You may know of Jabba the Hutt, but did you know he had a son?
That is a key part of the newest Star Wars film, The Mandalorian and Grogu, which features a buff Hutt named Rotta – the only surviving heir of Jabba. If you’re wanting to know more about him, you’ve come to the right place.
Rotta the Hutt was created for The Clone Wars movie in 2008, which served as the launching point of the animated series by the same name, created by George Lucas and Dave Filoni. That animated film was Filoni’s directorial debut at Lucasfilm, and now he is co-President and Chief Creative Officer at the company, as well as the co-writer and producer on The Mandalorian and Grogu (for the knowing viewer, he also plays New Republic pilot Trapper Wolf in the film).
In that movie, set during the early days of the Clone Wars, Rotta was a baby, nicknamed “Stinky”. The Separatists worked with Ziro the Hutt, Rotta’s uncle, to secretly kidnap the baby Hutt, in the hopes of framing the Republic for it and starting a conflict between the Republic and the Hutts. The Jedi Order sent Anakin Skywalker and his apprentice, Ahsoka Tano, in search of Rotta. They pursued Rotta and his kidnapper, Asajj Ventress (Count Dooku’s apprentice), to the planet Teth, where they engaged in battle against the droid army and rescued the Huttlet. The Separatists were ready for this, however, capturing video of the Jedi with Rotta to try to further convince Jabba that it was the Jedi who had kidnapped his son.
Taking the child to Tatooine, Anakin and Ahsoka realized that Rotta was sick and treated him for his fever, not sure if he would survive. As his fever broke, however, they moved from one worry to another, as their ship was attacked in Tatooine’s orbit by Separatist fighters. They were shot down, crash-landing in the desert. The Jedi split up to trick their enemy, which worked. Count Dooku engaged Skywalker in a duel in the desert, mistakingly thinking that the Huttlet was with him – when, in actuality, Rotta was with Ahsoka, who brought him to Jabba’s Palace.
But Jabba, still believing the Jedi had kidnapped his son, was furious and wanted the Jedi killed. At just the right moment, however, Senator Padmé Amidala contacted Jabba via hologram, from Ziro’s Palace on Coruscant, revealing the entire plot orchestrated by the Separatists and Ziro. Convinced of this, Jabba gave support to the Republic, having been reunited with his son.
From that point, Rotta obviously grew considerably and became incredibly buff by the time of The Mandalorian and Grogu, which takes place approximately five years after Jabba was killed by Leia Organa during the rescue of Han Solo in Return of the Jedi. He’s not quite so little anymore… but he might still be stinky.
Star Wars Thoughts 