CT Am I the ONLY one who sees this in Return of the Jedi...

Even absolute monarchs can use advisors- if only on specialist subjects. No one man can know everything they need to know about a billion-odd planets- doing all the research themselves.

 

True. Still, I'd bet Palpatine wanted to know absolutely everything and not rely on other people.

 

Why add them? Who says they are still alive? Knowing Palpy he would streamline and covet the people he could control and kill anyone else.

 

Mas and Sly were in his pocket to begin with. They were in on his plan to take control of the Senate. Their absence beyond that hasn't really been explained in the EU. At least what I am aware of. I haven't kept track as I've slacked off on my reading since I read "The Force Unleashed" and "Luke Skywalker And The Shadows Of Mindor".

 

Amedda & Moore get covered in more detail here:

http://starwarsblog.starwars.com/2013/09/12/barely-tolerable-alien-henchmen-of-the-empire-part-3/

and the Saga Edition Clone Wars Campaign Guide also gives both of them a bit of backstory.

 

LOL.

To me, they kinda resemble that holy man seen at the end of AOTC, blessing the union of Anakin and Padme.

Wiki/Wookiepedia comes to the rescue again:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Maxiron_Agolerga

No idea if they might actually be related, post-the-making-of-the-PT, but it's a neat (pseudo) visual link.

 

The really interesting tidbit from those blogs - at least for me - is that Palpatine apparently actually was a speciesist. I had always assumed he was just tapping into what has been established (in the EU, but then the entire Imperial human supremacism thing itself really originates there too) as existing human supremacist sentiment to shore up his support, perhaps tying it into the fact that virtually all of the Separatist leaders were aliens.

 

His views vary from author to author- but some degree of "certain alien species are inferior" attitude usually crops up now and again.

 

I've never heard the term speciesist before, but it seems to apply. I suppose Palps puts up with aliens so long as they serve him a purpose. I've always wondered why the Empire doesn't interfere with the Hutts- they have a thriving enterprise. I'm sure EU has an explanation, but it seemed to me that their dealings kept some sort of underworld order in line.

 

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Hutt

After the end of the war, the Republic was dissolved and a new Galactic Empire was established in its place. With the creation of the New Order which was a revitalized militaristic power that the Hutts showed obedience to but used their cunning to outmaneuver this new foe. Whilst the Empire's anti-slavery policies greatly hurt their operations, exceptions were made for Hutt Space and several other cooperatives that the Hutts moved quickly to control. Though an attempt was made to organize the rimward territory of Hutt Space into Imperial sectors, the Hutts simply bribed the newly appointed Moff's to look the other way. In addition, whilst Moff Sarn Shild was in charge of Hutt Space, in reality the situation was far different with his decrees not being followed in the Hutt's territory. Several shows of force were made by the Empire which included the annexation of Sriluur along with manufacturing plants being created throughout Hutt Space. This also saw the creation of an Imperial task force sent to crackdown on criminal activity on Nar Shaddaa which was stopped by actions conducted by smugglers. Furthermore, the Empire warned the Hutts that rebel activity would not be tolerated in Hutt Space. Despite this, for the most part, the Hutts were left largely alone and in fact generated the most profit for the Imperial war machine.
...
Whilst the Hutt families lacked the Empire's military might, they did manage to keep Imperial forces at bay with their influence. This was achieved through insinuations that they were capable of sabotaging key economies, supply lines, resource fulfillment, corporations and even governments elsewhere in the galaxy. As a result, the Hutts remained secure within their own domain on the fringes of the Outer Rim where they dispatched agents to achieve their goals. These included dealing with the rising Empire, forging cooperative arrangements with its more pliable members and continuing to expand their criminal syndicates throughout the galaxy. They were noted to also keep an eye on Nar Shaddaa for signs suspected resistance operations in order to prevent these from arousing Imperial intervention.

During the Galactic Civil War between New Republic and the Empire, most Hutts remained neutral.

 

Funny you mention, from the first ever reveal of the Neimoidians i thought they were the predecessors of these guys, like before they got replaced with humans under the Empire.

 

With the rise of the New Order, the Trade Federation was disbanded after Acting Viceroy Sentepeth Findos signed a treaty on Neimoidia, and Neimoidians began to adopt the culture of the baseline Duros to disassociate themselves with the Trade Federation's shameful legacy.

 

Meh, EU Schmeeuuu. I go by what I can see and there are clear visual nods. Also kinda takes the fun out.

 

Strictly, the Trade Federation aren't much like the Hutts- they're very public in the prequel era, with their own Senators.

Jabba, by contrast, is always portrayed as an underworld figure.

 

Indeed. In fact, in TPM, Panaka refers to them as gangsters. So they already had their criminal network going as far as Lucas was concerned. The Trade Federation, on the other hand, was a legitimate business that had grown corrupt due to the power and control that the Neimoidians had acquired over the years. The Hutts relied on smugglers while the Federation just conducted open business along their trade routes. In fact, it wouldn't be surprising if the smugglers wound up crossing paths with the Federation.

 

Possibly some smugglers were also part-time pirates. Lando regularly refers to Han as a "pirate" in the movies - and in the EU he has been known to engage in piracy.

 

They are a weird looking group.

 

Star Wars Verses showed this awhile back. Link: http://starwarsverses.tumblr.com/post/47078544851

 

It's the Emperor's New... Bro's!!!

 

That guy on the left has a boom mike for a hat.

 

Now that's just uncanny… I've changed my mind from them being coincidentally similar to intentionally referenced.

 

I remember first noticing the Imperial Dignitaries in ROTJ back in the day & being quite creeped out by them. Their white make-up & skeletal appearance makes them almost look undead, and I never figured out what they were hanging around the Emperor for. Sure, now we know that (according to Wookiepedia/the EU) they were "advisors" to the Emperor, but back in the day with no Internet or SW source books there wasn't a lot of info. about the characters.

The kid in me likes to think they were zombies that Palpatine was somehow keeping alive via the dark side of the force....

And, no, I don't think they have any connection whatsoever to the Trade Federation from the PT.

 

All the extras in that scene are known as the Emperor's Hands. Mara Jade served in this capacity as well, according to the EU books.