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Watto is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe, featured in the films The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. He is computer-generated and played by voice actor Andy Secombe. He is a mean-tempered, greedy Toydarian, and owner of a second-hand goods store in Mos Espa on the planet Tatooine. Among Watto's belongings are the slaves Shmi Skywalker and her son, Anakin. He acquires them after winning a podracing bet with Gardulla the Hutt, and he puts them both to work in his store. Anakin demonstrates an incredible aptitude for equipment repair, and Watto decides to profit from it by having the boy fix various broken equipment in the store. He eventually loses Anakin in a podracing bet with Qui-Gon Jinn when he bets on a competitor, Sebulba, who is defeated by Anakin.
Concept and creation[]
Initial designs for Watto were of a more bird-like nature, including plumage and a beak. Another design included tentacles and a cigar.[citation needed] Watto's face originated in an early Neimoidian picture by design director Doug Chiang. The hooked trunk and crooked teeth were carried over to the Toydarian design.[citation needed] Animation supervisor Rob Coleman realized that the alien's dental work would need some modification when the time came to create Watto on screen, as Watto's craggy teeth made lip-syncing difficult. To solve the problem, Coleman broke off one of Watto's incisors, giving him a "corner-of-the-mouth" vernacular.[citation needed] The sound of his wings flapping is a looped recording of sound designer Ben Burtt opening and closing an umbrella.[citation needed]
Appearances[]
Watto first appears in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, the first title chronologically in the Star Wars series. He has both an ability for haggling and a resistance to the "Jedi mind trick," a technique used to persuade people. He is both a junk dealer and slave owner on the planet Tatooine, possessing both Shmi Skywalker and her son Anakin. When challenged to a bet for Anakin's freedom, Watto agrees. After Anakin beats Sebulba, a competing racer that he challenged throughout the race he participated in, he was let go. Watto makes a final appearance in the sequel Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, which takes place 10 years after the original film, the now-adult Anakin returns to Tatooine to find his mother. Searching Mos Espa, he finds Watto, who has lost his shop and is now destitute. Watto tells Anakin that he sold Shmi some years ago to a moisture farmer named Cliegg Lars.
Watto makes multiple appearances in the Star Wars series' Expanded Universe. One appearance details his time on his home planet before he came to Tatooine during a war. It also tells how he sustained his broken tusk and disabled leg. He later learns his business savvy from the Jawas, native to the planet Tatooine. His final appearance is in the non-canonical Star Wars comic book Star Wars: Visionaries, which reveals that Watto is killed when Darth Maul, antagonist of The Phantom Menace, encounters him after tracking down his nemesis, Obi-Wan Kenobi, to gain vengeance for his defeat during the Battle of Naboo.
In other media[]
He is also a playable character in the Lego Star Wars video games.
Watto is also available to purchase as a Lego minifigure, under the Lego Star Wars line.
Reception[]
Editors for IGN ranked Watto 78th in their list of Top 100 Star Wars characters. They wrote that he was "one of the most confusing scientific anomalies" due to "the idea that a creature so potbellied is able to stay afloat for so long". They added that he was "no prince" for his unscrupulous deals.[1] In the book The Holy Family and Its Legacy, author Albrecht Koschorke discusses the presence of "The Holy Family" in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, stating that while there was no "solicitous guardian watching over the mother and the holy child," Watto acts in a similar position as a "man who possesses patriarchal powers without being the father."[2]
References[]
External links[]
- Watto in the Official StarWars.com Encyclopedia
- Watto on Wookieepedia: a Star Wars wiki
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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original article was at Watto. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Lucasfilm Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |