Jabba the Hutt's Will

On Tatooine, Jabba Desilijic Tiure left behind a straightforward written will. This document was read to his assembled relatives by a legal representative of the Hutt's, but it wasn't widely publicized and only distributed a portion of Jabba's possessions. A year later, Zorba Desilijic Tiure produced another will: a simple holographic recording of Jabba verbally dictating his wishes. Since he had no children or spouse, Jabba simply stated that if he were to die before his father Zorba, his entire estate should be inherited by Zorba. He then proceeded to list all of his properties, beginning with those on Tatooine and Cloud City on Bespin. The testament did not name an executor, nor did it involve any legal authorities. Jabba left nothing to his protégé Jelasi, and he asserted that he had no son, despite having fathered a child, Rotta, in 32 BBY. This recording, known as JTHW, was stored within the memory banks of an old droid called CB-99. CB-99 was then concealed within a secret room inside Jabba's desert residence on Tatooine. Zorba asserted that Jabba created the will in secrecy, and the location of CB-99 was known only to the father and son.

For centuries, Zorba Desilijic Tiure governed the Desilijic clan and its criminal enterprises until his imprisonment on the isolated planet Kip in 22 BBY for illegally mining Ulikuo gemstones. He was succeeded first by his sibling Jiliac and subsequently by his offspring Jabba. Freed from Zorba's ineffective leadership and financial mismanagement, the clan prospered, and Jabba presided over a vast and lucrative criminal empire at the peak of his power. However, Leia Organa killed him during the Battle of the Great Pit of Carkoon in 4 ABY, plunging the Desilijic clan into disarray due to the loss of its influential and skilled leader.

Numerous close relatives of Jabba, including his nephew Gorga Desilijic Aarrpo, journeyed to Tatooine to settle his estate. A legal representative of Jabba's read aloud the written will he had left, outlining the local properties he was bequeathing to each of them. However, the will only distributed a small portion of Jabba's overall wealth. Jabba used the will to embarrass his sycophantic nephew Gorga in front of the other Hutts, leaving him the entire holdings of the Bank of Jabba, which was actually a decorative ornament of little worth. However, few knew of this will, and most of his properties remained unclaimed. Despite a thorough search, no complete testament from Jabba could be found, and rival Hutts fought among themselves for the majority of Jabba's estate, while planetary authorities claimed many properties. Jabba had no clear successor, but Kumac and Jelasi became co-leaders of the Desilijic clan after a violent internal conflict. CB-99 remained undiscovered within the palace on Tatooine, which was taken over by local authorities.

While incarcerated on Kip, Zorba remained unaware of his son's demise until his release in 5 ABY. He learned about the events at Carkoon and recovered Jabba's will from CB-99, recognizing its potential for profit. After immediately informing his fellow Hutt kingpins about the "secret will," Zorba traveled to Bespin, accompanied by a group of mercenaries, to seize properties he now claimed as his own. Lando Calrissian, the Baron of Cloud City, whose administration had taken control of Jabba's properties after his death, rejected Zorba's claims. However, after Zorba played CB-99's recording for the baron, Calrissian became convinced of the will's authenticity and ultimately agreed to hand over the real estate to the Hutt.

While Calrissian may have initially accepted the will, Zorba subsequently had to validate it through the Hutt courts. Although many were surprised by its contents, the document was deemed legitimate, and Zorba assumed control of Jabba's wealth. He ousted Kumac and Jelasi to become the leader of the Desilijic clan. However, Zorba dedicated most of his time to pursuing a vendetta against Leia Organa, Jabba's killer, and was known for his poor business decisions during his previous reign as clan leader. Consequently, the Desilijic clan further declined in prominence, while Durga's Besadii clan rose to become the most powerful criminal organization among the Hutts. Members of the Desilijic clan grew tired of Zorba's leadership and sought to remove him from power. Hutt courts began to withdraw their approval of Jabba the Hutt's Will, declaring it a forgery, and Zorba was forced into hiding.

After Zorba produced Jabba the Hutt's Will, its legitimacy was not universally acknowledged. He claimed that the will was a secret between himself and Jabba, and that they were the only ones aware of its existence and location. Its dissemination in 5 ABY surprised many, who did not anticipate Jabba being so generous to his father after his death.

However, the testament initially withstood scrutiny. Lando Calrissian accepted it as genuine, as did Zorba's group of mercenaries. The Hutt courts also recognized it, granting Zorba everything the document entitled him to. Furthermore, a New Republic scribe, writing long after Zorba was presumed to have died, also accepted its legitimacy.

Ultimately, most of the Hutt courts chose to reverse their decision and declare the document a fabrication. However, the Hutts had ulterior motives for taking this course of action: Zorba had proven to be an unsuccessful clan leader, and under his leadership, the clan's influence and revenue were declining, leading many of his subordinates to seek his downfall. Additionally, numerous Hutts stood to benefit from such an annulment, with Zorba's inherited wealth being divided among various Hutt interests.

The supposed recording of Jabba did not state the date of its creation. However, since Zorba had been incarcerated for over a quarter of a century before his son's death, its existence predated Zorba's arrest in 22 BBY. Furthermore, the droid storing the JTHW file was old and covered in dust when Zorba reactivated it in 5 ABY, indicating that it had been there for so long that Zorba was unsure if its memory banks would still be functional. The will also stated that Jabba had no children, but he had fathered one child by 32 BBY.

Jabba was believed to have been mentoring the ambitious Jelasi as his protégé and heir, yet the will left Jelasi nothing. The fact that everything went to Zorba surprised many of Jabba's former associates, as he and Zorba had not been close. Jabba kept to himself, managing his own business ventures without Zorba's involvement. Jabba felt no remorse about Zorba's imprisonment, and Zorba had hoped to benefit from Jabba's astute leadership upon his release.

Jabba the Hutt's Will made its first appearance in the 1992 release Zorba the Hutt's Revenge, which was created as part of the Jedi Prince series and authored by Paul and Hollace Davids.