The eleven Star Wars movies introduced sci-fi fans to some of the scariest, coolest, and most insidious villains of all time, such as the iconic Darth Vader and his robed master, Emperor Palpatine. Star Wars is an optimistic, inspiring saga where all these villains face their doom in the end and are punished for their many crimes, and often, their pride is punished, too.
A few Star Wars villains keep their egos in check and aren’t excessively prideful, such as Boba Fett and Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus. Many other Star Wars villains, though, make too many enemies because they get carried away with their pride and ambitions, which leads to their downfall. For other Star Wars villains, their pride is the direct reason why they suffer and fail in the end.
Some of the prequel trilogy’s villains were downright cartoony compared to Darth Vader and Sidious, but they are still dangerous antagonists who think highly of themselves. The Dug racer jock Sebulba is an example, being a brief but formidable foe for Anakin to face in 1999’s The Phantom Menace.
Sebulba had won many races by then and was a favorite among the bettors. All that went to his head, leading Sebulba to underestimate the Force-sensitive Anakin during their final race together. Sebulba was outraged that he lost to Anakin, but he had brought it on himself.
In extended Star Wars lore, Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious united the galaxy for selfless reasons, mainly to prepare the galaxy and his Empire for the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. In the current canon, that’s not a factor, so Palpatine’s rise to power is all about his selfish ambition.
Sheev Palpatine is arrogant and cocky enough to think he deserves to rule the entire galaxy, and he ushered in 20+ years of misery under his Empire’s rule as a result. But his prideful rise to power led to the galaxy uniting against him in the Rebellion, and even Vader himself turned on him.
In the sequel trilogy era, Han and Leia’s son Ben Solo fell to the Dark Side, assuming the name Kylo Ren and wielding a red lightsaber. Kylo Ren desperately sought to soothe his confused heart and find his destiny, and then his new, dark powers went to his head.
Kylo Ren tried to be a subservient apprentice to Snoke and genuinely tried to help Rey via the Dark Side. But he was also rather proud and conceited, thinking that his horrible Dark Side powers would somehow help Rey and lead the galaxy to a better future in the post-Empire days.
General Armitage Hux is an obnoxious, loud, and bloodthirsty commander of the First Order. He is also power-hungry and likes being in command, whether he actually earned it. He delivered an impressive speech on Starkiller Base, then sought to replace Snoke as the Supreme Leader.
Hux reluctantly backed down when Kylo Ren seized Snoke’s throne for himself, and the proud, resentful Hux resented him ever since. That led Hux to aid the Resistance in secret not to fight for good, but to take down his rivals who trampled all over his pride and villainous dreams.
Admiral Kendal Ozzel is a classic example of a smug, overconfident Imperial commander who’s too eager to please his superiors. Kendal Ozzel was an iffy tactician at best and often butted heads with Darth Vader himself, which spelled disaster in 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back.
Once again, the prideful Ozzel thought he knew what was best, and made a serious blunder in the process. His clumsy maneuvers gave the Rebels advance warning about the Empire’s assault on Hoth, so a fed-up Darth Vader simply choked Ozzel to death as punishment.
The slug-like alien Jabba the Hutt was the first major antagonist in 1983’s Return of the Jedi, a greedy and cruel crime lord operating on the desert world Tatooine. Jabba had a massive ego and would lose his temper whenever anything went wrong, making his allies and enemies alike fear him greatly.
Jabba’s pride finally became his downfall when he underestimated Jedi Master Luke Skywalker one fateful day. Jabba toyed with Luke’s group with executioner monsters like the rancor and the sarlaac, but then Leia and Luke both vanquished Jabba. That taught Jabba to not make a sport of torturing and killing people.
Viceroy Nute Gunray was the one who led his Trade Federation droid army to an easy victory on the peaceful world Naboo in The Phantom Menace, and he soon got overconfident with his effortless conquest. He even proclaimed “ah, victory!,” but it was clear he was no battle-hardened general.
Nute’s only advantage was his formidable droid army, and he was too proud to realize that the young queen and her loyal guards were a real threat. Nute was exposed as the foolish coward he was hen Padme turned the tables on him and forced a new treaty on him.
In the end, Supreme Leader Snoke was just a proxy for Darth Sidious, but Snoke was still a sinister and prideful Dark Side follower all the same. Snoke was arrogant and brutal as the First Order’s commander, and he dreamed of ruling the entire galaxy and crushing the Resistance.
Snoke let his guard down when Kylo Ren brought Rey before him in his throne room aboard his enormous flagship, the Supremacy. Snoke was too confident that he had won, so he failed to realize that Kylo Ren intended to strike down him, not Rey, with Luke’s lightsaber.
Director Orson Krennic was the main antagonist of 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, an arrogant and power-hungry Imperial official who longed to command the Death Star for himself. At the time, Krennic was actually one of many conceited, selfish officers in the Empire, which helped set the tone for the entire regime.
Orson Krennic personally feuded with Wilhuff Tarkin over the Death Star, and Krennic angrily proclaimed that the project was his achievement, not Tarkin’s. In fact, even Darth Vader showed a little humor and, with a pun, advised the arrogant Orson Krennic to not choke on his own ambitions.
Wilhuff Tarkin got the last laugh over Orson Krennic as the Death Star’s construction concluded, but that smug victory didn’t last long. Grand Moff Tarkin simply replaced Krennic as an arrogant, self-absorbed Imperial officer who got cocky because he had the Death Star on his side.
Tarkin didn’t even evacuate the Death Star when the Rebel Alliance attacked it, since he believed the Death Star could never fall to puny foes like the Rebels. Tarkin was still aboard the Death Star peering out an observation window when Luke Skywalker blew up Tarkin’s not-so-invincible Death Star, vaporizing Tarkin along with it.