Quote Originally Posted by Thrudd View Post
That's exactly what I was saying for my own headcanon - they are evolved from parasitic brain slugs. Their entire means of survival is some form of innate telepathy that lets them charm/dominate a number of creatures into serving them and protecting them. Hutts will compete with each other for populations of suggestible creatures. The most successful and powerful of them also would need to develop normal interpersonal negotiation skills so that they could command much larger organizations that can't be telepathically controlled. However, they always have an inner "court" of thralls who will serve them without question or recompense and protect them to the death, making them difficult to approach, assassinate or steal from. I mean, look at Jabba's palace - this menagerie of creatures just hangs around, sleeping right next to him in the throne room? Most of these are probably the thralls who serve under compulsion, and are not allowed to leave Jabba's presence (within whatever range the telepathy has). This is also why the Jedi mind trick wouldn't work on Jabba - he possesses a version of it himself. He already knew Bib Fortuna was weak-willed - that's why he keeps him around!
Similar, but not exactly the same. I am not assuming psionic powers or telepathy. I am thinking more along the lines of maxed ranks in bluff, diplomacy, and negotiation.

In Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards! He says that in the street gangs of Vimes youth, there was always one scrawny, bright lad who had the #2 slot in the gang. Never the gang leader, but maintained his position by having bright ideas and solid intel on whose homes could be most easily looted , keeping the gang rich and entertained so they don't decide to entertain themselves by beating up the scrawny kid.

I think that's Jabba's path to power. Start in a gang as something like a clerk, ingratiate yourself with the boss, supply information and become indispensable, fawning and unthreatening ... until the moment when the support network is in place and all the strings go to him rather than the ostensible "leader", and then one swift coup using hired bounty hunters to change the leadership.

I don't think we need psionic thralldom to explain Jabba's court. What we're seeing is sycophancy . Sycophants -- also known as suck-ups, toadies, hangers-on, courtiers, and the like, throughout history have gathered around rich and powerful figures. Their sole purpose in life is to flatter the rich person in charge in hopes of getting special favors, money, and power in exchange. You also see them in middle school, where kids can form their own little bands and echo chambers, their own little cliques, where they compete for favor and outcast those who put one foot wrong.

These tend to form around arrogant, rich people who have allowed their success to go to their heads, and allow themselves to be surrounded by flatterers who will tell them nothing except how great he is. The Dufflepuds in C.S. Lewis's Voyage of the Dawn Treader had a group like this around their 'chief'. But you see the phenomenon in all kinds of places.

I think that's what's going on in Jabba's court. He's rich, powerful, and arrogant. So people on the make come to his court as dancers, musicians, bounty hunters, what not, all to earn their place at his table and share in some of his fortune. It's a dangerous game. Displeasing Jabba means being fed to a rancor, so there may be a complicated, subtle dance among the courtiers to win as much favor as possible and shove any disfavor or bad opinion on their enemies. And there are of course contractors like Boba Fett, who are privileged members of the court and hold it by sheer competence and intimidation, disdaining the games the smaller fish have to play to stay alive.

It's a difficult, dangerous life for one with few scruples, but I can definitely see why one would choose it over moisture farming.

Respectfully,

Brian P.