Jabba the Hutt: An Oligarchic Soul
In Republic, Plato describes five types of soul. Each type has a different way of ordering its three parts: the rational (wisdom-loving), the spirited (honor-loving), and the appetitive (money-loving) parts. The third type of soul, the mean between the most virtuous and the most vicious, is the oligarchic soul. It puts the appetitive, money-loving part in charge, but still has wisdom and honor enough to not destroy itself pursuing pleasures recklessly.
The way Plato describes the oligarchic soul reads like a profile of Jabba the Hutt in Return of the Jedi. This is surprising because Jabba seems more like a tyrannical soul. After all, Plato’s tyrant enslaves others to serve himself (just as Jabba shackles Leia Organa to satisfy his lust) and is himself enslaved and undone by his own tyrannical passions (just as Jabba is strangled by the very chains he uses on Leia). And yet, consider this passage in Republic Book VIII:
[The oligarch] would establish his appetitive and money-loving part on the throne [of his soul] … He makes the rational and spirited parts sit on the ground beneath appetite, one on either side, reducing them to slaves. He won’t allow the first to reason about or examine anything except how a little money can be made into great wealth. And he won’t allow the second to value or admire anything but wealth and wealthy people.
Like the oligarch, Jabba the Hutt lives for appetite. Sitting on his throne, this oversized worm does nothing but eat, sleep, leer, and connive to guard his financial interests, whether by imprisoning debtors like Han Solo or by bargaining like he does with Leia when she is disguised as a bounty hunter. But standing to his left are Bib Fortuna and C-3PO – characters who, by translating for Jabba and speaking on his behalf, are his auxiliary brain. And sitting beneath him and slightly to his right is Leia, a spirited character whom he wants to make pliant to his will.
To maintain power, Jabba cannot ignore the wisdom- and honor-loving parts of his soul or his mafia. He is wise enough to know that he cannot amass money to feed himself without the help of characters wiser than him. And he is spirited and honor-loving enough to value spiritedness and honor in others. He understands that, if there were no honor among thieves, his thugs and enforcers would turn on him. Jabba’s honor-loving side is why he says of Leia that “This bounty hunter is my kind of scum: fearless and inventive”; why Luke Skywalker tries using flattery on Jabba before resorting to force; and why Jabba directs C-3PO to tell the heroes, “He hopes that you will die honorably.”
Jabba is an oligarchic and not a tyrannical soul because he is not the archvillain of Star Wars. The greatest threat to balance in the galaxy, the most disordered soul, is Emperor Palpatine. There is more than one way to be evil, but at least Jabba retains some conception of goodness.
EXPLORE FURTHER…
Characters: Bib Fortuna / C-3PO / Jabba the Hutt / Leia Organa
GO DEEPER INTO THE ARCHIVES…
Concepts: appetite / brains / gluttony / good and evil / greed / honor / lust / reason / slavery / tripartite soul / tyranny / wisdom and foolishness
Influences: Plato
Interpretive Tools: Tripartite Soul Theory
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That's a good point, Kaden! I would revise what I said and say that Jabba is *trying* to find an auxiliary brain in Bib Fortuna. It's telling that Bib Fortuna has this intestine-like thing wrapped around his neck. He is a belly-driven character, like Jabba, pretending to be a brain-driven one.
I'm not sure that Bib Fortuna is a good example of Jabba surrounding himself with wiser characters considering Bib quickly succumbed to Luke's mind trick, while Jabba's craftiness keeps him free from Luke's influence.