Battle of the Great Pit of Carkoon

"His High Exaltedness, the great Jabba the Hutt, has decreed that you are to be terminated immediately... You will therefore be taken to the Dune Sea and cast into the pit of Carkoon, the resting place of the all-powerful Sarlacc... In his belly, you will find a new definition of pain and suffering, as you are slowly digested over a thousand years."

- C-3PO

The Skirmish at Carkoon, also called the Battle of Carkoon, took place when Jabba the Hutt attempted to execute Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Chewbacca by throwing them into the Great Pit of Carkoon, home of the Sarlacc. However, Skywalker had devised a plan to rescue Solo and, if necessary, kill Jabba. After the Hutt refused to surrender Solo to the group in the Mission to Jabba's Palace, he had them thrown in his dungeons, and prepared to have them executed at Carkoon. They were taken to be executed, but were able to defeat Jabba's minions and kill the Hutt.

Prelude
Years earlier, Jabba hired Han Solo to smuggle spice for him. However, on one spice run, Solo was boarded by Imperial forces and forced to jettison the spice to avoid incrimination. After Solo was unable to repay the Hutt, Jabba placed a bounty on his head. Several years after the initial bounty, Solo was tracked to Cloud City on Bespin by the feared bounty hunter Boba Fett. There Solo was captured, tortured and frozen in carbonite by Darth Vader, after which he was turned over to Fett for delivery to the Hutt crime lord. After spending some time trying to track down Boba Fett, including a near-miss on Gall, the Rebels learned that Solo had finally been taken to Jabba.

Infiltrating the palace


Lando Calrissian had infiltrated Jabba's Palace as a guard under the alias of Tamtel Skreej, in case of an emergency. Luke Skywalker then sent his droids R2-D2 and C-3PO to deliver a message to Jabba the Hutt. The holographic message played by the droid requested that Jabba free Solo in a mutually beneficial arrangement with the young Jedi. It also presented the droids as gifts to the Hutt, in order to show that he wanted a peaceful agreement rather than a confrontation. Jabba refused to cooperate and surrender his favorite prize.

In the second phase of the rescue operation, Leia Organa, disguised as the bounty hunter Boushh, brought a "captured" Chewbacca to the palace to collect a bounty on his head. Jabba offered 25,000 credits for the Wookiee, but paid her 35,000 credits after heated negotiations involving a thermal detonator. The following night Organa snuck into Jabba's throne room and attempted to free Solo, releasing him from the carbonite. Before they could flee however, they were captured, as Jabba had not trusted Boushh and was laying in wait of the escape attempt. Jabba imprisoned Solo in a cell with Chewbacca and added Organa to his harem of slave girls.

Attempted Negotiations
Luke Skywalker then came to free his friends. He easily made his way past Jabba's Gamorrean guards and used a mind trick on Bib Fortuna to gain entrance to the Hutt's throne room. However, the Hutt crimelord was much less susceptible to Jedi influence. He was immune to mind tricks and refused to release Luke's friends. When Skywalker attempted to eliminate the Hutt with an appropriated blaster, Jabba pressed a button dropping him into the rancor pit. After evading the rancor, Skywalker threw a skull at the gate-control switch, dropping the heavy gate and impaling the rancor through the neck. Furious, Jabba ordered Skywalker, Solo and Chewbacca brought before him. There he sentenced them to death by being fed to the sarlacc.

The Battle
"Jabba, this is your last chance. Free us, or die."

- Luke Skywalker at the Great Pit of Carkoon

The three prisoners were taken to the Great Pit of Carkoon on a desert skiff, while Jabba and his guests watched from the Khetanna, Jabba's personal luxury sail barge. On board the skiff, Luke offered Jabba one final chance to release him and his friends, or die as a result of his refusal. Skywalker was then forced to jump, but he twisted as he fell and caught the end of the plank, using it to catapult back up onto the skiff. Unknown to anyone but Skywalker himself, R2-D2 was concealing Luke's newly constructed lightsaber. Having made his way to the deck of Jabba's sail barge, Artoo launched the lightsaber into the air and into his master's waiting hand. As the stunned guards prepared to defend themselves, Luke slashed through them, knocking them over the edge into the pit and the sarlacc's maw. Boba Fett, looking to kill the Jedi, rocketed from the barge to the skiff. As Fett raised his EE-3 carbine rifle, the Jedi cut the weapon in half. When Luke became distracted, Fett tied him with a fibercord whip, but the Jedi was able to free himself, knocking Fett to the ground in the process.



He then leaped onto the second skiff and began deflecting blaster fire. Taking advantage of this, Fett prepared to shoot him. With Fett now focused on Skywalker, Solo inadvertently swung a vibro-ax into Fett's jetpack causing it to misfire, slamming Fett into the side of the sail barge, where he tumbled into the sarlacc's mouth.

Lando Calrissian, disguised as the guard Tamtel Skreej, helped defeat some of the guards on the skiff. During the struggle he was knocked into the Pit of Carkoon. Han and Chewbacca tried to rescue their friend by lowering a vibro-ax, but the sarlacc grabbed Lando's leg and began slowly dragging him in. Han was able to free Lando and pull him to safety by wounding the beast with a blaster shot, forcing it to release him.



Noticing that the skiffs were taking heavy fire from the deck-mounted blasters on Khetanna, Skywalker leaped onto the barge, scaled his way up the side to the upper deck. There he battled Jabba's henchmen, knocking many overboard. He also quickly dispatched the guard manning the heavy cannon.

The Rebels were assisted by some of Jabba's traitorous henchmen, such as Ree-Yees, a Gran who did not prevent Leia Organa from strangling Jabba to death. Though not a rebel sympathizer, Hermi Odle also unknowingly provided aid when he took advantage of the chaos and shot his rival, Pote Snitkin.



As a battle raged outside, Organa used the chaos to cut power inside, closing the side viewports and throwing the interior into darkness. In the confusion she threw her chain around Jabba's body, and using all her strength, choked him to death. With the help of R2-D2, she was released from her chains, and hurried to join Skywalker on the deck, followed by Artoo and Threepio. Skywalker told Organa to aim the cannon at the deck of the barge, at which point Taym Dren-garen shot his right hand, exposing his mechanical limb, but the Jedi quickly recovered and continued to prevent any guards from reaching the cannon. R2-D2 pushed C-3PO from the barge and both droids landed getting partially buried in the sand. Skywalker swung with Organa from the barge to the skiff just as he kick-started the blaster cannon. After picking up the droids, Calrissian piloted the remaining skiff with all the rebels aboard safely away from the ensuing explosion of Khetanna.

Aftermath
Boba Fett managed to escape from the pit days later, thanks to his Mandalorian armor and iron will. He was found by a fellow bounty hunter, Dengar, who nursed him back to health.



The death of Jabba canceled the debts of many individuals, and as such, Luke was held with considerable favor for removing that dangerous complication in their lives. In response to his son's death, Zorba the Hutt placed a bounty on Organa, which the Desilijic kajidic later extended to Solo, Chewbacca, and Skywalker. The bounty was not formally rescinded until Organa's election as Chief of State, as the Hutts did not wish to further antagonize the New Republic.

Many beings who had been slaves of Jabba escaped, and started their lives over, such as Doallyn, the dancer Yarna, and the members of the Max Rebo Band.

Skywalker and the rest of the Rebels would go on to fight in the Battle of Endor, where the Jedi would defeat Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine would be killed. The Death Star II would be destroyed, giving the Rebel Alliance their biggest victory in the Galactic Civil War.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
 * Star Wars: Return of the Jedi 2: The Emperor Commands
 * And the Band Played On: The Band's Tale
 * Tales from Jabba's Palace
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
 * The Ordeal of Boba Fett
 * The Truce at Bakura
 * A Credit for Your Thoughts
 * Zorba the Hutt's Revenge
 * Queen of the Empire
 * Heir to the Empire



Non-canon appearances

 * LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
 * The Revenge of Tag & Bink
 * The Return of Tag & Bink: Special Edition
 * The Lost Lightsaber

Notes and references
Kampf bei der Grube von Carkoon Battle of Carkoon