Jabba Desilijic Tiure, more commonly known as Jabba the Hutt, is a fictional character and major antagonist in the Star Wars franchise. Created by George Lucas, Jabba is voiced by Larry Ward with several puppeteers inside a one-ton puppet portraying him in Return of the Jedi. He was originally supposed to first appear in Star Wars (1977) as a stop motion character with Declan Mulholland as his stand-in. Jabba was later added into the film as a character when it was re-released in Special Edition in 1997. He also appears in the prequel movie The Phantom Menace. The character is a large slug-like creature based on annelid worms and originally designed as an apelike figure.
In the films, Jabba is a powerful crime lord on the planet Tatooine, who is of the Hutt species. He is obese and often exemplifies his characterizations of lust and greed by having slave alien girls in his throne room. He places a bounty on smuggler Han Solo, sending several bounty hunters to capture him. Boba Fett captures Han Solo, Darth Vader freezes him, and after Boba Fett delivers him Jabba puts Han Solo on display in his palace. Later, Princess Leia comes to save Han but is captured by Jabba, who turns her into a slave. While Luke Skywalker comes to rescue them, Leia chokes Jabba to death by wrapping the chain connected to her around his neck. Outside of the main films, Jabba first appears in the Marvel comics with the appearance of a slim humanoid with a walrus-like face.
Jabba has received generally positive reviews from critics. However, his appearance as a CGI versus as a puppet has been disputed by many, with most being disappointed in his CGI, but applauding his look as a puppet. His name has entered common parlance as being synonymous with negative qualities such as morbid obesity, corruption, and corporate greed.
The original script to Star Wars describes Jabba as a "fat, slug-like creature with eyes on extended feelers and a huge ugly mouth", but Lucas stated in an interview that the initial character he had in mind was much furrier and resembled a Wookiee.