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| Great Pit of Carkoon | |
| Continuity: | Star Wars |
| Aliases: | Pit of Carkoon |
| Category: | Region |
| Galaxy: | Star Wars Galaxy |
| System: | Tatoo system |
| Sector: | Arkanis sector |
| Planet: | Tatooine |
| Locale: | Dune Sea |
| Residents: | Sarlacc |
| 1st appearance: | Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) |
The Great Pit of Carkoon, or just Pit of Carkoon, is a fictional natural landmark featured in the Star Wars multimedia franchise. It first appeared in the 1983 feature film Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and has gone on to appear in the various "Expanded Universe" media, including novels, video games and comic books.
Description[]
The Great Pit of Carkoon was a large depression of sand located in the Northern region of the Dune Sea on the planet Tatooine. It has gained considerable notoriety over the years, owing largely to the fact that it was the nesting place of a gigantic burrowing creature known as a Sarlacc, which took root in the sands below the pit and whose body comprised the surface aperture of the depression. The Sarlacc was known for capturing it's prey with giant tentacles whereupon it would slowly digest them over the span of a thousand years.
History[]
- Main article: Skirmish at Carkoon
In 4 ABY, Rebel Alliance members Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian and the droids, C-3PO and R2-D2 embarked upon a comprehensive operation to rescue their friend Han Solo from the clutches of the intergalactic crimelord Jabba the Hutt. Though they succeeded in finding Han and thawing him from a carbonite prison, they were subsequently captured by Jabba's forces. Jabba had Leia enslaved and decreed that the others were to be executed by being cast into the Great Pit of Carkoon where they would be consumed by the Sarlacc.
Luke, Han and Chewbacca were taken aboard a Bantha-II cargo skiff and taken out to the Pit of Carkoon. A second skiff, filled with more of Jabba's henchmen, escorted them as did Jabba and his entourage aboard his sail barge, the Khetanna. In attendance on the barge were C-3PO, R2-D2, Leia Organa, bounty hunter Boba Fett, Jabba himself, and several of Jabba's guests and underlings. Before the execution was to commence, Jabba had Threepio issue a proclamation, entreating the prisoners for a final option to beg for mercy - mercy, which of course would never be given. Han retorted that he would get "no such pleasure" from them.
Luke Skywalker turned towards the sail barge and issue a final warning to Jabba: "Free us, or die". Jabba laughed and ordered his guards to push Luke into the pit. Before walking the plank, Luke gave a signal to Lando Calrissian, who was still in disguise as a skiff guard and also gestured to R2-D2, who was viewing the event from a window on the barge. Artoo fired a projectile from a housing in his body towards the skiff. The projectile turned out to be Luke's lightsaber. After doing a flip off the plank, Luke landed back on the open deck of the skiff and caught his saber. Igniting it, he swung wildly at three guards, while Lando began grappling with a fourth. He then used his saber to free Han and Chewbacca from their manacles.
On the sail barge, a Nikto guard mounted a blaster cannon onto the side of the ship and fired a shot into the skiff. The impact threw Lando over the side, but he managed to snag onto a length of cable, which only barely kept him out of reach of the Sarlacc's hungry tentacles.
Boba Fett then used his rocket pack to fly from the barge to the skiff where he drew his blaster upon Skywalker. Luke cut through the blaster, so Fett ensnared him with a grappling line from his gauntlet. Luke cut himself free, but a second shot from the mounted cannon caused Boba Fett to fall over.
The second desert skiff turned about to face them and the guard opened fire on Luke. He leaped from one skiff to the other and began fighting off the armed henchmen. Boba Fett got up and drew a bead on Luke Skywalker. Han Solo, still partially blind heard Chewbacca bark a warning about Boba Fett. As he turned about, he knocked into the bounty hunter, accidentally activating his rocket pack. Boba blasted off the skiff and slammed into the side of the sail barge. He then rolled down the dune and fell into the gaping maw of the Sarlacc.
On the sail barge, Princess Leia decided that it was time to make her move. Using a length of her slave chain as a hammer, she cut the power to the inner chamber, causing everyone to scramble about in a panic in the darkness. Before Jabba could even figure out what was going on, Leia circled behind him with her chain, wrapping it around his neck. She pulled on it with all of her strength, eventually strangling Jabba to death. Afterward, R2-D2 used a mini-torch to cut Leia's chains, setting her free.
Topside, the Nikto guard continued firing blasts at the first skiff. The vessel lurched forward from the impact, causing the still-dangling Lando Calrissian to drop ever-closer to he Sarlacc. A tentacle reached out and ensnared his leg. Han Solo leaned over the edge of the skiff while Chewbacca was holding his legs and used a discarded rifle to blast the Sarlacc tentacle until it let Lando go.
After Luke finished dispatching all of the guards on the second skiff, he leaped over to the sail barge and took care of the gunner, as well as a Gamorrean guard. While defending himself against three more foes, he saw Princess Leia emerging topside. He provided cover and told Leia to get to the blaster cannon and point it at the main deck of the sail barge itself. Luke finished off his foes, grabbed a hanging rope and fired the cannon, before swinging off to the first skiff with Leia in his arms. R2-D2 and C-3PO managed to get topside and Artoo pushed Threepio off the edge of barge into the sand just as the sail barge exploded. By most accounts, everyone else present aboard the barge was killed in the explosion.