Hello all, Ric here with a cultural index, it’s been a while I know, but we are looking
today at one of the most notorious alien species in the Star Wars galaxy, the Hutts, also known
as the Hutt clan or cartel. Biologically, they imposing bulk of a Hutt
is obvious. They are large, even up to 4.5 metres in length, although typically around
3 and a half to four metres in adult height. They weighed in excess of 500 pounds (266
kilograms) and had three limbs, two short arms and a tail. Their slug-crossed lizard
like form often had them termed as gastropods, despite them having more traits in common
with mammals. Their skin, although it did secrete a slimy layer was very dense and tough.
Under it were layers of blubber and muscle that gave them considerable protection and
strength, although their weight rendered them very slow. Their skin tones ranged from dark
to light shades of orange, tan, brown, purples and greens. That had a single skeletal structure
in the form of a supporting spine and internally they had three lungs.
In legends, the Hutts were hermaphroditic and would change gender when rearing their
young, although recent canon has retconned this so that the Hutts are biologically dual-gendered.
Hutts were born as infants, less than a foot in length known as huttlets, but they would
continue to grow in girth and height as they aged, seemingly without limit as older Hutts
could in fact become so heavy that they could not move any more. Despite this, they had
incredibly long lifespans of up to a 1000 years. Jabba the Hutt for example was over
600 (604) when he died but in legends, there are Hutts recorded as being over 1700. Because
of their long lifespans, their rate of reproduction was rather low and huttlets were guarded by
the families with zeal as they were often targets for extortion and the like and a Hutt
younger than 200 was still considered a minor in their culture.
They have incredibly strong resistances to toxins and this may be due to their regenerative
properties that allowed them to grow back from substantial damage, even parts of their
brain over decades or centuries. They could be force sensitive, but this seemed less so
than even the rare rates present in other species.
Their homeworld is Nal Hutta, a terrestrial world of 12,150 kilometres and around 1 G.
Its primary habitat was moist. Humid, steamy marshland and pools of surface water shrouded
the planet among thick vegetation and damp rock. It had frequent “greasy” rain, and
that sounds just lovely. The capital city was Bilbousa. It was a ringed planet and had
several moons, one of the most prominent being Nar Shaddaa. The planet was in located in
S12 of the outer rim territories, and the beginning of a region known as Hutt space.
Hutt space also covered the Toydaria and Doran systems. As well as Cyrkon, Kintan, Klatooine,
Nimban, Ques, Saki, Sleheyron, Sriluur, Vodran, Ylesia and it had control over several prominent
trade routes too, making it a very active region. (Ootmian Pabol, Pabol hutta, Pabol
Sleheyron, Shag Pabol (no thanks I barely know him.)
In Legends material it was said that they came from a planet called Varl originally,
but that planet suffered a calamity which killed their sun gods, Evona and Ardos, and
stripped away its atmosphere. Some records suggest that a roaming black hole passed through
this system, after they had become a spacefaring species, sometime prior to 25200 BBY. This
devoured one sun and caused the other to shed its surfaces layers and burn off Varl’s
atmosphere. After watching their Gods die, the Hutts fled to a suitable colony world
that became Nal Hutta. To their logic, as their gods had perished, that meant that they
were better than their gods because they survived.
The Hutt cartel also maintained presences on other worlds such as Tatooine, Dandoran,
and Teth. The Hutts maintained a large monopoly of criminal enterprises and factions managed
over by a balanced and internally regulated structure of families called the Kajidic.
Representatives of these five ruling families made up the council who managed their own
code of conduct and punished their lawbreakers. Despite being a criminal empire, the Hutts
did have and follow their own ruleset, it’s just that culturally, their morals and values
were at odds with most other lifeforms, so galactic law considered many of their actions
illicit. Generally, the Hutts were uncaring for the reputation this created for them but
were not ignorant of it. Equally they would utilise the Hutt stereotype for advantage,
but also acquiesce to galactic law in order to do business. Several times throughout their
history, they have formed agreements with legitimate powers to stay in operation, perfectly
aware of the notion that often such powers as the Empire of even the Republic would occasionally
need access to the shadier side of nation building. In this way, the Hutt criminal empire
was able to prosper for millennia, despite being completely open about its flouting of
law. The hutt council also made up one of the voices
of the five major syndicates that were the organised crime ring of the outer rim. Other
powers that shared this honour(?) were the Black Sun, Crimson Dawn, Crymorah and Pyke
Syndicates. Although with the nature of their endeavours and politics, these would likely
fluctuate with time. The Hutts utilised their control over their
hyperspace lanes to full advantage and practiced slavery, smuggling and much black market trade.
In legends though, and somewhat supported by canon, they would rather create a situation
of indentured servitude than open slavery when it came to their own affairs. This was
done as slavery often led to less productivity and rebellion, while the meagre rewards and
tenure provided by servitude was enough to keep a flicker of hope alive and therefore
quietens dissent. It was probably on the backs of such slaves
or servants that they built their empire in the first place as examples of their architecture
from worlds such as Jakku and Mataou, although Hutt worlds, featured stairways and smaller
doors amid the smooth, open surfaces and ramps preferred by the Hutts. This displays a need
for humanoids to ambulate around their worlds, and I doubt it was for sightseeing.
Typical Hutt behaviour saw them indulge in a myriad of vices, from smoking Hookah to
spice and eating copious amounts of foods from all over, finding many easily digestible.
Even other sentient species if they wanted to make a statement. They could be attracted
to other species despite obvious differences, but not always in a sexual way. Often it was
more of a twisted form of “appreciation” or desire for possession. A Hutt would collect
people considered attractive and parade them around as a collector of coveted arts would
exhibit its gallery, for example. Which I would argue, is kind of, if not worse.
Often they displayed many negative traits, such as selfishness, paranoia and general
malevolence in attitude towards others outside of their own clan or families. Which does
raise an interesting question, are they often criminals because these are inborn traits,
or does being a criminal instil this mind-set? Either way, Hutts hungered for power and control
with an intense ambition. Psychologically I do wonder if this was attached to their
physical form being less able and therefore it was preferable to have control over those
around you to work for you. In terms of beliefs, there seems to be a faith
in some form of gods outside of legend mentions. The Hutt known as Boonta Hestilic Shad’ruu,
won a lot of battles, expanded his control and when he died, he is said to have ascended
to godhood for his deeds. This ties in nicely with legends as it suggests that after witnessing
the death of their actual gods of myth, their first thought was, “So you’re saying there’s
an opening?” Nevertheless, when a Hutt dies, they shrouded their dead in wraps then buried
them in tombs. They managed their own internal currency for
use among the families called the Peggat, that were forged from gold.
The hutt script and language is called Huttese and was easy to learn by humanoids. Their
naming structure was interesting and made of three names, using Jabba the Hutt as an
example. Disregarding titles, (which you should probably not do if you’re trying to get
on a Hutt’s good side), Jabba’s full name was Jabba Desilijic Tiure. The first name
is their known name and the only one that most people know them by. Their middle name
was called the cuivas and it denotes what criminal family the Kajidic, they were from.
In Jabba’s case it was the Desilijic, family but there have also been the Hestilic, Gnudu
or Besadii. The last name is of secretive origin as none outside of Hutt society know
what it alludes to. Some suspect it’s a title or honorific of some sort.
The Hutt are commonly considered to be criminal by their very nature, and this is not entirely
wrong. It seems that their morality and what they consider practical verses moral is just
not on the same wavelength as many other species, leading them to easily form their organisations.
However, out of pragmatism, many will cooperate with greater powers laws to avoid complications,
at least on the surface, but a Hutt is ambitious and craves power and control. It could be
that this ambition is driven by fear, after all the greater your influence, the less danger
you may be in, at least to their minds. But of course in such circles as the Hutt clans,
the bigger you are, the harder you fall so they are consistently trying to expand their
operations, further building their defensive rings of sycophants, soldiers and servitude.
They’ll amass great hoards of treasure, not only of material value, but of social
merit too to display their power and remind those in their vicinity the boons of loyalty,
and the cost of betrayal. Thanks for watching this index on the Hutt
Cartel of Star Wars and I thought about going for some other seemingly malevolent species
of science fiction and science fantasy lore. I was thinking perhaps we could look at the
space-faring and dimensional hopping Illithid Mind Flayers of eldritch dungeons and dragons
fame, or continue in the Stat Wars theme with the pseudo-darkside sorceress night sisters
and brothers. As usual, the votes will be over on the community
tab section of Youtube, but feel free to leave suggestions below for other targets for scrutiny.
Thanks again for watching, I’ve been Ric and until the next video, Mejewzjuu! (Dat’s
goodbye in Huttese, I think).