Week 7 Storytelling: Watto Loses Everything

Watto was from the planet Toydaria, and despite a difficult youth, he had managed to do well for himself.  Oringally, Watto had served as a soldier for the Ossiki Confederacy Army on his home planet.  After he returned home from war he expected to continue his father's business.  His father owned multiple businesses across the system, but the largest was a food producer known as Monsanta.  Monsanta farmed algae and fish for the Toydarians and had a near monopoly on the planet's food supply.  Instead, when Watto returned home, he discovered that his brother Datto was running the empire.  His father informed him that Watto would be given a small junk shop on the planet Tatooine.  Watto should have suspected as much.  His father had always favored his older brother.  He packed his things and took the next ship to Tatooine.

Watto would not let his father or brother stop him from acquiring fame and fortune.  He set about becoming the best junk dealer in the galaxy.  He began learning about trade from the local Jawas.  Before long, his junk shop was the most profitable on Tatooine.  Around this time he decided to join the slave trade.  He had an uncanny ability to choose the best slaves.  He even found a young boy by the name of Anakin who had a mechanical aptitude and boosted the productivity of his shop by nearly double.  Watto became very wealthy and very happy.  The business almost ran itself with Anakin there.

While everything was going well for Watto, Monsanta was going through a rough patch.  Datto was not nearly as competent as Watto.  In order to make himself feel better, Datto planned a trip to visit his brother.  Datto owned an empire while his brother had a measly junk shop.  However, to his surprise, when Datto arrived on Tatooine, he discovered that Watto was the wealthiest creature on the planet.  Datto grew jealous and hatred burned in his heart.  He decided that he would send his servant Shakuni to win everything from Watto in a gambling match.

If Watto had one weakness, it was gambling.  He loved to wager on the podraces.  Just before the biggest podrace of the year, two groups of foreigners came to Tatooine.  The first was Shakuni and his aides.  The second was Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn, Padme Amidala, and a strange Gungan named Jar Jar Binks. Qui-Gon Jinn claimed to have a podracer that he won in a game of chance.  He wanted Anakin to pilot it for him.  If Anakin won, Watto would keep the prize money.  If Anakin lost, Watto would keep Qui-Gon's ship.  It was too good to turn down.  Similarly, Shakuni offered him a deal that was too good to be true.  Watto bet Shakuni that the Dug Sebulba would win the race.

If Sebulba won, Watto would have been the wealthiest man in the system.  But instead Anakin won the race, and Watto lost everything.  Watto spent the rest of his days destitute and alone.

Watto

Original Image

Author's Note:  I watched Star Wars Episode I last night.  Like Yudhisthira, Watto's weakness is gambling.  While Watto is extremely different from Yudhisthira, I thought he would make a good character to retell Yudhisthira's story.

Bibliography:
"Mahabharata" by Peter Brook. Website: YouTube.

Reading Diary B: Peter Brook's Mahabharata

The gambling match still baffles me.  I don't understand how Yudhisthira, one of the wisest men, could gamble everything away.  He had nothing to win and everything to lose.

The king Dhritarashtra is portrayed as a caring and normal man who is trying to do the best by his children.

Amba tries to get Bhima to kill Bhishma.

Arjuna's exile seems to be missing entirely from the film.  There is also no House of Fire.  Half the movie remains and the war is the only large event that remains.

The Kauravas try to kill the Pandavas in exile.  Vyasa interferes and puts a stop to the attack.

Bhima encounters Hidimba later chronologically.  He is married to Draupadi at this point.  Hidimbi looks overjoyed when her brother is killed.  It is somewhat disturbing that Hidimbi goes from being faithful to her brother to experiencing joy at his death only a few minutes later.  Kunti is not here for this fight.

The Kauravas use fire to invoke Arjuna.  They can see that he is searching for weapons and the Kauravas can even talk to him.  I wonder what type of god or magic makes this possible.

Arjuna gets a weapon from Shiva.

Karna cares for a Parashurama in the wilderness and asks for a weapon in return.  Parashurama gives Karna a formula that will call a creature from heaven to give him a weapon.  When Parashurama sleeps, a worm eats a hole in Karna's thigh.  Parashurama accuses Karna of lying to him about being a kshatriya and curses him to forget the formula.  Also, where did Karna's armor go?

The Riddles at the Lake makes a little more sense now.  The Pandavas are overcome by an overwhelming thirst that makes them drink even when their brothers are dead.

Arjuna gets the Pashupata from Shiva
Image from Wikipedia

Reading Diary A: Peter Brook's Mahabharata

Peter Brook's Mahabharata has several differences from the PDE Mahabharata.  Below I've listed the biggest differences that I noticed or things that stood out to me this time that I did not notice earlier.

I really like how they start with Vyasa as the story teller and constantly go back to him.

Vasu's sperm is given to a falcon; he doesn't ride a flying chariot.

The PDE Mahabharata focuses on Bhishma's "terrible oath" but the film sees his action more positively - "The gods applauded his actions."  He is portrayed as noble.

Amba goes back to Bhishma and threatens him after Bhishma refuses to marry her.

Pandu makes his brother king
I don't remember Kunti's mantra

I only remember 4 Pandavas instead of 5.  The PDE Mahabharata only discusses Arjuna, Bhima, and Yudhisthira in depth.

A ball of flesh comes out of Gandhari's womb.  This is a pretty memorable visual and explains how she can have so many children.

Ajuna's promise to fight Drona and fight to kill
Youth rejected because too many pupils

The film portrays Drona as cruel.  Ekalavya, the youth that cuts off his thumb for Drona is rejected because Drona already has enough pupils, not because he comes from a kingdom of robbers.

The film skips over a lot of material before the dice game.

Pandavas get bad land from Dhritarashtra and improve that land so that they have a wonderful palace and all the people are happy.

The Kauravas, especially Duryodhana are maddened by jealousy.  They seem to be noble when they accept Karna.  However, after this they are only trying to keep up with the Pandavas.

Yudhisthira loves gambling in the film.  In the PDE Mahabharata, he is just unable to refuse a challenge.

Swayamvara challenge was shown as the contest in Peter Brook's film

Image from Wikipedia