Pateesa

This article is about the rancor. You may be looking for the phrase.

"Oh no! The rancor!"

―C-3PO^[src]

Pateesa^[5] (Huttese for "friend") was a male^[3] rancor owned by the Hutt crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure after his majordomo Bib Fortuna gave it to him as a birthday gift.^[6] The Hutt kept the pet in his palace on the desert planet Tatooine,^[2] where it was cared for by the human keeper Malakili.^[4] Pateesa was killed by the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker during a mission to rescue his friend and fellow rebel Han Solo.

BiographyEdit

Jabba often fed his enemies or those who upset him to the rancor Pateesa. When the Twi'lek dancer Oola displeased the Hutt shortly before the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, he dropped her into the pit below his throne room where he kept Pateesa, and the rancor devoured her.^[2] Another victim was an unidentified Aqualish who had incurred the wrath of Jabba. Jabba and his entourage would often watch Pateesa devour his victims for entertainment.^[7]

Shortly after Oola's death, the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker arrived at the palace with the intent of rescuing his friend Han Solo who Jabba held captive. However, Jabba rejected his demands and threw Skywalker into the pit along with the unlucky Gamorrean guard, Jubnuk. Pateesa quickly ate the guard, but Skywalker proved to be more of a challenge: the young Jedi Knight, when it first attempted to eat him, placed a large femur between its jaws, forcing the rancor to let him go before snapping it in two with effort. It tried to devour him again, but Luke smashed its hand in self-defense with a rock. Luke, out of options due to the rancor's handlers preventing him from escaping, smashed the control panel with a skull, causing a dividing door within the pit to pierce and crush the beast's skull, killing it.^[2]

LegacyEdit

Pateesa's death greatly upset Jabba, who immediately demanded Skywalker and his companions be executed at the Great Pit of Carkoon upon witnessing how a mere human was able to kill his beast. However, Jabba's decision ultimately sealed his fate, as he ended up geting killed above the pit whereas the Jedi and his allies escaped.^[2]

Malakili was devastated by the rancor's death, believing that he had failed him and no longer had purpose in life. The trainer was also bitter towards Skywalker for killing his pet and companion. Malakili found a new purpose in life when he encountered the vigilante lawman and Mayor of Freetown Cobb Vanth, who enlisted his services in looking after the Huttlet Borgo and taming two rontos.^[5]

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Behind the scenesEdit

"I like the idea that everyone loves someone. And even the worst, most horrible monster you can imagine was loved by his keeper. And the rancor probably loved his keeper."

―George Lucas on Pateesa's relationship with Malakili^[src]

Rancor07 — Pateesa battling a krayt dragon.

Pateesa, then identified simply as Jabba's rancor, first appeared in the 1983 film Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi^[2] and was later identified in Chuck Wendig's 2016 novel Aftermath: Life Debt.^[5]

Originally, Pateesa was intended to be a man in a suit, but the results weren't satisfyingly realistic, so it was filmed in the form of a rod puppet.^[8] The rancor's roars were remixed from an audio recording of an aggressive Dachshund.^[source?]

An image often mistaken to be Pateesa battling a krayt dragon is actually a joke from the crew of Industrial Light & Magic. They placed a model of one of the dragons from the 1981 film Dragonslayer in the arms of the rancor model and took a picture. The picture was included in the 1997 behind the scenes book Star Wars: Chronicles.^[9]