Star Wars Suggests Luke Skywalker Got Very Lucky in Return of the Jedi
With Boba's pet rancor in Disney+'s new Star Wars tale, The Book of Boba Fett, a look back at Return of the Jedi makes Luke Skywalker seem rather lucky to face the one he did. Rancors are just one of the many well-known and easily recognizable creatures within the Star Wars canon, with their most recent appearance coming in the form of the rancor calf in The Book of Boba Fett. However, when comparing the calf to the franchise's only other live-action rancor, the one which belonged to the ever-villainous Jabba the Hutt, the differences between the two present an interesting theory of Luke having more than just the Force on his side.
In The Book of Boba Fett season 1, episode 3, "Chapter 3: The Streets of Mos Espa," Boba has a second run-in with the Twins, two identical Hutt siblings, and cousins of Jabba, who gift him with a rancor calf after trying to have him killed. Over the course of the series, Boba bonds enough with his new pet to where he is eventually able to ride it into battle in the season finale. This new rancor is young, strong, healthy, and incredibly dangerous, causing massive amounts of damage throughout Mos Espa during its duel with the Scorpenek droids. It is also rather nimble despite its large size, able to climb and vault over large buildings and structures around the town. With this display of the true might of the rancor species, however, Jabba's beast in Return of the Jedi seems to pale in comparison.
The two rancors are actually fairly similar in terms of physical attributes, with a few exceptions, an example being their height. Boba's rancor, which, according to its handler, is still a baby, stands at approximately 14 feet tall (4.2 meters). On the other hand, Jabba's rancor is fully grown and much older, standing a bit taller at just over 16 feet (5 meters). In terms of sheer ferocity and vigor, though, it's the younger generation that outclasses the older in that regard, which ends up playing out in Luke's favor in his scene. To put it simply, Luke gets incredibly lucky in Return of the Jedi, facing the rancor he does. Upon first glance, the monster underneath Jabba's throne is lumbering, slow, and, honestly, kind of dim-witted (essentially, the exact opposite of Boba Fett's). This allows it to be ultimately defeated by a smarter, more dexterous opponent like Luke. Although there are other facets aside from Luke's intelligence and Jedi training that result in its demise, the biggest factor that plays into the young Skywalker's good fortune is the difference in the two rancors' backgrounds.
Many different Star Wars novels, comics, and other literary canon reveal that Jabba's pet, named Pateesa, is not only used as a source of execution but it is also used as a source of entertainment. Although Jabba enjoys plunging poor souls into his palace's rancor pit to be devoured, he also frequently forces his beloved monstrosity to participate in pit fights against other creatures both native and not native to Tatooine. Pateesa always ends up victorious, but at the cost of him being severely wounded with each go-around. By the time Jabba drops Luke into his rancor's cage, Pateesa is weak, battered, and broken. Though still a fearsome and powerful creature, this rancor is seen by Luke as a sad, dejected animal living a miserable life under the tyrannical fist of his abusive master.
If Pateesa had not been abused by Jabba, or if he were as young and vibrant as Boba Fett's rancor calf, the scene could have and would have played out extremely differently. So, Luke actually turns out to have impeccable luck considering the poor state of the rancor he faces off against (though the reasoning behind his luck is rather depressing). If the overall situation hadn't been so advantageous to Luke, Return of the Jedi would be over minutes after it began. Nevertheless, it's nice to see that a new Star Wars story like The Book of Boba Fett is painting the creatures in a different, more positive light and paying tribute to one of the most famous scenes in the original trilogy.