Star Wars: Three unsung heroes of the Rebel Alliance
Photo Credit: Lucasfilm
Jot, the Jawa
When R2-D2 and C-3PO crash-landed on Tatooine, they stubbornly went their separate ways. It wasn’t long, however, before they were reunited on a Jawa Sandcrawler full of junkyard scraps, rusty parts, and other droids waiting to be sold to the inhabitants of Tatooine’s desolate landscape.
Jawas are mysterious, robe-laden mechanics who scrounge the desert for potential valuables. They also meticulously prepare their droid inventory for the day they meet potential sellers. Each droid had to surpass several stages of prep before being considered by the Sandcrawler’s final prep team.
Jot, a young, wide-eyed Jawa who had happened to find a holoprojector during his time on the salvage line, worked on the final prep team. His job consisted of wiping droid’s memories before they were finally cleaned, shined, and put in a queue for sale the next time the Sandcrawler stopped at some moisture farmer’s homestead.
Jot was different from other Jawas. He wasn’t content with a simple life of scavenging and ripping off residents of Tatooine. He often looked to the stars and dreamed of living on a starship. Before Jot erased a droid’s memory he viewed it via his holoprojector and lived vicariously through the adventures various droids had experienced. After viewing the memory, Jot completed his job and promptly erased it.
As he always did, Jot viewed the newest pickup’s memory before wiping it. While peering into the experiences of a certain blue astromech droid, Jot saw countless battles, dozens of far-away planets, swords made of light. Most importantly, he saw a princess begging for help.
Something about the princess’ message and R2-D2’s experiences resonated with Jot. He somehow decided that if he wiped this droid’s memory, it would have immense negative impacts on the galaxy. Something about the droid’s experiences just seemed too important to erase. Because of this revelation, Jot decided to secretly leave R2-D2’s memory intact.
Because of Jot’s wide-eyed lust for adventure, the message R2-D2 was carrying from Princess Leia, and thus the hope that sustained the entire Rebellion, remained intact.