ST Did we see...Bothans???

Was that a Bothan in the Resistance control room & a similar looking alien in the scene on Hosnian Prime?

 

I believe so. I thought the same thing when I saw them.

 

Ah, so I'm not crazy! I really hope that they were Bothans. There were always a neat & important SW alien species that has gone through many different artist interpretations in the Expanded Universe.

If they were actual Bothans, it's nice to have a film/final version of their look.

 

Just thinking about this further. If they were Bothans, and Bothans are known for spy work (well in the EU at least they were)...I guess they kinda dropped the ball with this whole Starkiller Base thing.

 

No. They died to bring us this movie.

 

it would be nice to hear more about the Bothans in the new canon. Until then, this can still be funny.

 

One thing I was really disappointed with when it comes to the EU was how Bothans were conceptualized. Honestly, when I saw RotJ back in the early 80s, and watched Mon Mothma's face when she delivered that line, I really believed that Bothans were not a species, but the name of the denizens of a planet called Both or something...and that SHE was a Bothan, and that it was her son or something that died in bringing the Rebels those plans.

When Bothans were revealed by the EU to be a canine-like species, I was sorely disappointed because it robbed me of the emotional impact of Mon Mothma's line.

When the EU was wiped clean after the Disney buy, I was comforted by the idea that Bothans are no longer necessarily what the EU established them to be, and I was able to go back to thinking that they're Humans from Both.

It never occurred to me that those hairy aliens we see in TFA are supposed to be JJ's rendition of the EU concept of a Bothan, and until it's confirmed, I'm going to just stick to my original, 1980s idea in my own head.

 

We'll have to see but I find it interesting Bothawui is one of the handful of planets listed in the Visual Dictionary map of the galaxy.

 

Exactly what I always felt. It does a better job of explaining how personal her sadness seems to be.

 

Well, it looks like there is some supporting info that these aliens may be Bothans.

The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary shows Vober Dand as a Resistance leader/member in their base on D'Qar. Visually he is the same alien species as the Republic Chancellor Vellecham (who was killed when the Starkiller fired on Hosnian Prime).

Vellecham's write up says "a delegate from the Mid Rim Tarsunt system".

In the EU, the Tarsunt system is where Grendu the Bothan trader is based. And a wiki entry reads "The Tarsunt system was a star system located in the Bothan Sector of the Mid Rim"

 

I hope so. We have been waiting to see them since ROTJ. I know we certainly will see them for Rogue One.

 

It's possible Bothans will be in Rogue One. Rogue One is about stealing the original Dearth Star plans. Mon Motha's line about the Bothans was for Death Star 2. So it is not a certainty, but it is definitely possible.

 

Weren't they blue though?

In the EU they looked like this -

 

Many Bothans died to bring us this thread.

Maybe Mon Mothma had a Bothan lover.

 

Wookipedia is describing the species as "Tarsunt," though that could simply be an interpretation of incomplete information.

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





Cool looking species, though. Like a cross between a manatee and a buffalo.

 

Isn't there a bothan hanging out with Count Dooku in the Separatist control room scene of AOTC?

 

It does seem kind of odd that the "Bothan spies" would be referred to by their species. It seems more like the name of a special military unit and when I first saw images of them in a sourcebook or something in the '90s, I couldn't really think of them as the sneaky spies infiltrating an Imperial base or whatever Mon Mothma's line caused me to imagine. Originally I didn't put much thought into what it meant like any other Star Wars word like "Jundland" or "Moff."

 

I never thought of it like this before. But I don't know if she would refer to them like that. If say a bunch of people from China had got the information I wouldn't say:

"Many Chinese died to get us this" I would probably just say "many people"

Where as if it was a bunch of Elephants that got the information, then I would describe their race

Sorry for the poor analogies people haha


but it is certainly an interesting take on that line that I hadn't considered before

 

I dislike the concept of the Bothans as a species known for their skill as spies because, how can they do any spy stuff at all, if the first thing anybody thinks when they see them is "a spy!"? And if they try to bribe somebody to work for them, the second that person is seen speaking with a Bothan, he or she becomes suspect of being a spy. Tweaking droids to use them as spies? But, who would be stupid or careless enough to allow a Bothan anywhere close to on of your droids, or to adquire a droid that has been close to a Bothan?

Bothans basically have a huge handicap when it comes their work as spies.

They should have made the Bothans shapeshifters, or just human-looking near-humans.

 

dont you know? her husband is a Bothan.

Well, the Art of TFA book says Tarsunt too.

 

I just thought about it when I saw the movie the first time.
For me it also looked like a Bothan. It would've been a nice hommage to the EU.

Well, cool species though ...