Everything that tried to eat Luke Skywalker in Star Wars

There are a lot of ways to die in the Star Wars Universe. You could get cut down by a lightsaber, shot by a blaster, or even have your whole planet blown up out from under you if the Death Star happens to be passing by at the wrong time. But surprisingly one of the ways that Luke Skywalker almost dies again and again and again is by almost being eaten by some creature or other. In fact, despite there only being three movies in the original trilogy, Luke is almost eaten at least five times while trying to save the galaxy.

1. Dianoga

Being trapped in the garbage of the Death Star after having been shot at by Imperial Stormtroopers is bad enough, but Luke managed to have the worst luck out of everybody when he was suddenly pulled underwater by a giant tentacle that seemed determined to drag him below the surface. Though we only ever got to see the creature’s tentacle (and single eyeball), the Dianoga is a squid-like creature that can grow up to ten meters under the right conditions. Seeing as they are carnivores and will regularly attack people if given the opportunity, there is no doubt that the creature’s aim was to pull Luke under in order to eat him. It was only the activation of the trash compactor that caused the Dianoga to release Luke in order to escape to safety. In the end, Luke most likely killed the Dianoga when he blew up the Death Star later in the movie with the Dianoga presumably still on the space station.

2. Wampa

While scouting the area around Echo Base on Hoth, Luke was once again attacked and almost eaten. This time, the creature was a Wampa, a large yeti-like creature that stands about three meters tall. Wampa’s are native to Hoth, and this one in particular attacked Luke and dragged him back to the Wampa’s cave, where he was tied up in order to be eaten. Fortunately for Luke (but unfortunately for the tauntaun Luke had been riding), the Wampa decided to feast on the larger creature first, eating the tauntaun first and saving Luke for a secondary course. Luke was able to regain consciousness in enough time to summon his lightsaber and cut himself free. The Wampa, seeing his second meal about to leave, tried to stop Luke, but ended up losing an arm in the process as Luke made his escape. While Luke didn’t outright kill the Wampa, removing the creature’s arm likely made living on a world as hostile as Hoth impossible for the creature.

3. Rancor

Underneath the floor of the throne room at Jabba’s palace a Rancor waits, eager to eat whatever, and whoever is thrown into its reach. While we see a dancer who displeased Jabba thrown into the pit, as well as an unlucky guard who happened to be standing close to the edge, the main focus ends up being Luke Skywalker, who is dropped into the pit when he tries to bargain for Han Solo. Even without his lightsaber on hand, Luke was able to keep from getting eaten, though the rancor comes very close to taking a bite out of him. Eventually Luke was able to drop a door on the rancor, killing the beast, though that doesn’t stop Jabba from trying to feed Luke to something else

4. The Sarlacc

This is probably the most famous instance of something trying to eat the main heroes in a Star Wars movie, though it’s fame revolved around the creature’s incredibly long digestive time. After the Rancor failed to eat Luke, Jabba attempted to feed both Luke and Han to the Sarlacc that lived in a pit in the middle of the desert, where they would slowly dissolve in the creature’s stomach over a period of a thousand years. While Luke and Han both escaped, the Sarlacc managed to get a pretty good meal that day as several of Jabba’s henchmen ended up falling into the pit during the battle. Luke doesn’t kill the Sarlacc, but as we later learned in The Book of Boba Fett, the creature was killed by another character that it unsuccessfully tried to eat.

5. The Ewoks

For the third time in a single movie, Luke is almost eaten, this time by the most unexpected creature on the list. When Luke, along with other members of the Rebel Alliance get caught in a trap created by the local inhabitants of Endor, it soon becomes clear that the plan is to cook and eat Luke and his friends in a feast. This time Luke is saved by the ewoks believing C-3P0 to be a god who commands them to not eat the humans, though Luke does help convince the ewoks of the droid’s great powers by floating him through the air with the force. Presumably, the ewoks were able to eat something that was caught in a different trap that night, as they became the only thing on this list that were able to survive after having tried to eat Luke Skywalker.