After 43 Years, Star Wars Reveals Lobot’s Real Purpose in the Franchise

Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Star Wars #40

Having a brief appearance as a wordless cyborg on Cloud City, Lobot in 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back is certainly one of Star Wars‘ stranger characters in the galaxy far, far away. However, a new canonical comic has confirmed Lobot’s true purpose and why he ended up becoming the right-hand man of Lando Calrissian, the incredibly successful con man who ended up as Cloud City’s baron administrator. To that end, it’s been proven that without Lobot, Lando might have had a very different story in the Star Wars timeline.

As seen in the new Star Wars #40 from Charles Soule and Madibek Musabekov, Lando is trying to save Lobot whose cybernetic implants have been corrupted by the sentient droid virus known as the Scourge who’s currently plaguing the galaxy between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. However, this issue notably features a flashback to a defining moment during the early days of Lando and Lobot’s friendship running various cons, long before Lobot would eventually help Lando run Cloud City. As such, Lobot’s true purpose in the Star Wars canon has been revealed in this new issue:

Based on this new comic, it’s clear that Lobot has long played a critical role in Lando’s life, just as the droid L3-37 did before him until she was destroyed and her mind integrated into the Millennium Falcon as seen in Solo: A Star Wars Story. Lobot is far more than Lando’s right-hand man. He’s also Lando’s greatest friend, a role that has earned him a unique privilege no one else in the galaxy seemingly has.

Lando Calrissian Needs Lobot

As Lando confirms in this new issue, Lobot is the only person Calrissian has chosen to always be honest with. It’s how he can be so great at lying to everyone else. Without Lobot to keep him honest, Lando is well aware that he’d eventually lose himself to said lies, and it stands to reason that he wouldn’t have had the life he’s had in the established Star Wars canon.

This is the perfect explanation for Lobot’s greater role in Star Wars, one that Empire Strikes Back neglected to give. In the 1980 film, Lobot is only featured in a handful of scenes while also having zero dialogue. Furthermore, he was never featured in the movies beyond Empire Strikes Back itself. As such, additional canon materials such as the comics have become invaluable in fleshing out both Lobot’s character and why he’s so important to Lando’s character arc at the same time.

Lobot Is Just As Important As L3-37

It stands to reason that Lando was just as honest with L3-37 as he was with Lobot. Without them, Lando likely wouldn’t have been half as successful as he was in the Star Wars timeline, much less becoming Cloud City’s baron administrator nor the Rebellion general he eventually became ahead of Return of the Jedi. To that end, Lando’s determination to save Lobot from the Scourge has motivated Lando to rely on the Rebellion even more following Empire Strikes Back and ahead of the original trilogy’s final film. Regardless, it’s very satisfying to discover why Lobot has always been so important in the Star Wars canon.

Star Wars #40 is available now from Marvel Comics