On the 4th of July while I was driving to Idaho with my family, my seven-year-old son asked all of us to name our three favorite Star Wars characters. It was such a simple question, but it led to a lot of fun discussion. He was the first to answer and said his three favorites are the Inquisitor, Darth Vader, and Darth Maul. Three evil, murderous characters with definite anger problems. He also tries to Force choke me occasionally. Should I be worried? My three-year-old son was the next to answer and he only had one favorite: “Woda”. I’m pretty sure he meant Yoda, but he may have also meant Rotta the Hutt. Who knows? He is about as tall as either of them and speaks almost as clearly so he may have an affinity for both. My nine-year-old son’s favorites are the puffer pig from Star Wars Rebels, the cow-like shaaks from Attack of the Clones, and General Grievous. He loves animals and unique characters, and he may be the only person to ever say a shaak is one of his favorite characters.

After our kids were done answering they wanted to know my wife’s and my favorites. My top three are Darth Vader, Han Solo, and Obi-Wan Kenobi or Luke Skywalker depending on my mood, and my moods can change as fast as Anakin’s at a Tusken Raider camp. My wife’s favorite character of all is Emperor Palpatine, and her other two favorites were Han Solo and Chewbacca. So she likes two rebellious scoundrel smugglers and the ultimate bad guy? I’m a geeky redhead who talks a lot about Star Wars, loves the Utah Jazz, and looks in mouths all day. Not exactly the prototypical bad boy. But this lead me to a bigger question: Who are my three favorite redheads in Star Wars?

If you know anything about redheads, you know we are rare. In fact, only 2% of the world’s population has red hair. And we may be getting rarer. As recently as 2007 there was a bad rumor that we redheads could be extinct 100 years from now. That rumor wasn’t true (that’s one reason we don’t like rumors here at CWK), but it is true that the world’s largest sperm bank, Cryos International, no longer accepts donations from redheaded men! The supply outweighs the demand. Ouch! But I think there is an argument to be made that the world needs more redheads.

Some of the most famous and successful redheads include Thomas Jefferson, Mark Twain, Vincent Van Gogh, Winston Churchill, Queen Elizabeth I, and Robert Redford. Who doesn’t want more of those types of people around? Also, even though there is no mention in scriptures, many artists depicted Mary Magdelene as a redhead. However, Judas Iscariot is also believed to have been a redhead, so I guess we’ll call it even.

There are some great benefits to being a redhead. Studies have shown we have a higher pain threshold, we have higher vitamin D production (goodbye rickets), our red hair is thicker than other colors, and rather than go gray we go straight to white. Gandalf would be jealous. Also, red hair and blue eyes is the rarest color combination in the world, so basically I’m like a unicorn. On the other hand, we have a higher risk of melanoma and Parkinson’s disease, anesthesia doesn’t work as well on us, and we have higher incidences of dental phobias. Dentists are awful people anyway so can you really blame redheads for that?

Anyway, back to my three favorite redheads in Star Wars. Mon Mothma is at the top of my list. She helped start the Rebel Alliance, and she is a smart, confident, and natural leader.

Monmothma

Second would be Aurra Sing. Bounty hunters are cool in general, but Sing dares to take on the Jedi in The Clone Wars and was also a mentor to Boba Fett. And even though she has extremely pale skin (another great redhead trait) and is likely prone to sunburns she dares go to Tatooine. I barely dare go outside on a sunny day.

Aurrahead

And third on my list would have to be….hmm….redheads may be even more rare in the Star Wars galaxy than they are in our galaxy, because I can’t think of any others. Obi-Wan, Kanan, and Chewbacca have a tint of red, but aren’t full-fledged gingers. I guess Domnhall Gleeson will be number three since he is in The Force Awakens, even though we don’t know which character he’ll be playing yet. I loved him in the Harry Potter movies and I’m sure he’ll be great in The Force Awakens. If he has the stereotypical redhead temper he’d make a good Sith Lord.

gleeson

Am I missing anyone? Who are your three favorite Star Wars characters? Who are your favorite redheads in Star Wars and elsewhere? Thanks so much for reading my blog! I really do appreciate it. If you haven’t had enough of me yet listen to the Idiot’s Array podcast.

-Guest Blog featuring Ryder Waldron, Connect with Ryder on Twitter @ryderwaldrondds

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5 Comments

  1. Melinda
    August 21, 2015 at 09:52 Reply

    Ryder, you always entertain! 🙂 I loved this — and if I was you, I’d definitely worry about those family members who have Sithy favorite characters. 😉 lol

    My favorite redhead in Star Wars is Mara Jade Skywalker (although I am not sure you would consider her a fair candidate since she harkens from the EU). She was a Sith who turned to the Light Side of the Force, joined forces with my favorite character, Luke Skywalker, and brandished her own form of resolve and justice on the GFFA.

    Wonderful blog! Keep them coming!

    MTFBWY 🙂

    p.s. For the record, I think the world needs more redheads. 🙂

  2. DDG Michael Corleone
    February 17, 2016 at 08:02 Reply

    Dang man cool blog/ Podcast/ Mos Eisley Cantina.

  3. Kit Masterson
    August 18, 2016 at 08:08 Reply

    Just wanted to correct you on a few things and leave a little commentary in general:

    1. Mary Magdalene and Judas Iscariot were NOT redheads – they were both Middle Eastern and had BLACK hair.
    Any depictions of them with red hair are false and were merely Anglicized by Europeans to make them look more Caucasian.

    Like Judas and Mary, Jesus also had purely black hair.

    But Jesus, like Judas and Mary, was also falsely depicted as a Redhead in European culture.

    2. Obi-wan Kenobi is TOTALLY a Redhead!

    Ewan McGregor’s natural hair-color is red! And if you watch Star Wars: Episode II (Attack Of The Clones) and the Behind The Scenes Featurette – it will show you that Obi-wan’s (Ewan’s) hair is extremely red.

    NOW – for a little commentary – I have noticed that Star Wars seems very reluctant to have Male Redheaded Heroes – or to even admit when a protagonist is a redhead.

    Obi-wan is of course obviously definitely a redhead – Ewan McGregor even states it in the Behind The Scenes for Attack Of The Clones.

    But databanks on that character will never classify him as a redhead – they refer to his hair only as “Auburn”.

    Similarly, I find it lame that the only protagonists in Star Wars with red hair are all women.

    Dash Rendar IS an actual redhead – but if you check his Wookieepedia page, he is portrayed by a man with black hair.

    When they finally had a chance to put in a stereotypical-Redhead (Bright orange hair and freckles) into a Star Wars movie – surprise, surprise – they made him into a bad guy.

    (Oh, and it turns out Palpatine was classified as a redhead his youth – not Auburn – Red) Hmm.

    So, Dash Rendar being a redhead is averted – and Lucasfilm didn’t want to admit Obi-wan is a redhead..

    And now they have a very obvious redhead in the new Star Wars – and he’s a sniveling Imperial Officer.

    The Force Awakens was touted as “being progressive” – I can’t think of anything more progressive than having a Male Redhead as a main character hero in a live-action movie.

    Apparently, The Force Awakens isn’t so progressive after all.

    Where is the genuine-love for redheads in Star Wars?

  4. Michael David Mills
    August 26, 2016 at 21:36 Reply

    Of Aliens Characters In STAR WARS EPISODE VII THE FORCE AWAKENS THERE ARE TOO MANY CHARACTERS NAMES SPECIES UNKNOWN NOT REVEALED AS YET

    THE GUY WITH ORANGE-THE BIG GREEN FACE ALIEN-THE LADY WITH WHAT LOOKS LIKE A PURPLE JESTER HAT-AND OTHERS-THE CHARACTER GUY WITH WHAT SEEMS LIKE A ROUND GREY HELMET

  5. Antonio Ren
    April 17, 2019 at 10:47 Reply

    Cal Kestis from Jedi:Fallen Order

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