The sarlacc (plural sarlacci) is a fictional creature in George Lucas's sci-fi action saga Star Wars. It first appeared in the film Return of the Jedi (1983) as a multi-tentacled alien beast whose immense, gaping maw is lined with several rows of sharp teeth, inhabiting the Great Pit of Carkoon, a hollow in the sand of the desert planet Tatooine. After bounty hunter Boba Fett escapes from its maw in "Chapter 1: Stranger in a Strange Land" of The Book of Boba Fett (2022) and eventually returns to retrieve his armour, the sarlacc is killed by his partner Fennec Shand in "Chapter 4: The Gathering Storm". In the original Return of the Jedi, the sarlacc is depicted as a barbed gaping mouth in the desert sand with tentacles. The 1997 Special Edition of the film added computer-generated tentacles and a beak to the mouth, which has remained its canonical depiction since. Besides Return of the Jedi, the creature and others like it are featured in Star Wars literature. Like other aspects of Star Wars, the sarlacc became a part of popular culture. The creature was incorporated into the merchandising campaign that accompanied the release of Return of the Jedi. It is the subject of analysis and humor in works of literature unassociated with Star Wars. Depiction The sarlacc first appeared in the 1983 film Return of the Jedi, wherein Jabba the Hutt attempts to drop Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Chewbacca into the creature's mouth; but Luke frees himself and the others with the aid of Lando Calrissian and R2-D2, while Princess Leia strangles Jabba. According to the Star Wars Databank, the sarlacci inhabit remote, inhospitable locations in the galaxy, but defy taxonomic classification, in so far as most texts claim that the sarlacc is an arthropod (as in The Essential Guide to Alien Species and The Wildlife of Star Wars), while its anchored root system and spore-based method of reproduction suggest a plant origin. A sarlacc reproduces by releasing spores through outer space, which arrive on a planet or asteroid, and there excavate a pit to capture prey. Steve Sansweet's Star Wars Encyclopedia describes the sarlacc as an "omnivorous, multi-tentacled creature with needle-sharp teeth and a large beak". The sarlacc rests at the base of a giant pit where the entirety of its body is buried except for the gaping mouth, which may reach three meters (10 feet) in