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Often mistaken for Barada, Kithaba is one of the more noticeable Skiff Guards in the Sarlacc Pit Battle. He stands directly behind Luke on the Skiff and is the first Skiff Guard to attack Luke once the battle begins. Which, of course, means that he is also the first Skiff Guard to be sent careening over the side of the skiff by Luke's lightsaber. However, he is actually the last of the 13 Skiff Guards to be seen alive as he is dragged into the Sarlacc Pit.

Kithaba wears a dark red bandana, a sand-colored, longsleeve shirt with a yellowish-tan vest over the top. He has a shoulder strap with three cargo pockets on the front and NO BACKPACK. He also wears red pants and black boots.

Screen shots:

Kithaba is clearly visible in several shots:

The above shot was flipped for the movie and appears below in its corrected form. You will notice that Kithaba's shoulder strap hangs from his left shoulder across to his right side (Barada's shoulder strap hangs in the opposite direction):

Below we see Kithaba taking the first swing at Luke once the battle starts:

Kithaba is also the very first Skiff Guard to go over the edge of the skiff:

However, he is the very last Skiff Guard that we see being eaten by the Sarlacc (Special Edition version with the CG Sarlacc beak). This is actually shown just a few seconds after we see Barada getting slashed by Luke. So it's possible that the editors of the film had trouble distinguishing between the two Klatooinians and mistook Kithaba for Barada in this scene. Or most likely, they simply decided that their outfits were similar enough that no one in the audience would be able to tell the difference:

Here the original theatrical version of Kithaba's death:

As I recall, Lucas was going through a divorce the same year that Return of the Jedi was released. Why do I bring that up now? No reason, just thinking out loud.

Other images:

The original Klatooinian mask. This mask was reused for Umpass-Stay in the 1997 Return of the Jedi: Special Edition. It was also used for one of Jabba's guards in The Phantom Menace. That's a piece of velcro on his forhead for keeping his bandana in place:

A side by side comparison of Barada and Kithaba:

Some super rare, behind-the-scenes screenshots of Kithaba as he battles Luke:

As you can clearly see from these images, Kithaba is not wearing a backpack:

You'll also notice that Luke's lightsaber blade hasn't been added in yet, indicating that this is raw footage from the filming of the Skiff Battle:

Kithaba drops his staff before going over the edge, leaving it for Han Solo to use to rescue Lando later in the battle:

For questions, comments, or suggestions you can email me at rosario.nathan@gmail.com