Loje Nella/Legends

Loje Nella was an intelligent cliffborer worm who worked as an assistant accountant to the Nimbanel Mosep Binneed, in service to the Hutt crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure. She watched the Max Rebo Band perform "Lapti Nek" in Jabba's Palace on the planet Tatooine in the year 4 ABY. Nella and the Hutt's court later caught Leia Organa trying to rescue Han Solo from imprisonment in the palace.

Biography
A reluctant employee of the Hutt crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure, Loje Nella served as an assistant accountant to Mosep Binneed. However, she purposefully misappropriated Jabba's credits to obstruct his criminal activities.

In the year 4 ABY, Nella watched the Max Rebo Band perform "Lapti Nek" in the audience chamber of Jabba's Palace on the planet Tatooine from between the Human musician Jess and Quarren accountant Tessek. Later, Princess Leia Organa, a member of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, infiltrated the palace in disguise to rescue the smuggler Han Solo from the Hutt's clutches. However, Jabba learned of her deception and lied in wait with members of his court to catch Organa in the act. Between Max Rebo and Droopy McCool of the Max Rebo Band, Nella was hidden in a curtained lift shaft when they caught Organa, having just freed Solo from carbonite in the connecting audience chamber. The Hutt and members of his entourage later attempted to execute Solo, his First Mate Chewbacca, and the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker at the Great Pit of Carkoon; much of the court died in the ensuing battle, including Jabba himself.

Personality and traits
Nella laughed when Jabba's court captured Leia. She was reluctant to work for Jabba and intentionally mismanaged his funds.

An intelligent cliffborer worm covered in green moss, she had brown skin and brown eyes.

Behind the scenes
Originally created for the 1983 film Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, Loje Nella was portrayed via a puppet operated by Mike Quinn and given the production nickname "Toadstool Terror" by the creature creators of the Industrial Light & Magic Monster Shop. She was first identified by the 1998 Jabba's Palace Limited expansion set for the Star Wars Customizable Card Game, a Star Wars Legends collectible card game published by Decipher, Inc. "Who's Who in Jabba's Palace," an article written by Daniel Wallace for Star Wars Insider 60, mistakenly claimed that Nella was cut from Return of the Jedi, despite being present in the background of the final film. Cut footage of Nella was later used in "Lapti Nek": The Music Video from Jabba's Palace, a music video distributed by MTV in 1983 to accompany the release of the "Lapti Nek" record.

There existed a period of confusion surrounding the identity of Loje Nella's species. The CCG described her as having "Descended from a species of cliff boring worms," in keeping with The Illustrated Star Wars Universe, a reference book written by Kevin J. Anderson and released on December 1, 1995, which depicted the cliffborer worm using a production sketch of Nella by Joe Johnston. Despite this, an image of Loje Nella was edited by Cliff Nielsen and featured on the cover of Jedi Apprentice: The Shattered Peace, a young readers book written by Jude Watson and released on October 1, 2000, intended to represent a member of the Rutanian species. To further complicate matters, Leland Chee, keeper of the Holocron continuity database, initially confirmed that Nella was a Riorian, another species based from concept art of the creature that would become Loje Nella, on the now-defunct StarWars.com Message Boards. However, he would later debate the accuracy of this and said that the identity of her species should be determined in a future source. The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, a three-volume encyclopedia edited by Bob Vitas and released on December 9, 2008, confirmed that Nella was an "intelligent cliff-borer worm."

While "Who's Who in Jabba's Palace" referred to Nella using masculine pronouns, The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia used feminine. As the former was written from an out-of-universe perspective and the latter in-universe, while also being the more recent source, this article assumes Loje Nella to be female.

Appearances

 * "Lapti Nek": The Music Video from Jabba's Palace
 * Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi