Great Pit of Carkoon/Legends

The Great Pit of Carkoon was located within the Dune Sea on the planet Tatooine. The large depression in the sand was the home of the rapacious, if slow-eating, creature called the Sarlacc.

Its proximity to Jabba's Palace, paired with the torturous death provided by the Sarlacc, made it an ideal spot for executions to be carried out for Jabba the Hutt's pleasure.

Not much is actually known of the Sarlacc, since supposedly none has entered it, and managed to escape. The Sarlacc is an odd creature that has lived multiple millenia, and since they don't see regular prey, their digestive system has evolved. What information that is know, can be heard from C-3PO in RTOJ. He claims, "You will learn a new meaning of pain as you are digested for a thousand years." But this can be bested by a EU tale of Boba Fett's journey into the Sarlacc's stomache. Someone who is still being by the Sarlacc, is used by the Sarlac to speak with Boba. It's unreported as to how long a victim will be held by a Sarlacc, but evidence from Boba's encouter with another human in the Sarlacc, shows it could be for over 4,000 years. The Sarlacc will "integrate" with it's victims, and acually communicate with them.

Behind the scenes
The sarlacc went through a series of changes when George Lucas rereleased the original trilogy as the special edition on VHS in 1997. Several additional tentacles and an extension with a mouth and beak was added.

Note that while original ROTJ showed Boba Fett falling in the pit and then lost from view, leaving some freedom to EU authors to retcon his escape, the Special edition CGI beak-maw actually is shown to swallow Fett.

In the video game "Star Wars: Bounty Hunter", another feeding hole for the Sarlacc is shown, this one used by Gardulla the Hutt.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided
 * Star Wars Tales 6: Fortune, Fate, and the Natural History of the Sarlacc
 * Star Wars: Demolition
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
 * Tales From Jabba's Palace
 * Star Wars: Bounty Hunter