Bib Fortuna
Bib Fortuna was a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. He was portrayed by Michael Carter in Return of the Jedi, and by Matthew Wood in The Phantom Menace.
A Twi'lek, Fortuna was best known as Jabba the Hutt's chief lieutenant and consigliere, was also a smuggler and slave-trader.
Fortuna hailed from the planet of Ryloth, where one side is perpetually light and the other dark. Like all Twi'leks, Fortuna had twin appendages, or lekku, coming from the back of his pointed head. Such "head-tails," or "worms," as they are called by others, are used for thinking and communication as well as sensual pleasure. Fortuna was sentenced to death on his planet for helping to start the export of the addictive drug ryll. The ryll trade had led to smuggling, slavery, and a breakdown of order on Ryloth. Fortuna escaped and soon found himself working on Tatooine, in charge of Jabba the Hutt's glitterstim spice smuggling operations.
Through successively more prominent positions, Fortuna—who knew how to be obsequious to the Hutt when he had to be—finally became Jabba's chief aide. He used that position to plot against his boss and he, like others in the palace, planned to kill the Hutt and take over his business. That plan was put on hold when top Rebel Alliance leaders came to rescue their friend Han Solo from Jabba's clutches. Instead, all the Rebels were captured and ordered to be killed by being dropped into the maw of the Sarlacc at the Great Pit of Carkoon. When the Rebels turned the tables, Fortuna fled in his private skiff just before Jabba's sail barge was blown to smithereens.
Back at the palace, a confident Fortuna was met by the B'omarr monks who lived in the catacombs below. Some lived as humans, others as detached brains living eternally in jars of nutrient. The monks decided that the nutrient jar was the best fate for Fortuna - or rather, for his brain. They didn't know Fortuna would eventually figure out a way to reinstall his consciousness into another Twi'lek criminal, Firith Olan, in order to make it easier to carry on his criminal activities.
References
- Tales From Jabba's Palace, 1st edition, 1995. Kevin J. Anderson (editor), ISBN 0-553-56815-9
- "Of the day's annoyances: Bib Fortuna's tale", M. Shayne Bell