Warning: contains spoilers for Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters #4
Though Star Wars' Boba Fett might have been partly to blame when he lost Han Solo's frozen body, but the fact that Jabba the Hutt actually puts a hit on the bounty hunter's head is actually quite heartbreaking when considering their relationship before this major fallout.
As most fans know, Darth Vader tests whether he can safely encase Luke Skywalker in Carbonite for transportation purposes on Han Solo during The Empire Strikes Back. The Sith Lord later gives the frozen Han Solo to Boba Fett so the bounty hunter can claim his reward from Jabba the Hutt who sought the smuggler for failing to pay him. While on route to Jabba's palace, however, Darth Maul's Crimson Dawn steals Solo from Fett to put the smuggler's frozen body up for auction. When Jabba learns of this unfortunate development, he places a bounty on Fett's head for his betrayal despite not having all the facts in Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters #4 by writer Charles Soule, artist Luke Ross, colorist Neeraj Menon, letterer Travis Lanham, and designer Carlos Lao.
On the surface, this reaction towards Fett might just seem like Jabba being Jabba. But upon realizing how the Hutt might actually view Fett adds a substantial amount of nuance to this ostensibly unemotionally attached order, transforming it into what could have been a highly complex decision that undoubtedly weighed on Jabba's mind. In the short story featured in From a Certain Point of View, "Added Muscle" from Paul Dini, Fett comes to see a side to Jabba that he didn't expect while staying at the Hutt's palace. Some nights, Jabba shares drinks with him and, on one occasion, even divulged personal stories from his past to the bounty hunter. This shockingly intimate moment is even more unexpected when taking into consideration the fact that the Hutt had gone to the hassle of awakening one of his musicians to play a sad song to further underscore the poignancy of what he was about to tell Fett. As a result, the bounty hunter comes to suspect that Jabba may have actually considered him the closest thing he had to a friend.
If Fett's suspicious are accurate, then Jabba put a hit on a person whom he considered to be his closest friend and viewed this potential act of treachery more personally than if any other bounty hunter double-crossed him. The fact that the Hutt still orders the hit regardless of these feelings presents a whole slew of possible emotions that Jabba likely experienced and disregarded. If he did suffer in the worst way imaginable, then it just proves how much Jabba the Hutt values power and how much he is willing to sacrifice to maintain his image as a ruthless gangster who will dispose of anyone who betrays him.
Unfortunately, War of the Bounty Hunters doesn't explore these internal struggles or even hints that Jabba the Hutt had to make any life-altering decisions that affected him on a personal level. Instead, the series portrays Jabba's act of placing a bounty on Boba Fett's head as an unemotionally cold order, void of everything except a desire to appear ruthless to those who foolishly have the audacity of even entertaining the thought of betraying him.