This May the 4th, Remember That Luke Skywalker Owes Everything to a Talking Flea

Ah, yes, the tale of Lugubrious Mote!

Posted:

May 4, 2024 3:00 pm

It’s Star Wars Day, everyone! In honor of May the 4th, this most auspicious day, let’s take some time to celebrate and honor one of the galaxy’s greatest heroes: no, not Luke, not Leia, not Rey or any of them. I’m talking about Lugubrious Mote.

You know, the flea that saved Luke’s butt from Jabba the Hut? That flea??? Come on.

This comes from 2020’s The Legends of Luke Skywalker: The Manga, and more specifically, the chapter titled The Tale of Lugubrious Mote. The story follows Luke and Leia’s rescue of a carbonite-frozen Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt on Tatooine, but presents a strange twist on what we know from Return of the Jedi. It introduces Lugubrious Mote, a mole-flea living on the back of Salacious B. Crumb, Jabba’s palace clown. Mote is intrigued initially by Luke’s recorded message to Jabba played by R2, and later by the appearance of Leia when she’s captured by Jabba.

(You can see the lil guy in the photo below – excuse the Android photo.)

Lugubrious Mote: the hero of Star Wars. (Image credit: VIZ Media/IGN)Late at night, Mote makes herself known to Leia, and the two form a fast friendship. They stay up all night chatting, during which time Leia encourages Mote to put her faith in Luke. The next day, when Luke shows up to negotiate with Jabba in person, Mote is impressed with his heart, if not his overconfidence. She follows him down into the rancor pit, where Pateesa emerges.

In the film, this is the bit where Luke grabs a bone, shoves it in Pateesa’s mouth, and runs around a bit before shutting a closing gate on Pateesa’s neck, killing it. That’s still how the story plays out, but in The Tale of Lugubrious Mote, we learn this wasn’t Luke’s genius idea. Mote whispers to Luke as he runs around in a panic, and Luke hilariously mistakes the mole-flea for a Jedi Spirit guiding him. Mote steers him, Ratatouille-style, by nibbling on his head, letting Luke think the itchy scalp he has from a literal flea is Force tingles, and Mote’s instructions are just a Jedi Ghost. Every brilliant idea Luke has in that scene – every dodge, every clever use of a bone – is fed to him by Lugubrious Mote.

Yeah, sure Luke, that’s Ben all right. (Image credit: VIZ Media/IGN)Ultimately, Mote feels fulfilled by the encounter, as she’s inspired by Luke’s hope, optimism, and confidence. But at the end, she asks Leia not to tell Luke about her, preferring to allow Luke to think he tapped into the Force during his encounter with Jabba and Pateesa. It’s not like Luke hasn’t used the Force before this point or anything, so it’s a little weird he doesn’t recognize the difference – but sure, whatever. In the end, Mote joins the circus, despite Leia’s seeming promise of an advisory position in her government nestled safely in Chewbacca’s fur.

Side stories like that of Lugubrious Mote are meant to be more fun than serious. The Star Wars universe is full of fun little tales about goofy characters doing silly things that often intersect in unusual ways with the main heroes of the films. It’s a big galaxy, after all – big enough for Jizz music, IG-88, the Max Rebo Band, and whatever Glup Shitto is.

Happy May the 4th, everyone! Justice for Lugubrious Mote!

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected].