The raid on Jabba's Anchorhead fortress took place during the Invasion of Utapau in 22 BBY.
Prelude[]
I'm not going anywhere. I'll never be who you want me to be.
—Annikin Skywalker, to Sarus, about his future
In 22 BBY, Annikin Skywalker was told by Sarus, the leader of the Ophuchi Clan, that he was destined to be the Chosen One who would kill the Dark Lord of the Sith and bring salvation to the galaxy. Skywalker was resistant to Sarus’ beliefs, rejecting them as nonsense and refusing to accept Sarus’ so-called truth.
The day after the revelation, the Guardians of Lettow—under the orders of the Sith Lord Darth Maul—attacked the Ophuchi sanctuary on Tatooine in a failed effort to capture Skywalker. Annikin and Sarus, along with Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, escaped the assault. The event further solidified Annikin’s resistance to and hatred of Sarus; Skywalker believed that Sarus knew the Lettow were after him, as Lilith, the Lettow leader, had professed her belief that Annikin was destined to destroy the galaxy, not save it.
After the attack, Sarus negotiated a deal with the Hutt Cartel, which held a sharecropping contract with Annikin and his family, to have Skywalker released from the sharecropping contract. The deal stated that if Skywalker could beat his arch swoop racing rival, Sebulba, in a race, he would be freed from the contract. This would have allowed for Annikin to travel to Coruscant with Kenobi for training in the Jedi Order. Because of his resistance to Sarus, however, Skywalker refused the offer, leading the Ophuchi leader to begin formulating further plans to free him.
Sarus and Ray'kele, an Ophuchi who was training to one day replace Sarus as the Clan's leader, began planning a raid on Jabba the Hutt's fortress in the Anchorhead settlement. Sarus, however, opted to remain behind, stating that the injuries he sustained from being tortured by Darth Maul during the Lettow attack prevented him from participating in the fighting that would ensue.
Behind the scenes[]
The attack on Jabba the Hutt's fortress was conceived by Brandon Rhea for his fan fiction novel Star Wars: Episode I - The Chosen One, part of the Alternative Star Wars Saga. In the first draft of the book, the sequence to have Annikin Skywalker freed from the sharecropping contract was a swoop race. As the second draft progressed, however, Rhea realized that it would not make sense for Skywalker to participate in the swoop race, as his character was at a place where he did not want to leave Tatooine. Rhea created the fortress battle both to introduce an exciting element in the Tatooine arc and as a catalyst for Skywalker leaving Tatooine.[3]
Appearances[]
- Star Wars: Episode I - The Chosen One (First appearance)
