Before the battle over the Sarlacc Pit in Return of the Jedi, it’s easy to miss a crucial detail. As Luke, Han, and Chewie are about to be pushed to their doom, R2-D2 moves quickly into position to launch Luke’s lightsaber. Boba Fett is the only one who noticed the droid and knew something was wrong, but he didn’t do anything about it. Why didn’t he take action? We can explain it by his character.
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Boba Fett and His Lack of Action
This Reddit forum points out how Boba Fett saw R2-D2 race by before Luke was about to get pushed into the Sarlacc pit. This detail prompts a good question concerning why Boba didn’t take any action. By not doing anything, one post indicates how it contributes to Boba being “a chump” in the ensuing fight since “he noticed something was up,” but didn’t do anything about it.
As we rewatch the original scene, this moment occurs right after 3PO tells Luke, Han, and Chewie that Jabba “will now listen to your pleas.” We see R2 fly to the right, and Boba looks down at him. It’s a brief reference, but it clues the audience in that something is afoot, and Boba is aware of it.
Another fan from above responded to this discrepancy by indicating how Boba didn’t owe “any allegiance to Jabba”, so he could have left the scene. And still another fan jokingly adds that, based on this video, Boba was “drunk during the fight” and that explains his lack of action and fall into the Sarlacc’s mouth.
What these comments have in common is that Boba surely knew something was wrong or that the captives had a plan, but didn’t do anything. That seems out of place for this character, but it actually aligns with it.
One way to explain this odd behavior is connected with Fett’s character and why he decided to battle Luke in the Battle of Carkoon. Namely, Boba felt confident in his abilities and underestimated Luke and his plan. So, Fett was neither concerned about R2 scurrying to the open port window on the barge nor taking on Luke in battle.
As this discussion relays, Boba had “no idea what/[who] he was dealing with.” He had “dealt with a few Jedi, and they weren’t too much of a problem”, but Fett had not encountered the likes of Luke at this point in his Jedi trajectory yet. Similar to why he risked his life fighting Luke, Boba was not aware that R2 or Luke posed a true threat.
The above forum also suggests that Boba engaged Luke for the money. This is an additional reason why he didn’t take action against R2 or didn’t leave the barge before the fight. As a bounty hunter, that motivation certainly came into play, but it also seems to be more than that.
Aligned with Boba’s character, we probably recall that he was considered to be “an established bounty hunter” by the time of Empire Strikes Back. He was also “one of Jabba the Hutt’s go-to mercenaries.” So, status played into his decision to ignore R2 and allow the confrontation to ensue. Boba was not only protecting his overall reputation, but also his standing with the main crime boss.
Fett seems to have been aware that the captives had a plan, but he probably figured it wasn’t a very good one. He may have been right.
Why Luke’s Plan Didn’t Make Sense
When we think about it, Luke’s overall plan to rescue Han was precarious at best. As reflected in his fall into the Rancor pit, Luke was becoming a powerful Jedi, but he couldn’t account for all variables.
This in-depth analysis of the rescue plan indicates how it appears Luke had multiple plans, and two of them went haywire. One of the problems with the plans at Jabba’s palace is that even if Leia successfully unfroze Han and was ready to escape, slipping out of there with “a blind man, two droids and a Wookiee without anyone seeing them seems next to impossible.”
Moving closer to the action at the Pit of Carkoon, we also see a lot of “assumptions” to make Luke’s plan work, such as Jabba bringing R2 and 3PO on the barge for the executions. Jabba could have also dispensed with Leia, instead of making her a slave.
As this video suggests, Luke’s plan or plans before he arrived at Jabba’s palace resulted in “five captured main characters”, including Han. It’s confounding to think that the plan the entire time was actually to get Luke’s lightsaber smuggled in with R2 so that he could finally rescue everyone on the verge of being digested over a 1,000 years.
The list of critiques could go on, but we get the point–Luke’s plan(s) was/were full of holes. So, Boba must have come to the same conclusion. Whatever was afoot, he could handle it.
However, Luke’s plan did have one thing going for it. You may have guessed–the Force. Luke didn’t expect everything to go as planned, but believed in the Force to help him win out in the end. The heroes “adjusted their plan as they gathered more info,” while Luke let the Force guide his next move. Luckily, his last move included a hidden lightsaber.
Boba Fett Noticed R2
When Boba Fett noticed R2 scuttling past him, he knew that a rescue plan was underway. Yet, he didn’t take action because he thought he could handle his adversaries and wanted to stay in good graces with Jabba. Boba was also right that Luke’s attempts to rescue Han were a mess, but he didn’t anticipate Luke’s resourcefulness or the power of the Force.