‘Star Wars’: The Dark Theory Behind Why Boba Fett Really Became a Bounty Hunter

Star Wars fans had to be thrilled to see Boba Fett show up on The Mandalorian. While the character’s future is unclear at the moment, his past has been explained in great detail. That doesn’t mean all of his actions have been elaborated on, however.

One fan online put forward a theory as to why Fett became a bounty hunter. It’s a pretty grim explanation, but it really shines a lot of light on the character. 

Where we meet Boba Fett

Star Wars fans first met Fett in The Empire Strikes Back. In that film, he was one of many bounty hunters hired by Darth Vader to hunt Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa. Despite all their efforts, Fett was the only one who had any success. 

He successfully tracked them to Cloud City. From there, he takes custody of Solo’s body (frozen in carbonite) and delivers it to Jabba the Hutt. Fett’s last appearance came in Return of the Jedi, where he falls to his presumed death in the Sarlacc Pit of Tatooine. 

Fett was almost an immediate hit with fans. They loved his mysterious nature and villainous swagger. For years, despite having little backstory, Star Wars fans everywhere loved the bounty hunter character. He may not have had a lot of screen time and you could count his number of lines in the films on one hand. It didn’t matter.

Fett was just one of the great background characters who made Star Wars special. For whatever reason, his reputation exceeded the amount of time he spent on camera. 

Boba Fett’s origin story

It only made sense that George Lucas would bring back Fett when he revisited Star Wars on the big screen. Once Lucas began producing the prequel trilogy, it was only a matter of time before Fett showed back up. Fett appears again in Attack of the Clones, though when we meet his character this time, he’s at a vastly different stage of his life. In that film, he’s a young child. 

Fett’s revealed to be the clone of bounty hunter Jango Fett, who he looks to like a father. They live together on the planet Kamino in the same facility that manufactures clones for the Republic. The two eventually travel to Geonosis to assist the Separatists. It’s there that Fett sees a skirmish break out between Count Dooku’s Separatists and the Jedis. He also witnesses his father beheaded by Mace Windu.

It’s an undoubtedly traumatic experience for the young boy. It also led Fett to follow in his father’s footsteps in becoming a bounty hunter. 

The dark theory behind why Boba Fett really became a bounty hunter

In a Reddit thread titled, “A Thought About Boba Fett,” one Star Wars fan speculated as to why Fett became a bounty hunter who wears Mandalorian armor: 

“It just occurred to me for the first time how screwed up it would be to see your dad beheaded in front of you as a child, and then have to grow up through a war where an entire army of men share your father’s face, but nothing of his personality. You have to see that face all the time until the war ends.

Then you probably don’t see it for a few years, until you grow up sufficiently that you start to see it in the mirror every day. I think I’d wear a helmet most of the time too.”

It makes sense. Fett wore Mandalorian armor because his father did, but it probably didn’t hurt that Mandalorian culture insisted he keep a mask on at all times. It shielded him from having a reminder of his father’s face. It’s a pretty sad explanation, but it would track with the rest of the character’s arc.