The Hutts were the undisputed overlords of one
of the most powerful civilizations in the galaxy and the masters of the criminal underworld.
This notoriously greedy and narcissistic species is one of Star Wars’ most alien, with
their only real resemblance to humans being their sentience and culture. Most Star Wars
fans are familiar with the Hutts in general, but even some of the more devoted fans might have
a few questions about these intriguing beings. What was their outlook on the universe?
What was their culture like? How the hell did they reproduce? In this video, we’ll
be answering all these questions and more. The Hutts were essentially giant
slugs. They didn’t have skeletons, instead featuring a hardened mantle under their
skins that maintained the approximate shape of their heads. Their skin was incredibly thick and
constantly coated in sweat and mucus; beneath it were thick layers of blubber and muscle. These
qualities made Hutts incredibly tough, capable of shrugging off all sorts of damage. Their survival
capabilities were improved by their resistance to most poisons and pathogens and their incredible
regenerative abilities, which, for example, allowed them to regrow arms, eyes, and even
parts of their brains. Hutts could also open their mouths wide enough to swallow humans whole,
see in ultraviolet light, resist Jedi mind tricks, and survive underwater for hours at a time. Hutts
grew ceaselessly over the course of their lives, which could last for over a thousand years. All
told, they were an incredibly resilient species. Hutts were hermaphroditic, which meant they had
both male and female reproductive organs, with no sexual distinction between Hutts. Sometimes,
Hutts mated with each other, but most of the time they reproduced asexually, essentially mating with
themselves. This may sound strange to us humans, but, for the record, many real-world animals
reproduce in the same way. Upon birth, Huttlets crawled into their parents’ brood pouch,
where they would usually remain for decades. Huttlets weren’t considered full Hutts until they
reached two hundred years of age; prior to this, they weren’t held responsible for their actions.
Huttlets were often deliberately crushed by older Hutts to prevent competition, a practice
that was apparently tolerated in Hutt society. The Hutts’ hermaphroditism gave them a very fluid
concept of gender; Hutts identified with genders based on characteristics of their personalities.
Jabba the Hutt, for example, identified as male, while Gardulla the Hutt identified as
female, though there were no physical differences between the two. Additionally, Hutts
sometimes changed genders. Upon becoming pregnant, for example, many male Hutts chose to identify
as female, though this wasn’t always the case, as Jabba continued to identify as male
after conceiving and giving birth to Rotta. The Hutts had no sense of morality and only a
vague concept of crime. Most of their laws were meant to keep their servants in line, and those
few laws the Hutts subjected themselves to were mostly just codified traditions that made business
more efficient. Not only did the Hutts have no qualms about murder, slavery, or exploitation,
but most Hutts genuinely did not understand why most species looked down on such practices,
viewing morality as a weakness. As a result, most Hutts were cruel and abusive, and their
civilizations encouraged abominable behavior. With that said, there were good Hutts in the
galaxy. Among them were Aarrba the Hutt, a Cinnagar-based businessbeing who had a pronounced
sense of mercy, and the unfortunately named Blotus the Hutt, who served as Supreme Chancellor of the
Republic and was extremely popular in his day. The Hutts evolved on the planet Varl, a world
described in their legends as a tropical paradise lit by two suns. These suns, Ardos and Evona,
were worshiped as gods by the Hutts, who developed a rich mythology centered around them and the
stars they could see in the night sky. The Hutts were not the only sentients to evolve on Varl;
they shared the swampy world with the vaguely rhinoceros-like t’landa Til and, according to some
records, the froglike Rybets. But the Hutts were the most powerful of the natives of Varl, as in
those days, they were a mighty race of warriors. Varl was conquered by the Rakata during the reign
of the Infinite Empire, under which the Hutts acquired advanced space travel technology. During
the slow decline of the Rakata, the Hutts rebelled under the leadership of a warlord named Ardustagg
the Absolute, who freed Varl from Rakatan rule. After the Rakata fled, the Hutts took to
the stars. With reverse-engineered Rakatan hyperdrive technology, Ardustagg’s followers
carved out a place for themselves in the galaxy. Unfortunately for their galactic neighbors,
they chose to follow in the Rakata’s footsteps. The Hutts established an empire of
their own, and rapidly expanded into hundreds of star systems. For about two hundred
years, from the fall of the Infinite Empire in 25,200 BBY to the union between the Jedi
Order and the Republic in 25,000 BBY, the Hutt Empire was the largest and most
powerful civilization in the galaxy. In those days, the Hutts ran roughshod over
countless worlds, enslaving some species and exterminating all others. Their greatest
rivals in the immediate post-Rakatan period were the Tionese, who formed an empire under Xim
the Despot before Kossak the Hutt defeated them. But before long, the Hutts found new rivals
on the galactic stage - the Republic, which absorbed the Tionese and quickly became much more
powerful than the Hutts. The Hutt Empire spent thousands of years fighting a proxy war on
the galactic frontier with the Republic, razing frontier colonies and nearly provoking
full-scale wars several times. This period of conflict came to a sudden end, however,
when the Hutt Empire turned against itself. In 15,000 BBY, in a brutal series of
civil wars called the Hutt Cataclysms, the Hutt Empire destroyed itself,
rendering countless Hutt worlds desolate. Among the casualties of the
Hutt Cataclysms was Varl. During the fighting, the star Edona was swallowed
by a black hole, while Ardos went supernova, becoming a white dwarf and destroying every
planet in the system aside from Varl. Varl was spared complete destruction, but its atmosphere
burned up and its surface was rendered barren and lifeless. This led to drastic changes in Hutt
society. The Hutt Empire became the Hutt Cartel, which sought to dominate the galaxy through
control of the galactic underworld, and the Hutts’ clans stopped fighting open wars and began
competing as business entities. As they relocated to a new homeworld, Evocar, which they renamed
Nal Hutta, the Hutts adopted a philosophy they called kajidic, transitioning from a warrior-race
to the species of crime lords we’re familiar with. The destruction of the Varl system caused another
major shift in Hutt society, one with severe ramifications. With Evona and Ardos destroyed,
the Hutts believed their gods were dead - but by surviving ther gods’ destruction, they
reasoned that they themselves had become divine. Ever after, the Hutts expected members of other
species to worship them, demanding respect at all times and unleashing terrible punishments
on those who failed to demonstrate it. During the movie era, the Hutts still
lived according to the kajidic philosophy. Their clans were spread out across the galaxy,
both in Hutt Space and beyond its borders, getting involved in virtually every sort of
business imaginable, legal or otherwise. The clans were ruled by the Hutt Council, composed of
five Hutt leaders from the most powerful kajidics. During the Clone Wars, these Hutt leaders
were Jabba of the Desilijic clan, Gorga of the Desilijic clan, Arok of the Besadii clan, Oruba of
the Gorensla clan, and Marlo of the Qunaalac clan. The Desilijic clan was the most powerful, known
for its hedonism and involvement in everything from the spice trade to slavery. They were heavily
into spice mining, with major stakes in operations on Kessel and Ryloth, though they were known for
their willingness to get involved in anything that might turn a profit. The Desilijic shared
their preferred fields with the Besadii, their bitter rivals. The Besadii ran even
harsher slaving operations than the Desilijic, most notably on Ylesia, a
major spice-producing world. The other two Clone Wars-era ruling clans were
a bit different. The Gorensla were primarily gunrunners, shipping arms from their foundries on
Sleheyron to anyone with the credits to buy them. The Gorensla were masters of the black
market and shadow politics, known for their unparalleled skill at buying up politicians
and taking de facto control of entire planets. The Qunaalac, on the other hand, were much
more militaristic than the other ruling clans. Their illicit operations allowed them
to purchase a vast fleet of warships, which they used to guard the Bootana
Hutta, the core territories of Hutt Space. There were many other castes and kajidics
beyond those big four, of course, some less reputable than others. The H’uun
caste, for example, were considered the lowest of the low among Hutts, forced to the fringes
of Hutt Space, where they lived in ignominy. Many petty kajidics were little more
than street gangs, small operations that rarely outlasted their founders. Those Hutts who
failed to climb the kajidic ladder were shown no mercy by the other members of their species.
The Hutts believed in the survival of the fittest, and they didn’t make exceptions,
not even for their own. So, that’s our definitive look at
the Hutts. But what do you think? Do you want more Hutt content? Feel free to
post your thoughts in the comments below.
