# Return of the Jedi random discussion question... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 10, 2011, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/return-of-the-jedi-random-discussion-question/605769 "2011-12-10T21:42:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/return-of-the-jedi-random-discussion-question/605769/41 "2012-01-08T21:33:21Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > … > > Also, even before that, Mr. Fett showed up in the animated segment of the special that we dare not name. Happy Life Day! ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/return-of-the-jedi-random-discussion-question/605769/42 "2012-02-08T07:36:22Z")
Is Jabba senile or drug addled or something in ROTJ? His refusal to believe Luke is a jedi is baffling considering Jabba was active when jedi were well known, and if you accept the Clone Wars cartoon as canon(I have no clue if it is) Jabba personally dealt with Anakin. Jabba didn’t remember the last names matched up? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/return-of-the-jedi-random-discussion-question/605769/43 "2012-02-08T08:33:49Z")
A) Yes, Jabba is drug addled. [Note the hookah](http://www.thecaptainsmemos.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/jabba.jpg). B) The Jedi are all dead. This is an unequivocal fact known to everybody. Anyone to claim to be one is clearly fooling themselves. C) I think Clone Wars is considered canon, but, in the same roughshod way of the Prequels, seems to contradict a few previously established facts. ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/return-of-the-jedi-random-discussion-question/605769/44 "2012-02-08T15:24:22Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > Happy Life Day! _Dramatic gun cock_ Harry Callahan: Life day, not today, not for you. _BLAM!_ ---
**Author:** ![Tanbarkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@Tanbarkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanbarkie)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/return-of-the-jedi-random-discussion-question/605769/45 "2012-02-08T15:50:14Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Is Jabba senile or drug addled or something in ROTJ? His refusal to believe Luke is a jedi is baffling considering Jabba was active when jedi were well known, and if you accept the Clone Wars cartoon as canon(I have no clue if it is) Jabba personally dealt with Anakin. Jabba didn’t remember the last names matched up? Sadly, as much as I’d like for there to be some thoughtful explanation that ties it all together, this just isn’t one of those types of stories. The real answer is simple: George Lucas made ROTJ first, never bothered to develop Jabba’s character beyond “gross slug gangster,” then decided during the creation of the various prequel materials that he needed to include Jabba because the character was, by that point, a recognizable feature of the series. It’s no different from the retcon-y inclusion of Threepio in TPM (nor, for that matter, from the use of “brand awareness” techniques in any ad campaign). ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/return-of-the-jedi-random-discussion-question/605769/46 "2012-02-08T18:38:49Z")
Like many, I hate the prequels and pretend they don’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/return-of-the-jedi-random-discussion-question/605769/47 "2012-02-08T19:40:22Z")
When I was a kid I always thought Oola fought against Jabba so hard not because he was a perv who skeeved her out, but because he was a giant slug who was HUNGRY and about to eat her… ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/return-of-the-jedi-random-discussion-question/605769/48 "2012-02-09T01:04:50Z")
> [@lawoot](#): > > When I was a kid I always thought Oola fought against Jabba so hard not because he was a perv who skeeved her out, but because he was a giant slug who was HUNGRY and about to eat her… Can’t it be both? ---
**Author:** ![Jfords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eada6e/32.png) [@Jfords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jfords)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/return-of-the-jedi-random-discussion-question/605769/49 "2012-02-20T07:22:13Z")
> [@lawoot](#): > > When I was a kid I always thought Oola fought against Jabba so hard not because he was a perv who skeeved her out, but because he was a giant slug who was HUNGRY and about to eat her… That crossed my mind as a kid too! Or that she was trying to kill Jabba and that’s why he killed her. Now I just think she was either too forgetful to remember a trap door with a Rancor beneath, or dumb enough to think Jabba wouldn’t send her down it. Either way, Leia was smart enough to avoid the Rancor AND escape from Jabba. > **[Total Film | GamesRadar+](https://www.gamesradar.com/totalfilm/)** > > The latest movie news, reviews and features from the team at Total Film Magazine. Subscribe here today. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/return-of-the-jedi-random-discussion-question/605769/50 "2012-02-20T12:45:55Z")
Did they ever explain why Han never paid off Jabba after ANH? I mean he did get all that treasure as a reward(we see him loading up the Falcon) so what happened after ANH? Additionally Leia is rich, and you’d think the rebellion could spare some change for the hero who helped take out the Death Star. So why didn’t they offer to pay off Boba, assuming Jabba didn’t want money? (the comic series explains it, the money is stolen before he can reach Tattoine but thats not canon) ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/return-of-the-jedi-random-discussion-question/605769/51 "2012-02-20T13:09:57Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Additionally Leia is rich, … _Was_ rich. I mean, her home planet of Alderaan got annihilated. All her really good stuff was probably stashed there. As for any interplanetary bank accounts, well, now that she’s a fugitive from the Empire who is publicly known to be a leader in the Rebellion and witnessed as involved in the destruction of the Death Star by Darth Vader himself, I’m guessing any “Galactic assets” were quickly seized (hey brain - keep it clean). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/return-of-the-jedi-random-discussion-question/605769/52 "2012-02-20T20:47:51Z")
The debt had gone too far by that point, and had become a matter of rep. Yeah, the money would have helped Jabba in the short term, but for the long term, he had to make sure that the message was clear, that you do _not_ screw over the boss and get away with it. A similar argument holds for bribing Boba Fett. A high-end bounty hunter, once bought, _stays_ bought. Yeah, you might get a windfall this one time by taking the higher offer, but that means that nobody else is ever going to hire you again. ---
**Author:** ![ObiWan94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@ObiWan94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ObiWan94)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/return-of-the-jedi-random-discussion-question/605769/53 "2015-04-01T17:36:48Z")
> [@Jfords](#): > > Do you think that Jabba’s first dancing girl, the green one named Oola, was: > > a.) Brave for defying the most dangerous crime lord in the galaxy, > > or > > b.) Stupid for thinking she was above Jabba killing her for her disobedience? When I first watched these films I was 5 years old. I thought that she was being playful and they were both having fun. Then in the excitement he accidentally hit the button which caused her to fall to her death. For me, it seemed that Jabba the Hut killed her for no reason at all. His lack of concern for her wellbeing, and apparent amusement at her demise, illustrated what a vile and evil character was. The whole point of this scene is to establish Jabba’s character. Oola is simply a play-thing which was used and then discarded. Both figuratively and literally. I don’t think it is necessary to read anything more into this scene. Since watching the Special Edition when I was older. With the shot of Oola in the Rancor pit. Apparently seeming to wet herself. This struck me as an incredibly erotic and kinky scene. it never occurred to me that Jabba would sacrifice his slave as a form of discipline. But rather, this was something done, by Jabba, simply for his own amusement. Because he could. As to the explanation of why Oola was more accommodating, or why Jabba tolerated Leia’s stubbornness. It is quite simply that Oola had been physiologically broken as a slave and accepting of her lot in life. Jabba’s willingness to sacrifice her would most likely have been aided by boredom. Coupled with a simple extension of Oola’s function. Which was to amuse him. At that particular moment, Jabba found amusement in seeing her eaten alive - and she performed her function well. That mere fact that she didn’t survive the experience was inconsequential. As for Leia. She was a new play thing. A free spirit. A new conquest. One who was to be tamed and trained. Killing Leia would only have been a sign of defeat. Something which Jabba’s ego could not abide. ---
**Author:** ![ObiWan94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@ObiWan94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ObiWan94)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2015, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/return-of-the-jedi-random-discussion-question/605769/54 "2015-04-01T17:53:29Z")
The short answer: _ **Oola’s sacrifice was a simple extension of her function. Which was to amuse Jabba the Hut. At that particular moment, Jabba found amusement in seeing her eaten alive - and she performed her function well. That mere fact that she didn’t survive the experience was inconsequential.** _ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/return-of-the-jedi-random-discussion-question/605769.md?page=2)