Fortuna, Bib

• Appeared in:
  
  I
  II
  III
  IV
  V
  VI
  CW

• Homeworld:
  Ryloth

• Species:
  Twi'lek

• Gender:
  Male

• Size:
  1.8 meters

• Weapon:
  Poisoned dagger

• Vehicle:
  Personal repulsor skiff

• Affiliation:
  Criminal

• 

From the Movies

Those attempting to do business with Jabba the Hutt first needed to maneuver past his pasty-faced major-domo, the Twi'lek Bib Fortuna. The darkly robed attendant often hovered near Jabba's ear, offering advice and feeding information. Fortuna followed the rules of protocol in the Hutt's court (such as they were), and spoke only in Huttese, though he understood other tongues.

Fortuna's affiliation with Jabba stretched over decades. His career began to unravel when Luke Skywalker targeted him with a Jedi mind trick. The hapless lieutenant let the Jedi Knight into the palace. This precipitated the decapitation of Jabba's criminal organization. Fortuna accompanied Jabba's sail barge party to the Great Pit of Carkoon, where Skywalker's daring rescue of Han Solo brought the criminal empire to a fiery end.

From the Expanded Universe

Fortuna started off in the world of organized crime as a spice smuggler, operating out of his homeworld of Ryloth. Fortuna freelanced for a number of years, until Jabba the Hutt approached him to smuggle spice on contract for a healthy commission. As authorities began to crack down on the ryll smugglers, Fortuna decided to quit the business. Instead, he asked for a more important position in Jabba's organization. He joined the likes of Naroon Cuthus and Bidlo Kwerve among the Hutt's lieutenants.

Fortuna often curried favor with his bloated master by presenting him with gifts. It was he who acquired the slave girl Oola for Jabba. He visited the place of twilight on his homeworld, and captured the young Twi'lek girl, having her trained by professional dancers. Jabba enjoyed his gift very much.

Fortuna escaped the destruction of the sail barge in a small private skiff. He joined in a cut-throat battle for the last of Jabba's riches. He holed himself up in Jabba's palace, fighting a disorganized war against others trying to carve apart the carcass of the criminal empire.

Though Fortuna appeared to be the victor, he was soon descended upon by the mysterious B'omarr monks who lived in the palace. The monks, wishing to spread the serenity of bodiless enlightenment, subjected Fortuna to their ritual surgery. They removed Fortuna's brain, placing it in a droid-like spider walker.

Fortuna endured the madness of an existence deprived of senses for years. Jabba's palace was claimed by an enterprising Twi'lek named Firith Olan, who delighted in tormenting the bodiless Fortuna. Despite being just a brain in an ambulatory jar, Fortuna was able to defeat Olan. He employed the B'omarr techniques to transfer his brain into Olan's body, and Fortuna was able to live again. Armed with Olan's identity, Fortuna began making a strident return to the criminal underworld.

Behind the Scenes

In the early draft scripts of Return of the Jedi, Bib Fortuna has the odd title of "High Beeser of Hoth." The original design sketches depicted a wizened old man sporting a dark cloak and a tall hat.

For Jedi, Fortuna was played by actor Michael Carter. It took over eight hours of make-up to first transform Carter into the Twi'lek advisor. By the end of Carter's five-week shoot, make-up artist Nick Dudman had streamlined the process down to 58 minutes. Removing the make-up took another 25 minutes.

For The Phantom Menace, Bib Fortuna was a cameo appearance by Supervising Sound Editor Matthew Wood. Alan Ruscoe also played a character that the production nicknamed "Bib Fortuna," one of Orn Free Taa's senatorial aides, though this was not intended to be the same Fortuna character. In the finished film, this senatorial "Fortuna" did not appear on screen.