Star Wars: Is Mon Mothma Dead? The Chancellor’s Fate Explained
Join the community on Reddit for the latest Marvel & DC news!
We know that the world of Star Wars isn’t just about the heroes fighting a war against the bad guys. There are a lot of different battlefields being fought in Star Wars, including the political battlefield, which is often fought within the Senate. One of the characters who have been active in the political realm of Star Wars is Mon Mothma, who eventually became the leader of the New Republic. So, what happened to Mon Mothma, and is she dead?
Mon Mothma survived the New Republic era and the rise of the First Order. She retired just before the First Order became a legitimate threat to the New Republic. Her illness made her step down from the world of politics. As such, she survived the destruction of the New Republic.
While Mon Mothma has always been known for her political beliefs, the truth about her is that she is a survivor. She understood how to manage the political waters of the Senate, which allowed her to become the Chancellor during the New Republic era. So, with that said, let’s look at what we know about Mon Mothma and what happened to her.
Mon Mothma was a politician for a long time
If there’s one thing that has always been true about Star Wars, it’s that the political side of things tends to be very complicated and difficult. The original Star Wars trilogy hardly talked about the political part of the galaxy because the emperor ruled with an iron fist.
But the prequel trilogy allowed us to see just how complicated this side of the galaxy is, as the political part of Star Wars maybe even more difficult than the actual wars fought by the characters.
In fact, it was through his political machinations that Palpatine eventually secured his place as the emperor of the Empire. But there were a lot of other politicians who were quite active during the entire Skywalker Saga. We are talking about Mon Mothma, whose family has been involved with politics for a very long time.
Mon was born to a father who worked as an arbiter-general and a mother who was once the governor of her homeworld of Chandrila. At around the age of 16 or 17, Mon had already become influential enough to become a senator for the Galactic Republic, as she served as the representative of her home. She continued to serve as a senator her entire life, even during the time of the Clone Wars.
During the Clone Wars, Mon Mothma saw allies in the form of Senator Padmé Amidala and Senator Bail Organa. They were all on the same side in that they opposed the Clone Wars and sought a more peaceful solution to their problems with the Confederacy of Independent Systems. As such, she was always on the side of peace.
Nevertheless, the Republic turned into the Empire after the Clone Wars. While Palpatine was in power, Mon Mothma had become more careful with her actions as she didn’t want to alarm the attention of the Empire and the many different agents that were working for the Imperial officers at that time. But while she was still a senator, she understood that the Senate was now useless because the emperor could do everything he wanted without listening to the senators.
In that regard, Mon Mothma started to collaborate with other senators who were always opposed to the tyranny of the Empire. We saw some of the political maneuvers that Mon needed to take during the events of ‘Andor’ season 1, as it was clear that she was working with Luthen Rael in secret to fund the activities of the different cells of Rebels all over the galaxy.
Then, during the events of ‘Star Wars: Rebels,’ Mon was now more vocal about her disapproval of the actions of the Empire as she defected from the Imperial Senate to join and establish the Alliance to Restore the Republic or the Rebel Alliance. She became one of the Rebels’ leaders and was one of the figures who led the Rebels during the many different skirmishes they had against the Empire.
Eventually, after the Empire’s fall, Mon Mothma became the first Chancellor of the New Republic Senate. We saw her in episode 3 of ‘Ahsoka,’ wherein she met with Hera Syndulla regarding the Thrawn situation.
But because there were senators who believed that Thrawn’s return was just a myth and that there was no need for them to fear the Imperial remnants, Mon had no choice but to deny Hera’s request to send a force after Morgan Elsbeth’s faction.
She retired before the inevitable happened
Mon Mothma continued to serve as the Chancellor of the New Republic two decades after the events of ‘Ahsoka.’ At that time, the First Order’s threat to the New Republic was getting bigger and bigger. But the problem was that the New Republic didn’t seem to care as Mon’s time as the Chancellor led to the rapid demilitarization of the New Republic due to how she and her fellow senators were trying their best to move past the time of the Empire.
However, before the events of 29 ABY, Mon stepped down from her post as the Chancellor and eventually retired from the world of politics. That’s because she had grown to become too old and ill to participate in politics.
The problem was that her successors lacked her leadership and charisma, which led to the eventual doom of the New Republic. What happened was that the Senate was divided into two factions. One was the Populists, who believed that the member planets should be allowed to retain their sovereignty. Meanwhile, the other faction was the Centrists, which wanted a stronger galactic government with a stronger military.
It was this division that actually forced different senators to go up against one another. As such, one of Leia Organa’s political opponents revealed to the general public that she was Darth Vader’s daughter. This led to Leia’s departure from the world of politics as she became the leader of the Resistance. And the division in the New Republic Senate led to the rise of the First Order and the fall of the New Republic itself.
Around 34 ABY, the First Order had completed the construction of Starkiller Base, which could destroy multiple planets with a single attack. Starkiller Base destroyed the New Republic and killed most of the senators. However, because Mon Mothma had already retired from the world of politics, she was spared from the fate of her fellow politicians and could survive the events of the sequel trilogy. Still, she had become too old and ill to return to her post as a leader.
Have something to add? Let us know in the comments!
Liked this article? Join the community on Reddit for the latest Marvel & DC news!