Ghoel / Legends Ghoel was a Wol Cabasshite male who , by 4 ABY , was mistakenly left behind in the palace of the crime lord Jabba the Hutt on the planet Tatooine . Unable to move from his perch on the walls of the Hutt ' s audience chamber , he used his long , prehensile tongue to lick newcomers to the palace . Although Ghoel was highly intelligent , every member of Jabba ' s court was ignorant of that fact . He was present in the chamber when Jabba organized a trip to Tatooine ' s Great Pit of Carkoon with the intent of executing several Rebel Alliance prisoners . Biography . Ghoel was a highly intelligent Wol Cabasshite male who lived during the Galactic Civil War . Members of his mollusk - like species rarely moved of their own accord , and by 4 ABY , Ghoel was left behind and became an immobile resident of the crime lord Jabba the Hutt ' s palace on the planet Tatooine . He clung to the walls , rafters , and arches of the Hutt ' s audience chamber and often gave newcomers to the palace exploratory licks with his long , prehensile tongue . Although such direct contact allowed Wol Cabasshites to communicate with members of other species , all of Jabba ' s henchmen were ignorant of Ghoel ' s intelligence . Ghoel was in the audience chamber in 4 ABY when several members of the Rebel Alliance came to the palace to rescue their friend Han Solo , a smuggler who had been frozen in carbonite and hung on the chamber ' s wall . When the Rebel General Luke Skywalker arrived and killed Jabba ' s pet rancor , the Hutt sentenced Skywalker , along with a now - unfrozen Solo and the Wookiee Chewbacca , to be thrown into the jaws of a sarlacc that nested in Tatooine ' s Great Pit of Carkoon . As the protocol droid C - 3PO translated the crime lord ' s Huttese edict into Basic , Ghoel attempted to lick the droid ' s head . Personality and traits . Like most members of his species , Ghoel possessed an advanced intellect . However , he was unable to move during his time in Jabba ' s Palace , and none of the Hutt ' s henchmen were aware of his intelligence . Ghoel had orange eyes , grayish - pink skin , and a long , grasping tongue , the last of which he used to lick new arrivals to the palace . Behind the scenes . The character who would eventually be known as Ghoel was created as a background alien for the Jabba ' s Palace scene of Richard Marquand ' s 1983 film . Industrial Light & Magic ' s creature department constructed the alien puppet , and puppeteer Mike Quinn performed the character on the film ' s set . Ghoel was originally set to lick C - 3PO during of the two characters , but Marquand felt that it would be too distracting and accordingly asked Quinn to keep the puppet ' s tongue stationary . Ghoel ' s tongue can still be seen moving in several , which were filmed prior to the close - ups . Ghoel ' s species was named in 1983 as part of the Airfix " Jabba The Hutt Throne Room Action Scene " kit , but Ghoel himself went unnamed until 1995 , when the " Jabba ' s Palace Limited " expansion set of the " Star Wars " Customizable Card Game coined " Ghoel . " Ghoel has since been mentioned in several additional Expanded Universe sources , some of which have incorrectly identified " Wol Cabasshite " as the character ' s name . The 2002 magazine article " " Who ' s Who in Jabba ' s Palace " , " included in the sixtieth issue of " Star Wars Insider " , established Ghoel ' s sex as male . An action figure of Ghoel was later released by Hasbro along with figures of the frog - dog Buboicullaar and a member of the B ' omarr Order in a 2004 three - pack called " Jabba ' s Palace Court Denizens . "