Zorba Desilijic Tiure Zorba Desilijic Tiure was a Hutt crime lord and the leader of the Desilijic kajidic . One of few Hutts to possess hair — as a result of a genetic throwback — Zorba was the sibling of Jiliac , Ebor , Ziro and Pazda , the parent of several Hutts , among them Jabba Desilijic Tiure , and also a grandparent of several Hutts , including Jabba ' s son Rotta and both Gorga and Grubba Desilijic Aarrpo . Zorba was an inept leader of Desilijic , and he had few supporters in his clan due to his outlandish schemes and financial mismanagement . During the Separatist Crisis , he was apprehended by law enforcement and sentenced to prison on the planet Kip . Jiliac took over as Desilijic leader and Jabba inherited much of Zorba ' s holdings . In 5 ABY , Zorba was released by agents of Director of Imperial Intelligence Ysanne Isard and traveled to Jabba ' s Palace on Tatooine in his ship , the " Zorba Express " . Zorba was refused admission to the palace , and he later discovered that Jabba had been killed by Princess Leia Organa . Determined to punish Organa , Zorba put out a bounty on her . Using a secret will of his son ' s , Zorba laid claim to much of Jabba ' s holdings throughout the galaxy including his casino on Bespin and his desert citadel on Tatooine . On Bespin , Zorba won control of Cloud City from Lando Calrissian and learned that Organa was in the city , in Imperial warlord Trioculus ' s captivity . He attempted to bargain with Trioculus for Organa to be handed over to him , but he refused , and Imperial forces clashed with Zorba ' s Cloud Police . Zorba emerged on top , and believed he had killed Organa after destroying an Imperial factory barge . Zorba ' s minions later informed him that Organa had survived , but he captured her on Hologram Fun World and brought her to Tatooine , planning to feed her to the sarlacc . Trioculus , however , rescued Organa , and fed Zorba himself to the sarlacc . Zorba escaped as well and helped Trioculus ' s rivals , the false Prophets of the Dark Side , defeat him . Zorba regained leadership of the Desilijic clan , but Jabba ' s will was later declared a forgery by the Hutt Grand Council . Disgraced , Zorba went into hiding and was rumored to have died soon thereafter . Biography . Clan leader . Zorba Desilijic Tiure , a member of the Huttese Desilijic clan , was born around 1000 BBY on Nal Hutta ; he had three younger siblings : Jiliac Desilijic Tiron , Pazda Desilijic Tiure , and the scheming Ziro Desilijic Tiure . As a result of a recessive genetic trait , Zorba ( along with Pazda ) was one of few Hutts to possess any hair . He had long , white , dreadlocked hair on his head and a great , braided beard ; because it was such a rarity in Hutts , Zorba ' s hair marked him as a kind of mutant among many of the other Hutts and they rarely hid their distaste at it . Zorba was also a powerful crime lord and part of the Desilijic kajidic , a type of Hutt criminal syndicate , one of the most powerful in the galaxy ; he , however , was an incompetent criminal leader . By 600 BBY , Zorba had ascended to the leadership of the Desilijic clan . The clan had previously been one of the most influential of the Hutt clans , but by the time of Zorba ' s life , it was falling on hard times and funds were low . An inept planner and organizer , Zorba ' s mismanagement of the clan made financial matters even worse ; ambitious and daring — to the point that some , such as his brother Jiliac , believed him completely reckless — Zorba attempted many grand schemes during his time as leader , each one a failure and each one further emptying Desilijic ' s coffer . However , although he was unpopular among many of his fellow clan members , Zorba ruled Desilijic with an iron fist and warded off any attempts at his ouster . Although Zorba usually took a masculine personality , several times in his life he turned female in accordance with the hermaphroditic nature of Hutts and birthed offspring , who all followed in his slime trail and became crime lords themselves . One of them , Jabba Desilijic Tiure , was particularly criminally gifted , and Zorba saw him as his only heir ; he taught him all he knew : how to double - cross those who trusted him , how to deal with smugglers , how to deal with his enemies , and how to control slaves . Jabba thrived and became one of the youngest Hutts to maintain his own criminal organization . Zorba himself was embroiled in a heated conflict with Desilijic ' s main rival clan , Besadii , and his opposite number , Aruk Besadii Aora ; the two hated each other with a passion . At some point in his life , Zorba became a grandparent ; his offspring produced two children of their own , Gorga Desilijic Aarrpo and Grubba Desilijic Aarrpo , and Jabba birthed a son , Rotta . Imprisonment . Despite Zorba ' s raising Jabba , he and his son were not close ; Jabba kept to himself , running his own organization with efficiency Zorba was incapable of matching . Despite this , Zorba occasionally visited Jabba at his desert palace on Tatooine , where he was always a welcome guest . In 32 BBY , Zorba was visiting his son when Jabba offered to free one of his slaves , Dorn , and allow him to work for Zorba . To prove his loyalty , however , Dorn was told to recapture the Ghostling children , whom he had previously freed from Gardulla the Hutt ' s custody . Dorn double - crossed Jabba , rescuing the children and escaping from Tatooine . By this time , however , Zorba was extremely old ; ancient even by Hutt standards , he was over 900 years old and one of the oldest Hutts in existence at that time . Zorba was also tired of being in charge of Desilijic , and seeing his plans end without fruition again and again . During the Separatist Crisis , Zorba took his ship , the " Zorba Express " , to the backwater planet of Kip , hoping to mine valuable ulikuo gemstone s , much sought - after for their aesthetics ; Zorba was unaware that mining them was illegal on Kip , and he was apprehended by local law enforcement , though he was able to hide his stash of gemstones . Under pressure from the Galactic Republic , who hoped to put Zorba behind bars for as long as possible , the government of Kip tried him in court and he was sentenced to forty - five standard years in the Girigard Subsurface Correctional Facility , a far harsher sentence than what would normally have been given . Zorba ' s lawyer , Bequin Fobas , attempted to appeal , but as Kip had no appeals process this was not possible ; Zorba was held in prison , and the Republic sent additional resources preventing his escape . The Hutt clans were furious , and many believed that Zorba had been framed . Although he was unpopular , the Hutt Ruling Council attempted to extradite him to Nal Hutta to face charges there , but again the local laws on Kip prevented this from happening . Zorba ' s opponent , Aruk , addressed the public , saying that he was glad Zorba would not be able to taint Hutt society any longer ; Zorba ' s few supporters desperately tried to prove that he had been set up by a rival , to no avail . Jiliac took over control of the Desilijic clan , and Jabba was quick to absorb much of Zorba ' s holdings on Nar Shaddaa , Shaum Hii and Tyne ' s Horky . Zorba ' s conviction had a negative effect on the financial affairs of Desilijic , and to recover from this , the clan had to cut funding to many podracing circuits . Zorba , however , was unperturbed by the whole affair . He knew that his properties and businesses in Hutt Space would be turned over to Jabba , who would do a far better job at managing them than Zorba had . Zorba knew that by Hutt law , Jabba would have to sell the properties back to his parent at cost price , meaning that Zorba ' s term of imprisonment could prove potentially lucrative for the old Hutt . Additionally , forty - five years was insignificant in the long lifetime of a Hutt ; Zorba ' s imprisonment seemed more like a vacation for him . While in prison , Zorba occasionally sent envoys to various clan meetings to represent him . Jabba performed even better than Zorba had anticipated , using various unscrupulous tactics to usurp Jiliac and become Desilijic leader . Zorba watched with glee , awaiting the day of his release , so that he could retire on Jabba ' s hard - earned funds . At some point during his stay on Kip , Zorba briefly conversed with an Imperial Grand Moff ; the two were at odds , though , as the Grand Moff did not share Zorba ' s high opinion of Hutts and their culture . In 4 ABY , Jabba Desilijic Tiure was killed by Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan , a prominent member of the Alliance to Restore the Republic . The Desilijic clan was left in disarray , with many people laying claims to his various organizations ; eventually , after months of infighting , two Hutts named Kumac and Jelasi ascended to the position once held by Zorba . As Kip was such a backwater world , news of this never reached Zorba . However , less than a year after Jabba ' s demise , Kip was conquered by alien pirates , and the prisoners of the Girigard Subsurface Correctional Facility were all freed in the chaos . Kip ' s natives had been unable to operate the " Zorba Express " , so Zorba found it exactly where it was left before his imprisonment ; the old Hutt dug up his supply of gemstones and set a course for his son ' s residence on Tatooine . Unbeknownst to Zorba , his release had been engineered by Ysanne Isard , the Director of Imperial Intelligence and ruler of the Empire , who hoped to use Zorba for her own clandestine purposes . Zorba the Hutt ' s revenge . Zorba arrived at Jabba ' s Palace on Tatooine , but was not admitted by its TT - 8L gatekeeper droid , who informed him that the palace was under new ownership . When the gatekeeper droid learned he was a Hutt , it retracted , leaving him with no option but to leave . Confused and furious , Zorba made his way to the Mos Eisley Spaceport , hoping to find answers about Jabba ' s whereabouts in Chalmun ' s Spaceport Cantina . The cantina ' s denizens — among them Grand Moff Bertroff Hissa , who was on official Imperial business , and Tibor , a notorious Barabel bounty hunter — told Zorba the bad news : Jabba had been strangled to death by his slave , Leia Organa , at Carkoon . Distraught , Zorba swore he would get his revenge on Organa , and hired a group of bounty hunters , led by Tibor , to recapture the dormant Jabba ' s Palace . Zorba quickly recovered from the shock , and began planning how he could use the situation to his advantage . No will of Jabba ' s had been located , so many of his more lucrative properties and operations had been taken by local authorities ; Zorba , however , knew of Jabba ' s secret " true will and testament , " a holorecording kept in the memory banks of a hidden droid named CB - 99 . Zorba and his entourage of bounty hunters located the droid and recovered the will ; in the recording Jabba stated that he wished his entire legacy to go to Zorba , including his desert palace , his townhouse in Mos Eisley , and the Holiday Towers at Cloud City , Bespin . While Zorba claimed the will was authentic , many suspected it was a forgery . In the " Zorba Express " , the old Hutt and Tibor made their way to Bespin to reclaim Jabba ' s properties on Cloud City ; it was also the last known location of Leia Organa . En route , Zorba spread the word among various criminal empires about Jabba ' s will . The Holiday Towers Hotel and Casino had been taken over by Lando Calrissian , the Baron Administrator of Cloud City , and , despite his demands , Zorba was not admitted entry into Jabba ' s former penthouse suite . Zorba requested an audience with Calrissian ; while he waited for the baron - administrator to arrive , he sampled the sabacc tables offered by the casino , though rarely won any games . When Calrissian finally arrived , Zorba again voiced his demands for the hotel to be handed over . Calrissian refused , though , and knowing Zorba would never relent , he offered to challenge the Hutt in a game of sabacc . If Calrissian won the game , Zorba would leave the city and never return ; if Zorba won , Calrissian would hand over Cloud City and appoint him governor . Zorba insisted that as they were in the property willed to him by Jabba , they use his deck of cards — which was marked with ultraviolet light , visible to Hutts but not Humans . Using the marked deck , Zorba triumphed over Calrissian , winning control of Cloud City . Zorba banished Calrissian and immediately took over the city . He hoped to reestablish the tourist trade that had once thrived on Cloud City , but had since fallen on hard times . The main obstacle for this was the " braze " created by a nearby factory barge under the control of would - be Emperor Trioculus , and Zorba made it his priority to negotiate with Trioculus to attempt to cut back the factory ' s toxic emissions . Meanwhile , Tibor had learned that Leia Organa was on Bespin , in the captivity of Trioculus ; he told Zorba that Trioculus might trade her for Ken , a so - called Jedi Prince wanted by Trioculus who had been apprehended by the Cloud Police . To ensure that Ken was actually the " Jedi Prince " Trioculus coveted , Zorba decided to question him ; Ken was initially defiant , refusing to cooperate , but a dosage of avabush spice — a potent truth serum — and some careful questions from Zorba eventually persuaded him to reveal that he was , in fact , the much sought - after Jedi Prince . Zorba arranged a meeting with Trioculus , and allowed the former slavelord to himself interrogate Ken . Zorba made his offer , pledging to hand over Ken if Trioculus closed down his factory and presented Organa to him . Trioculus , who had plans to make Organa his wife , vehemently refused , despite Zorba ' s protestations , and Zorba pronounced the two mortal enemies . Each of them signaled for their security forces to enter the meeting room , but Zorba ' s Cloud Police were far more numerous than Trioculus ' s stormtroopers ; Zorba took the slavelord captive , and threatened to encase him in carbonite . With Trioculus imprisoned , Zorba led a ragtag fleet of bounty hunter vessels in an attack on the Imperial factory barge , where Organa was being kept . The ships made light work of the barge , destroying it within several minutes . Satisfied that Organa was dead and Jabba was avenged , Zorba returned to Cloud City to mock Trioculus . Trioculus vowed that an armada of Imperial ships would slag Zorba ' s city , but Zorba indeed encased Trioculus in carbonite and kept him in Cloud City , so that the Imperials would not attack . In the belly of the beast . Zorba had a mimicry of Trioculus ' s carbonite slab placed in the Figg & Associates Art Museum , while he kept the real one in his ship . During his time administering Cloud City , Zorba began formulating a plan to turn Jabba ' s dormant palace into a high - security prison , where myriad prisoners could be kept . Shortly thereafter , members of the Central Committee of Grand Moffs rescued a counterfeit slab of carbonite that they believed was Trioculus ' s body . Zorba ' s efforts into making Cloud City a profitable business venture were being met with little success — despite destroying the factory barge and reducing the amount of braze , Zorba had lost over eighteen million credits in revenue ; his audit droids informed him that this was because most tourists were choosing to visit Hologram Fun World instead of casinos . Zorba roused his bounty hunter team and made his way to Hologram Fun World in the " Zorba Express " , hoping to scare its visitors away . Zorba and his cohorts terrorized the tourists in Hologram Fun World , looting , plundering , and vandalizing . After a time , hordes of visitors fled , and Tibor had stolen a large amount of precious stones . During his vandalism spree , the Barabel bounty hunter had noticed Leia Organa and her fiancé , Han Solo , entering a performance of the renowned magician Bithabus the Mystifier — she had survived the destruction of the factory barge on Bespin . Tibor informed Zorba , but the Hutt quickly overcame his surprise and hatched a plan . One of his gang of bounty hunters , Cobak , was the same species as Bithabus ; Zorba ' s minions captured the magician and gave his costume to Cobak , who would be able to pass for Bithabus . Cobak was able to lure Organa onto the stage and into a cage , which was taken by Tibor to the " Zorba Express " . Not wanting Organa to escape death again , Zorba and Tibor decided to take her to Carkoon on Tatooine , where she had killed Jabba , and feed her to the sarlacc pit . He spoke with her for the first time , though Organa was defiant , claiming that she had killed Jabba in self defense ; Zorba had her locked up alongside Trioculus ' s body for the entirety of the journey to Tatooine . As the " Zorba Express " approached Tatooine , it was attacked by an Imperial vessel — the Central Committee of Grand Moffs ' s Moffship — which used a tractor beam to halt Zorba ' s progress . The Hutt armed himself with a portable ion cannon , while Tibor used dual blaster pistols , as the Imperials began boarding . Zorba and Tibor killed many of the attacking stormtroopers , but Grand Moff Hissa fired several smoke bombs , which impeded Zorba and Tibor ' s efforts . Zorba was captured and chained , and the Moffs located and thawed Trioculus , who threatened to kill Zorba ; the Hutt was unperturbed , though , knowing that he had a trump card in Leia Organa . Zorba negotiated his release in exchange for informing the Moffs of Organa ' s location in his ship . After locating her , Trioculus broke his promise — he dropped Zorba from the Moffship into the sarlacc pit . The immense beast swallowed the Hutt whole — but later , the combination of the Hutt ' s bulk and protective mucous coating gave the sarlacc a fit of indigestion . The sarlacc vomited Zorba into the desert night . Later life . Zorba roamed the desert without food or water for days , waiting for someone to arrive and help him escape . Eventually , a Jawa sandcrawler gave Zorba passage to Mos Eisley , in return for a hundred slightly used Spin - and - Win machine s from the Holiday Towers casino . In Mos Eisley , Zorba hired a spacer to take him to Space Station Scardia in the Null Zone — the residence of the false Prophets of the Dark Side , Trioculus and the Committee ' s enemies . Zorba hoped to sell the Prophets what little information he knew of Trioculus and the Committee ' s plans , so that he could get his revenge on those who fed him to the sarlacc . Zorba was able to hire a cargo freighter to deliver him to the Prophets , who , upon hearing he had information about Trioculus , welcomed him like an honored guest , with a banquet . Zorba had little to tell the leader of the Prophets , Kadann , though he informed the false Prophet that Trioculus and his allies sought to find the Lost City of the Jedi , and that the Moffs were traitors . While Zorba ' s information was of little use to the Prophets , he was able to provide a testimony — via recording — in the illegitimate trial of the Grand Moffs , conducted by the Prophets aboard Space Station Scardia . Zorba claimed they were plotting against Kadann , and that they should be harshly punished ; he also stated that the Committee ' s leader , Bertroff Hissa , should receive a harsher sentence for worse crimes . Ultimately , Hissa perished on Yavin 4 , Kadann was killed by Grand Admiral Afsheen Makati , and the remaining Moffs were wiped out by Ysanne Isard . Zorba left Space Station Scardia , and with his plot to kill Organa foiled , he returned to Hutt Space . At some point , Zorba ceded ownership of Cloud City back to Calrissian , who gave it to the Ugnaught workers who inhabited it . Zorba ' s other children carried on where he had left off in the hunt for Organa and Solo , posting a huge bounty ; again , it was not met with success , and around 10 ABY it was rescinded . Through the Hutt courts , Zorba used Jabba ' s will to lay claim to his son ' s criminal empire , and control of the Desilijic clan was wrested from the hands of Kumac and Jelasi . Since Jabba ' s death , the Besadii clan — led by Durga Besadii Tai — had overtaken Desilijic as the most successful of the Hutt clans , and Zorba could never build Desilijic back into anything remotely like what his son had done . Zorba ' s final reign as a crime lord was short - lived , however . Some time after Zorba took control of the clan , the Hutt Grand Council deemed Jabba ' s " true will and testament " to be a forgery , and Zorba was disgraced . His properties and clan leadership were taken from him by a multitude of other relatives , and Zorba was left virtually penniless . Since the will was declared false , Zorba became extremely reclusive and was not seen in public for some time . Rumors abounded about his death , and they were considered to be accurate . Personality and traits . Zorba Desilijic Tiure was extremely proud of his Hutt heritage . He believed Hutts to be a fair and honorable species ; they were kind to each other , even if they expected everyone else to do their bidding . He often swore by the name of the ancient conqueror , Kossak the Hutt , and it pained him to hear other sentients speak ill of Hutts . Zorba was outraged when the gatekeeper droid at Jabba ' s Palace refused to admit him , believing it was because of anti - Hutt bias . Zorba was also extremely close to his family , especially Jabba , though Jabba and Jiliac did not have high opinions of Zorba . Zorba was unlike most Hutts in that he did not relish being in charge of criminal operations , and he often shunned power — for the almost 600 years he spent as leader of Desilijic clan , he was never really interested in running the clan and the family business . Despite this , he was an iron - fisted ruler , and he did not allow any attempts to usurp him to succeed . Zorba was something of an entrepreneur , and he was a Hutt full of ideas . He was constantly looking to see how he could expand his criminal empire in less - than - orthodox ways ; he wanted to turn Jabba ' s Palace into a maximum security prison , and attempted to make Bespin a popular tourist destination . Zorba was totally inept at managing finances and running his criminal empire , and he almost bankrupted Desilijic with his outlandish schemes . Zorba was almost universally disliked by his fellow Hutts , and by most non - Hutts . Because of the rare genetic throwback that gave him a full head of hair , Zorba was often ostracized by other Hutts — they felt he was impure , and unfit to be in such a lofty position , and made no attempts to hide their displeasure at it . Zorba was a vengeful being , and he had no qualms about harming innocent people to achieve his own means . On Bespin , he destroyed an Imperial factory barge , killing all of its workers , in an attempt to kill Leia Organa , and he and his cohorts terrorized visitors at Hologram Fun World in order to alternatively attract them to his casinos in Cloud City . Behind the scenes . Zorba the Hutt was created by Paul and Hollace Davids for the " Jedi Prince " series of young reader ' s books . He first appeared in the third book , " Zorba the Hutt ' s Revenge " , in which he served as the main antagonist , and he made fleeting appearances in the next three books in the series , " Mission from Mount Yoda " , " Queen of the Empire " , and " Prophets of the Dark Side " . While the series is generally marginalized by the rest of the Expanded Universe , Zorba has been prevalent in other works . Tom Veitch ' s " Dark Empire " endnotes were the first source to mention him , in the same year that " Zorba the Hutt ' s Revenge " was released , and he has since been referenced in A . C . Crispin ' s " Rebel Dawn " ; numerous ; " " , by Dave Wolverton ; HoloNet News , by Paul Ens and Pablo Hidalgo ; a Wizards of the Coast online article called " Hutt ! Hutt ! Hutt ! " , which deals with his early life ; and in Karen Traviss ' " Star Wars : The Clone Wars " .