# Jabba the Hutt **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 16, 2008, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jabba-the-hutt/473024 "2008-11-16T19:36:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jabba-the-hutt/473024/1 "2008-11-16T19:36:25Z")
How did Jabba gain his power? Why would any species submit to a fat slug that would be the easiest thing to defeat? It’s not even like Hutt’s are that smart. Jabba seems to exist only to be tricked. He was tricked in Return of the Jedi many times, and in the Clone Wars by Dooku. So how can a creature that is not worth anything in a physical conflict, and not very bright become the ruler of star systems? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jabba-the-hutt/473024/2 "2008-11-16T19:51:32Z")
[More than you ever wanted to know](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jabba_Desilijic_Tiure) about Jabba. Basically, he’s a crime lord who inherited most of his power. At 600 years of age, he embodies the adage that “Age and treachery will (almost) always overcome youth and skill.” ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jabba-the-hutt/473024/3 "2008-11-16T19:53:19Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > [More than you ever wanted to know](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jabba_Desilijic_Tiure) about Jabba. > > Basically, he’s a crime lord who inherited most of his power. At 600 years of age, he embodies the adage that “Age and treachery will (almost) always overcome youth and skill.” Hmm, but in The Clone Wars, his Huttlet is also an useless slug. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jabba-the-hutt/473024/4 "2008-11-16T21:16:25Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Why would any species submit to a fat slug that would be the easiest thing to defeat? --snip-- So how can a creature that is not worth anything in a physical conflict, and not very bright become the ruler of star systems? We should ask Donald Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jabba-the-hutt/473024/5 "2008-11-16T21:19:24Z")
He’s strong minded enough to beat Luke’s Jedi mind tricks. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jabba-the-hutt/473024/6 "2008-11-16T21:26:43Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > He’s strong minded enough to beat Luke’s Jedi mind tricks. Ah, but IIRC that’s at least partially due to his physical makeup, rather than entirely from frame of mind. Like Watto in Phantom Menace, Hutts are particularly resistant to mind tricks. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jabba-the-hutt/473024/7 "2008-11-16T21:53:50Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > Ah, but IIRC that’s at least partially due to his physical makeup, rather than entirely from frame of mind. Like Watto in Phantom Menace, Hutts are particularly resistant to mind tricks. Right, and he’s not terribly good at smelling old fashioned deception as was shown amply in both Return of the Jedi and Clone Wars. In my estimation Jabba as a badass shows me that it’s more tell than show on the writers part. I mean you see him eat people, but usually they are cowering in fear or are in some other way in the power of his organization. Why that organization would do his bidding in the first place is what I don’t understand. Hutts to me seem like they would be pretty low on the evolutionary latter. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jabba-the-hutt/473024/8 "2008-11-16T21:57:12Z")
Blackmail, extortion, selling and buying of information and goods…all organizations started small. They live long enough to get large, as it were. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jabba-the-hutt/473024/9 "2008-11-16T22:04:16Z")
Well, many years ago, Jabba and his brother Dinsdale started an operation which they called “The Operation.” In this, they would threaten to beat up a victim if he paid them money… ---
**Author:** ![wunderkammer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ed8c4c/32.png) [@wunderkammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wunderkammer)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jabba-the-hutt/473024/10 "2008-11-16T22:17:39Z")
[A spectacular fanwank](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Hutt#Biology_and_appearance) in the same wiki would have you know that Hutts are much more athletic than they look, as well as hard to kill. Having ignored The Clone Wars and pretty much anything other than the trilogies, I’m not sure if this is evident in the movies/cartoons, though. Perhaps Jabba & family’s extreme fat sluggisness is a case of nurture rather than nature. Maybe Hutts that aren’t born into decadence like Jabba’s son turn out a bit more sprightly, having gotten a bit more exercise. \ That link also brings up the subject of Hutt gender and sexuality, but it doesn’t address my question. Is Jabba considered by Hutts to be a creepy paraphiliac for his attraction to human-shaped females, or is that sort of thing common? ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jabba-the-hutt/473024/11 "2008-11-16T22:20:38Z")
> [@wunderkammer](#): > > [A spectacular fanwank](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Hutt#Biology_and_appearance) in the same wiki would have you know that Hutts are much more athletic than they look, as well as hard to kill. Having ignored The Clone Wars and pretty much anything other than the trilogies, I’m not sure if this is evident in the movies/cartoons, though. > > Perhaps Jabba & family’s extreme fat sluggisness is a case of nurture rather than nature. Maybe Hutts that aren’t born into decadence like Jabba’s son turn out a bit more sprightly, having gotten a bit more exercise. I guess that’s the answer I am looking for. Thanks for pointing me to the portion I missed. > [@](#): > > \ > > That link also brings up the subject of Hutt gender and sexuality, but it doesn’t address my question. Is Jabba considered by Hutts to be a creepy paraphiliac for his attraction to human-shaped females, or is that sort of thing common? That’s a great question. My wife and I found the idea that he has a son somewhat bizarre. By Hutt ages, that son would still be a child by the time he’s licking up Princess Leia. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jabba-the-hutt/473024/12 "2008-11-17T00:56:54Z")
> [@wunderkammer](#): > > [URL=“[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Hutt#Biology\_and\_appearance](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Hutt#Biology_and_appearance)”] > \ > > That link also brings up the subject of Hutt gender and sexuality, but it doesn’t address my question. Is Jabba considered by Hutts to be a creepy paraphiliac for his attraction to human-shaped females, or is that sort of thing common? I’ve pointed out in the past that Jabba’s attentions towards Leia would be like us dressing up a goat in a teddy. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jabba-the-hutt/473024/13 "2008-11-17T01:04:28Z")
Is it possible that Jabba knows how repulsive he is to humanoid females, and simply does it to degradate them? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jabba-the-hutt/473024/14 "2008-11-17T01:19:54Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Is it possible that Jabba knows how repulsive he is to humanoid females, and simply does it to degradate them? That was always my theory as to why he treated Leia as he did. Not because he found primates attractive, but because he knew that being near naked on a leash in public would humiliate her. It also fits his style, like hanging the frozen Han Solo on the wall - he likes trophies, and showing off the defeat of his enemies. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jabba-the-hutt/473024/15 "2008-11-17T01:24:02Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > I’ve pointed out in the past that Jabba’s attentions towards Leia would be like us dressing up a goat in a teddy. :eek: Damn. Did I leave the web-cam on again? ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jabba-the-hutt/473024/16 "2008-11-17T01:34:59Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > I’ve pointed out in the past that Jabba’s attentions towards Leia would be like us dressing up a goat in a teddy. :eek: Well we don’t know what close proximity to other sentient races would do to the way that we see things. Also you are assuming that Hutt sexuality is the same as ours in that it would be opposed to other species. The degradation issue is a good one. Humans are the clear dominate species in the Galaxy, so maybe by showing that he has human pleasure slaves he is displaying his mastery.