I guess people have noticed it but in every Star Wars episode there's a new underling. The underling usually serves his purpose within one episode and usually dies within the same one or the one following.

Basically, they are there to serve Palpatine or Darth Vader in their evil plots.

But there's more to the underlings of the Saga. Take a look and each of the underlings from Episode I-VI (that would be Darth Maul, Count Dooku, General Greivous, Grand Moff Tarkin, Boba Fett and Jabba the Hutt).

Now, I'm aware that Jabba isn't an underling to anyone but he's the new villain of Return of the Jedi and he also fits in with my analsys so that's why he's there.

No two underlings are the same and each of them portray the kind of villains we see in any other movie. Observe:

Darth Maul: Darth Maul is the obvious hitman. Take a look at him. Everything about him screams EVIL! From the red eyes, dirty teeth and horns on his head, down to his black attire. From the moment we see him, there's no question of where his allegiance lies.

Darth Maul is a search and destroy character. Stealthy when searching but wrecking havoc when he has found his target. If this was an action movie, he would be the assasin with a machine gun. We would most likely find this character in an action movie.

Count Dooku: Now, if Darth Maul is the destructiv side of a villain, then Count Dooku is the flamboyant side. Sure in his ability, he takes on two Jedi and a Jedi master. Dookus allegiance is more unsure the the one of Darth Maul. Is he evil? Is he doing good? Dooku is also very cool and calm. Almost like some gentleman villain.

Dooku is anything from a Bond villain with such plans like the Death Star or a character of a political thriller when leading the Separatists. Looking at it this way, Dooku is the most versatile when it comes to ones persona of the underlings.

General Greivous: For me, General Greivous is the more cartoony one of the underlings of the Saga. He's the typical villain with the master plan and is so smug about but gets foiled and runs of to star in next week episode with another plot that gets foiled.

He's typical in his cackle and his "Crush them!" and as all cartoony villains, he has a flaw which un-toughens him. This being his cough.

Some thought that we would have Terminator-Greivous but I enjoy Grevious being this way. We've already had Terminator-Maul so it would be the same kind of villain, twice.

And might I add, Greivous is such a cartoony villain that if he had a mustache, then he would be twirling it.

Grand Moff Tarkin: In my opinion the most evil of the underlings. When Star Wars reached the cinemas in 1977, I'm pretty sure that most people saw Tarkin, not Vader as the main antagonist of the movie. It's with subsequent episodes that Vader is established as the main villain and not Tarkin.

The discrepency could be described like this:

The Death Star is Tarkins home turf and this is where he governs. Vader is merely the "guest" and has to do what Tarkin say.

I know it's weak but there's also the possibility of Tarkin having more authority then Vader by the time of A New Hope and Vader seizing more power in the vacuum after Tarkins death.

Anyway, Tarkin is the master tactician who is ice cold in his decisions. He relies on fear to get his message across. He decided to kill billions of people that had done nothing. All he wanted was an effective demonstration He is, quite frankly, the ultimate underling.

Boba Fett: I chose Boba over Jango because a) Jango featured alongside Dooku who has a greater impact on the story in Attack of the Clones and b) Boba is the only underling in The Empire Strikes Back or would you rather have one of those Imperial officers that can't do anything right?

Boba Fett is the street-wise one. He knows every twist and turn of the galaxy. Every method of getting away.

Boba Fett and Darth Maul do the same thing but are very different. Whilst Maul is destructiv, Boba isn't. I stated earlier that Maul would be the assasin with a machine gun, well in the same movie, Boba is the assasin with the high-powered sniper rifle.

Boba Fett is search, but he isn't destroy. He can be but he is just as icy cold as Tarkin. He shows the side of a villain that hasn't chosen to be evil but the times have forced him to be it and it also pays more working for the bad guys.

Boba Fett could as easily been a good guy if the pay was right but because of the consequences of the time, he wasn't.

Come to think of it, having no concience is an evil in itself.

Jabba the Hutt: The last Star Wars movie shows us the powerful underling. In another movie, Jabba would be the mafia boss.

Jabba is possibly the biggest coward of the underlings hiding behind several bodyguards and with trap doors everywhere to surprise unwanted guests.

Jabba doesn't kill, he doesn't need to but he can ask others to do this. He's the classic villain that doesn't like getting his hands dirty.

A common flaw with all of these villains is that their deaths are related to their overconfidence in their abilities

Darth Maul thinks that because he's uses the Dark Side that he can take on two Jedi

Count Dooku is confident in his swordplay

Greivous is believes his robotic strenght will finish off Obi-Wan

Tarkin believes that nothing can penetrate the Death Star

Boba Fett believes he has the edge when attacking from behind

Jabba believes that his henchmen will save him

Even the great devil of Palpatine falls to overconfidence.

What Lucas has done with the underlings is to show us the different sides of villains and more or less every villain is represented in these characters. Think about that next time you see a movie. "Is that a Boba or Tarkin?".

"Good, greater the pride, harder the fall"

How true Dooku. How true.