“They’re such fine creatures.”
Boba Fett wants to rule differently than Jabba the Hutt: not with fear, but with respect. But there’s one tradition he has no qualms in keeping: a rancor in the depths of his throne room. With the help of a rancor keeper played by Danny Trejo, Boba decides to train his own monster.
But could there be more to this rancor than meets the eye? It could be the key to a huge reveal in The Mandalorian Season 3. Here’s how.
Within Star Wars Legends (the pre-Disney stuff Extended Universe that no longer counts as canon), there’s much more to rancors beyond their “cross between a bear and a potato” appearance in Return of the Jedi. There are all sorts of varieties, and thanks to crashed starships, they are found on multiple planets.
But only one planet made rancors a huge part of their culture — Dathomir. Danny Trejo’s character even mentions it directly. “It is said that the Witches of Dathomir even rode them through the forest and fens,” he says. This prompts Boba to ask him for help in training and learning to ride the creature.
Boba and his new rancor, a gift from the Hutt Twins.
This seems like it’s obviously setting up a huge reveal later in the series, where Boba will have his Daenerys Targaryen moment and successfully ride a rancor into battle. But could it be setting up an even bigger reveal for The Mandalorian Season 3? Trejo’s seemingly innocuous line could hold the answer.
While some witches of Dathomir, the Nightsisters, are canon thanks to The Clone Wars, there are multiple clans that are only seen in Legends — most prominently in the novel The Courtship of Princess Leia. Referring to the general “witches of Dathomir” could be the key to bringing these characters into live-action canon.
A member of the Singing Mountain Clan riding a rancor, as featured in the Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game.
Considering how these witches operate from Dathomir, the most likely candidate for an appearance would be in The Mandalorian Season 3. The Mandalorian is no stranger to the more cosmic elements of the Star Wars universe, as Season 2 saw multiple Jedi rituals. Could Season 3 see Mando seeking out the witches of Dathomir’s Dark Arts for help?
Perhaps Boba Fett’s rancor taming adventures are just the first step to a greater story involving the witches on their own rancor mounts. Just as The Mandalorian established Boba Fett as a leader so he could have his own story, The Book of Boba Fett could establish the rancor not just as a fearsome creature, but a fantastical creature in the same vein of the bantha and tauntaun.
Lost Legends is an Inverse series about the forgotten lore of our favorite stories.
