10 Most Useless Star Wars Characters
Not everyone is as competent as the Skywalkers in the galaxy far, far away...
From clueless background characters to bafflingly misplaced antagonists, Star Wars certainly has no shortage of pointless and useless characters.
Funnily enough, the space opera's side and main characters are incredibly competent in contrast to their villains, even if that competency is occasionally difficult to believe. Seemingly, if you are a Skywalker, you are a master at everything, whether that be expertly piloting a ship at the age of 9, or killing a reborn Sith Emperor with about a year's worth of Jedi training.
Despite this, most characters across the Skywalker Saga remain believably proficient in the actions and feats they perform; though there certainly are a handful of characters that don't fit into this bracket, due to how they are never able to do anything right at all.
The majority of these characters are antagonists, which lowers the stakes in the films they appear in, since their ineptitude can and will easily be exploited by the heroes they are trying to defeat. Saying that though, there are still plenty of protagonists who are as useless as their villainous counterparts, leaving a considerable number of ineffectual characters in the Star Wars universe.
Here, then, are ten such inept idiots from a galaxy far, far away.
10. The Emperor's Royal Guards
Although they certainly look intimidating, the Emperor's Royal Guards are rather pointless, at least in the Original Trilogy. First appearing in Return of the Jedi, these imperial guards did virtually nothing, other than stand in the corner of the second Death Star's throne room, and then promptly leaving on their master's request, ultimately doing nothing to stop the Emperor's demise at the hands of a redeemed Anakin Skywalker.
Saying that, these guards get a much better treatment in other pieces of Star Wars media, particularly the Star Wars Legends continuity. Obviously, these guards exist to protect Palpatine and his identity as a Sith Lord, since the Emperor can't go around personally killing his enemies, as Palpatine wanted to hide his Sith mastery from the galaxy.
During the Galactic Civil War, a group of guards killed a large number of Bothan spies on the planet Bothawui, and were also instrumental in snuffing out traitors in the Empire, led by Grand Moff Trachta, who conspired to kill the Emperor.
Even so, the Emperor's Imperial Guards remained the silent protectors of their master, who did not do much in terms of actual protection. In Star Wars: Rebels, the young Jedi, Ezra Bridger, quickly disposes of a group of Imperial Guards after he refuses to help Palpatine gain control of the World Between Worlds, proving how ineffective they can be.