After the Empire fell in Return of the Jedi, many people were left trying to piece together a new life for themselves. This actually becomes an important plot line in The Mandalorian and Grogu, the first Star Wars film to be released in theaters since 2019. The two characters that embody this theme are Embo, a legendary bounty hunter and Rotta, the son of infamous crime lord Jabba the Hutt.
These two aren’t household names. They’re both deep cuts from the beloved animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. But that’s part of what makes them so interesting. Embo and Rotta each carry a complicated history and years later, find themselves trying to figure out who they are now that the world has changed. What sets them apart is the direction they’re heading. Rotta is running away from the life he was born into. Embo is being pulled back into the one he tried to leave behind.
Rotta the Hutt: Growing Up in Jabba’s Shadow
Rotta’s father Jabba the Hutt was the most powerful crime lord in the Outer Rim, stretched across Tatooine and beyond. Ruthless and cunning, his criminal empire was built on fear, favors and the suffering of countless beings.
Rotta first appeared as an infant in the 2008 animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars film, which served as the official pilot for the series. At the height of the Clone Wars, Count Dooku had the young Huttlet kidnapped and planned to frame the Jedi for it in the hope that Jabba would pledge his hyperspace lanes to the Separatists in revenge.
Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano were sent to rescue him and after that, Rotta mostly disappeared from Star Wars stories. He made one cameo in a season 3 episode of The Clone Wars, but was never brought up again for eighteen years. This makes his return in The Mandalorian and Grogu so surprising. Director Jon Favreau explained in an interview with SFX Magazine (via GamesRadar) that at its core, Star Wars is about “relationships and it’s about families.” When it comes to Rotta, he was inspired by the Creed film series in how they explored how Adonis Creed forged his own path as a professional boxer while living in the shadow of his late father Apollo Creed. “With Rotta, you start to ask what it’s like to be Jabba’s son. How does that affect a character?”, Favreau said.
Now an adult, Rotta refuses to follow in his father’s footsteps. Instead of taking control of the Hutt Clan, Rotta buffed up into the most muscular Hutt ever shown in Star Wars. He now works as a gladiator fighter on the planet Shakari, a fan favorite in the fighting pits of a criminal syndicate. He also speaks Basic, the in-universe version of English in the Star Wars universe. Every other Hutt shown in the franchise has spoken through interpreters. It’s a small detail, but it signals that he’s doing things his own way.
Unfortunately, Rotta is trapped on Shakari, working off a debt he was told he’d repay with one more fight. When Din Djarin arrives to rescue him on behalf of the Hutt Twins, Jabba’s cousins who have their sights set on controlling the Hutt Cartel, Rotta refuses. He believes the next fight will finally set him free. Unfortunately, the syndicate leader has no desire to release him. His final fight was always supposed to kill him.
It’s only when Djarin and Rotta are forced to fight together that the latter decides to become more trusting to the bounty hunter. Rotta explains to Djarin that the Hutt Twins want him dead so they can seize the Cartel for themselves. He also reveals that Imperial warlord Lord Janu and a figure called Coin are the same person.
By the end, Rotta turns against the Twins, helps bring the conflict to a close, and chooses to stay with the New Republic. It’s the most un-Hutt thing imaginable and that’s exactly the point.
Embo: The Bounty Hunter Who Tried to Stop
Embo’s story runs in the opposite direction.
A hulking Kyuzo from Phatrong, Embo had a reputation for being one of the best bounty hunters operating during the Clone Wars. He carried a bowcaster and wore a saucer-shaped metal hat that he used as a boomerang, a shield, and on at least one snowy occasion, a sled. He traveled the galaxy in his personal ship, the Guillotine, with his loyal pet anooba, Marrok (not that Marrok). He didn’t talk much and when he did, it was only in his native Kyuzo language. He let his work do the talking.
And that work was remarkable. Embo first appeared in season 2 of The Clone Wars, defending Felucian farmers from pirates alongside Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Ahsoka Tano. From there, his career took him everywhere. From working for the Hutts, surviving a confrontation with Darth Maul and Savage Opress, joining Boba Fett’s crew, partnering with Asajj Ventress. He was even involved in an assassination plot against Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. On Scipio, he held his own in a fight against Anakin Skywalker himself and walked away. Very few people can say that.
He was also a man with a sense of loyalty beneath the stoic exterior. During the Battle of Jakku, he turned against the crew who hired him after the niece of his former colleague Sugi, Jas Emari, convinced him that the right thing to do was help the New Republic. He helped stop a plan to destroy the planet and in exchange, he and his companions received full pardons.
After the war, Embo used funding from the New Republic to build a new life for himself. He chose Felucia, the same planet where he defended farmers from pirates all those years ago, to start a farm of his own.
That retirement didn’t last long. By the time of The Mandalorian and Grogu, the funding has run out. The Hutt Twins hires Embo along with his new anooba companion, Keibu to capture both Rotta and Din Djarin after Djarin broke their deal.
The next time we see Embo shows why he has a legendary reputation that’s survived the decades. He tracks the Razor Crest to its landing spot, and using the darkness as cover, climbs up to the roof to gain the high ground. Djarin uses a grav charge to flush him out, but Embo fires a flash charge to blind him. Using the chaos as cover, Keibu gets the chance to move closer to the group. When the smoke clears, an unconscious Djarin is caught in a stun net. Embo contacts the Twins and takes him to Nal Hutta.
On Nal Hutta, Embo delivers Djarin to the Twins’ palace, collects his payment, and walks away…only to be hired again when Djarin escapes. He tracks them through the swamps, questioning locals. Eventually he stands before Djarin one final time, blocking him from reaching the Twins. They fight but this time, Djarin wins by using an Amban phase-pulse blaster to stun Embo and take him out of the battle for good.
The ending says a great deal about who Embo is. When the Hutt sister pleads for him to help them as their own dragonsnake wants to eat them, Embo merely leaves them to his fate. He’s had enough so he and Keibu walk out the same way they came in. He was hired to do a job and that job is done. Whatever happens to the Twins is not his problem.
There’s something kinda tragic about Embo’s fate. He lives to fight another day but he’s back to being a bounty hunter. He had walked away from that life, started his own farm, and tried to live a peaceful life. The galaxy pulled him back and when it was over, he was back at square one.
Two Characters, Two Different Paths
Rotta spent his whole life in a world filled with crime and violence, yet he’s managed to find his way out. Embo spent decades in a similar world as a bounty hunter, eventually retired and found something better, only to be dragged back in.
How much of who you were or who you’re connected to determines who you get to become? The one thing we know from watching Rotta and Embo’s arcs in The Mandalorian and Grogu is there is no easy one-size-fits-all solution.
The Mandalorian and Grogu is playing exclusively in theaters.
