Rancor/Legends

"The rancor is one of the most hideous beasts I have ever encountered, best described as a walking collection of fangs and claws, with no thought other than to kill and eat."

- Mammon Hoole

Rancors were five to ten-meter tall carnivorous reptomammals which originated on the planet of Dathomir. They were always born brown, but in special circumstances, such as the Mutant rancor, their color could be different. Although found on other worlds such as Ottethan, Corulag, and Lehon (where they were brought on crashed starships), those from Dathomir were said to be stronger and more intelligent than others.

Description
"My rancor seeks flesh!"

- A Nightsister

Warm-blooded rancors fall into the reptomammal category, along with other creatures such as the wampa. While it is known that rancors did care for their young&mdash;usually born two at a time&mdash;they did not suckle. As with reptiles, they hatched from eggs. The young rode the mother, one dorsal, one ventral, until reaching maturity. Rancors walked on two relatively, stubby legs, with longer forelimbs utilized for catching prey. A rancor's flat face was dominated by a large mouth full of razor sharp teeth. The skin of a rancor was tough enough to deflect blaster bolts, making it an efficient killing machine&mdash;and an excellent source of leather for expensive vests and boots. At least on Dathomir, rancors had good night-vision, but their eyesight was not as sharp as a Human's in daylight.

Dathomir


Though they were usually considered unintelligent beasts, the rancors of Dathomir at least were semi-sentient, caring creatures who mourned their family members when they died, and who passed on oral histories of the matriarchal herds into which these were organized. Their native way of life seems to have been very primitive, using their strength and size to hunt live prey across the planet's savannahs&mdash;with the planet's Human population at one point becoming their primary prey species; but in the last centuries of the Galactic Republic, the rancor was "domesticated" by the Witches of Dathomir (though Force-sensitivity was apparently necessary to accomplish the difficult task) and the symbiosis of rancor sow and female mount seems to have played a major role in dictating the subsequent structure of Dathomiri society. According to the rancors' own traditions, the symbiosis began when a warrior-woman met and healed an injured female; by mounting the rancor's back, her sharper eyesight enabled it to hunt better prey during the day, so that it grew in size and status to become a mighty herd-mother.



By the time of the New Republic, most of Dathomir's rancor population lived in symbiosis with the planet's Human clans, being used as mounts, and learning to make and use armor and bladed weapons with the help of the Witches. In the first years of the New Republic, Tosh the herd leader of the Singing Mountain Clan's rancors, learned to read and write, and began to pass on this skill to other rancors in her group.

Around the years of the Galactic Empire, the last herds of untamed mountain rancors were driven into the plains and destroyed; but a few decades later, a wild herd wandered into the Great Canyon, indicating that a population had survived in the vast tracts of Dathomir's surface area that remained unexplored, beyond the knowledge of the planet's Human population.

The Wider Galaxy


The rancor was relatively well-known in the wider Galaxy, having spread through the Galaxy with early spacefaring civilizations even before the rise of the Old Republic; but the rancor's homeworld had been forgotten, and its sapience was rarely recognized. Offworld breeds were generally smaller and perhaps less intelligent than those of Dathomir, and had evolved into distinct species, such as the amphibious Tra'cor of Socorro or the Bull Rancor of Felucia.

On a few worlds like Ottethan, rancors were used as mounts by warrior clans as they were on Dathomir. Herds of young rancors roamed wild on Lehon, descended from those brought by the Infinite Empire, and some were domesticated as beasts of war by the Black Rakata under The One.

However, Rancors were perhaps most closely associated with the criminal underworld, where individual creatures were kept as pets, guards and status-symbols. Perhaps the most famous such rancor was the one owned by Jabba Desilijic Tiure, who kept it in a pit beneath his palace courts, dropping in victims who displeased him in some way to feed it.



His rancor was cared for by Malakili, a famous beast tamer who had traveled with the Circus Horrificus. Malakili formed an unlikely bond with the animal, even going so far as to sneak the rancor out of Jabba's palace for a run in the desert, and wept when the beast was killed by Luke Skywalker.

The Zann Consortium used many rancors with Nightsisters astride them in their campaign to corrupt the Galaxy, most notably Nightsister Silri's pet, Cuddles. The Confederacy of Independent Systems also used a few rancors in their war against the Republic.

While stranded on Taris, the reformed Revan had to pass a rancor in order to infiltrate the Black Vulkars base. He did this by placing a synthetic odor that made the rancor think that its prey was nearby within a pile of corpses (its food), where he had placed a grenade. The rancor, grabbing what it thought was food, ate the grenade, which exploded in its mouth and killed the beast. Rancors were occasionally used for gambling matches, pitting one beast against another or unleashing one upon slaves and seeing which one survived the longest. One such gambling ring existed on Nar Kreeta.

The Galactic Empire attempted to exploit the combat potential of the rancor &mdash; perhaps not a great surprise given that a fully grown Dathomiri rancor was capable of single-handedly destroying an entire AT-ST unit. The reborn Emperor Palpatine also kept several alchemically altered Chrysalide rancors at his Citadel on Byss.

Years later, a mutant rancor that was immune to conventional weapons and could spew out toxic fumes capable of killing a Human near-instantly was discovered in captivity on Taanab. Released by the Disciples of Ragnos as a diversion, it was slain by Jedi Knight Jaden Korr.

Long prior to the rise of the Galactic Empire, the Jedi Order named the Form VI: Niman style of lightsaber combat after the rancor. This was a style that was known for being well rounded, with no certain offensive or defensive attributes. This might have suggested something about the Rancor's predatory style.

Known owners of rancors

 * Nightsister Silri
 * Jabba Desilijic Tiure

Planets on which rancors were found

 * Byss
 * Carida
 * Corulag
 * Dathomir
 * Felucia
 * Lehon
 * Mon Calamari
 * Nar Kreeta
 * Ohma-D'un
 * Ottethan
 * Taanab
 * Taris
 * Tatooine

Subspecies

 * Bull Rancors
 * Mutant rancor
 * Tra'cors
 * Chrysalides

Known Rancors

 * Cuddles
 * Jabba's rancor

Behind the scenes



 * The rancor in Return of the Jedi was described by its creators as a "cross between a bear and a potato." It was first realized as an actor in a suit, but no one was satisfied with the results. The rancor was then made as a puppet, with its movements sped up several times for the effect that it was real. A combination of matte painting, cartoon rotoscoping, and CG elements were added around the creation to make it look bigger and more menacing. Some of these changes were later omitted or replaced with CG effects in the 2004 DVD release of the original trilogy.

Sound
[[Media:Rancor roar 02.ogg|Hear a rancor]]