Hopes & Dreams: The Story of Oola

- November 01, 2021

A Follow-up to my 1st Star Wars Post (I’m Aurra Sing: A Star Wars Story) today I (Ethan Stranger) will be doing my 2nd Star Wars Post involving around a lesser-known Star Wars Character who I feel like deserves more love & attention, her name is Oola.

She appeared only in the opening scene of “Return of the Jedi” where she’s seen as the slave of Jabba the Hutt before (while dancing for him) being fed to his pet Rancor, thus that seems like the end of her, however, according to Wookieepedia (The Star Wars Wiki) Oola has quite the backstory that I’m sure many of us can find relatable, so let's dive into it, shall we?

Portrayed by Nigerian-born British dancer and actress, Femi Taylor, Oola’s backstory starts with her as the daughter of a clan chieftain on the Twi’lek’s home planet of Ryloth. Oola had long awaited to live a life of luxury according to the status she once had, however, things didn't go her way (which is relatable to today’s society, where many people dream and fantasize about the many possibilities of life, but few are able to actually achieve them - this doesn't mean that we can't all achieve peace and happiness, it means me should be real with our contexts and opportunities).

Oola’s chance would come sooner than expected as she (alongside another Twi’lek, Sienn'rha) were taken by Bib Fortuna (Jabba’s Right Hand Man) where for 4 months, they would receive expensive dance education & on top of that, Bib Fortuna had fed lies to Oola about what will await her when she would meet Bib’s Master, Jabba, in person (telling her that he was handsome, that she would be surrounded by luxury at Jabba’s Palace while her audience appreciated her dancing, and that the Rebel Alliance was worse than the Empire). This (of course) happens in today’s society, in situations like Human Trafficking, where innocent people (whatever their age is) are tricked into a life of poverty and slavery.

Having arrived on Tatooine, Both Oola & Sienn'rha (who also was in the same situation) soon ran into Jedi Knight, Luke Skywalker, himself, who then attempted to convince the 2 Twi'leks to leave with him, Sienn'rha soon decided to go with Luke Skywalker, but Oola (having been filled with lies about Jabba & other stuff) had doubts about Luke’s claim that he could bring her to safety with the Rebel Alliance, and wanted to see what Palace life was like (believing that she can leave at any time). This mistake alone is another relatable aspect in Today’s Society, the idea of living a lie or a fantasy & not having the power to break or pull away from it (even if we know it’s wrong) because we're scared or insecure about the situation itself.

Upon arriving at Jabba’s Palace, Oola soon realized that she had made a terrible mistake in ever trusting Bib Fortuna, having seen on what Jabba the Hutt really looked like (a Big slimy Slug-like Alien Crimelord who had been waiting for his new slave), she was soon fitted with a flimsy net costume loosely held together by narrow leather strips, and a headpiece that nearly deafened her (something that I don’t think Disney would ever wanna revisit). Upon being the new slave for Jabba the Hutt, Oola was chained & put on a leash (like a dog), forced to Dance endlessly for the Crimelord Hutt (as well as forced to lie close to his slimness & given scraps of food), an oblivious aspect for this life is also taken from Today’s Society (especially on the topic of slavery, in general). It wasn’t long before both C-3PO & R2-D2 arrived at the Palace (all part of a plan to rescue Han Solo), but at the same time, it was also an attempt to save Oola (according to C-3PO, Luke was indeed going to return to rescue them, much to Oola’s relief).

A Fun Fact (that I find hard to believe) is that (according to Femi Taylor), Read this:

"Originally Oola had quite a bit to do. I was setting the scene for Carrie Fisher. Richard Marquand showed me the storyboards. Oola was going to escape, run away and meet her destiny. Unfortunately, the budget did not allow the character to go that far."

So no wonder that Oola’s final fate had her argue with Jabba, ending up having her fed to his pet, Rancor (so sad), but a lesson is learned within Today’s Society for this experience, trust needs to be earned, that takes time, and, if for whatever reason it's lost, it's very difficult to recover. It’s like that old saying “Don’t believe everything you read or listen”. It's not about doubting everything, but about knowing who or what to trust - this is difficult to learn as we usually grow when we learn from our past mistakes.

We need to be careful when we make mistakes, because, without even noticing it, we might just end up (not like Oola) but reliving it over and over again, stuck in that moment, without being able to move forward because of that intense fear that it generates - believe me, I know the feeling and it's certainly not nice. So, if you ever find someone that keeps reliving their past mistakes or blunders, help them understand that they’ve got their entire futures ahead of them and they can do great things with that opportunity. Let's think about the present and the future - as we learn from the past.

You Know, Oola, I (Ethan Stranger myself) or Aurra Sing, we could’ve taken you to another place besides Jabba’s Palace, like Frank Sinatra(Jr)’s Restaurant: