Rancor

The rancor is a 5 meter (16.4 foot)-tall carnivore present in the fictional Star Wars universe.

In Return of the Jedi, the infamous criminal Jabba the Hutt had a "pet" rancor below his pad to get rid of unwanted or displeasing guests. Victims, such as the slave girl Oola, were dropped through a trap door into the pit below and eaten by the rancor for the amusement of Jabba and his guests.

When Luke Skywalker tried to free Han Solo, Jabba dropped the Jedi into the pit. A Gamorrean guard named Jubnuk fell into the pit along with Luke. Jubnuk panicked and tried to get back up out of the pit, only to be laughed at by those above; Jubnuk was promptly eaten. Luke managed to kill the rancor by dropping a heavy metal portcullis down onto the monster's neck. While Jabba was enraged by the rancor's death, its human keeper, Malakili, wept over the death of his charge.

Natural habitat

The natural habitat of the rancor are the forests and swamps of the planet Dathomir.

Tamed rancors

In much Expanded Universe material, the notion of "pet rancors" has been explored further, and many stories containing tamed rancors have been produced.

One example of tamed rancors is that of the witches of Dathomir. The banished Jedi Knight Allya found herself on the planet with other exiles. Allya taught them to tame the fierce rancors that ran wild through the thick evergreen forests. The tamed rancors then carried the witches from clan to clan. The rancors on this planet were significantly larger than the one seen in Return of the Jedi.

Another example is found in the hugely popular 2003 videogame Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, in which tamed young rancors are found on the Unknown World that the Rakata inhabit. The Rakata use them primarily as guards and assault beasts. A rancor is also used to guard an underground base entrance by the Black Vulkars on the planet Taris, though whether this beast is tame is debatable.

Darth Wookun in the rise of a new empire had many tamed rancors to his command including rancorlets, baby rancors. They are used as guards and minions as well as being included in a larger army.

Notable Appearances

In the Star Wars universe, rancors and gangsters (and other criminals) have become almost inseparable. "Pet" rancors are probably status symbols among gangsters, the idea being that if a rancor can be kept under control, the gangster can control anything. The prospect of being fed to a rancor keeps both enemies and subordinates in line.

For example, in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic one of the local swoop gang leaders on the planet Taris uses a gigantic rancor as a guard to one of the entrances to his base.

The rancor from Return of the Jedi also appeared in Star Wars: Battlefront II on the Jabba's Palace map. The rancor is located near a command post in Jabba's throne room. The trap door is accessed by walking up to Jabba; the player will then fall into the rancor's pit. This map is also available on the Mac and Windows versions of the original Star Wars: Battlefront.

For a mission in Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith, the player, in the form of Mara Jade, is held prisoner by a gangster and must escape. The only way out goes through the lair of the gangster's pet rancor, which must be defeated before the player can progress in the game.

In Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy there are two missions featuring rancors. In one mission, the player, as Jaden Korr, has to help a group of people that have been taken prisoners by a vile Hutt gangster escape from Nar Kreeta before they are eaten by his "pet" rancor while the Hutt's guests watch and place bets. In the other mission, on Tanaab, Korr must battle a rancor that has been mutated by the Cult of Ragnos. This particular rancor was grey in coloration, somewhat hunched, and able to exhale a radioactive fog, not unlike Godzilla. In the game, it is also immune to all damage from weapons.

Other appearances and references

The Jedi Knight Tenel Ka used a rancor tooth to build both her first and second lightsaber.
In a short story in Tales from Jabba's Palace, the rancor in Return of the Jedi is presented in a far more sympathetic way as a poor animal that has fallen victim to Jabba's exploitation.
Rancors are also a favoured prey in the MMORPG, Star Wars Galaxies.
A parody of the rancor can be seen in the Drawn Together episode "Foxxy vs. the Board of Education" when the Board pulls a lever and a Rancor drops from the ceiling. He says, "Oops, wrong lever" and pulls another one, causing Foxxy and the Rancor both to drop through the floor. This itself is spoofed again within the same episode, where Ling Ling falls into a pit with a Rancor in it, and the Rancor itself pulls another lever so that Ling Ling is promtly outside.
A parody of the rancor also appears in the Family Guy episode "Peterotica." Mr. Pewterschmidt has one on his property underneath a trap door built into his front door mat, he sends a lawyer down there, but when he comes back up after crushing the Rancor under the gate, like Luke did, Mr. Pewterschmidt remarks, "I didn't realize Greenberg was a Jedi name."
In The Legend of Dragoon, in Hellena Prison, the party falls through a trap door, where they must fight and defeat a monster known as Jiango, which looks very similar to the rancor.
The Rancor may be the inspiration for the one of Godzilla's kaiju opponents, Orga^{[citation needed]}.

In the MMORPG RuneScape, it is possible to build trap doors in the floor of your house. One of the things that can be waiting at the bottom are beasts called "Rocnar", Rancor backwards.
Rancor is a word meaning bitter resentment or ill-will.

External link

Rancor on Wookieepedia, a Star Wars wiki