#Why are the hutts so powerful series#

Impressing his family, rises through the ranks of the Cartel (most likely in a bloody and untoward Fashion).Įventually reaches the top as head of the Cartel.Ĭonsolidates power during the rise of Palpatine and the Empire by adapting and cutting deals with the new powers-that-be. His career would look something like this:īorn into top tier of powerful Hutt family.Įstablishes a reputation as daring, enterprising and generally proactive through his independent gun-running business. Jabba advanced to a position of power within his family before he started consolidating his criminal empire. Hutt Space is a large chunk of the Galaxy that remains more or less independent throughout much of Galactic history. The Hutt families are a millennia-old powerhouse in the galaxy, controlling vast economic resources and employing sizeable mercenary forces. Jabba was no doubt a formidable figure in Galactic mob politics, but his empire had a great deal of provinence, even before he took the helm of it. Though neither Xizor nor Jabba were by any means young, both had just been handed the reins of power established by their respective criminal families. He wins it by paying the captain of your dropship to dump his cargo - you - into space. Jabba doesn't win a fight with you by shooting you in the face. It is his knowledge of your weaknesses and the close friends of yours he owns. It is his ability to direct trade of important resources away from your supply-lines. It is the politicians and peace-keepers he has in his pocket. It is the dangerous bastards he keeps as friends. It is the army of mercenary scum he has on retainer.

You understand? It isn't Jabba's physical power that everyone fears. You don't bill Einstein as a prizefighter, you bill him as a mathematician. You don't bill an ox as a chessmaster, you bill it as a beast of burden. You don't spend years learning martial arts when you can hire 5 goons to follow you around for the same price. So Hutts are slow of body? They are quick of brains. You do what you do better, faster, or cheaper than those other guys. A business, and crime is a business, survives by collecting people of diverse talents together and using those talents to gain an advantage over the competition. To rely purely on your own personal abilities would be a disaster. How did Jabba parlay a career as a high-risk gunrunner into a notorious crime lord? Currying favor with up-and-coming galactic powers would seem to only lead to becoming a lackey to one or more of those powers, yet Jabba seemed to have evolved into a power in his own right, beholden to none.Īre there any canon references that provide details on his rise to power?

#Why are the hutts so powerful series#

It seems like the Huttese physiology would be nothing but a series of disadvantages for an aspiring crime lord. I guess being a slow, ponderous slug-like being is less of a disadvantage once you're flying a ship, but even then its not like their arms look particularly dextrous. While Fromm played war games, Xizor and Jabba sensed the winds of change and spent their resources garnering favor with those who seemed to be shifting into power. His competitors included Sise Fromm, the then-kingpin of organized crime in the galaxy and Prince Xizor, fledgling heir to the Black Sun criminal empire. During Senator Palpatine's rise to power, the Hutt was one of several gangsters who made his bid for dominance. Jabba started small, finding early work as a high-risk gunrunner, along with his lifelong friend Ephant Mon. My first thought was that perhaps Jabba leveraged a family inheritance to build a criminal empire, but Wookieepedia indicates he started small, as a 'high risk gunrunner'. Sure, they're big, and they have huge mouths, but Jabba seems practically immobile, and the Wookieepedia entry on Hutts indicates that this is not uncommon for older Hutts. After re-watching Return of the Jedi recently, I started to wonder about Jabba and his criminal empire.Īll the sources I've read agree that Jabba is immensely powerful, and his influence was such that even the Imperial forces were reluctant to cross him.īut physically, Hutts just don't seem particularly intimidating.