What is the Sarlacc?

In Return of the Jedi, Jabba orders Han, Luke and Chewbacca to be executed by having them thrown into the Sarlacc pitt.

An omnivorous, multi-tentacled creature with a worm-like beak and needle-sharp teeth, the Sarlacc lives at the bottom of a deep sand hole called the Great Pit of Carkoon in the wastelands of the planet Tatooine’s Dune Sea.

The Sarlacc’s huge mouth—more than 2.5 meters in diameter—seems always open, waiting to be fed. It is lined with three rows of sharply pointed teeth, all pointing inward to keep food trapped inside. It snatches unfortunate victims with its tentacles, dragging them into its mucous-coated mouth.

Local legend has it that victims die a slow and painful death in the belly of the Sarlacc, since its digestive juices take 1,000 years to fully break down its meals. Crime lord Jabba the Hutt often uses the Sarlacc as a sort of opponent disposal—but all it takes is picking the wrong opponent once.

The Sarlacc has consumed many a mighty warrior, including the bounty hunter, Boba Fett.