Battle of the Great Pit of Carkoon The Battle of the Great Pit of Carkoon , also known as the battle over the Great Pit of Carkoon , or the Battle of Carkoon , took place in 4 ABY as part of a campaign by Luke Skywalker to rescue his captive friend , Han Solo , from the gangster Jabba the Hutt . Following a failed infiltration of the Hutt ' s palace , Jabba attempted to execute Luke Skywalker , Han Solo , and Solo ' s companion Chewbacca by throwing them into the Great Pit of Carkoon , home of the Sarlacc . Skywalker was prepared for this type of situation , having stored his lightsaber inside his droid R2 - D2 prior to the rescue attempt . Just as the execution was to take place , the droid launched the lightsaber into the air , equipping Skywalker and allowing him to neutralize all of Jabba ' s guards . During the ensuing chaos , Jabba was assassinated by Leia Organa , another participant in the operation who was taken as a slave by Jabba , and Boba Fett , an associate of the Hutt considered to be one of the greatest gunfighters in the galaxy , was catapulted into the Sarlacc ' s maw by Solo . Prelude . Years earlier , Jabba hired Han Solo to smuggle spice for him . However , on one spice run , Solo was boarded by Imperial forces and forced to jettison the spice to avoid incrimination . After Solo was unable to repay the Hutt , Jabba placed a bounty on his head . Several years after the initial bounty , Solo was tracked to Cloud City on Bespin by the feared bounty hunter Boba Fett . There Solo was captured , tortured and frozen in carbonite by Darth Vader , after which he was turned over to Fett for delivery to the Hutt crime lord . After spending some time trying to track down Boba Fett , including a near - miss on Gall , the Rebels learned that Solo had finally been taken to Jabba . Infiltrating the palace . Lando Calrissian had infiltrated Jabba ' s Palace as a guard under the alias of Tamtel Skreej , in case of an emergency . Luke Skywalker then sent his droids R2 - D2 and C - 3PO to deliver a message to Jabba the Hutt . The holographic message played by the droid requested that Jabba free Solo in a mutually beneficial arrangement with the young Jedi . It also presented the droids as gifts to the Hutt , in order to show that he wanted a peaceful agreement rather than a confrontation . Jabba refused to cooperate and surrender his favorite prize . In the second phase of the rescue operation , Leia Organa , disguised as the bounty hunter Boushh , brought a " captured " Chewbacca to the palace to collect a bounty on his head . Jabba offered 25 , 000 credits for the Wookiee , but paid her 35 , 000 credits after heated negotiations involving a thermal detonator . The following night Organa sneaked into Jabba ' s throne room and attempted to free Solo , releasing him from the carbonite . Before they could flee however , they were captured , as Jabba had not trusted Boushh and was laying in wait of the escape attempt . Jabba imprisoned Solo in a cell with Chewbacca and added Organa to his harem of slave girls . Attempted Negotiations . Luke Skywalker then came to free his friends . He easily made his way past Jabba ' s Gamorrean guards and used a Jedi mind trick on Bib Fortuna to gain entrance to the Hutt ' s throne room . However , the Hutt crimelord was much less susceptible to the Jedi ' s influence . He was immune to mind tricks and refused to release Luke ' s friends . When Skywalker attempted to eliminate the Hutt with an appropriated blaster , Jabba pressed a button dropping him into the rancor pit . After evading the rancor , Skywalker threw a skull at the gate - control switch , dropping the heavy gate and impaling the rancor through the neck . Furious , Jabba ordered Skywalker , Solo and Chewbacca to be brought before him . There he sentenced them to death by being fed to the sarlacc . Solo , upon initially hearing of them being executed immediately , initially retorted that he " hated long waits " , although he soon changed his mind upon learning the exact nature of the planned execution . The battle . The three prisoners were taken to the Great Pit of Carkoon on a desert skiff , while Jabba and his guests watched from the " Khetanna " , Jabba ' s personal luxury sail barge . On board the skiff , Luke offered Jabba one final chance to release him and his friends , or die as a result of his refusal . Skywalker was then forced to jump , but he twisted as he fell and caught the end of the plank , using it to catapult back up onto the skiff . Unknown to anyone but Skywalker himself , R2 - D2 was concealing Luke ' s newly constructed lightsaber . Having made his way to the deck of Jabba ' s sail barge , Artoo launched the lightsaber into the air and into his master ' s waiting hand . As the stunned guards prepared to defend themselves , Luke slashed through them , knocking them over the edge into the pit and the sarlacc ' s maw . Boba Fett , looking to kill the Jedi , rocketed from the barge to the skiff . As Fett raised his EE - 3 carbine rifle , the Jedi cut the weapon in half . When Luke became distracted , Fett tied him with a fibercord whip , but the Jedi was able to free himself , knocking Fett to the ground in the process . He then leaped onto the second skiff and began deflecting blaster fire . Taking advantage of this , Fett prepared to shoot him . With Fett now focused on Skywalker , Solo , half - blind due to hibernation sickness from being frozen in Carbonite , inadvertently swung a vibro - ax into Fett ' s jetpack , having panicked when he learned from Chewbacca that Fett was behind him . Solo ' s actions caused Fett ' s jetpack to misfire , slamming Fett into the side of the sail barge , where he rolled into the sarlacc ' s mouth . Lando Calrissian , disguised as the guard Tamtel Skreej , helped defeat some of the guards on the skiff . During the struggle he was knocked into the Pit of Carkoon . Han and Chewbacca tried to rescue their friend by lowering a vibro - ax , but the sarlacc grabbed Lando ' s leg and began slowly dragging him in . Han was able to free Lando and pull him to safety by wounding the beast with a blaster shot , due to his eyesight returning in the nick of time , forcing it to release him . Noticing that the skiffs were taking heavy fire from the deck - mounted blasters on " Khetanna " , Skywalker leaped onto the barge , scaled his way up the side to the upper deck . There he battled Jabba ' s henchmen , knocking many overboard into the pit . He also quickly dispatched the guard manning the heavy cannon . The Rebels were assisted by some of Jabba ' s traitorous henchmen , such as Ree - Yees , a Gran who did not prevent Leia Organa from strangling Jabba to death . Though not a rebel sympathizer , Hermi Odle also unknowingly provided aid when he took advantage of the chaos and shot his rival , Pote Snitkin . As a battle raged outside , Organa used the chaos to cut power inside , closing the side viewports and throwing the interior into darkness . In the confusion she threw her chain around Jabba ' s body , and using all her strength , choked him to death . With the help of R2 - D2 , she was released from her chains , Salacious started to rip out Threepio ' s wires from the droid ' s photoreceptors and Artoo shocked Salacious away from Threepio the droids then hurried to join Skywalker on the deck , followed by Artoo and Threepio . Skywalker told Organa to aim the cannon at the deck of the barge , at which point Taym Dren - garen shot his right hand , exposing his mechanical limb , but the Jedi quickly recovered and continued to prevent any guards from reaching the cannon . R2 - D2 pushed C - 3PO from the barge and both droids landed getting partially buried in the sand . Skywalker swung with Organa from the barge to the skiff just as he kick - started the blaster cannon . After picking up the droids , Calrissian piloted the remaining skiff with all the rebels aboard safely away from the ensuing explosion of " Khetanna " . Aftermath . Boba Fett managed to escape from the pit days later , thanks to his Mandalorian armor and iron will . He was found by a fellow bounty hunter , Dengar , and Kateel of Kuhlvult who nursed him back to health . The death of Jabba canceled the debts of many individuals , and as such , Luke was held with considerable favor for removing that dangerous complication in their lives . This resulted in the permanent desolation of the Hutt Cartel and the temporary desolation of Jabba Desilijic Tiure ' s criminal empire . In response to his son ' s death , Zorba the Hutt placed a bounty on Organa , which the Desilijic kajidic later extended to Solo , Chewbacca , and Skywalker . The bounty was not formally rescinded until Organa ' s election as Chief of State , as the Hutts did not wish to further antagonize the New Republic . Many beings who had been slaves of Jabba escaped , and started their lives over , such as Doallyn , the dancer Yarna d ' al ' Gargan , and the members of the Max Rebo Band . Skywalker and the rest of the Rebels would go on to fight in the Battle of Endor , where the Jedi would defeat Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine would be killed . The Death Star II would be destroyed , giving the Rebel Alliance their biggest victory in the Galactic Civil War . However , one year later the criminal empire was resurrected by Jabba ' s father and nephew . In 44 ABY , after Jaina Solo , Leia ' s daughter , sensed a Hutt in the Old Town on Sakuub , Jagged Fel , her husband , briefly referenced Leia ' s killing of Jabba as an explanation of his slithering out of sight in the event that the Hutt knew who Jaina and Fel were .