Star Wars revealed the canonical history of Jabba’s Palace, bringing back some deeply deep lore from the Legends. Luke Skywalker may have considered his home world something of a galactic backwater, but Star Wars keeps coming back to Tatooine. Introduced in A New Hope in 1977, the planet returned at the end of the original trilogy, when Luke returned there to free Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt. Return of the Jedi revealed that Tatooine was the center of Jabba’s criminal empireand has remained important ever since.
Amazon has released new preview pages for the upcoming Star Wars: Complete Locations New Edition. One of them is dedicated to Jabba’s Palace and brings together knowledge of legends and previously established canonical information to establish the history of the palace. It is believed to have been established by secretive B’omarr monks centuries before settlers arrived on Tatooine, but became the property of a bandit named Alkharawho added the nine-story tower, battlements and dungeons. Alkhara is a deep reference from Legends and it’s a delight to see her brought back into the canon.
Jabba the Hutt took control of the building when he moved his operations to Tatooine, although he even allowed B’omarr monks to reside in the lower levels. Their mysterious rituals appealed to Jabba’s morbid side; B’omarr monks are the ultimate ascetics, removing brains in search of the ultimate state of enlightenment and placing them in nutrient-filled jars carried on the legs of androids. The B’omarr connections have been canon for some time, but this is the first time the entire story of Jabba’s Palace has been outlined in canon.
What This New Jabba’s Palace Story Means for Star Wars
Some incredibly deep Legends lore is canon again
Alkhara was first mentioned in Kevin J. Anderson’s book Dark Saber novel, published in 1995 as part of the now non-canonical Star Wars Expanded Universe. Anderson revealed that Alkhara was once the owner of Jabba’s Palace and fleshed out his story in The illustrated universe of Star Warswhich revealed that their hunt for the Tuskens began the cycle of violence between the Sand People and human settlers on Tatooine. In 2001, a Star Wars The RPG manual revealed that it was active about six centuries before the Skywalker saga.
Practically all of this Star Wars the story is now officially canon. A tale in Star Wars Insider confirmed that – as in Legends – Alkhara initially hired Tuskens, only to betray them and trigger the long-standing blood feud between Tuskens and humans. Now, the entire story of Jabba’s Palace is also fully confirmed. It’s a tremendous and deep cut and wonderful to see.
Our opinion on Jabba’s Palace and its new history
Jabba’s Palace remains important in Star Wars; after The Book of Boba Fettend, it is now Boba Fett’s base of operations in The Mandalorian was. But these revelations about the palace’s past are important, because Star Wars tends to jump around the timeline. This means it’s entirely possible that Alkhara’s story will one day be told in canon, which would be an exciting twist.