Jabba’s rancor was a rancor given to the Hutt kajidii Jabba Desilijic Tiure as a birthday present from his henchmen. It was kept beneath a trapdoor in his chamber at his palace. He was fond of dropping people into the rancor’s pit and watching them be eaten.
The rancor was being transported from the Tarsunt system by Grizzid for a Bothan merchant named Grendu, when it broke out, killing Grizzid and his crew, and causing the ship to crash on Tatooine. A Jawa Sandcrawler captain named Tteel Kkak discovered the wreckage and informed Jabba’s servants Bib Fortuna and Bidlo Kwerve. They presented it to Jabba as a birthday present. Fortuna was rewarded by being made Jabba’s majordomo, while Kwerve was fed to the rancor.
Jabba frequently used his rancor as an amusing form of execution. Oola, a Twi’lek dancer, was dropped in for resisting Jabba when she finally got fed up with his advances on her. At some point, Jabba’s Tusken battle talisman somehow ended up falling into its pit, where the rancor ate it, too. Later, Jabba used it against Luke Skywalker, accidentally dropping a Gamorrean guard named Jubnuk in as well.
The rancor ate Jubnuk, but Skywalker proved to be more of a challenge: the young Jedi Knight, when it first attempted to eat him, placed a large femur between its jaws, forcing the rancor to let him go before snapping it in two with effort. It tried to devour him again, but Luke smashed its hand in self-defense with a rock. Luke, out of options due to the rancor’s handlers preventing him from escaping, lured it under a heavy portcullis, then smashed the control panel with a skull, causing the gate to pierce and crush the beast’s skull, killing it. Ironically, the skull Luke threw had belonged to its first victim, Kwerve. As it was dying, the rancor moaned weakly, with Malakili rushing to the rancor’s aid and then breaking down in tears when he discovered it was too late.