- «His High Exaltedness, the great Jabba the Hutt, has decreed that you are to be terminated immediately… You will therefore be taken to the Dune Sea and cast into the pit of Carkoon, the nesting place of the all-powerful Sarlacc… In its belly, you will find a new definition of pain and suffering, as you are slowly digested over a thousand years.«
- ―C-3PO
The Battle of the Great Pit of Carkoon, also known as the battle over the Great Pit of Carkoon,[11] or the Battle of Carkoon, took place in 4 ABY as part of a campaign by Luke Skywalker to rescue his captive friend, Han Solo, from the gangster Jabba the Hutt. Following a failed infiltration of the Hutt’s palace, Jabba attempted to execute Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Solo’s companion Chewbacca by throwing them into the Great Pit of Carkoon, home of the Sarlacc.
Skywalker was prepared for this type of situation, having stored his lightsaber inside his droid R2-D2 prior to the rescue attempt. Just as the execution was to take place, the droid launched the lightsaber into the air, equipping Skywalker and allowing him to neutralize all of Jabba’s guards. During the ensuing chaos, Jabba was assassinated by Leia Organa, another participant in the operation who was taken as a slave by Jabba, and Boba Fett, an associate of the Hutt considered to be one of the greatest gunfighters in the galaxy, was catapulted into the Sarlacc’s maw by Solo.