Odd 'Star Wars' Theory Could Explain Boba's Apparent Weakness In First Few Episodes
The main criticism of Boba Fett in The Book of Boba Fett has been how the titular character is irreconcilable with the Boba Fett we got to know in the original trilogy (and specifically in The Empire Strikes Back). Our new Boba is magnanimous, compassionate, and (gasp) a humanitarian. He even has a soft spot for a Rancor – although, in fairness, who hasn't wanted to scratch a Rancor’s cheek and tease it like a puppy? But one of the biggest problems, apparently, is Boba’s fighting prowess. Or lack of.
So far in The Book of Boba Fett, the Jawas stripped Boba of his armor, a Tuskan fights and incapacitates him, and the Order of the Night Wind assassins tax him. Who is this Boba Fett? He looks old and slow and unsure of himself. An odd theory doing the rounds is that Boba Fett’s time in the sarlacc pit has weakened him. This may not be as outrageous as it sounds.
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Our very own animal kingdom is filled with animals who are capable of paralyzing their prey. Cone snails, for example. Who would think a cone snail could possibly be that dangerous? Nope. They paralyze their prey before engulfing it. How about the duck-billed platypus? It can also paralyze small animals. Apparently, their venom is also excruciatingly painful to humans. The sarlacc pit might have a similar function, which makes sense when you think about it.
C3PO says of the Sarlacc Pitt, “In its belly you will find a new definition of pain and suffering as you are slowly digested over a thousand years.” So its digestive system is torturously slow. The possibility always exists that live prey that falls in to the pit could get back out. The sarlacc would need some compensatory mechanism – a means to ensure that the prey stays in its stomach. Given the sarlacc lives in a pit – it’s prone and stuck in the ground – holding onto its prey is invaluable. It’s not like the sarlacc can just pick up and go eat elsewhere.
Mother Nature – or Tatooine’s version, Tato Nature – would’ve needed to build something into the sarlacc pit to help ensure it retained the bulk of food that would sustain it in the unforgiving Tatooine desert. We see that all the time in our very own animal kingdom: animals that have characteristics to compensate for a lack of size, speed, or strength. It could be likely that the sarlacc exudes some sort of pheromone that works like an anesthetic, so that its prey is incapacitated, and allows the sarlacc the time and leisure to digest its food without having to worry it’ll escape.
We’re unsure how long Boba Fett is in the sarlacc’s stomach. What we can extrapolate is that it’s more than a couple of hours, otherwise when Boba Fett got out he would’ve seen Jabba’s barge still ablaze. We see the wreck, and that it’s subject to the harsh Tatooine desert, so the assumption would be that the barge has had time to burn itself out. So we could safely assume several days have passed.
Boba Fett’s armor might’ve protected him from the full effects of some sort of digestive anesthetic, so he had the wherewithal to punch his way free, and flop out onto the sand. He’s exhausted and uncoordinated, which could be the effects of an anesthetic – anybody who’s ever had surgery can attest to how difficult coming out of anesthetic can be. This would explain how Jawas can manhandle Boba Fett the way they do, and why the Tusken is capable of beating him up and incapacitating him.
Still, any condemnation of Boba Fett’s prowess (and lack thereof) may be premature, if not unfounded. In the original trilogy, we don’t see that Boba is especially skilled in unarmed combat. He relies on the gimmicks in his armor. He is the Batman of the Star Wars universe.
In the "present-day" story of The Book of Boba Fett, Boba Fett is clearly still injured, which is why he sleeps in a bacta tank. What remains to be seen is when those injuries were incurred. The present? The past? Or in the sarlacc pit itself? This is why criticism might be premature. We might find out that whatever happened to him in the sarlacc has chronically injured him.
The other truth – or a contributor to the speculation as to why Boba Fett isn't as skilled and fearsome as we'd like – might be much simpler: perhaps the Tusken was simply better. We see that the Tusken trains Boba Fett later, so Boba Fett recognized that he was outmatched in this discipline.
This is the beauty of good science fiction – that it can generate discussions on hypotheticals. It'll be curious to see just how Boba Fett develops.
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Source(s): Screen Rant