Grunta, a male Dug podracer, called the city of Pilaan on the planet Muunilinst his home. It was in 0 ABY, a few months following the Battle of Yavin, that Grunta's path crossed with the Rebels Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Tobin Elad, just outside of Pilaan.
The Rebels sought a way to connect with the Muun Nal Kenuun, and Grunta saw an opportunity. He proposed arranging a meeting with Kenuun, for whom he worked as a podracer, asking for one hundred credits in return. However, Grunta instead orchestrated an ambush, using four of his Dug comrades armed with blasters and riding swoops. During the brief conflict, Solo fired upon one of the swoops, hitting its starboard [engines](/article/engine/legends], causing it to crash directly onto Grunta, resulting in his immediate death.
Living on the planet Muunilinst, Grunta was a male Dug who made his home in the city of Pilaan. He earned his living as a podracer pilot under the employment of Nal Kenuun, a Muun gambler known for his ruthlessness. In the time of 0 ABY, specifically a few months after the Battle of Yavin, Grunta encountered the Rebels, including Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and X-7, the last of whom was secretly an Imperial assassin using the alias Tobin Elad, unknown to the Rebels.
Searching for a way to get in touch with Kenuun, the Rebels entered a cantina just outside Pilaan. Their attempts to gather information were fruitless, as the locals were unwilling to help. It was then that Grunta approached the Rebels, proposing a deal: for a fee of one hundred credits, he would arrange a high-stakes game with Kenuun, requiring a ten thousand–credit buy-in. Solo accepted the offer, and the Rebels followed Grunta to the outskirts of the city.
Instead of the promised game, Grunta led the Rebels into a trap set by four of his Dug allies, who arrived on swoops and brandishing blasters. Grunta demanded the Rebels surrender all their credits, but they chose to fight back. The ensuing brief battle led to the Dugs' retreat, after Solo shot the starboard engine of one of the swoops, causing it to crash in a fiery explosion and killing the pilot. Grunta, who had been subdued by Chewbacca, also perished in the melee when the wreckage of the swoop fell upon him.
Following the failed ambush, Imperial stormtroopers in Kenuun's service captured the Rebels. When Kenuun met with them in his home, he revealed that he had placed a homing droid on Grunta due to his troublesome nature, allowing his stormtroopers to track and apprehend the Rebels. Kenuun then offered the Rebels a bargain: in exchange for a datacard that Kenuun had seized from Mak Luunim, a Rebel Alliance contact on the planet, one of them would take Grunta's place in an upcoming podracing event. The datacard contained crucial secret financial records needed by the Rebellion, especially after most of their assets were lost following the destruction of Alderaan. As the retrieval of the datacard was their primary objective, Skywalker agreed to race in Grunta's stead.
Grunta's death brought joy to Kenuun's Muun rivals in the podracing circuit. One Muun, Chenik Kruun, known for his cold-blooded demeanor, reportedly almost smiled upon hearing the news, according to Beeerd, relishing the opportunity to finally defeat Kenuun in a race. When Han Solo admitted to his involvement in Grunta's death, a crowd of podracing pilots and crewmen gathered in a large tent near the racetrack, where they were passing time before the race, and celebrated the news. Haari Ikreme Beeerd, a crewman for another podracer, even befriended Solo and bought the crowd another round of drinks.
Grunta was a short, scaly individual, barely reaching a meter in height, making him shorter than most Dugs. Nal Kenuun characterized Grunta as someone who had a knack for getting into trouble, which is why he used a homing droid to keep tabs on him. Besides racing, Grunta also participated in armed robberies with his Dug accomplices.
Author Alex Wheeler created Grunta as a character for the 2008 novel Rebel Force: Target, which served as the inaugural book in the Rebel Force series.