Ziro Desilijic Tiure, more commonly known as Ziro the Hutt, was a Hutt male crime lord. Holding the title of Master of the Hutt Clan, he exerted control over seven star systems for the Hutt Clan during the decline era of the Galactic Republic. As a native of the planet Sleheyron, Ziro eventually chose to leave Hutt Space and relocate to the galaxy's Core Worlds, establishing his residence in Coruscant, which served as the galactic capital of the Republic. His family consisted of his father and mother, as well as his son Hiro, and Jabba Desilijic Tiure, who was his nephew and the father of the Huttlet heir, Rotta. Another influential relative of Ziro was Gorga Desilijic Aarrpo, who held a position on the Grand Hutt Council.
In 22 BBY, during the early days of the Clone Wars, Ziro secretly allied himself with Count Dooku, who was the leader of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. With Separatist assistance, Ziro orchestrated the abduction of his great-nephew, Rotta, who was then taken to a B'omarr monastery located on the distant world of Teth. Anticipating that the Jedi Order would dispatch members to rescue the Huttlet, Ziro hoped that the deaths of Rotta's would-be Jedi saviors would spark a conflict between Jabba and the Republic. In the event that Jabba was removed from power, Ziro would be in an ideal situation to take control of their clan.
Senator Padmé Amidala uncovered Ziro's involvement in the conspiracy during the mission to rescue Rotta, and confronted the gangster at his nightclub on Coruscant. After Rotta was safely returned to his father on Tatooine, Ziro was apprehended by the Coruscant Guard. However, as the war continued, the Grand Hutt Council deemed Ziro too dangerous to remain in a Republic prison, given his extensive knowledge of their operations. Consequently, the Hutts hired the bounty hunter Cad Bane, who freed Ziro and delivered him to the Hutt Council. Despite Ziro's subsequent escape from the Hutts, he was ultimately murdered in 21 BBY by Sy Snootles, a Pa'lowick singer who was also Ziro's former lover. Jabba had hired Snootles to assassinate his uncle and retrieve the Hutt Council records.
At some point in time, Ziro was born to Mama and Papa. He had two siblings: Jabba Desilijic Tiure's father and another brother named Ebor. During his life, he engaged in an affair with Sy Snootles, who was one of his nephew Jabba's dancers. However, Ziro terminated the affair and relocated to Coruscant. From his nightclub, Ziro managed his criminal organization. At some point, Ziro had a son named Hiro. Eventually, Ziro was bestowed with the title of Master of the Hutt Clan for seven individual star systems.
During the [Clone Wars](/article/clone_wars], Ziro entered into an agreement with Separatist leader Count Dooku, where Dooku's assassin, Asajj Ventress, would be responsible for kidnapping Jabba's son, Rotta. However, Ziro subsequently learned from Naboo Senator Padmé Amidala that the Jedi had successfully rescued Jabba's son. Fearing that his role would be exposed, Ziro contacted Dooku, informing him of Amidala's investigation. Dooku assured Ziro that Jabba was convinced that the Jedi were responsible for killing his son. Knowing Jabba would execute the Jedi responsible for killing his son, Dooku assured Ziro that he would become master of all the Hutt Clans when the Jedi would bring Jabba to justice. Dooku then instructed Ziro to eliminate Amidala if she persisted in her investigation.
Ziro and his IG-86 sentinel droids then located Amidala. Upon realizing that it was Amidala, Dooku informed Ziro that his allies would compensate him for delivering Amidala. Ziro, agreeing to the arrangement, had Amidala imprisoned in his dungeon and expressed his gratitude to Dooku for the lucrative alliance. However, Ziro discovered that Amidala had contacted her protocol droid, C-3PO, for assistance. Consequently, he made the decision to execute Amidala, confident that his influential friends in the Republic Senate would protect him. Ziro and his droids were then attacked by Commander Fox and his detachment of the Coruscant Guard, who were summoned by 3PO. Ziro was then held at gunpoint by Amidala. Ziro attempted to plead his innocence to Amidala, but to no avail. Ziro contacted Jabba on Tatooine, and Amidala informed Jabba that Ziro was the mastermind behind Rotta's kidnapping. Ziro also admitted that Dooku was also involved in the kidnapping. Jabba vowed that Ziro would face severe consequences.
Ziro was incarcerated in the Judiciary Central Detention Center. Seeking revenge on Amidala, Ziro managed to hire Aurra Sing to assassinate her in retribution for thwarting his scheme with the Separatists. Sing followed the Naboo Senator to Alderaan, and awaited her speech to fellow senators regarding the refugee crisis that has plagued the galaxy following the outbreak of the Clone Wars. There she attempted to assassinate the senator on two separate occasions, but was foiled by Ahsoka Tano who had been experiencing premonitions of the assassination attempts.
Sing was then remanded in custody on Coruscant, with Padawan Ahsoka Tano, Amidala, and Bail Organa also present to deliver the assassin to Republic authorities represented by Grand Master Yoda and Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker. However, Ahsoka had a further vision, in which she unknowingly described the Hutt gangster, leading Amidala to identify Ziro as the ringmaster behind the assassination attempts.
Anakin and Ahsoka then traveled to the Republic prison complex to interrogate the Hutt, when Ziro inadvertently confirmed that he had hired Sing to complete the job. Ziro was left fuming after giving himself away, vowing to take revenge on the Jedi and the senator. When Sing failed, Ziro spoke with Skywalker and Tano. When Tano told Ziro that Sing revealed that he paid her, Ziro confessed to hiring her. However, Tano tricked him and his sentence was increased.
During this period, Jabba and the Hutt Council were aware that it was only a matter of time before Ziro disclosed the Council's records to the Republic Senate. Consequently, the council decided to enlist Cad Bane to free Ziro. Bane and his team managed to hold several members of the Republic Senate hostage, compelling Chancellor Palpatine to release Ziro, who was brought out when Senator Orn Free Taa arrived to give the Detention Center's guards a pardon disc. Ziro then boarded HELIOS-3D's speeder and was taken to the Galactic Senate Building despite his objections. HELIOS-3D and Ziro then picked up Bane's team. After Bane and his group boarded the speeder, Ziro told Bane about his captivity in the detention center and approved of Bane killing off the senators. Ziro congratulated Bane on freeing him, but Bane reminded him that he expected to be paid.
Ziro was transported to Nal Hutta, where he engaged in conversation with Gardulla and the Hutt Council. Despite expressing his gratitude for their assistance in his escape from Republic captivity, Ziro was aware that they did not want him to reveal the location of the Council's records. He threatened to have the records dropped off at the Republic senate should he be killed. As a result, the Council confined Ziro to a prison cell. Ziro managed to escape with the assistance of Snootles. Ziro and Snootles successfully made their escape by stealing a speeder and went to Mama's house. Ziro was able to convince his mother to give Ziro her ship in order to go to Teth.
On Teth, Ziro went to his father's grave, where the council records were hidden. However, Snootles had secretly been hired by Jabba to retrieve the records. Snootles then shot Ziro through the chest and left his body to be found by both the Jedi and Bane.
In 19 BBY, prior to Quinlan Vos's assignment to assassinate Dooku, Obi-Wan Kenobi reflected on the fact that their last collaboration involved the unsuccessful mission to track down Ziro, recalling that they were never able to discover who Ziro's murderer was.
Ziro was a large, purple male Hutt with emerald green eyes. His body was adorned with glow-in-the dark cosmetics, and he had a tattoo of a sun on his belly. Before his arrest, Ziro sported a feathered hat and several rings on his fingers.
Despite his understanding of his native Huttese, Ziro spoke fluent Basic with a high-pitched voice and a slight lisp. Like many Hutts, he was driven by greed and determined to seize control of the Hutt criminal empire by any means necessary, even if it involved blackmailing his relatives. He also had a strong sense of fashion and was quite flamboyant for a Hutt. Ziro harbored grudges, seeking revenge on Senator Padmé Amidala for exposing his allegiance to the Separatists, leading him to hire bounty hunter Aurra Sing to assassinate her.
Ziro was prone to being overly dramatic, as evidenced by his immediate complaints about his release not occurring at dusk after being exposed to sunlight for the first time. He even voiced his concerns to Cad Bane about his time in prison and expressed worries about recovering from his experiences. When his life was threatened, Ziro cowardly pleaded for mercy when clone shock troopers arrested him and again when his ex-girlfriend Sy Snootles held him at gunpoint before she murdered him and stole his holo-diary.
Ziro the Hutt made his debut in the 2008 Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated film, with his voice provided by the accomplished voice actor Corey Burton. Burton went on to reprise the role in four additional episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Although Ziro was the first Hutt to speak Galactic Basic Standard onscreen, this was not the original intention. Ziro was initially intended to speak Huttese into a microphone that would translate his speech into English, but this concept was abandoned when the producers felt that younger audiences would not understand the translator. Later, George Lucas intervened and specifically requested that Ziro sound like Truman Capote. Due to the character's popularity among the production team, he was brought back for further appearances in the subsequent The Clone Wars series. Ziro's final words, "What a world...", are a reference to the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz," where "What a world" was among the last words of the film's main antagonist.
Reviewers of The Clone Wars film from some media outlets criticized Ziro as an anti-gay stereotype, but Dave Filoni considered Ziro's sexuality ambiguous. Other outlets disputed the framing of Ziro's traits as offensive stereotypes, with some instead regarding the character as "campiness in a franchise known for being far too self-serious." Continuity experts had also told Filoni that Ziro, similar to slugs, did not have a sex, but there are separate sexes in the Hutt species in the new canon continuity, unlike in Star Wars Legends.