Hutt (Star Wars)

Jabba the Hutt as seen in the film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999). Gardulla the Hutt can barely be seen at the back

The Hutts are a fictional alien race in the Star Wars universe. They appear in The Phantom Menace, Return of the Jedi and The Clone Wars, as well as the special edition release of A New Hope. They also appear in various Star Wars games, including those based on the movies, and the Knights of the Old Republic series. None of these, however, are very friendly and all are criminally involved.^[1] However, in the comic book series Tales of the Jedi: Golden Age of the Sith and Tales of the Jedi: The Fall of the Sith Empire, there is a Hutt character named Aarrba who is sympathetic to the main characters, Gav and Jori Daragon. A hutt also appears in the movie Spaceballs. Pizza The Hutt is a parody of the hutts which appear in Star Wars but despite this fact, he is one of the better known hutts in popular culture. His name alludes to the popularity of Pizza Hut in the geek community.

Origins

The Hutts originated on a forest planet called Varl, in a binary star system consisting of the two stars Evona and Ardos, which the Hutts worshiped as gods. According to Hutt legend, Evona was absorbed by a black hole, and Ardos collapsed on itself over grief for its mate. Since the Hutts survived the deaths of their Gods, they believed they had become Gods, hence their egocentrism. Scientists believe the Hutts destroyed their world in a civil war.

After Varl's devastation, the Hutts migrated to a planet called Evocar, and displaced the peaceful natives through canny business practices, even going so far as to evict them. The Hutts renamed their new planet Nal Hutta—"Glorious Jewel" in Huttese. Nal Hutta is the capital of Hutt Space, the species' empire. The primary moon of Nal Hutta is Nar Shaddaa.

Before the establishment of the Old Republic, the Hutts were the dominant species in the galaxy, although they never built up an extensive empire; their dominance focused instead on trade and economic empires.

Physiology

Adult Hutts are shaped rather like extremely large shell-less gastropods or slugs (up to one thousand kilograms) with stubby arms, no rear limbs and numerous redundant internal organs. Locomotion is through a series of rippling contractions akin to a slug's locomotion. In the novelization of Return of the Jedi, it is mentioned that Hutts are born bipedal, but their legs grow together over time due to lack of movement. Hutts are long-lived, with a lifespan of up to a thousand years, reproducing asexually and nursing their young in pouches not unlike marsupials. An infant Hutt, known as a Huttlet, is the size of an orange when born, and lives in the parent's pouch for five decades before becoming "fully developed." Adolescents become adults when they reach the age of 130 years. Though traditionally referred to as males, all members of the species are hermaphroditic; personality type and gender roles are assumed voluntarily, or upon a viewer's deduction. Upon becoming pregnant, Hutts are referred to as female, although some Hutts do not accept this and choose to retain their masculine persona, whereas others alternate between male and female character.^[2]

Hutt skin is extremely thick, and when combined with their redundant organs and tough flesh, can result in Hutts being able to survive direct blaster fire hits. Hutts are also inedible by most life forms, including Sarlacci, resistant to the Force due to their unique thought patterns, and are able to see the ultraviolet and infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum.^[2]

Society

Nal Hutta is ruled by the Clans of the Ancients, which is composed of leaders of the eldest clans on Nal Hutta. Many Hutts leave their home world to form kajidics, or criminal empires, under the control of the Clan. Hutts hold their families in very high regard except when leadership of the clan is available and will kill members of their families for personal advancement.

If a non-Hutt kills a Hutt, then it will usually result in a death-mark, or bounty, being put on the offending party. Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia Solo were the most famous recipients in their role in the death of Jabba the Hutt. The death mark against them lasted for about ten years before it was removed by Durga the Hutt during the Darksaber incident. However Hutts' grudges last a very long time and the deathmark was reinstated after Durga's death.

Hutts do not generally reveal their family names to non-Hutts (close subordinates, such as councilors, are very familiar with Huttese clan politics, as they must be to advise and orchestrate attacks and business well); as such only a few Hutt clans are known by name. The two most prominent are Desilijic, the Clan of Jabba the Hutt, and Besadii, the most powerful before the death of Durga the Hutt.

Notable Hutts

Kayo the Hutt

Kayo the Hutt, also known as Aruk Besadii Aora or Aruk the Great was a Hutt crime lord and former leader of the Besadii kajidic. He was a physically large Hutt and refused to take orders from anybody. Aruk is the father of Durga Besadii Tai and when Durga was born with a large birthmark on his face, other Hutts told Aruk that he was impure and not worthy of being called a Hutt and implored him to kill his son, but Aruk was fond of the child and sensed that he would grow up to be a cunning and ruthless Hutt—the perfect heir to his criminal empire. He also threatened to murder all who wished Durga killed and began to raise his child himself. Aruk provided Durga with a good education and he eventually became his father's apprentice. Aruk was considered by many as an "Old Fashioned Hutt"; one reason was because Jabba's fascination with scantily-clad humanoid females disgusted him and the other was his unwavering belief in the power of the Besadii kajidic. Aruk was killed when Teroenza poisoned his supply of nala tree frogs which he liked eating.

Beldorion the Hutt

Beldorion duels with Leia Solo

Beldorion was a Hutt who trained to be a Jedi sometime before the Clone Wars (the only known Huttese Jedi). Beldorion journeyed to Nam Chorios with his fellow Jedi Taselda, ostensibly to investigate the Theran movement. When he arrived, Beldorion sensed that Nam Chorios itself was a potent nexus for the power of the Force. Therefore, Beldorion stayed and established himself as ruler of the planet, struggling for power with Taselda, who was also drawn in by Chorios' power. Beldorion become a pawn of the humanoid droch Dzym. He gave himself such titles as "Beldorion of the Ruby Eyes" and "Beldorion the Splendid." With the Force and Dzym's help, Beldorion remained strong and youthful, his body all muscle, avoiding the corpulence and immobility of most Hutts his age. However, at the onset of the Clone Wars, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine used special emergency powers to send Seti Ashgad to Nam Chorios in a political expansionist movement. Seeing that Beldorion the Hutt had no real interest in ruling Nam Chorios so long as his desires were satisfied, Ashgad rose to become the planet's unofficial ruler. But Ashgad soon realized that Beldorion had only been a figurehead for a more insidious figure, Dzym.

About thirteen years after the Battle of Yavin, Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa Solo traveled to Nam Chorios to meet with Ashgad. While there, Leia was taken prisoner and met Beldorion. While he held her captive, Beldorion told her stories of the ancient Jedi Masters such as Thon and Yoda, whose power he admired, if not their principles. Leia eventually escaped, and together with Luke uncovered Ashgad and Dzym's plan to unleash a plague throughout the sector. During the attempt to stop Ashgad, Leia was attacked by Beldorion. At nine metres, Beldorion was large even for a Hutt, and possessed none of the corpulent rolls that immobilized lazy Hutts like Jabba. The old Hutt was all muscle and fire, and attacked with his lightsaber with astonishing quickness. Although Leia had not been trained extensively in lightsaber combat, she did have combat training and a keen insight into the flow of the Force and was able to defeat Beldorion.^[3][4]

Borga the Hutt

Borga the Hutt or Borga Besadii Diori was the mother of the late Randa Besadii Diori and guardian of Gardulla the Younger and Decca Besadii Diori. She took control of the Besadii kajidic after Durga's death. During the Yuuzhan Vong War, she negotiated a truce between the Hutts and the Yuuzhan Vong to let the Hutts have a portion of some of their space. Although the truce was successful, little did Borga know, the Yuuzhan Vong would end up betraying her. Later, Borga negotiated with the New Republic to sell the information on the invaders' next attack. When the Yuuzhan Vong found out, they immediately attacked Hutt space. Borga led the Hutt defenses of Nal Hutta however she was no match for the Yuuzhan Vong who conquored Hutt Space, forcing a large number of Hutts to move to Tattooine, Borga and many other Hutts, however, remained on Nal Hutta as prisoners. She tried to persuade the Yuuzhan Vong to release her and her fellow captives but she was coldly turned away.

Durga the Hutt

His Great Obesity, Lord Durga Besadii Tai was a Hutt and the successor of Aruk as head of the Besadii kajidic. Note also that he captured the Death Star's engineer and "hired" him to build him his own superlaser mechanism, which, before being destroyed in Hoth's asteroid belt, was known as Darksaber. A notable feature of Durga is his green birthmark that stretches along the side of his face.

Gardulla the Hutt

Gardulla the Hutt, also known as Gardulla the Elder or Gardulla the Besadii Elder, is one of the Hutt crime lords of Tatooine. Her assistant is Diva Funquita. She is best known for buying Shmi and Anakin Skywalker, then losing them to Watto, a junk dealer, whilst betting on the pod-races. Gardulla is a sometimes rival of Jabba the Hutt and appears briefly as his guest at the Podrace scene in The Phantom Menace. Gardulla also sponsors Podracers, including Gasgano. After the Boonta Eve Classic, Gardulla offered Watto a substantial sum to regain ownership of Anakin, but the Toydarian had already lost the boy to Qui-Gon Jinn.

Gardulla attempted to feed Jango Fett to her personal Krayt dragon, but was in turn killed by the bounty hunter by being pushed into the Krayt dragon's lair and devoured after being interrogated for information on the Bando Gora cult (but apparently she survived due to her appearance in an episode in the Clone Wars). Gardulla has a son, Gardulla the Younger and a daughter, Decca Besadii Diori.

Gorga the Hutt

Gorga Desilijic Glooma, better known as Gorga the Hutt, is the great-nephew of Jabba the Hutt. He was referenced in the game Star Wars Bounty Hunter, posting several secondary bounties. Gorga was extremely angry at Big Gizz and Spiker, former Swoop riders for Jabba, dropped Jabba's urns on him and was very horrified and displeased that his uncle's ashes had blown away. While on Tatooine, a feminine natured Hutt named Anachro the H'uun caught Gorga's eye. Gorga found her to be beautiful. Unfortunately for him, Anachro was the daughter of Orko the H'uun, an enemy of his. Gorga hired Boba Fett to kill Bar-Kooda, a pirate kingpin that had been harassing Orko's freighters. Fett succeeded, and Gorga, Anachro, and Orko celebrated Gorga and Anachro's impending nuptials by eating Bar-Kooda's corpse. When Anachro was captured by slavers, Gorga hired Boba Fett to find her but Orko accused Gorga of staging her kidnapping and nearly tore each other apart, however Fett brought Anachro back safely and although, the both of them made a public apology towards the other, Gorga still despised his father-in-law.

Gorga later hired Fett once more to assassinate Orko, but when it was revealed Anachro was pregnant, he called off the assassination. However, Ry-Kooda, Bar-Kooda's brother, had murdered Orko in a particularly brutal fashion. Anachro accused Gorga of the murder, and in grief left him. Ry-Kooda then tried to kill Anachro but Gorga stopped him and Boba Fett ultimately killed Ry-Kooda. The excitement caused Anachro to give birth and the both of them reconciled and got back together.

Naeyaert the Hutt

Naeyaert the Hutt from the planet of Latoine made no appearances in the Star Wars series. However, was influential in the colonization of Tatooine. The cousin of Grubba the Hutt, Naeyaert made multiple appearances in a book series. In the book series he survived a failed assassination attempt funded by Rubal the Hutt. He worked for the local government running important documents to other planets.

High Exaltedness Kossak

Kossak the Hutt is a powerful businessman said to have lived around the same time as Xim the Despot and was directly responsible for Xim's defeat at The Third Battle of Vontor. What is known of this is that Kossak the Hutt had tricked the Klatooians, Vodrans into signing themselves into virtual slavery and that it was Kossak that used the Vodrans and Klatooians during the final battle that ended the reign of Xim The Despot.

Jabba the Hutt

Main article: Jabba the Hutt

Jabba the Hutt is an antagonist who first appeared on film in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, though was later added to the special edition of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Jabba was originally portrayed by an immense latex puppet, but in later releases he is a computer-generated image (CGI). Besides the films, Jabba the Hutt is featured in Star Wars literature and is sometimes referenced by his full name, Jabba Desilijic Tiure.^[5] Jabba also appears in the computer game Star Wars Galaxies.

He is a 600-year-old Hutt crime lord and gangster who employs a retinue of criminals, bounty hunters, smugglers, assassins, and bodyguards to operate his criminal empire. Jabba the Hutt's palace on the desert planet Tatooine is a former monastery for a group of mystics known as the B'omarr monks. There, he keeps a host of entertainers, slaves, droids, and alien creatures at his disposal. Jabba has a grim sense of humor, a bellicose laugh, an insatiable appetite, and an affinity for gambling, slave girls, torture, and has a pet rancor at the "basement" of his Palace.

The character was incorporated into the Star Wars merchandising campaign that corresponded with the theatrical release of Return of the Jedi. Jabba the Hutt's image has since played an influential role in popular culture, particularly in the United States. His name is used as a satirical literary device and a political caricature to underscore negative qualities such as suffering from the disease morbid obesity; and, corruption.^[6][7]

Queen Jool

Queen Jool or Jool the Hutt was the Hutt owner of Rik's Cantina on Coruscant. She lived in a swamp below the bar. Her left eye had been replaced by a jeweled and feathered cybernetic implant that allowed her to observe the cantina's doings. Aside from owning and operating the bar, she was also a sly information broker. Jool was a suave and flirtatious Hutt. She is an ally of Cade Skywalker.

Vogga the Hutt

Vogga the Hutt is a Huttese businessman based on Nar Shaddaa who specialized in fuel--specifically high-grade fuel suitable for, among other things, Citadel Station. Like most Hutts, he technically is a hermaphrodite, but generally has a masculine personality. His first and only appearance is in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. He enjoys watching scantily-clad female dancers, though this always puts him to sleep. One of the Jedi Exile's companions can dance for him; this is confirmed.

After the Jedi Exile inadvertently caused the destruction of the Peragus mining facilities, the biggest competitor to Vogga's importing of fuel from Sleheyron, Vogga began attempting to take advantage of the sudden shortage of fuel. G0-T0 opposed the Hutt's business plan. In retaliation, Vogga hired a considerable number of bounty hunters (like Hanharr) and bribed a number of G0-T0's underlings (like Visquis). The Exile took advantage of this when he registered the Ebon Hawk as a freighter of Vogga's; unsurprisingly, this resulted in G0-T0 intercepting the freighter, whereupon the Exile caused G0-T0's yacht to decloak. Vogga's waiting vessels promptly blew it out of space. Vogga further won in that following the destruction of G0-T0's yacht, the Jedi Exile arranged for shipment of fuel to Telos.

Zorba the Hutt

Zorba the Hutt is the father of Jabba the Hutt.^[8] He did not immediately learn of his son's death because he was imprisoned on the planet Kip. Zorba resembled his son, though he had long, white hair braids and a white beard. All of Jabba's possessions were bequeathed to Zorba, including the desert palace on Tatooine. He blamed Princess Leia Organa Solo for the murder of his son Jabba. Zorba then challenged Lando in a game of sabacc and won Cloud City. Lando soon won back Cloud City in a future game. In one instance Zorba was referred to as 'Koztas'. His name is clearly a reference to the 1946 novel Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis.

Grappa the Hutt

Grappa the Hutt appears in the Crimson Empire novels. He is in league with the Black Sun criminal gang and Itha spectral-like species known as the Zanibar. He first appears looking like Tarrant Snil and like Jabba appears to enjoy the company of slave female humanoids and big parties. However he is quick to lose his temper and ends up killing not only a Zanibar but a spokesman from the Black Sun. He allows both Mirth Sinn and her ex-lieutenant Massimo to be sacrificed to the Zanibar. Kir Kanos saves Mirth Sinn but Massimo is less lucky. Grappa was also scared when he received a telecom of a figure known as The Faceless One. After the Black Sun guards sent assassins after him, Grappa fled only to be caught by the Zanibar when he couldn't pay them the money he owed them. He was taken to be sacrificed on their homeworld of Xo.

Korpa the Hutt

Korpa the Hutt is cousin of Vogga the Hutt. He is a small-time crime lord, trying to take over his cousin's businesses. Following a starship duel with his would-be assassin in the twin system of Dva Lokwanya, he lands on a small planet Okopania, meeting with bounty hunter Ser Onja to arrange the assassination of Vogga. Receiving a payment of rare G'ovna crystals, Ser Onja doublecrosses Korpa, sabotaging his ship to explode on takeoff.

Rotta the Huttlet

Rotta the Huttlet is Jabba's 10 year old son, appearing in The Clone Wars animated movie. He was kidnapped by the Separatists, but returned to Jabba by the Republic although Jabba was convinced by Dooku that the Jedi kidnapped his son.

Ziro the Hutt

Ziro the Hutt was the Uncle of Jabba the Hutt and the owner of a club on Coruscant. In the events of the The Clone Wars animated movie and series, Ziro was part of a failed plot with Count Dooku to kidnap Rotta the Huttlet in a plan to frame the Jedi and seize power from Jabba. When the plan failed as the result of Padame Amadala 's meddling, Ziro was imprisoned after being forced to admit his part in Rotta's abduction. From his cell he attempted to seek revenge by sending an assassin after Padame, the scheme backfiring on him when the assassin is caught. Later, because he possessed a book detailing the shady actions of the Hutt Council, Ziro was released by Cad Bane and brought before the Hutts. Ziro was freed from the Hutt prison by Sy Snootles, but then killed by her, as well, once he had led her to the book, which she had been hired to acquire by Jabba.

Ziro, being one of the few Hutts to speak in English, is voiced by Corey Burton with a lispy southern drawl modeled on the voice of Truman Capote.

Pizza the Hutt

Pizza the Hutt is a character from Space Balls who was a parody of the character Jabba the Hutt. He was an amorphic pile of pizza. He is the second most well-known hutt in popular culture after Jabba. His appearance added a gross-out element to the movie as well as product placement given his name. Despite being from a different movie universe, 'Pizza' is often mentioned alongside other Star Wars characters as if he belonged in their own universe. ^[9] Like his Star Wars counterparts, Pizza is a space mobster. He also is known as a hutt but is in fact half-man and half-pizza.

Pizza the Hutt was voiced by Dom DeLuise in Spaceballs.

Mama the Hutt

Mama the Hutt is the mother of Ziro the Hutt. She lives alone on Nal Hutta, and as Ziro says, her home is the one place Gardulla would never show up. She is much larger than any average Hutt. So large in fact, that she towers over other Hutts. She appears in Star Wars: The Clone Wars in the episode "Hunt for Ziro". Ziro visits her after many years of not speaking to her and borrows her starship. Later Cad Bane and Todo 360 charge into her home and force her to tell them where Ziro's heading. And finally, Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Quinlan Vos break down her door and ask her where Ziro went.

Huttese language

The Hutts' native language, Huttese, is a lingua franca of galactic organized crime.

The language is a constructed language, with many distorted English words, most having the same syllables as the English. Its phonology is said to be based on the Quechua language.^[10]

Not only the Hutts speak Huttese. For example, all of the singers in the Max Rebo Band sing in Huttese.

References

1. ^ Hutt at the Star Wars Databank. Retrieved November 16, 2006.
2. ^ ^{a b} "Hutt". Starwars.com. http://www.starwars.com/databank/species/hutt/index.html. Retrieved 2009-07-04. 
3. ^ Barbara Hambley, Planet of Twilight (paperback; New York: Bantam Spectra, 1997), ISBN 0-553-09540-4.
4. ^ The Essential Chronology (Star Wars), 1st edition, 2000. Kevin J. Anderson, Daniel Wallace, Bill Hughes, ISBN 0-345-43439-0
5. ^ "Jabba Desilijic Tiure (Jabba the Hutt)", in Sansweet, Star Wars Encyclopedia, pp. 146-147.
6. ^ For example, see "Fat Wars: The Obesity Empire Strikes Back" at Center for Consumer Freedom. Retrieved July 3, 2006.
7. ^ Koenraad Kuiper, "Star Wars: An Imperial Myth," Journal of Popular Culture 21.4 (Spring 1988): p. 78.
8. ^ Hutt! Hutt! Hutt!
9. ^ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/reviews/article-1045059/The-Clone-Wars-Should-gone-straight-video.html
10. ^ Crit Minster, Paula Newton, and Ricardo Segreda, Viva Travel Guide to Peru: Exploring Machu Picchu, Cusco, the Inca Trail, Arequipa, Lake Titicaca, Lima and Beyond (Viva Travel Guide to Peru: Exploring Machu Picchu, Cusco, the Inca Trail, Arequipa, Lake Titicaca, Lima and Beyond), 26.

External links

• Hutt on Wookieepedia: a Star Wars Wiki
• Hutt at the Star Wars Databank
• [1] - Huttese language by Andras Rajki