Sarlacc/Legends

"In his belly you will find a new definition of pain and suffering as you are slowly digested&hellip;over a thousand years"

- C-3PO

The sarlacc was a long-lived, plant-like, omnivorous arthropod found on several planets across the Galaxy.

Lifespan
The lifespan of a sarlacc has been estimated to measure 20,000 to 50,000 years. Younger members of the species could move under the sands rapidly and catch their prey much faster, while older ones remained immobile, waiting for prey to stumble into their clutches. Females generally grew much larger than males.

The largest known specimen of the species resided in the Great Pit of Carkoon, beneath the sands of the Dune Sea on the remote planet of Tatooine. While this sarlacc resided in the desert, most sarlaccs preferred damp environments. Xenobiologists were unsure as to whether the sarlacc was animal or plant, as it possessed the characteristics of both kingdoms, but most scientists preferred the theory that the sarlacc was a giant plant organism.

Anatomy
The sarlacc's body did not have a skeletal structure or a solid framework, but it did possess a strong muscular body with large roots and a series of nerve endings on its skin. Its brain was located in a large sac enclosed inside of its body, with several attachments to the stomachs, enabling it to absorb the thoughts of its victims quickly and easily.

The sarlacc also had roots on the outside of its body to leech the nutrients from the ground and to sense the vibrations from creatures on the desert sands. The sarlacc lacked eyes and ears, instead relying on the sensors in its roots to "see" its prey. The sarlacc's mouth contained large mucus-coated teeth and strong tentacles for catching prey. The tentacles grabbed prey and pulled them into its maw, whereas the inward-pointed teeth functioned to keep victims in the mouth.

The sarlacc also had a large beak that emerged from the throat. The "beak", in reality, was the sarlacc's tongue, and the tongue within the tongue was actually yet another stubby tentacle that aided in swallowing. The sarlacc's throat had many veins and vessels which acted as sensors to determine the size, weight, and strength of the victim, allowing the sarlacc to decide which stomach to put its prey into; stronger prey were put into the secondary stomachs, while smaller prey went into the main stomach. The sarlacc's throat also possessed many microscopic openings that dispersed mucus to keep the throat healthy&mdash;the sand and gravel that dropped into the mouth could damage the lining of the throat. The more the sarlacc ate, the more the stomachs ran out of room, and, in rare cases, it used a small number of its victims to grow the stomachs by enmeshing those few victims into the stomachs. After the sarlacc digested a victim, it dispersed the remains out small openings on the underside of its body. The sarlacc also used small air holes around its mouth for breathing. Its lungs were located near the aforementioned brain sac, allowing oxygen to reach the brain and blood quickly.

The sarlacc's roots functioned as tentacles during adolescence, and then grew into full immovable stalks during adulthood. They absorbed tiny fungal life forms, bugs, and microscopic cells and bacteria into the body from the ground for nutrients. The sarlacc's body could also absorb liquid molecules through small openings in the roots, to keep its water level up.

The tentacles on the mouth were actually thin strong tongues that could feel and taste the ground and prey. The beaks of other sarlaccs had other tongues within their beak that emerged to grab prey and directly pull them into its beak. The tentacles were known to stretch as far as four meters to grab prey.

Digestive system
"The Sarlacc found me somewhat indigestible"

- Boba Fett

Only the sarlacc's gaping maw could be seen from the surface, with the vast majority of its huge body lying beneath the ground. It lay in wait for any living creature to stumble into its maw, and additionally, it pulled nearby victims in with one of its many tentacles. A sarlacc's mouth was surrounded by rows of retractable razor-sharp teeth, used to chew victims during adolescence, before the digestive system was fully formed. Adult sarlaccs developed a beaked, snake-like tongue at the center of the fearsome pit, which doubled as a mouth.

After being swallowed by the tongue, the victim made its way into the sarlacc's stomach to be digested, purportedly being kept alive and slowly digested for a millennium. A strong network of vessels inside the stomach punctured the victim's skin and muscles and then embedded itself into victims before injecting neurotoxins into them, preventing the victims from escaping and ensuring that they remained immersed in the acidic fluids in the stomach, and attached to the walls of the stomach.

The vessels also provided victims with nutrients to keep them alive while they were digested in agony; when a victim was in the stomach for a long time period, the sarlacc actually embedded the victims in the lining of the stomach to make room for other victims it swallowed and to make the stomach stronger so that other victims could not escape. A number of smaller, secondary stomachs were used to store victims for later consumption at times when the sarlacc needed larger amounts of nutrients, such as when it needed to grow, breed, or strengthen its tentacles and beak for catching stronger, larger prey. The secondary stomachs also functioned as a space to store victims when the main stomach ran out of room, although this was rare. The acidic fluids in the stomachs was composed of powerful chemicals that took much longer to digest prey than acids in the stomach of other creatures. They specifically targeted skin and muscle tissue, because that was where the nutrients in the victims was. The secondary stomachs were also lined with more vessels and were smaller and more cramped to enclose the victims in, so that the sarlacc did not have to deal with the victim trying to escape its hold. The pain endured by its victims in this process was reputed to be unimaginable, with only rare individuals such as Boba Fett being able to resist.

In addition to the acidic fluids that digested the outer portions of the victims, the sarlacc also processed its victims from within. The sarlacc's blood was highly caustic, and was employed in the digestion of prey. The tendrils and vessels pumped the sarlacc's acidic blood into its victims to digest the inside of their bodies, and to carry back nutrients from the victims. This process also provided the victims with minimal sustenance.

Mating and spawning
A Sand Person legend told of how the sarlacc gave birth to itself in Tatooine's planetary core in the days before the twin suns split apart from a single star. According to this legend, it would continue to eat everything it came in contact with until eventually it was forced to consume itself. Though this was obviously not a true account of the sarlacc's origin, the Tuskens themselves refused to accept any other explanation.

When a male sarlacc made contact with a female, the male attached himself to her in a parasitic fashion. The male then injected sperm into the spore production sac. The couple then reproduced by releasing the spores, which could leave the atmosphere and travel long distances through the Galaxy to other planets. Because of this fantastic ability to propogate, the species' point of origin was never accurately determined. Once the spore settled down, it attached itself to an organism and sucked blood from it to feed itself.

As the sarlacc "baby" grew into a larva, it would eventually challenge larger creatures. If the other creature happened to eat the sarlacc larva, it would be killed and eaten from the inside by the larva.

After finishing its meal, the larva would dig itself into a pit, growing roots to anchor itself in the ground while it grew into a full sized sarlacc. The roots also functioned to absorb nutrients from the ground if the sarlacc couldn't get enough from its victims.

Semi-sentience


Jabba the Hutt sentenced Luke Skywalker and his companions to "death by sarlacc" in 4 ABY. Prior to his execution, Luke Skywalker was able to retrieve his lightsaber from the astromech droid R2-D2 and free his companions. In addition to numerous other casualties during the ensuing battle, Han Solo obliviously knocked the notorious bounty hunter Boba Fett into the pit with a force pike. Originally presumed dead, Fett remained alive, using his jetpack some while later and becoming the first of only two beings ever known to escape from a sarlacc's belly alive (Zorba Desilijic Tiure being the other). Despite the beast's reputation, it was not surprising considering Fett's Mandalorian armor, tenacity, and strong will to live. While studying a holographic recording recovered from Fett's helmet camera, Senior Anthropologist Mammon Hoole discovered an unsettling revelation: the beast apparently possessed the ability to telepathically torture its prey. In this recording, Fett appeared to be reacting to stimuli that did not exist, suggesting that sarlacc were capable not only of communication, but apparently of malevolence, feeding off of the fears of their prisoners. This led Hoole to classify the sarlacc as a semi-sentient creature. It was also believed that the consciousnesses of the sarlacc's victims joined to create a huge network of awareness. The victims were able to communicate with one another through this ghoulish network. As the sarlacc absorbed the thoughts of its victims, it would become more and more intelligent, to the point where a sarlacc could almost predict what its victims would do in its stomachs to try and escape, or when it was hunting its prey.

The fibrous vessels in the stomachs connected victims together. The digestive fluids and the sarlacc's blood traveled through the vessels and into the victims together, they were all connected together, like an electrical current, bringing the victim's minds, thoughts, bodies, and spirits together, keeping them at one with the sarlacc's body, brain, and soul.

Having long admired the patience of the sarlacc, the Jedi Order named a form of lightsaber combat, Shii-Cho, after the beast.

Known locations

 * Aargonar
 * Dathomir
 * Oovo IV
 * Socorro
 * Tatooine (Great Pit of Carkoon)

Known sarlacc victims

 * Boba Fett
 * Kithaba
 * Mica
 * P'tan
 * Taym Dren-Garen
 * Vedain
 * Velken Tezeri
 * Yotts Orren
 * Zorba Desilijic Tiure

Behind the scenes



 * In the Star Wars Trilogy (Special Edition) re-release of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the Sarlacc in the Pit of Carkoon was revised to include a beak-like mouth and extra tentacles.
 * There are several different depictions of the sarlacc's body that contradict one another. The Wildlife of Star Wars, for example, includes a sketch of a very plant-like sarlacc. This now appears to be the canon sarlacc. It has root-like limbs to anchor itself and collect water. It also has many chambers to store and digest food. Most other depictions are of a worm-like creature, with tentacles on the outside of its body.