Pateesa, meaning "friend" in Huttese, was a male rancor in the possession of Jabba Desilijic Tiure, the Hutt crime lord. Bib Fortuna, his majordomo, presented the creature to him as a birthday present. This beast was Jabba's pet, residing in a dim enclosure located under the Hutt's throne room within his palace on Tatooine, a desert planet. The human Malakili served as the rancor's keeper. Pateesa was used by Jabba to devour his adversaries, most notably Luke Skywalker, the Jedi Knight, during a mission to liberate Han Solo, his Rebel comrade. Jabba, with a cruel laugh, sent the young Jedi through a concealed trapdoor into the underground pit where the monstrous rancor awaited. To the surprise of Jabba and his henchmen, Luke managed to slay the creature, prompting the enraged gangster to decree the public execution of the Jedi and his companions.
Bib Fortuna, a high-ranking member of Jabba's organization, gifted Pateesa to Jabba Desilijic Tiure on his birthday. Bidlo Kwerve, once a rival of Fortuna for the position of majordomo, met an early end as a meal for the rancor. Pateesa was housed by Jabba in a dimly lit chamber below his throne room on Tatooine, where he frequently fed the rancor his enemies or those who had angered him, finding amusement in watching them be consumed. In 3 ABY, Kay Vess, a thief, was apprehended for infiltrating Jabba's Palace. She, along with Vail Tormin and Hoss, were thrown into the Rancor pit. After Hoss's demise, Tormin and Vess made their escape, but Pateesa pursued them. The rancor eventually trapped them in the palace hangar, but with the aid of rail-powered explosives, they provoked Pateesa enough that he incapacitated himself by smashing his head into the hangar door three times. Prior to this event, Malakili had communicated to Bib Fortuna that Pateesa should no longer be fed bounty hunters due to the detonators they carried, suggesting instead that Pateesa required at least ten more days of quality meat and grain. When the Twi'lek dancer Oola displeased the Hutt shortly before the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, after she decided she had enough of following his orders and entertaining him, Jabba cast her into the pit below, where she met her death by being devoured by Pateesa.
Shortly following Oola's demise, Luke Skywalker, a Jedi Knight, appeared at the palace with the intent to free his friend Han Solo, held captive by Jabba. Jabba refused Skywalker's demands, casting him into the pit alongside Jubnuk, an unfortunate Gamorrean guard, and unleashing Pateesa. The young Jedi Commander retreated from the fearsome rancor as the Gamorrean desperately tried to climb out of the pit. Pateesa swiftly devoured the guard, but Skywalker proved a greater challenge. After being grabbed in one of the beast's massive hands, the Jedi wedged a large femur between its jaws, preventing it from devouring him, forcing the rancor to release him before effortlessly snapping the bone in two. The rancor attempted to seize Luke again, but the Jedi struck its hand with a rock. Unable to escape due to the rancor's handlers preventing his exit, Luke waited for the rancor to follow him into its small holding pen at the rear of the pit. There, he smashed the control panel with Bidlo Kwerve's skull, causing the heavy door to fall, piercing and crushing the creature's skull. As Pateesa perished, he let out a feeble moan, prompting Malakili to rush to his side, before collapsing in tears.
To the astonishment of Jabba and his thugs, a mere human had managed to kill the beast. Pateesa's demise greatly angered Jabba, who immediately ordered the execution of Skywalker and his companions at the Great Pit of Carkoon. However, Jabba's repeated underestimation of Skywalker led to his own downfall, as he died above the pit while the Jedi and his allies escaped.
Malakili was heartbroken by the rancor's death, feeling he had failed the creature and lost his purpose in life. He also harbored resentment towards Skywalker for killing his pet and companion. Malakili discovered a new purpose when he met Cobb Vanth, the vigilante lawman and Mayor of Freetown, who recruited him to care for the Huttlet Borgo and tame two rontos.
By 9 ABY, Pateesa's body was no longer in the rancor pit. Boba Fett received a new rancor from Jabba's cousins, the Twins, as an apology for their failed kill attempt on his life. This new rancor was housed in Pateesa's former pit.
Pateesa, initially referred to simply as Jabba's rancor, made his debut in the 1983 film Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. His name was later established in Chuck Wendig's 2016 novel, Aftermath: Life Debt. The Star Wars: The Bad Batch episode "Rampage" introduced Muchi, a rancor also under Jabba's care. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga incorrectly identified Muchi and Pateesa as the same rancor, naming the rancor cared for by Malakili as "Pateesa Muchi." However, Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know identifies Pateesa as male, while "Rampage" established Muchi as female.
The original plan was for Pateesa to be portrayed by an actor in a suit, but the results were deemed unconvincing. Consequently, a rod puppet was designed and built for filming. Ben Burtt recorded the barks and growls of his neighbor's dachshund, Max, a small but aggressive dog, and then lowered the pitch of the audio to create the base sound for the rancor's roars and howls.
A picture often misidentified as Pateesa battling a krayt dragon is actually a joke created by the crew at Industrial Light & Magic. They placed a model of Vermithrax Pejorative, the dragon from the 1981 film Dragonslayer, in the arms of the rancor model and photographed it. This image was included in Star Wars: Chronicles, a behind-the-scenes book published in 1997.