While Star Wars has many background characters, one of them has the most tragic story. Maybe you’d think of minor characters like Owen and Beru Lars, who were killed by stormtroopers. Yet, a dancer at Jabba’s palace has an even more tragic life and death than they did.
Oola, The Most Tragic Background Character
Beginning with the end, Oola is the most tragic character because she gets eaten by a rancor. She may be best remembered for how she fell through the trap door in Jabba’s palace and became a meal for his captive beast. She didn’t stand a chance as the rancor immediately grabbed her up.
Backing up just before this fateful moment, we can see how tragic it was for Oola to be chained to Jabba and her fruitless efforts to resist him, pulling her closer in dread. In the palace, we only get glimpses of what her life must have been like, but it was dreadful.
Going back to the beginning, Oola was a female Twi’lek born to a chieftain on Ryloth. From a young age, she “devoted herself to sensual dancing” and trained at “a celebrated school.” Yet, under murky circumstances, she was “betrayed by a jealous rival.” So, her dancing didn’t become a way out.
Instead, fellow Twi’lekian Bib Fortuna, aka Jabba’s majordomo, kidnapped and enslaved her. Fortuna had Oola learn palace dancing ways from other captured female Twi’leks before she became a gift to Jabba. Oola had a brief opportunity to escape when she first arrived on Mos Eisley. Yet, she haplessly believed Fortuna’s lies about how grand dancing at Jabba’s palace would be.
These events alone would be enough to cast Oola as the most tragic background in Star Wars, but there is even more.
More Tragedy for Oola
Oola’s dancing with the Max Rebo band at the palace adds more layers to the calamity. Not only was she forced to wear skimpy outfits, but she was also literally in chains. That she and other Twi’leks were routinely forced into slavery likely leads to the conclusion that her forced dancing represented “the sexual objectification and subjugation of women” in Star Wars.
That is, Oola’s dancing became not a way to express and individualize herself, but a means of control for Fortuna and Jabba. In these scenes from the palace, we see Oola forced to sit beside the disgusting creature that is Jabba, only to be sent out to dance for his amusement.
Moreover, we can interpret the look on her face as recognizing that she could have a chance to escape with Luke’s arrival. As she finishes her first dance routine, her expression conveys tiredness and hopelessness. Overall, her orchestrated routine is personal entertainment for Jabba, with no recognition of her being.
In her main act of resistance to the machinations surrounding her, Oola ends up dead in the grimmest manner. As fans have pointed out, she didn’t suspect she would be dispensed with that way. Oola had a look of “utter shock” once she fell and knew her final moments were at hand.
Oola in Comparison
We may think of other background characters who had similar or worse fates. This discussion offers the Ewok who mourned his friend in Return of the Jedi, the Gonk droid in Jabba’s palace, and Ratts Tyerell, who died podracing with his family watching.
These background characters had their own versions of tragedy. We could also add Corday, Padme’s handmaiden, who abruptly died in a fiery explosion at the outset of Attack of the Clones. In the same video, we could also recognize such minor characters as the decraniated servants, whom we have previously written about.
Clearly, Star Wars is replete with background characters suffering cruel fates. Yet, what distinguishes Oola is her enslavement, objectification, and gruesome death. Any one of these aspects would have placed any character on the tragic list, but she had all three.
Oola and Tragedy
We may have some consolation knowing that Jabba met his end too. However, Oola’s life and time at the palace overshadow his demise as more tragic, along with other minor characters who met dastardly deaths.