How Did Boba Fett Survive The Sarlacc Pitt In The Return Of The Jedi?

Boba Fett is one of the fan-favorite characters appearing in the Star Wars franchise. The awesome bounty hunter appeared again in the Mandalorian Season 2, to the surprise of many fans who thought Boba was dead. So how did Boba Fett survive in Return of the Jedi?

Boba Fett fell into the mouth of a Sarlacc in the Return of the Jedi, but he managed to get out eventually. It hasn’t been confirmed how exactly he did it yet, but theories suggest he got out of a wound in the Sarlacc’s body, or the creature could not digest his armor.

Any way you turn it, Boba Fett is still alive in the second season of the Mandalorian, around five years after the Return of the Jedi. Keep reading to learn more about Boba Fett, how he seemingly died and then returned to life in an epic turn of events.

How Did Boba Fett “Die” In Return Of The Jedi?

So, what exactly made us all think that Boba Fett was dead after the Return of the Jedi? Well, the manner of his character arc ending was pretty straightforward, pointing in that direction. Let’s start from the top.

Boba Fett was one of the six bounty hunters – the best bounty hunters in the galaxy – that Darth Vader called and promised a hefty reward if they could bring back the crew of the Millenium Falcon. Of course, that crew was Han Solo and Chewbacca.

Fett was the only one successful with the mission, bringing Han Solo to Vader, who then gives him back to Boba and allows him to take Solo to Jabba the Hut and claim the reward the fat crime lord has put out for Solo. After all, all Vader really wanted was to use Solo as bait to get to his real target – Luke Skywalker.

As Boba delivers Han Solo to Jabba the Hut, his friends try to save him, including Princess Leia and Luke. Han Solo’s execution is ordered above the Great Pit of Carkoon, where a horrifying, huge creature called the Sarlacc lives.

The Sarlacc lives buried deep in the desert sand with only its mouth and tongue being out and eating virtually anything that falls into it.

During the execution, Jabba’s prisoners revolt, and a fight ensues. Boba Fett briefly fights Luke Skywalker, but a blinded Han Solo turns around and swings wildly, hitting and activating Fett’s jetpack. That sends the notorious bounty hunter tumbling into the Sarlacc’s mouth, which was seemingly his end in the movie.

Nobody ever gets out of the Sarlacc, as the creature deliberately keeps you alive while its weak stomach acids digest you for about a thousand years. Still, the was that Boba fell into the pit so easily had many fans disappointed, as they felt the galaxy’s best bounty hunter deserved a better death.

Luckily for them, the Sarlacc pit was not the last place we’ll ever see Boba Fett alive.

What Planed Did Boba Fett Die On In Return Of The Jedi?

The events that saw Boba Fett fall into the Sarlacc pit and seemingly die took place on a planet called Tatooine. The planet is covered in sand dunes and deserts all around. It’s also the home of the notorious Jabba the Hut, who runs a huge palace with thousands of servants aiding his every desire.

Also, Tatooine is inhabited by the Jawas, a race of small, hooded aliens with glowing red eyes who travel across the dunes and scavenge for goods. They find Boba Fett’s armor within the Carkoon Pit, getting it out through a huge hole in the Sarlacc’s belly.

It seems that the beast got badly wounded after Jabba’s huge sail barge exploded, leaving Boba Fett the opportunity to get out alive. It’s possible that Fett used the hole to get out or made the hole bigger from the inside out, allowing him to escape the inevitable, painful, boiling death that would last for a millennium.

How Did Boba Fett Get Out Of The Sarlacc?

We still don’t have a definitive answer to how Boba Fett got out of the Sarlacc, but I hope that The Book of Boba Fett will change that and give us more information about that particular awesome venture. 

Still, there are some clues, hints, and different versions of the story of his escape we can look at to give us at least a better picture. Perhaps none of those versions will end up being the truth, but it’s a starting point, at least.

One version of the story had Boba Fett inside the Sarlacc, being slowly digested for years. As the years went by, Boba developed a kind of a mental connection to the beast. The Sarlacc let loose and stopped seeing Fett as a threat, which would prove to be a huge mistake.

When the creature let its guard down a bit, Boba somehow activated his jetpack, propelling him out of the Sarlacc’s mouth while also burning the beast’s inside severely. Still, that doesn’t explain how Boba Fett lost his armor in the process, so I doubt this version would be the TV series version of how Fett escaped.

Another version of the story had the same start – Boba Fett was slowly digested for years. However, the Sarlacc’s stomach acids were too weak to digest an armor made of beskar, one of the strongest metals in the galaxy, so the creature spat Boba out along with his armor.

Boba Fett got amnesia in the process, failing to remember who Han Solo was or how he got inside the beast. Again, this version of the events doesn’t explain how Boba Fett got out without his armor, so I believe the real explanation lies in the third version of the story.

The last version had the Sarlacc badly injured when Jabba the Hut’s sail barge exploded in the Return of the Jedi. The colossal explosion opened a gashing wound on the creature’s stomach area.

While it didn’t kill him, it provided a way for Boba Fett to escape. The creature probably tried digesting Fett and his armor slowly. Still, after Boba saw the hole, he left the armor behind and escaped the creature, eventually surviving but leaving without his beloved armor.

Luckily for him, the Jawas found the armor almost complete on one of their scavenger hunts across the dunes. They repaired the broken jetpack and pieced together all the armor components before selling it to Cobb Vanth in exchange for some crystals. After the suit got from hand to hand several times, it eventually found its way back to its rightful owner, Boba Fett.

How Does The Sarlacc Keep You Alive?

One of the scariest things about being inside the Sarlacc is that the creature does not kill you. Instead, it deliberately keeps you alive and slowly digests you over a thousand years. It provides your body with all the nutrients needed to keep you alive while slowly absorbing the energy it needs from you.

But, if the fact that you’re stuck inside the beast forever, slowly awaiting your death for years, isn’t scary enough, there’s something even worse. You see, being digested in weak stomach acid and getting injected with acidic Sarlacc blood is excruciatingly painful.

The pain is described as a never-ending boiling sensation that doesn’t stop until you eventually die. Imagine what Boba Fett was going through during his time inside the Sarlacc. There’s no way out, you’re in constant pain, and there’s nothing you can do about it but wait for the creature to kill you finally. So, how does it actually work?

The Sarlacc has more than one stomach – the main, big stomach where the digestion takes place, and several smaller stomachs that keep the victims in storage before it’s their turn to be digested. The large stomach is embedded with tentacle vessels that punctured the victim’s skin and muscles, rendering them completely incapable of movement.

Then, neurotoxins got injected into the victims slowly, along with certain sustenance from the Sarlacc’s blood to keep you alive for centuries while you’re digested, while also holding you in constant, unbearable pain.

You get slowly digested from the outside, but from the inside as well, as the tentacles inject the acidic blood inside your body and carry the nutrients back to help feed the Sarlacc while at the same time giving you enough nourishment to keep you alive for centuries.

The only thing that helped Boba Fett survive was his strong armor that the tentacles of the Sarlacc couldn’t penetrate. Therefore, he was able to escape.