Hello everyone, welcome to the Sandcrawler blog. Today, we are going to explore one of the side characters from The Empire Strikes Back. The actually, very fascinating life of Lando’s assistant, Lobot.
Who the Force is Lobot?
Lobot is from Bespin and began his career with the Empire. He was hired to run battle calculations for them and to do so he allowed the Imperials to implant an AJ^6 cyborg construct. This is the device that covers his ears and extends around his head.
It was attached to his brain but there is a bit of a trade-off for such an advantage like this one. The computer takes over parts of your personality to increase productivity.
After spending some time helping the Empire, Lobot left and joined the life of being a smuggler. This is where he met Lando Calrissian, as well as a bounty hunter by the name of Chantha Cha. The three together would become successful smugglers for a few years while using the notorious Millenium Falcon to make their runs.
Cha and Lobot eventually fell in love, but Calrissian and Cha had a falling out and they went their separate ways. Lobot remained with his friend, Lando.
Notorious Criminals and Good Friends
Lobot and Lando would have a career together that had its highs and lows. One of the lows was being in debt to the crime boss Papa Toren. A job they had to do for him would result in one of the biggest heists in the galaxy. Stealing an Imperial Yacht.
Not just any Yacht… The yacht of the Emperor himself, Sheev Palpatine, the Imperialis. While trying to leave the Castell system they were confronted by two Star Destroyers, but they were no match for the Emperor’s ship’s defenses. Lando flew the ship between the Star Destroyers and forced them to crash into each other, allowing the ship to escape into hyperspace.
The ship was rumored to have treasures aboard that had some insane price tags and Lobot was the one who was able to bypass the security of the main room and allow the smugglers in. Unfortunately for Lobot, two of the emperor’s guards were aboard the ship and as soon as he opened the doors he was stabbed through the chest.
Lando’s hired guns were able to take out the guards, but Lobot began slipping away, losing his consciousness. Whenever this happens, the implant takes over any open space in his mind. Lobot was not only fighting for his life, but he was fighting for his consciousness.
The ship was set to self-destruct after their old bounty hunter friend Cha was hired by the Empire to destroy the ship. Lando desperately needed to pull Lobot out of the bacta tank to get him off the ship, but he did not have enough recovery time and so the implant began taking over and the fight for his mind was getting harder.
Cha’s pilot had abandoned them on the Imperialis. Lobot attempted to use his implant to override the self-destruct sequence. Unable to do so, he turned the escape pods back on knowing that if he did he would lose his mind entirely to the implant.
He saved his friends anyway.
His Fate
Later as we see in the movie, Lando becomes Baron Administrator of the Bespin mining colony. There, he appointed Lobot to be his right-hand man and Liason Officer to the city’s central computer. He also helped to take the city back from Imperial control after Darth Vader kept altering his deal.
There is a scene that was cut from The Empire Strikes Back where Lobot is seen wounded being carried off by some Bespin guards. This was taken out because there was a possibility that he could return in Episode VI Return of The Jedi. Personally, I am very glad they spared his life and we can safely assume Lobot lived a happy, healthy life on Bespin.
What do you guys think about Lobot’s crazy past? A very interesting man who has seen a lot and done a lot.
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