On the fringe of the Mid Rim's Kashyyyk Region existed a frigid planet called Ota. This world was the ancestral homeland of the Snogars, a sentient, furry species. These beings resided in cities constructed within the planet's icy canyons, legacies of their forebears, a highly intelligent civilization known as the "Old Ones." By the time of 1 ABY, the heating systems that warmed the Snogar cities began to malfunction. This crisis compelled Ota's inhabitants to seek assistance from off-worlders, hoping they could repair the failing devices and help them endure the planet's intense cold.
Located near the edges of the Thornhedge Nebula, Ota, a icy world, resided within the Mytaranor sector of the Kashyyyk Region. It marked the intersection of the Dauntless Run and the Ootmian Pabol. The planet's landscape was dominated by vast ice canyons and crevasses, spacious enough for a starfighter to navigate. Above ground, the sentient species known as the Snogars shivered in their cities. The ice concealed dangers, including enormous serpent-like creatures that could unexpectedly emerge and attack travelers.
Millennia before the Galactic Civil War, a technologically advanced humanoids civilization, later remembered as the "Old Ones," thrived on Ota. They erected grand cities amidst the planet's icy valleys. As time passed, however, the Old Ones declined, evolving into the less-intelligent Snogars. Their society regressed as they lost the knowledge of how to operate the technology that powered and heated their communities. During the later years of the Republic, Kelek "the Blue," a wealthy Tefaun banker, financed mining operations on Ota. However, by the time of the Galactic Civil War, the planet had become an isolated backwater, inhabited only by the Snogars, who struggled to stay warm in their ancient cities.
By 1 ABY, the Snogars desperately sought a solution to repair the technology that kept their homes heated. They placed all their hopes on the arrival of off-worlders, whom they called "smart ones," believing they possessed the technical expertise to save them. Their hopes seemed to be answered when Rebel pilot Luke Skywalker pursued Mandalorian bounty hunter Boba Fett to Ota. Fett, working for the Imperials, was hunting a rogue Imperial spy believed to be hiding on the planet. A group of Snogars from a nearby city captured both Skywalker and Fett, demanding they repair the hydroelectric generator that powered the city's heating system. When the two off-worlders escaped, the Snogars instead kidnapped Skywalker's friend Han Solo, who had followed Skywalker to Ota with his Rebel allies Leia Organa and Chewbacca. Fett, also pursuing a bounty on Solo, returned to the city to find him, leading to a confrontation between the Rebels, Fett, and a group of enraged Snogars who wanted Fett's blood.
After driving off the Snogars, Fett discovered that the Imperial mole had sought refuge in a part of the city avoided by the natives. However, the Rebels managed to overpower the bounty hunter, trapping him with a massive magnet, and escaped Ota with the defecting spy.
Ota was the native world of the Snogar species, a race of tall, furry humanoids with limited intelligence. They dwelled within the cities constructed by their ancestors, the "Old Ones." Despite being adapted to the freezing conditions of their world and skilled at navigating its snowdrifts and ice canyons, the Snogars often suffered from the cold when they were away from the heating systems in their cities. As off-worlders were rarely seen on Ota, the Snogars became reliant on their assistance for survival.
Ota was first presented as the setting for The Frozen World of Ota, a comic strip story arc created by Russ Manning, Rick Hoberg, and Don Christensen, which was released in the summer of 1980. Because The Frozen World of Ota featured one of Boba Fett's earliest appearances, the planet was subsequently referenced in numerous later works.