# Star Wars: Where does Rancor Come From? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 10, 2004, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-where-does-rancor-come-from/239292 "2004-04-10T06:12:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PV3H\_JW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecd19e/32.png) [@PV3H\_JW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PV3H_JW)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-where-does-rancor-come-from/239292/1 "2004-04-10T06:12:46Z")
I might as well get the most out of this guest membership and ask the really important questions: So SW fans, where is this badboy from? What’s the other life like on the planet that this creature normally inhabits? Also, are there any creatures in the SW universe that are bigger (besides the lazy tremors monster)? ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-where-does-rancor-come-from/239292/2 "2004-04-10T06:49:31Z")
> [@PV3H 'JW](#): > > I might as well get the most out of this guest membership and ask the really important questions: > > So SW fans, where is this badboy from? What’s the other life like on the planet that this creature normally inhabits? > Also, are there any creatures in the SW universe that are bigger (besides the lazy tremors monster)? In one of the books, I believe it was _The Courtship of Princess Leia_, you learn that the rancors are from the planet Dathomir. And they, if memory serves (it’s been a while since I’ve read it), are at least semi-domesticated on that planet. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-where-does-rancor-come-from/239292/3 "2004-04-10T07:20:43Z")
> [@PV3H 'JW](#): > > So SW fans, where is this badboy from? A lazy puppeteer at Industrial Light and Magic? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-where-does-rancor-come-from/239292/4 "2004-04-10T07:32:32Z")
[StarWars.com](http://www.starwars.com/databank/creature/rancor/) lists Jabba’s rancor’s origin as “unknown, possibly Dathomir,” and offers this summary of something from an EU source: > [@](#): > > Rancors are rare creatures, found only on scattered worlds such as Dathomir and the Ottethan system. […] No one is quite sure where Jabba’s rancor came from, since the planet Dathomir is under a strict quarantine that prevents anything from leaving the planet. The rancor was discovered in a starship that had crashed in the Tatooine wastes. It also says that the Dathomir rancors are generally taller. “A cross between a gorilla and a potato.” Heh. ---
**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:** [April 10, 2004, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-where-does-rancor-come-from/239292/5 "2004-04-10T16:49:05Z")
The novelization of ROTJ claimed that it was a one of a kind mutant. Does this have to be discounted? ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-where-does-rancor-come-from/239292/6 "2004-04-10T16:51:50Z")
As far as rancors being domesticated, I believe a group of Force-sensitive witches called the Nightsisters had trained (or Force-enslaved) rancors for use as mounts. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2004, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-where-does-rancor-come-from/239292/7 "2004-04-11T04:42:22Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > As far as rancors being domesticated, I believe a group of Force-sensitive witches called the Nightsisters had trained (or Force-enslaved) rancors for use as mounts. Yep, and when domesticated, they’re actually very gentle, intelligent creatures. ---
**Author:** ![BraheSilver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@BraheSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BraheSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2004, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-where-does-rancor-come-from/239292/8 "2004-04-11T05:18:29Z")
I could dig out my copy of _Courtship_ to look for a direct quote, but I’m pretty sure that Jabba’s rancor was fairly young and was raised by a handler in a pit in Jabba’s palace to be a spectacle. “Feral” would be a good description. How that one in the sewers in KOTOR got there, I have no idea. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2004, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-where-does-rancor-come-from/239292/9 "2004-04-11T05:22:06Z")
> [@BraheSilver](#): > > How that one in the sewers in KOTOR got there, I have no idea. Someone bought it for a pet, and flushed it when it got too big? ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2004, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-where-does-rancor-come-from/239292/10 "2004-04-11T15:21:02Z")
In the book _Tales From Jabba’s Palace_, they also mention that some Jawas found it in the wreckage of a crashed spaceship (locked in a cargo hold, IIRC). They then sold it to Jabba. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2004, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-where-does-rancor-come-from/239292/11 "2004-04-11T16:13:58Z")
I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to discover that someone else answered this question first – because it means there are geeks just as big as me out there. Thank you. Thank you all. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2004, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-where-does-rancor-come-from/239292/12 "2004-04-11T18:46:09Z")
[Lego Rancor](http://bruce.kus-numa.net/lego/starwars/rancor.html) ---
**Author:** ![Brainiac4](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brainiac4/32/3534_2.png) [@Brainiac4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac4)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-where-does-rancor-come-from/239292/13 "2004-04-12T02:17:35Z")
Silly me. My first thought was “Well, my rancor comes from the hack job that Lucas did on Phantom Menace, and his use of offensive racial stereotypes.” 😃