Bib Fortuna

Bib Fortuna is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. The Twi'lek majordomo and chief aide of the crime lord Jabba the Hutt, Bib is Jabba's closest associate, succeeding him as daimyo after his death before ultimately being killed himself by Boba Fett. Fortuna first appeared in Return of the Jedi (1983), the final entry in the original Star Wars trilogy. He also appeared briefly in the prequel trilogy film The Phantom Menace (1999) and in the second season of Disney+ series The Mandalorian (2020) and The Bad Batch (2021). The character has also appeared in other Star Wars media, including novels, comic books, video games, and radio dramas.

Fortuna was created by Return of the Jedi co-writers Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas, and was designed by Phil Tippett based upon early sketches by concept artists Nilo Rodis-Jamero and Ralph McQuarrie. The character was portrayed by Michael Carter in Return of the Jedi, who was cast based upon his stage acting experience; the actor did not know it was a Star Wars film until after he accepted the role. Erik Bauersfeld provided the voice of Fortuna in Return of the Jedi, and sound editor Matthew Wood portrayed the character in The Phantom Menace and The Mandalorian.

Although few details about him were revealed in his film appearances, other Star Wars works have established Fortuna's back story, including his past as a slave trader who was sentenced to death on his home planet of Ryloth. Although he outwardly appears loyal and obedient to Jabba, Fortuna secretly despises his master and actively plots to assassinate him and take over his criminal operation. Fortuna survives the events of Return of the Jedi in the Star Wars Legends canon, which encompasses all licensed Star Wars stories outside of the films prior to The Walt Disney Company acquiring the franchise in 2012. The new set of official canon created after that acquisition also establishes that Fortuna was not killed during the climactic battle in Return of the Jedi, and he assumed Jabba's place as crime lord until being killed and succeeded by Boba Fett five years later.

It took about eight-and-a-half hours to apply the character's makeup for the first time in Return of the Jedi, which included extensive casts and molds, a large rubber headpiece, day glow orange contact lenses, sharpened false teeth, and claw-like finger extensions. Fortuna has been described as a fan-favorite and one of the most memorable characters from Star Wars, and has been included on several lists of the best characters in the franchise. Several toys and merchandise works have been created for the character, and an original action figure prototype sold for £36,000 in a 2019 auction.

Bib Fortuna is a member of the Twi'lek species, humanoids distinguished by the pair of long tentacular appendages that protrude from the back of their heads, which are known as lekku. Fortuna is the first Twi'lek character to appear in Star Wars, although the species did not receive a name until the publication of the Star Wars Sourcebook, a 1987 sourcebook for Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game. With pale, mucus-covered skin and sharp, snaggly teeth, Fortuna is originally from the planet Ryloth, the Twi'lek homeworld. Fortuna works as the majordomo and chief aide for Jabba the Hutt, a slug-like alien and one of the most powerful crime lords in the galaxy. In this capacity, Fortuna controls most operations within Jabba's palace on the desert planet of Tatooine. Among these duties are welcoming visitors who come to the palace, and vetting them before they appear before Jabba. Fortuna's dialogue in the film is delivered in Huttese, the fictional language also spoken by Jabba.

Outside of the films, Bib Fortuna's back story was established through media in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, which encompasses all licensed stories in the Star Wars universe outside of the nine main feature films, such as novels, comic books, video games, and television shows. With the 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm by The Walt Disney Company, most of the licensed Star Wars novels and comics produced since the originating 1977 film were rebranded as Star Wars Legends and declared non-canon to the franchise in April 2014. As a result, storylines and character histories established for Fortuna before April 2014 are part of the Legends canon, but not the Disney canon.

In his back story established by the Expanded Universe, Bib Fortuna is born into a family engaged in the Outer Rim portion of the galaxy. He grows wealthy as a slave trader before working for Jabba the Hutt, selling fellow members of his own species into servitude. Fortuna is also a smuggler of an illicit substance called spice, and is one of the first to widely sell a highly addictive drug called ryll from Ryloth to other planets. This brings Ryloth to the attention of the Galactic Empire, and leads to a planetwide breakdown of order. Fortuna becomes infamous as a result, and is sentenced to death on his home planet, but he escapes and flees to the planet Tatooine. There he becomes the head of Jabba the Hutt's smuggling operations for a drug called glitterstim, the first in a series of successively more prominent positions that eventually leads him to becoming Jabba's majordomo. Fortuna later returns to Ryloth with an army of Jabba's henchmen to enact revenge for his death sentence, burning seven of the planet's cities and capturing slaves and riches for Jabba. Fortuna harbors ambitions of one day returning to Ryloth and ruling the planet.

Other Star Wars books and media have established that Fortuna is responsible for the presence of several of the creatures and characters in Jabba's palace during Return of the Jedi. For example, the rancor that Jabba keeps underneath a trap door in his throne room was originally presented to him by Fortuna as a birthday gift. Fortuna kidnaps Oola, the green-skinned Twi'lek female who appears in scenes in Return of the Jedi as a slave and dancer for Jabba. After abducting her, Fortuna arranged for her to be trained in exotic dancing and told her stories about Jabba's palace that falsely portrayed it as a glamorous and exciting place, making Oola so eager to be there that she rejected opportunities to escape. Fortuna also originally captured Salacious B. Crumb, a small creature that sat beside Jabba's tail on his throne and served as a court jester in the palace. Crumb was a stowaway thief aboard Jabba's ship when Fortuna captured him and presented him to Jabba before the events of the film.