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Yarna d'al' Gargan was a female Askajian whose father was a tribal chief back on her homeworld of Askaji. She was captured by enslavers and transported to the desert planet of Tatooine, where the Hutt crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure bought her. As an enslaved being, she was forced to serve him as a dancing girl at his palace. While working alongside a young Twi'lek called Oola, she was present for Oola's execution and the arrival of Luke Skywalker at the palace. She escaped after Jabba's death and recovered her kidnapped cublings from his townhouse.

Biography[]

Enslavement[]

Yarna d'al' Gargan was an Askajian female with dark brown hair who came from Askaji,[1] a planet in the Outer Rim Territories.[4] Her people lived in tribes led by chiefs, one of whom was her father,[5] and she would dance for the honor of her tribe. She was married to Nautag and the mother of four cublings. One day, however, she and her family were captured by enslavers and brought to the desert planet Tatooine, where the Hutt crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure bought them. When Nautag attempted to rebel, the Hutt fed him to his pet rancor,[1] Pateesa,[6] and Yarna's cublings were sent to Jabba's townhouse in Mos Eisley.[1]

FlirtyGargan-ROTJ

Yarna d'al' Gargan was a slave of Jabba Desilijic Tiure.

Jabba kept numerous enslaved dancers[7] at his palace in the Dune Sea. Yarna became one of the dancing girls,[2] and although she hated the Hutt, she became close to some of his palace regulars[1] and knew how to avoid Jabba's temper. Considering her to be his favorite performer,[8] one of Jabba's whims was forcing her to wear makeup to look more like his mother, and her increased size was meant to resemble a Hutt's. Her slow and deliberate dances contrasted with those of the young Twi'lek Oola,[2] with whom she often performed duets in front of Jabba's throne.[9]

Last dance with Oola[]

In 4 ABY,[10] Gargan was stood with a drink, chatting to another courtier in one of the booths of Jabba's throne room when Jabba's majordomo, Bib Fortuna, and a pair of Gamorrean guards escorted the droids C-3PO and R2-D2 into the room. R2-D2 then played a holographic message to Jabba from the Jedi Luke Skywalker, the master of the two droids. In the message, the Jedi asked to bargain with Jabba for the freedom of the Hutt's prisoner Han Solo, a friend of Skywalker's who Jabba kept frozen in carbonite. After the message ended with Skywalker gifting the droids to Jabba, the Hutt declared he had no interest in negotiating over Solo, and the droids were taken away.[3]

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Yarna d'al' Gargan often danced with Oola.

After the droids had been set to work, the Max Rebo Band performed the song "Jedi Rocks for Jabba, and Gargan and Oola danced in the center of the throne room before Jabba's throne during the performance. When the song ended, Jabba demanded it be played again, and the band obliged with the Askajian and the Twi'lek both continuing to dance. During the second performance, Jabba attempted to pull Oola closer to him while Gargan kept dancing, but when the Twi'lek resisted, Jabba interrupted the song by dropping her through a trap door into a pit beneath the throne room. Having stopped dancing, Gargan then joined other courtiers in gathering around a grating in the throne room floor to[3] helplessly[9] watch as the screaming Oola was devored by Pateesa. The Askajian clutched her belly while laughing at her fellow dancer's fate as others present cheered.[3]

A princess in disguise[]

Gargan-Laughing-ROTJ

Yarna d'al' Gargan laughed at Oola's fate.

As the commotion died down after Oola's death, the courts attention was drawn to the throne room's entry way by the sound of blaster fire. The source of the noise was revealed to be Princess Leia Organa, who entered the throne room disguised as the bounty hunter Boushh and dragged the Wookiee Chewbacca before Jabba's throne where Gargan had previously been dancing. Organa demanded double the bounty Jabba had placed on the Wookiee and threatened the room with an active thermal detonator, causing the court to cower in terror. Jabba merely laughed and gave an increased, but not doubled, counter offer, which satisfied the disguised Organa. With the detonator deactivated, Chewbacca was taken away and the band began playing music again.[3]

Later that night, Gargan was sleeping beside the Quarren Tessek in one of the booths of the throne room when Organa snuck back. She passed the sleeping dancer in order to reach her true objective in the palace: the smuggler Han Solo, who was frozen in carbonite and displayed on Jabba's wall. After she freed Solo, Jabba, who had been lying in wait with many other members of his court, sprung a trap on Organa and captured both her and Solo.[3] After the pair's capture, the court celebrated late into the night.[11]

Freedom at last[]

GarganTessek-ROTJ

Yarna d'al' Gargan was close with some members of Jabba's court.

The next morning,[11] Jabba and his court were dozing after their late night. Gargan was resting again in one of the throne room booths with her head on Tessek's shoulder when the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker arrived in the throne room. Gargan awoke just before Jabba's majordomo, Bib Fortuna, having been mind tricked by the Jedi, woke the Hutt as the Jedi demanded that Jabba free Solo and Chewbacca. Gargan and Tessek stood together among other court members as Jabba refused Skywalker's demands, prompting the Jedi to threaten the Hutt with a blaster pistol. The Hutt then dropped Skywalker, and the unlucky Gamorrean guard Jubnuk, into the rancor pit.[3]

Once again the court gather round to watch the execution, but instead of perishing like Oola had, Skywalker killed the rancor after it devored Jubnuk. Outraged, Jabba demanded that Skywalker, Solo, and Chewbacca be brought before him. Still stood with Tessek, Gargan watched as the Hutt sentenced all three to be executed at the Great Pit of Carkoon and then the pair joined the crowd of courtiers that followed the prisoners as they were marched from the throne room. Jabba and much of his court then traveled to the Great Pit of Carkoon aboard the sail barge Khetanna, but at the pit Skywalker and his allies fought back against their captors. Organa ultimately killed the Hutt before destroying the sail barge, killing many of Jabba's followers.[3] Thanks to Organa's actions, Yarna escaped Jabba's palace and was reunited with her cublings.[1]

Personality and traits[]

Due to Jabba's demands of her appearance,[1] the 1.5 meter tall Gargan had an ample figure[2] with a generous six-breasted chest.[9] As well as being more slow and deliberate in her dancing than Oola,[2] the Askajian improvised her performances to be more humerous than the Twi'lek's graceful and dainty choreography.[9]

Behind the scenes[]

Gargan-ConceptArt

Concept art of Yarna d'al' Gargan

Yarna d'al' Gargan was portrayed by Claire Davenport in the 1983 original trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi.[3] Director Richard Marquand cast her after having directed her in Birth of the Beatles, a 1979 biopic about The Beatles, in which Davenport played a nude model. Marquand said, "I selected the fat lady, because I think fat ladies are wonderful." He originally envisioned the character as a daughter to Jabba the Hutt.[12]

Concept art of the character was created in 1981.[13] Nilo Rodis-Jamero, costume designer of Return of the Jedi, said that Yarna d'al' Gargan's six breasts were decided upon in a conversation while under the influence of alcohol. Her costume used a foam latex prosthetic on her stomach,[14] which was fabricated by Industrial Light & Magic and shipped to London for filming.[15]

The character was not named Yarna d'al' Gargan during the production of Return of the Jedi. In 2006, Holocron continuity database keeper Leland Chee identified a production name "Weeba Weeba" as assigned to a human rancor keeper.[16] However, research by Pablo Hidalgo for a StarWars.com blog post in 2013 uncovered that during production of Return of the Jedi, Davenport's character was known as Wiebba-Wiebba.[15]

After the film, Kenner Products began designing an action figure of Gargan for the toy line Star Wars: The Power of the Force. Lucasfilm put a stop to production in its intermediate prototype stage, apparently considering the six-breasted dancer inappropriate for a children's toy.[17] Her first action figure was released in 2008 as part of Hasbro's Star Wars: The Legacy Collection.[18]

The 2021 poetic adaptation of Return of the Jedi, The Odyssey of Star Wars: An Epic Poem, by Jack Mitchell describes Gargan as leading a dance while the Max Rebo Band plays when Luke Skywalker arrives at the palace, rather than sleeping, as is depicted in the film.[19]

Appearances[]

Sources[]

Notes and references[]

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