The Star Wars Universe has one of the richest and deepest banks of supporting characters of any entertainment franchise. Every character you've ever seen on screen, even for a split-second, has a name and a backstory. Some of this can be credited to George Lucas' immense imagination and attention to detail, but most of it is the result of the Expanded Universe that's been cultivated by countless other creators. The staggering amount of backstory that has been created for background characters in the Star Wars Universe is a testament to its eminence. One of the greatest examples is the overwhelming popularity of Boba Fett. By the time Return of the Jedi premiered in 1983, Boba Fett had been elevated into major character status, despite his lack of dialogue and screen time. Such is the case with much of the Star Wars Universe. The fans' desire for more details has been the catalyst behind the rapid expansion of not only the Expanded Universe, but the main Star Wars film franchise Universe. An example: the inhabitants of the third moon of Endor are never actually referred to as Ewoks in Return of the Jedi. The wealth of licensed merchandise that accompanied the film's release left the character details as no mystery, but if fans hadn't created a viable market for that merchandise, the word "Ewok" might not be so engrained in mainstream pop culture 30 years later. Here are ten background Star Wars characters that have insanely deep backstories, especially considering how obscure they are.
10. R5-D4
What you see in the films: A white astromech droid who has red accents where the much more prominent R2-D2 has blue, R5-D4 is just another background droid. Astute fans realize that if R5's motivator hadn't visibly malfunctioned precisely when it did, R2-D2 would not have been able to relay Princess Leia's message to Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the rebellion might not have succeeded. Pretty deep, but nothing compared to the elaborate backstory that's been written for R5-D4.
The expanded backstory: The comic book Star Wars Tales #1, written by Peter David, contains a story called Skippy the Droid. Skippy is R5-D4's nickname, and in the story it's revealed that R5 is actually a force sensitive droid (seriously). Skippy had seen a vision of the future, in which he was chosen over R2-D2 by Luke and Uncle Owen and the Rebellion was ultimately crushed. He purposely blows his motivator at precisely the right moment (using The Force, of course) to ensure the proper chain of events occur, leading to the fall of the Empire.