Who Does The Skull Belong To In The Rancor Pit In 'Return Of The Jedi'?
The Rancor attacks Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi
Image Source: YouTube
Return Of The Jedi is the best Star Wars movie for a variety of reasons. Luke has grown into a fully fledged Jedi, Han and Leia reunite, the Ewoks save the day, and the Empire is finally defeated. It also has some of the most iconic moments in the saga, and one of these moments occurs in the Rancor pit in Jabba’s palace.
Luke heads to Jabba’s palace to rescue Leia and Han from Jabba’s grasp. It doesn’t go as planned, and Jabba sees right through him. This causes him to hit a button, which drops Luke right into the Rancor pit. Jabba and his crew all watch on in glee, as they think the Rancor will defeat Luke once and for all. As we all know, Luke uses his skills to avoid the Rancor and successfully escapes. He does this by throwing a skull, found in the Rancor pit, at the button to open the door. But who does this skull belong to, and how did they end up down here?
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The skull belonged to Bidlo Kwerve. He existed in both canon and Legends, and has a much bigger history in Legends. In canon, he was a human, or a near-human employee of Jabba the Hutt. He competed against Bib Fortuna to become Jabba’s right-hand man, or as Star Wars calls it, majordomo. His loss caused him to be an early victim of Jabba’s pet Rancor, Pateesa. His head remained largely intact, and his skull remained in the Rancor pit. It later served Luke Skywalker, who was able to throw it at a button, in order to open the door and escape.
Luke uses the skull to open the cage door in Return of the Jedi
Image Source: Wookieepedia
In Legends, however, he played a much bigger part in Jabba’s story. Bidlo Kwerve was a Corellian pirate and smuggler, and often clashed with Han Solo, who was Jabba’s top pilot. Kwerve was a tall, grizzled man with scarred features and black hair with a single white stripe.
He was known for his greediness and hot temper, and was quick to respond to any insults headed his way. Kwerve's duties varied greatly. He often acted as a bodyguard to Jabba. He performed menial tasks, such as stocking ships, administering Jabba’s townhouse in Mos Eisley when Jabba was elsewhere, and would accept any incoming calls into the palace and refer them back to Jabba. Kwerve and Bib Fortuna hated each other and were always in competition to be Jabba’s majordomo. Jabba, however, saw both as incompetent.
Kwerve discovered a crashed Bothan ship in the Tatooine desert, with a live rancor inside. He decided to present it to Jabba as a gift for the Crime Lord’s birthday. He, unfortunately, had to ask the aid of Bib Fortuna to help transport it back to the palace. Jabba was so impressed with the initiative of his two lieutenants that he decided to promote one of them to the role of majordomo, and the other would be bestowed a “great honor”. Kwerve, being his greedy self, decided to accept the “great honor”, which turned out to be not so great after all. He was the rancor’s first victim and was devoured in the pit below Jabba’s court.
Even though Bidlo Kwerve was the rancor’s first victim, he did get his revenge posthumously when Luke Skywalker used his skull to escape. It’s such a quick, yet important moment, especially considering it's life or death for Luke. Kwerve sounds like such an interesting character, and it’s great to know there is plenty of lore about him, at least in Legends. There’s lore about everything in Star Wars, and it’s one of my favorite things about the franchise.
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Source: Wookieepedia
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