's mission to
support the growing reach of the evil Empire. Even a scoundrel like Han Solo will not let that stand.
But Vos is not alone in his plans, as he's assisted by the woman of Han's affections,
Qi'ra, whether Han realizes it or not. In fact,
just before Vos' ultimate demise, he tries to impart this to Han:
"Han, she's done things that you could never understand, but I do. I understand her completely.
Once you're a part of Crimson Dawn, you can't leave."
It's not long after this that Vos is stabbed right in the stomach by Qi'ra,
making her the new boss in town.
Finn's journey from timid stormtrooper to courageous rebel places him squarely opposite
his former boss: Captain Phasma, the chrome-clad leader of Finn's
erstwhile troop. Phasma is a notable, deadly opponent - the perfect physical embodiment of
everything Finn despises about the stormtroopers and the First Order.
In The Last Jedi, Finn gets the chance to face off against Phasma one-on-one, just as the ship
they're on is collapsing after being struck by Admiral Holdo's attack. Just as Phasma thinks she
has the upper hand, Finn strikes a deadly blow. Phasma remains defiant at the end, telling Finn:
"You were always scum."
To which Finn triumphantly responds, "Rebel scum," just before sending Phasma to her doom.
Every Star Wars trilogy needs a demonic villain sitting on a throne,
pulling the strings of the other villains, preferably with the Force.
In the sequel trilogy, we get the vile Supreme Leader Snoke, brought to horrifying life by the
master of motion capture himself, Andy Serkis. Before Rise of Skywalker revealed Snoke's odd
history as a clone created by the Emperor, he's just another in a long line of puppet masters
working their mischief and chaos on unsuspecting Dark Side-abiding champions of the Force.
With his claws sufficiently sunk into Kylo Ren, it seems all but assured that he'll take
over Rey's mind in no time. In response to Rey's efforts to turn Ren, he says:
"You think you can turn him? Pathetic child. I cannot be betrayed. I cannot be beaten.
I see his mind. I see his every intent. Yes. I see him turning the lightsaber to strike true.
And now, foolish child, he ignites it, and kills his true enemy."
You'd think a foe as powerful as Snoke would have more self-awareness. Kylo does indeed,
igniting his lightsaber and cutting Snoke in half in the process.
With this act, Kylo finally becomes the true villain without a master ... at least
until he's controlled by the Emperor in the next film. Old habits die hard.
In the occasionally subtle mirroring deployed by the sequel trilogy,
this series' iteration of Grand Moff Tarkin shows up as the similarly scheming General Hux.
Similar to Tarkin's relationship with Vader,
Hux also seems to find himself playing second fiddle to the Force-y machinations of Kylo Ren.
Hux meets his end at the hands of fellow First Order General Pryde, blasted for acting as a mole
within the First Order and attempting to bring down Kylo Ren. Technically his last line is:
"They overpowered the guards and forced me to take them to their ship."
At which point he is blasted to oblivion for his treason. Earlier on, when asked why he's
betraying the First Order, he gives an answer that provides genuine insight into his character:
"I don't care if you win. I need Kylo Ren to lose."
It just goes to show that within the First Order,
the desire for power and vengeance will overtake all else.
The Rise of Skywalker wouldn't be a Star Wars movie if it didn't introduce yet
another villain in the final installment to add an additional layer of menace to
the closing proceedings. Richard E. Grant entered the picture playing General Pryde,
a former member of the Empire, now serving in the ranks of the First Order and Palpatine.
Pryde was one of many officers serving as part of the Empire back in the original trilogy,
and his reign of evil domination has carried over to an entirely new fascistic faction.
One could say he's nothing if not determined to constantly
serve the most evil forces in the galaxy, but such devotion does prove to be his undoing in the end.
His last words capture the true power of the Rebellion, saying,
"Where did they get all these fighter craft? They have no navy."
The answer? An Admiral tells him that it's just people.
When all is said and done, perhaps the best new character introduced in the sequel trilogy is
the twisted anti-hero Ben Solo, a.k.a. Kylo Ren. Son of Leia Organa and Han Solo, Ren sees a way
to gain power through the Force outside of the confines of the Jedi-Sith binary. His idolatry
of his grandfather, Darth Vader, proves to be his downfall as he follows him down the path
of redemption after it's already too late. His journey is one of deep complexity, both in the
way he reckons his own place in the universe with what it means to harness the Force as a Skywalker.
His final lines arrive earlier than his death, in a confrontation with his
mind's version of his deceased father, Han. Ren admits to the specter of Han:
"I know what I have to do, but I don't know if i have the strength to do it. Dad."
We never get to hear Ren's true final words,
whispered to Rey, but the novelization of the movie reveals that he said after slipping into the netherworld of The Force:
"I will always be with you."
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