You may be asking yourself "What ever happened to who?"

Well, I guess I haven't exactly been completely honest.... You see, when I wrote that my blog is about retcons and references and errors (oh my!), I really meant obscure Expanded Universe references. I'm a sucker for authors who weave in material from all walks of EU sources, from old video games to the RPG, from Star Wars Missions to the Kenner toy line, from Glove of Darth Vader to Maverick Moon. Abel Pena, Dan Wallace, Jason Fry, Pablo Hidalgo, and a number of others all get bonus points for this in my book.

My blog title is not different. The majority of it (five words if you count the "the") comes from the classic Marvel Star Wars comic What Ever Happened to Jabba the Hut? Many readers note the single "t" in Hut, and many more readers note that this Hut is not a Hutt! Confusing? Very! He is a seal-like Nimbanel, first seen wandering about Mos Eisley in A New Hope. The real-world reason for this was that Jabba's sluggish design had not yet been created, and the comic's artists decided to use one of the many aliens glimpsed in the background of the film. One possible reason why this particular creature was chosen could be because he walks past Docking Bay 94 as Luke, Obi-wan, and the droids arrive for departure. But more on "Jabba" later...

The latter half of the blog's name is a much, much more obscure reference. As far as I know, Grambo the Worrt has only been mentioned once by name, in Barbara Hambly's novel, Children of the Jedi.

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"Leaning one shoulder on the curved oval of the windo, Han Solo shook his head. 'I went to one of the Meetings out in deepsace, halfway from the Pits of Plooma to the Galactic Rim,' he said. 'All I cared about was sneaking in under the Ithorians' detection screens, handing about a hundred kilos of rock ivory ot Gambo the Worrt and getting out of there before the Imperials caught up with me, and it was still the most... I donno." He made a small gesture, slightly embarrassed, as if she'd caught him out in a sentimental deed of kindness. ' 'Impressive' isn't the right word.'"

-Children of the Jedi, p. 2
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There, the one and only Grambo the Worrt reference! As some of you may know, worrts are a species of large, frog-like amphibians native to the desert wastes of Tatooine. Of course, not all worrts are normal, as is shown by the existence of space worrts (this may be a reference to the "Star Warts" children's book series, but I'm not positive.) Grambo the Worrt seems to be another exception to the "stupid-worrt" rule. The passage implies that it was sentient, for it was involved with smuggling activities. A sane person would doubt the existence of such a creature. After all, "the Worrt" could be a simple nickname, right?

Fortunately(?!?), I am no sane being. In the Episode I young readers' book Jar Jar's Mistake, a worrt can be seen drinking at a Mos Espa cantina, with a morose expression on his face. (Here's a quick pixel drawing I did of him a while ago, for some discussion over at TF.N boards.) Could this be Grambo? Its possible... I believe that another worrt can be seen inside Jabba's palace in the Empire Strikes Back: Infinities comic, though I'm not currently able to verify this.

But Grambo's mere presence begs a question: how does a rock-brained giant frog become self-aware? If one digs deeply enough, one may find that Grambo is not alone... A number of creatures have become sentient throughout Star Wars history, often because of experiments gone wrong (or, even worse, right!) Warlord Zinji did similar things throught Project Chubar in the Wraith Squadron trilogy, by imbuing Ewoks, Gamorreans, and other species with human-style intelligence. In Planet of Twilight, a character named Dzym is a mutated droch (think vampire cockroach) who exhibits a humanoid form and intelligence. He was created by a chef performing genetic experiments in order to make better food for Beldorian the Hutt (when it comes to Hutts, bigger is always better.) Hmmm... Hutts... Jabba... smuggling... Tatooine...

As it turns out, the "backwater" planet of Tatooine is no stranger to alien oddities. One example is Loje Nella, a native cliffborer worm that somehow became intelligent enough to work as an assistant accountant for Jabba. But, wait, cliffborer worms are supposed to be non-sentient, as seen in The Illustrated Star Wars Universe, Super Return of the Jedi, and a few RPG sources. In real life, Nella was actually a puppet intended for use in Return of the Jedi, nicknamed "Toadstool Terror" by the film crew. Decipher used it, and a number of other background characters while creating its Collectible Card Game (CCG), which is a wealth of EU info. Niado Duegad boasts a similar story. He is from the CCG's Special Edition expansion set, and appears to be an original creation. The thing is, he's a one-eyed mercenary from Vodran. Dianoga, anyone? Add his appearance to the fact that he looks nothing like the humanoid Vodrans, multiply by his name (an anagram for "Dianoga Dude"), and viola! we have a self-aware dianoga and a really, really hard algebra problem. Its possible that he also appears in the background of Tales: Nerf Herder, loitering in the background of a Mos Zabu cantina (Tales Volume 2, p. 130). ANd then there is the "Genius Womp Rat" to consider, but who knows what in Chaos that thing is...

Finally, we arrive at Jabba's palace itself. Inside the top levels of the towering citadel, a hydroponics lab creates special treats for Jabba. Did I mention that they were genetically altered treats? Well, Inside the Worlds of the Original Trilogy sure did!

Wrapping up, we have all the elements of a possible retcon (retroactive continuity fix/connection.)* Is Grambo the Worrt a sentient worrt mutated through genetic engineering, at the hands of Jabba's chef/scientists? Possibly... Of course, this is all my opinion, and does not become canon until it is written by an LFL author. Someday, though... someday...


Enjoy the blog and thanks for reading!

-Kyle H.

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* This body of evidence can be used to explain why there is a giant frog-dog in Jabba's palace, as well...