Ghoel/Legends

Ghoel was a Wol Cabasshite male who, by 4 ABY, was mistakenly left behind in the palace of the crime lord Jabba the Hutt on the planet Tatooine. Unable to move from his perch on the walls of the Hutt's audience chamber, he used his long, prehensile tongue to lick newcomers to the palace. Although Ghoel was highly intelligent, every member of Jabba's court was ignorant of that fact. He was present in the chamber when Jabba organized a trip to Tatooine's Great Pit of Carkoon with the intent of executing several Rebel Alliance prisoners.

Biography

Ghoel was a highly intelligent Wol Cabasshite male who lived during the Galactic Civil War. Members of his^[2] mollusk-like^[4] species rarely moved of their own accord,^[2] and by 4 ABY,^[5] Ghoel was left behind and became an immobile^[1] resident of^[6] the crime lord Jabba the Hutt's palace on the planet Tatooine.^[6]^[7] He clung to the walls,^[4] rafters, and arches^[6] of the Hutt's audience chamber and often gave newcomers to the palace exploratory licks with his long, prehensile tongue.^[4] Although such direct contact allowed Wol Cabasshites to communicate with members of other species,^[8] all of Jabba's henchmen were ignorant of Ghoel's intelligence.^[2]

Ghoel was in the audience chamber in 4 ABY when several members of the Rebel Alliance came to the palace to rescue their friend Han Solo, a smuggler who had been frozen in carbonite and hung on the chamber's wall. When the Rebel General Luke Skywalker arrived and killed Jabba's pet rancor, the Hutt sentenced Skywalker, along with a now-unfrozen Solo and the Wookiee Chewbacca, to be thrown into the jaws of a sarlacc that nested in Tatooine's Great Pit of Carkoon. As the protocol droid C-3PO translated the crime lord's Huttese edict into Basic,^[3] Ghoel attempted to lick the droid's head.^[2]

Personality and traits

Like most members of his species,^[8] Ghoel possessed an advanced intellect.^[2] However, he was unable to move during his time in Jabba's Palace,^[1] and none of the Hutt's henchmen were aware of his intelligence.^[2] Ghoel had orange eyes, grayish-pink skin,^[3] and a long, grasping tongue, the last of which he used to lick new arrivals to the palace.^[4]

Behind the scenes

"The 'alien on the ceiling,' Ghoel is a snail-like parasite with an incredibly long tongue. He tries to lick Threepio as the droid begins his execution edict with the line, 'His High Exaltedness, the great Jabba the Hutt…'"

―"Who's Who in Jabba's Palace"^[2]

The character who would eventually be known as Ghoel was created as a background alien for the Jabba's Palace scene of Richard Marquand's 1983 film Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. Industrial Light & Magic's creature department constructed the alien puppet,^[9] and puppeteer Mike Quinn performed the character on the film's set. Ghoel was originally set to lick C-3PO during close-up shots of the two characters, but Marquand felt that it would be too distracting and accordingly asked Quinn to keep the puppet's tongue stationary. Ghoel's tongue can still be seen moving in several wide shots, which were filmed prior to the close-ups.^[10]

Ghoel's species was named in 1983 as part of the Airfix "Jabba The Hutt Throne Room Action Scene" kit,^[11] but Ghoel himself went unnamed until 1995, when the Jabba's Palace Limited expansion set of the Star Wars Customizable Card Game coined "Ghoel."^[1] Ghoel has since been mentioned in several additional Expanded Universe sources, some of which have incorrectly identified "Wol Cabasshite" as the character's name.^[4]^[9]