The Star Wars prequel trilogy has been consistently maligned for years by fans, and for some very good reasons. The Phantom Menace set the tone for the prequels poorly. It made a lot of mistakes, including killing two of the best characters to come out of the movie, Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul. Fortunately, both The Clone Wars and Rebels gave Maul a chance to expand his legacy.
Another character to get a raw deal out of The Phantom Menace was Watto, the individual who owned Anakin Skywalker and his mother when Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan found them. Though he seems like a one-note side-character, like many of the ancillary characters in the Star Wars universe, there is a lot more to Watto than it might seem— and a lot of those things don't really hold up to close scrutiny.
10 He's An Atypical Toydarian
In the Star Wars movies, Watto might be the only Toydarian that has a remotely significant role. The species first popped up in The Phantom Menace, one of many that really only had a presence during the prequel trilogy and The Clone Wars. But it was during The Clone Wars that gave this race more context.
Toydarians were depicted as an honorable race who valued honesty, charity and kindness. Watto, on the other hand, is none of those things. He was a duplicitous slave owner with a gambling addiction. Watto was not a typical Toydarian at all.
9 He's A Former Soldier
Before settling down on Tatooine to become such a sleazy figure, Watto was a soldier on Toydaria. Not much is known about his service in the military but he retired long before the start of the Clone Wars, as evidenced by his appearance in The Phantom Menace.
Watto supposedly suffered an indeterminate injury at some point that forced him to leave the military behind. But given what's known about him, no one would be shocked to find out that he faked the injury to get out. He doesn't come across as the kind of guy to lay down his life for his people.
8 Living On Tatooine
Toydaria was a key planet during the Clone Wars, given it's strategic location. King Katunnko chose to stay neutral, a decision that would eventually cost him his life. It was lush planet covered in a healthy mix of swamp and forests. As such, Watto settling down on a bland dust ball like Tatooine makes absolutely no sense.
Watto went from the picturesque greenery of Toydaria to a never ending beach without an ocean. Tatooine has thousands of moisture vaporators on moisture farms just so people can get enough water to survive. The move only makes sense if Watto had asthma and needed a dryer climate.
7 He Sold Shmi Skywalker
One of the most offensive things about Watto was the fact that he owned slaves. Unfortunately, this was still a common practice in certain parts of the galaxy, particularly the Outer Rim regions. In Watto's case, his slaves were Shmi Skywalker and her young son Anakin. He won them off of Gardulla the Hutt in a rare gambling win.
When Anakin returned to Tatooine after many years of Jedi training, he discovered Watto had sold Shmi. This worked out for her as it was a vast improvement to her overall life, but giving up free labor was a bad choice for Watto.
6 He's A Gambling Addict
Selling Shmi only makes sense in the context of Watto's insane gambling problem. Watto's salvage operation on Tatooine decreased significantly during the years Anakin was away. Times looked incredibly tough for Watto when he appeared in Attack of the Clones.
All of his misfortune was due to his gambling problems. As the old saying goes, it's only a problem when you're losing, and Watto lost a lot. Getting into gambling trouble with the Hutts on Tatooine is an extremely bad idea, and usually leads to a bitter end.
5 He Always Bet Against Anakin
When Anakin was a young lad on Tatooine, he was big into podracing. He didn't win a lot but that generally wasn't due to his lack of skill. The big issue was his crappy podracer as well as the constant cheating by his opponents. Shockingly, podraces overseen by Hutts were filled with rampant cheating.
Watto backed Anakin in the races but made a significant amount of money betting against him. This was a dangerous move as Anakin always had the innate talent to win. The plan only works if Watto was sabotaging Anakin, which he was more than capable of doing.
4 He Competed With Jawas
Watto's business was, for all intents and purposes, buying and selling scrap. He was a desert scrapper, plain and simple. There aren't a lot of ways to make money on Tatooine but at least this one wasn't an inherently criminal operation. That being said, the competition was pretty dangerous.
This is the same line of work the Jawas are in, and those little monsters are the last group of people you want to mess with. One of them isn't going to kill you but there are usually 50 of them around. Competing against the Jawas for scrap probably wasn't a good call Watto's part.
3 He Tried To Use Anakin As A Thug
Watto's money issues were not restricted to his extensive and crippling gambling debts. Those issues were only compounded further by the incredible range of deadbeats who also owed him money. It's hard to pay back the Hutts when your clients aren't paying you.
After Anakin showed up looking for his mother, Watto attempted to convince the young Jedi to go collect from those who hadn't been paying him. Anakin didn't but Watto was lucky he didn't end up with a lightsaber in the gut given Anakin's temper. Watto believing that he and Anakin had any kind of relationship was an incredible level of delusion.
2 He Dealt With Hutts
It doesn't matter who you are: This is just a bad idea. The Hutts are one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the galaxy. They deal in anything and everything, and kill anyone who gets in their way. That includes Jedi and Sith Lords.
Tatooine was one of the strongholds of the Hutt criminal empire, and was the home to Jabba the Hutt. Still, you don't have to deal with them, yet Watto chose to. Even worse, he had gambling debts with them. It's a great way to end up dead.
1 His Gambling Against Jedi
When Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and members of then Queen Padmé Amidala's royal court were stranded on Tatooine, they went to Watto to get the parts they needed to repair their ship. They didn't have the money, so they gambled on Anakin's upcoming podrace. The stakes got higher when Anakin was included in the bet.
Betting against Jedi is just bad idea. It was a well known fact that the Force gave Jedi insights that other people didn't have. That could only help them in gambling situations, evidenced by Watto's miserable loss to Qui-Gon.
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