While the setting of Star Wars is technically an expansive galaxy, it doesn’t always feel like it. Characters of no particular note tend to crop up many times over, including the Rodian bounty hunter, Greedo. Famous for hating Han Solo (Harrison Ford) — who most definitely did shoot first — Greedo has a habit of popping up when you least expect him.
Somehow, his single scene in A New Hope merited what appeared to be some sort of origin story in the first prequel, The Phantom Menace. When young Anakin (Jake Lloyd) is putting together his podracer, a familiar-looking Rodian joins a group of local children in ridiculing him. Does this mean he is the failed bounty hunter, or just another nameless Rodian with whom the galaxy is populated? The common interpretation is that because this scene takes place on the planet Tatooine, where Greedo meets his untimely demise, it’s likely that Anakin’s friend — and Han Solo’s victim — are one and the same.
If there is any doubt about Greedo’s past on Tatooine, his appearance in Star Wars: The Clone Wars more or less confirms it. Already working as a bounty hunter, the episode Sphere of Influence shows Greedo playing with a Tattooine hallmark: chance cubes. This connection to Anakin’s past with Qui-Gon Jinn betting with the two-sided die is a subtle hint that at least in the Dave Filoni canon, this is the same character.
Greedo’s origins were a precursor to his grisly end
Greedo is an ultimately thankless character. As adversarial as he is to Han Solo in his first appearance, his childhood is not any better. He (and many other children) find Anakin’s podracing a laughable endeavor, and dismisses him easily. In adulthood, he still doesn’t amount to much; Greedo seemingly never vacates Tatooine, with his biggest claim to fame bounty hunting for Jabba. In The Clone Wars, his ineptitude at bounty hunting goes the extra mile.
During the arc of Pantora, when Greedo (Tom Kenny) kidnaps the daughter of Chairman Papanoida (Corey Burton), he demonstrates how easy it is to get the better of him. Papanoida starts a crusade to look for his daughter, and backs Greedo into a corner by going straight to Jabba. Revealing that Greedo took the kidnapping job from the Trader Federation, this episode shows that Greedo excels neither at kidnapping, nor planning. The Rodian crumbles under the pressure, unable to lie convincingly in any situation, and the Chairman gets his daughter back with the help of Padawan Ahsoka Tano (Ashely Eckstein) before she leaves the Jedi Order. Judging from his childhood, Greedo was never meant to go far. He was wrong about Anakin’s ability to podrace, and he is wrong about Han’s ability to shoot first. It is no wonder that he can’t leave Tatooine behind, and dies as insignificantly as he lived.