How Jabba the Hutt's Death Ignited a 'Star Wars' Fan Movement

May 2024 · 4 minute read

How did Jabba the Hutt die? The first act of 'Return of the Jedi' killed off dozens of characters, but his death was the most iconic.

Source: Lucasfilm

In motion pictures, there are lots of types of deaths. Sad deaths; deaths you'll see coming from lightyears away that still harm; deaths that inspire major characters to satisfy their destinies.

Then there are the happy deaths. The final dying of antagonists and villains that recommended you to yell "good riddance!" at your TV.

Jabba the Hutt, in all probability the grossest "bad guy" in the unique Star Wars trilogy, is this kind of deaths.

The (literally) slimy, slug-like crime boss met his result in 1980's Return of the Jedi, the ultimate movie in the first trio of Star Wars movies. The second, regardless that iconic, modified the galaxy — and the lifetime of the particular person responsible — perpetually.

How did Jabba the Hutt die? By his personal cruelty — type of.

Source: Lucasfilm

Jabba the Hutt was a nasty villain, and not simply because the Hutt species in Star Wars resembles a giant slug. He sat on a throne, sentenced someone who displeased him to death (by means of dropping them into a pit with a hungry monster, yes in point of fact), and enslaved innocent other folks for his own entertainment.

One of those slaves was once Princess Leia, and she or he in any case had the bodily strength to struggle again.

Dressed in a revealing outfit not of her choosing and chained to his throne, she decided she wouldn't stand for his oppression anymore. As chaos erupted round Jabba, she took the opportunity to wrap the chain connecting them around his neck and pull it tight.

The symbolism of Leia the use of Jabba's energy as a weapon to smash him is just as nice as it's graphic. It earned her a reputation that almost destroyed her political career.

Jabba the Hutt's death would come back to haunt Leia.

Years after releasing herself from Jabba's cling, Leia discovered that in the criminal underworld the Hutt was once a major ruler over, she was known as "The Huttslayer."

The Star Wars novel Bloodline printed that a dangerous felony even saved a recording of Jabba's death that, if released to the public, would reveal what Leia had accomplished.

That, blended with the extensively public discovery that Darth Vader was Leia's father, critically threatened her role as a New Republic Senator.

But simply as she overcame the danger of Jabba's chain around her neck, the long term General rose above the dark truths of her previous and in the end went on to save lots of the galaxy from evil ... again.

The time period 'Huttslayer' if truth be told came from a 'Star Wars' fan.

Can we petition to interchange the time period "Slave Leia" with "Leia the Huttslayer"? (cc: @FullOfSith)

— angie 🏴‍☠️ (@gospelflare) July 23, 2015

Star Wars: Bloodline writer Claudia Gray published in a 2017 interview that her decision to show "Slave Leia" into a more sure, empowering thought was once impressed by means of a Star Wars fan on Twitter.

"Right around when I was working on this part of the book there was a movement that went around in some Star Wars fan circles — a lot of talk about how much people don’t like the ‘Slave Leia’ outfit," the creator advised EW. "That’s her most powerless moment in the entire thing."

Claudia persisted, "Not only did I like recasting that outfit as a memory of Leia being really strong and kick-a—, but think about it — for a human being to kill a Hutt with her bare hands? That’s unbelievable. Anybody who would be able to pull that off would be remembered for it. That would be legend."

So no longer best was Jabba's death celebrated in-universe — it has now also grow to be a image of empowerment among lovers of the franchise. "Good riddance" indeed.

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