The Hutt Clan famously controlled Tatooine in the original and prequel Star Wars trilogies, but The Book of Boba Fett acknowledges that they rule other planets as well. Jabba the Hutt had a looming presence in the original trilogy before becoming the antagonist of Return of the Jedi’s first act. Tatooine is one of the franchise’s most important worlds, as it’s the homeworld of Luke and Anakin Skywalker, the place where both of their families died, and where the former rescued Han Solo from the clutches of Jabba the Hutt. The Book of Boba Fett’s first three episodes takes place almost entirely on Tatooine, demonstrating its importance to Boba Fett’s fledgling criminal empire and its seemingly diminishing importance to the Hutt Clans.
While much of the Star Wars saga’s plot is driven by the conflicts between Jedi and Sith, galactic underworld factions fight alongside or against one another as needed to maximize their profits. One of the most powerful and notorious of these factions is the Hutt Clan. Known as the Hutt Cartel in the Legends continuity, this alliance of Hutt crime families controlled entire portions of the galaxy in what became known as Hutt Space. The power and influence of the Hutt Clan is shown to be great enough for the Jedi and Sith factions to compete for their favor.
While Tatooine has great significance to Star Wars fans, in-universe it’s an obscure and often dismissed world. Tatooine’s population is small, in part due to the planet’s harsh environment and lethal native species. Tatooine had no planetary government in either continuity, with the Hutt Clan, specifically Jabba and Gardulla’s contingents, ruling the planet and allowing Imperial forces to seize locales like Mos Eisley with impunity. Canon and Legends material outside of the Star Wars saga, such as The Book of Boba Fett, delve into the full scope of the Hutt Clan’s power on a galactic scale and their specific rule over Tatooine.
What The Book Of Boba Fett Reveals About The Hutt Clans’ Power
“Chapter 3: The Streets of Mos Espa” further explores the state of the Hutt Clan on Tatooine following Jabba the Hutt’s death. His majordomo, Bib Fortuna, didn’t control nearly as much of the world as Jabba did, forcing him to form alliances with Mos Espa’s mayor, and three gangs each claimed a portion of the large spaceport. While Gardulla the Hutt was shown in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, her absence implies that she no longer had control over Tatooine by the events of Return of the Jedi. With Jabba gone, the far weaker Fortuna dead, and Tatooine’s underworld not respecting Lord Fett yet, the desert world no longer seems profitable for the Hutt Clan. Moreover, the Pyke Syndicate, another powerful crime organization, seeks to take over Tatooine, leading to a gang war between them and Fett.
Hutt Space In Star Wars Canon: How Much Of The Galaxy They Controlled
Hutt Space is vast in the Star Wars canon continuity, with the sector situated between the Mid-Rim and Outer Rim Territories. The region famously included both the Hutt homeworld of Nal Hutta and the Toydarian home planet of Toydaria, as shown in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. While Hutt crime families often fought over their territory, the Grand Hutt Council kept the region from falling under the control of the galaxy’s major political powers, such as the Galactic Republic, Separatist Alliance, and Galactic Empire. The Hutt Clan’s control of the region existed as early as the High Republic era and endured well into the sequel trilogy era.
As shown in The Clone Wars’ 2008 film, both the Republic and Separatists fought for an alliance with the Hutt Clan in the early days of the Clone Wars. Working alongside Ziro the Hutt’s crime family, the Separatist Alliance kidnapped Jabba’s son, Rotta, and attempted to frame the Republic as the perpetrators. The plan backfired, granting Republic forces safe passage through Hutt Space. Towards the end of the war, the dangerous burgeoning criminal faction, the Shadow Collective, attempted to form an alliance with the Hutt Clan and thus access to Hutt Space, but the negotiations quickly turned violent, resulting in the death of Oruba the Hutt.
Hutt Space In Star Wars Legends
In Legends, the Hutts didn’t originate from Nal Hutta, and instead came from the obscure world of Varl and adopted Nal Hutta as their new home following a cataclysm. The Hutts gradually formed an empire that galaxy’s dominant power following the fall of the Rakatan Infinite Empire and the rise of the Galactic Republic. Civil wars within the Hutt Empire, however, led the conquering faction to change its ideology. Rather than gaining power through military force, the Hutts would build a criminal empire and while Hutt Space remained, the Hutt Empire transitioned into the Hutt Cartel.
A key difference between Hutt Space in canon and Legends is that in the original timeline, Hutt Space is covered far more comprehensively, with more documented systems in the similarly shaped and situated region. On a planetary scale, Tatooine was divided between Jabba and Gardulla, though the planet fell completely under the rule of Jabba following Jango Fett’s assassination of Gardulla shortly after the events of The Phantom Menace. During the galaxy-devasting Yuuzhan Vong War, the Hut Cartel attempted to play both sides of the conflict, resulting in Nal Hutta and its moon, Nar Shaddaa, being rendered uninhabitable. The Hutts gradually regained control of Hutt Space and adopted Tatooine as their new homeworld.
How The Hutt Clans Lost Control Of The Star Wars Galaxy
While the Yuuzhan Vong proved to be one of the Hutts’ greatest enemies in Legends, it was the Sith and the Galactic Empire who harmed the organization most in Canon. In Marvel’s War of the Bounty Hunters crossover arc, Darth Vader assassinates the Grant Hutt Council, save for Jabba, making him the Hutt Clan’s de facto leader. This put the Hutt Clan in a precarious position, which was exacerbated when Leia Organa killed Jabba in Return of the Jedi. It’s unknown how much of Hutt Space remains under the Hutt Clan’s control, but The Twins’ retreat to Nal Hutta indicates that the species’ homeworld in canon remains theirs. With Jabba dead and the Hutt Clan weakened by the events of The Book of Boba Fett, Tatooine has become a hot spot for the Star Wars galaxy’s other crime organizations to compete over.
