Hutts were a large slug-like sentient species who were native to the planet Nal Hutta in the Outer Rim Territories. They were well known as galactic gangsters whose Grand Hutt Council controlled the Hutt Clan crime syndicate. One famous Hutt was the crime lord Jabba, who ruled a massive criminal empire from his palace on Tatooine.
Hutts were a massive slug-like reptiloid species who had large mouths and stubby arms. They had three lungs. They were tough and muscular with thick leathery skin, which was wrinkled and slimy. Hutts often had watery eyes and slack facial expressions. Their tails were supported by a skeletal spine and allowed Hutts to propel themselves through muck which legs would sink into. Despite their legendary adult size, Hutts started out as tiny Huttlets less than half a meter in height.
Hutts possessed skeletons. Hutts were not known for being healthy. Some Hutts suffered from a genetic defect that caused their skin to be bereft of pigment and prone to cracking. Whilst the Hutts were originally native to Varl, Nal Hutta—a planet with a hot atmosphere that was frequently streaked by greasy rains, creating a fetid sauna in which Hutts were most comfortable—later became the planet that was considered their homeworld. Hutts were immune to mind tricks.
Hutts could live for centuries—Jabba was 604 when he was killed—and could grow to enormous sizes. In fact, Hutts' lifespans could span over 1,000 years. The literary collective term for Hutts was a bulge of Hutts. Hutts spend the first 50 years of their life in the brood pouches of their parents. When they emerge, they are described to have the mind of an infant.
For centuries, the Hutts dominated much of the organized criminal activities in the galaxy. They dominated the Twi'leks of Ryloth and the Nikto species for several centuries.
The Hutts approached Lord Isamer of the Directorate, striking a deal with him to destabilize the local governments of Eiram and E'ronoh to the advantage of their long-term plans for control of trade and mass enslavement. To that end, Isamer instigated the Eiram–E'ronoh crisis, but in actuality the Hutts intended for the crisis to destroy the Directorate, allowing them to freely move their criminal operations into the region.
During the chancellorship of Lina Soh, the Hutts remained quiet and were not known to venture into Republic space due to sanctions upon the Hutt Clans concerning open trade in Republic territory. However, in the wake of the Great Hyperspace Disaster, a Hutt and their guards acquired a vratixia renanicus shipment from the Sedri system, and was passing through the Kazlin system when their starship was attacked by the Nihil, who killed the Hutt. The wreckage was investigated by Sskeer, Keeve Trennis, and the Kotabi bond-twins Ceret and Terec, and the Hutt's corpse was recovered to Starlight Beacon by the Ataraxia. Avar Kriss requested an autopsy, conducted by OrbaLin who discovered the cadaver was infected. The infestation was revealed to be Drengir, which burst from the corpse and attacked the Jedi.
Meanwhile, the Hutt Cartel arrived on Sedri Minor to uphold a bargain struck with the colonists for protection in exchange for regular grain payments. Myarga Anjiliac Atirue discussed the arrangement with Kriss but was attacked by Sskeer, igniting a battle between the Cartel's mercenaries and the Jedi until Kriss convinced Myarga to turn her attention to their common enemy, the Drengir, by broadcasting distress calls from across the Galactic Frontier and Nal Hutta itself. Though Myarga believed the Five Families would never condone an alliance with the Jedi, she directed her warriors to fight alongside them to battle the Drengir. Trennis was able to convince the Drengir to retreat by performing a mind touch on Sskeer, communicating the idea that the "meat" on Sedri Minor was spoiled.
The uneasy alliance continued in the following months as Avar and Myarga slowed the Drengir infestations across the Frontier. The alliance ended with the defeat of the Drengir during the assault on Mulita; while Myarga wanted her forces to execute the captured Great Progenitor of the Drengir, the Jedi defended her as a living being whom they had captured, shattering the alliance. The focus on the Drengir crisis had, however, given the Nihil marauders time to gather and launch the devastating Valo Atrocity.
During the Clone Wars, the Galactic Republic forged a tacit alliance with the crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure after the Jedi Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan Ahsoka Tano rescued his son Rotta. The Republic Senator Padmé Amidala also foiled a plot by Jabba's uncle Ziro to overthrow his nephew with the collusion of the Confederacy of Independent Systems.
Later in the war, the renegade Sith Lord Maul approached the Grand Hutt Council on the planet Nal Hutta to offer them a place in his Shadow Collective. After denying him, a force of bounty hunters attacked Shadow Collective's forces, but after being defeated, saw one of their members, Oruba, killed by Savage Opress. Eventually, Maul's forces would visit Jabba and Gorga on Tatooine and, after a short battle, convinced the two Hutts to join them.
During the Age of the Empire, the Hutts and other organized criminal groups exercised a powerful grip on the galaxy. The Hutts also had extensive dealings with the Galactic Empire in return for the protection of Hutt Space. They performed certain important, but off-the-books, services, including helping to run several black-site prisons.
When an auction intended to sell notorious smuggler and Rebel Alliance member Han Solo, who had been frozen in carbonite and stolen from the bounty hunter Boba Fett, on Jekara was announced by Crimson Dawn leader Qi'ra, the Grand Hutt Council, along with the Empire and numerous other criminal factions from across of the galaxy, arrived to join in on the auction. Solo was eventually bought by Jabba, but before Jabba could take his prize, the auction was invaded by Darth Vader, who after defeating Qi'ra, ordered his forces to take Solo away as he left to face the rebel Luke Skywalker. Shortly thereafter, a battle in Jekara's orbit between the forces of the Hutts and the Imperial forces, provoked by Bokku, began. During the battle, the Grand Hutt Council was killed by Darth Vader, who withdrew from his confrontation with Skywalker after being informed that the Emperor had ordered him to end the Hutt insurrection personally.
Jabba was left as the sole leader of the Hutt Clan after Vader's actions, with the Sith Lord also learning that Bokku had been an agent of Crimson Dawn. After Fett reclaimed Solo during the battle, Jabba told Fett of his new position before paying the bounty hunter for delivering Solo to his custody at long last. Jabba ruled until his death during the Rescue of Han Solo.
Following Jabba's death, the Hutts were left to determine who would fill Jabba's seat as leader of his empire. Several months after Jabba's demise, a decision had yet to be made.
Following the liberation of Akiva, the New Republic took steps to curtail the influence of the Hutts and other organized groups by introducing financial regulations and undertaking comprehensive patrols of the galactic shipping lanes. Still, the Hutts were able to exercise some influence over the Nikto species and their government into the New Republic era.
The Hutts had lost much of their former power over the galactic underworld. As noted by Yendor, other factions, such as Rinnrivin Di's cartel, were supplanting them and rushing in to gain power in their absence. The Hutts were disliked by both the Populists and the Centrists, the two main factions in the New Republic Senate. Several Nikto like Rinnrivin admired Leia Organa for her role in killing Jabba and christened her "Huttslayer."
One Hutt was based out of Sy Myrthian space during the Clone Wars. The Hutt hired the smuggler Has Obitt in 19 BBY for a menial job.
Hutt society was divided into families known as kajidics, Jabba's family was the Desilijic kajidic, whose mark was tattooed on his arm. Hutts bandaged and buried their dead.
Classical architectural Hutt style could be seen on the planet Mataou. It was characterized by terraced buildings with sloping gates, and white and red colors. Clothing was optional for Hutts, and some would use live Sha'rellian toops as hairpieces. Hutts liked to eat gorgs, slime pods, and Klatooine paddy frogs, and were also known to smoke hookah pipes. The Hutts believed that at least one of their own, Boonta Hestilic Shad'ruu, had ascended to godhood, and held the Boonta Eve holiday in their honor.
Several Hutts known for being crime lords who lived opulent lives overseeing criminal underworld activities like spice smuggling, slavery, gambling, and bounty hunting in Hutt Space. They were typically obese, with the muscular Nar Shaddaa kingpin Grakkus being an exception.
Not all of this species shared the same interests, however: some Hutts valued art, such as one who, according to Obi-Wan Kenobi, liked to collect fine porcelain.
Hutts first appeared in the 1983 film Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, the final installment of the Star Wars original trilogy.
On the Return of the Jedi tape included in the 1997 The Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition, Lucas detailed that the word Hutt was originally going to just be Jabba Desilijic Tiure's gangster title, but was eventually changed to indicate Jabba's species.
Early concept art for Jabba the Hutt, and therefore for the Hutt species, by Ralph McQuarrie depicted Jabba as a fat individual with an immense double chin. Though this design wasn't used in the finished film, it would later inspire the look of Azmorigan, and therefore the Jablogian species, in Star Wars Rebels. Coincidentally, the same concept art inspired another species in the Star Wars Legends lore.
Lucasfilm Story Group's Pablo Hidalgo revealed at Celebration Anaheim that Hutts in canon, unlike in the Star Wars Legends continuity, each had a single gender.
In many languages, the phrase "[Name] the Hutt" is, or at least used to be before "Hutt" was established as the name of a species, translated as "[Name] of Hutt." For example, in early Italian-language translations, Jabba's name was sometimes written as "Jabba de' Hutt" (pronounced like the English equivalent, but roughly translating to "Jabba O'Hutt").
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