Rescue of Han Solo

The Rescue of Han Solo, also known as the Battle of the Great Pit of Carkoon, was a mission carried out by members of the Alliance to Restore the Republic to rescue Han Solo, who was frozen in carbonite, from Jabba the Hutt. Solo's friends in the Rebel Alliance set out to find and rescue the former smuggler from Jabba's Palace on Tatooine. Solo was freed by his friends, but the crime lord ordered that they be executed. This led to a battle at the Great Pit of Carkoon between the small group of Rebels and Jabba's forces. One of the Rebels, Princess Leia Organa, killed Jabba, while Luke Skywalker and the others fought off Jabba's guards. With Jabba dead, the Rebels escaped and returned to the Rebel fleet.

Prelude
"If I told you half the things I've heard about this Jabba the Hutt, you'd probably short circuit!"

- C-3PO to R2-D2

After the Darth Vader set a trap for Luke Skywalker on Bespin, Han Solo was frozen in carbonite and given to the bounty hunter Boba Fett so he could collect the bounty on Solo, in return for helping set up the trap. When Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca found where Solo was being held, Clarissian infiltrated the palace as a guard, and Skywalker traveled to Tattooine, building himself a new lightsaber while there.

Arrival of the droids
"I don't think they're going to let us in, Artoo. We better go."

- C-3PO to R2-D2, before entering the palace

In preparation for his arrival, Skywalker sent the protocol droid C-3PO and the astromech R2-D2(inside whom he had hidden his lightsaber) to Jabba's palace, under the pretense of negotiating for Solo. After being greeted and interrogated by a gatekeeper droid, they were stopped by Gamorrean gaurds, led by Bib Fortuna. Upon telling Fortuna that they would only give the message to Jabba himself, they were brought before the crime lord. R2 played a message from Skywalker, who offered the droids in exchange for the smuggler, much to 3PO's surprise. The Hutt, however, refused the offer, but still kept the droids, ordering them to EV-9D9, who assigned them their jobs within the palace. 3PO became the Hutt's new translator, while R2 was assigned to be a server aboard the Khetanna.

Leia and Chewbacca
Knowing the unlikelihood of Jabba agreeing to Luke's offer, Leia Organa, disguised as the bounty hunter Boushh, traveled to the Hutt's palace, bringing with her Chewbacca, under the pretense of negotiating for the bounty on the Wookie's head. Bringing a thermal detonator to ensure that he accepted her deal of 50000 credits, the two eventually settled on a payment of 35000. Later that night, when most of the court seemed to be asleep, Organa snuck into Jabba's main audience chamber and freed Solo from his carbonite imprisonment. However, just as the two were about to escape from the palace, the heard, to their horror, the sound of Jabba laughing. A curtain on a wall was drawn back, revealing Jabba and several members of his court, having anticipated Organa's attempt to free Solo. The smuggler attempted to negotiate with the crime lord, offering to pay triple what he owed, but Jabba refused, fed up with Solo's delays. He ordered the captain to be taken to his prison, where he was reunited with Chewbacca. Organa, on the other hand, became the Hutt's new slave girl, since Oola, her predecessor, had been eaten by Pateesa, Jabba's rancor.

Skywalker then ventured to the palace himself. After bypassing the Gamorrean guards with a force choke, and Fortuna with a mind trick, he found himself before Jabba. Attempting to coerce the crime lord into giving up his friends with a mind trick, he discovered that Hutts were immune to such manipulations. His primary plan having failed, Skywalker telekinetically grabbed a blaster from the surrounding bounty hunters, intending to make Jabba cooperate by force. However, Jabba activated a trapdoor that dropped him into the rancor pit, though he dragged a Gamorrean guard with him.

The Rancor pit
The two tumbled into the pit, and a gate on the far side of the pit lifted. As Pateesa emerged, the guard tried to escape, but the effort was futile; the beast ate the Gamorrean in one bite. The rancor then turned his attention to Skywalker, who, though unable to avoid the creature's grip, managed to grab a bone from the floor. As the rancor lifted Skywalker to his jaws, the young Jedi lodged the bone in Pateesa's mouth, distracting him long enough to drop Skywalker. He temporarily hid in a nook in the wall before running under the rancor to the gate he had come from, but that end of the pit did not entail an exit either.

With Pateesa approaching quickly, Skywalker noticed a switch on his side of the gate. As the rancor passed under the gate, the Jedi threw a skull at the control, causing the gate to close on the creature's neck, killing it immediately. Shocked, Malakili, Giran, and another guard entered the pit. While the guard secured Skywalker, Malakili confirmed Pateesa's death, and wept with Giran. Enraged, Jabba had Solo and Chewbacca brought to him, and ordered them, along with Skywalker, cast into the Great Pit of Carkoon.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Battlefront
 * Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back
 * Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure
 * Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi
 * Episode VI: Return of the Jedi Read-Along Storybook and CD
 * Rescue from Jabba's Palace
 * Epic Yarns: Return of the Jedi
 * Aftermath: Life Debt
 * Bloodline