If you don't know who he is, he was that weird little thing that crashed and died in the Pod Race of The Phantom Menace, in the caverns (it cuts to his face moments before death).

Aight, I get what you're thinking. "We see him on the screen for literally 1 second, what's so interesting about him?".

Well, as some of you may know, one of the biggest collective mistakes that the movie made was deleting a lot of scenes that really should have stayed in the movie (one of which that comes to mind; Qui-Gon, Obi Wan, and Jar-Jar surfacing in Theed, on Naboo, in which their pod falls over a waterfall and thus bringing more sense on why exactly they were disorganized at the beginning. Or, another example; Qui-Gon and Anakin running to the ship on Tatooine inexplicably, however the reason being a deleted scene - a probe droid stalking them, making the situation much easier to understand).

So, back to my boy Ratts. What brings me more intrigue to this guy was during the full, uncut sequence, of the Pod Race before it begins. During pilot introductions, he comes off as a fairly feisty guy (the whole "little dude, big attitude" cliche) after fighting a pit droid. It sort of draws you into knowing this guy and kinda makes him the only other pod racer besides Sebulba and Anakin to have any semblance of a personality...But here's the kicker; in the shot immediately following it was of his family; a wife and 3 children (one of which, explicitly stated by Fodesinbeed Annodue, the announcer/commentator) was newly born just a day or two before. (Here is the scene if you want to see yourself. Timestamps 1:43 and 6:17) They COULD have gone for cheap comic relief, which would have made sense to delete the scene...but no; its a depiction of a typical, loving family, with his wife having an expression of support but also great concern like any loyal spouse would to someone with a dangerous profession. This whole sequence is followed up by the fact that the very last shot before the pod race starts, Tyerell looks back at his family one more time; in which his children, and especially his wife, look on with (loving) concern...obviously, we all know what happens on Lap 2...this dude wasn't some random whacko, he had a loving, growing family, who watched him die in front of them while the sadistic crowd cheers over it.

Now, we could just end it right there, and you guys would say "Oh, well this dude just has some family in two shots. So ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ what?", but I'm not quite done yet. In fact, I want to talk about his family. I also want to iterate none of this is from any sort of Legends, so everything i'm about to say is canonical and actually happened (this is obviously some EU stuff but bare with me).

I think it's fitting to talk a little bit about the man himself. There isn't a whole lot that we know about him, but Tyerell started pod racing not so much out of being a criminal like everyone else, but more out of necessity. After all, this man needs to provide food and shelter for a wife and 3 kids. He was also likely one of, if not the only, Aleena pod racer in the galaxy (given Aleena's natural reflexes, much like humans, it's difficult to become one unless you're force sensitive). He also seems to have been a very popular guy; since not only did he become a pod racer despite the odds, but he delivered results, with his rivalry with Sebulba well noted (in fact, the whole reason he entered the Boonta Eve Classic in Episode I was to settle a major score he had against Sebulba). So, what's striking to me is the fact that this guy was so famous that literally his entire planet mourned his death (Aleen, by the way), which makes sense given how he was something many young Aleena can look up to as what's possible for their race. It's reminiscent of how our world mourned the deaths of Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Ayrton Senna, even if you didn't really know these guys. But anyhow, I mentioned his family earlier...so lets talk about them, shall we?

After the pod race, it turns out that Ratts' brother (who was unnamed) actually ended up selling his daughter (Djulia, whose on the right side of Ratts' wife during the pod racing sequence of Episode I) into slavery on Tatooine, and in cruel irony, was sold to Sebulba (and yes, this was right after the race, likely days after). Now I can't really remember the book that this next part is from, but it actually opens up about an interesting story arc for his family after Episode one; one of Djulia's eldest brother, Deland, becoming a pod racer in order to win his sister's freedom (along with help from Tyerell's youngest son, Dobs, who was a mechanic for his pod). It ends up being a touching side story about family bonds and values. Now the rest of it isn't too heavy on them; something something Sebulba breaks Deland's arm, something something Anakin coincidentally runs into them on a separate mission as a Jedi Knight, something something he beats Sebulba in a pod race to win Djulia's freedom, whatever.

But what I'm trying to get at is he was more than just that random guy who died in a Pod Race in Episode I. He's something that deep down, I sympathize with. I drive race cars in real life, and I've seen many Ratts Tyerells before, I've seen guys who only race to provide for their family, guys who are an inspiration to everyone, and guys who died not only doing what they love, but doing what they need to in order to help their families. Eight year old me obviously didn't think much of it when I first saw him in Episode I; but well over a decade down the line, the parallels of him to the people I know, and I'm willing to bet, in some way, he's someone that you know too. The turbulence his family went through as a result, completely unaware of what would happen post-mortem, and maybe even my fascination for characters most people dont really have a second thought about with a hidden gem of the story...all this just culminates, to me, as one of, if not the most, interesting character in Star Wars.