A New Visual Guide to Sentients
The most popular post on my blog by far is my “Visual Guide to Sentients.” A reader asked for a very simple visual guide to the humanoid species (races) in Star wars. So without putting a lot of effort in, I collected 65 of what I felt were the most significant races in Star Wars. The post wasn’t very polished, but since it’s become so popular, I decided to do an updated version with the 99 most significant races in Star Wars with their name and first appearance.
Admittedly “significance” is a fluid thing, so here’s my methodology: In order to be considered significant, a race must have more than one living member at the time of the Original Trilogy (no Yoda) and must either appear in more than one sequence, or be vitally important in the single instance in which they appear (such as the Ssi-Ruuk).
Planetary origin is immaterial: Alderaanians, Bakurans, Corellians, etc. are all humans, so they will not appear separately on the list. Mandalorians, not being a race on their own, do not appear either. There are no droids, no non-sentient creatures, and no non-organic intelligence on this list.
One of the things about Star Wars is the variety of creatures. It goes without saying that “aliens” have been popular throughout science fiction, but the beings in Star Wars seem groundbreaking, like the universe they inhabit. There’s far more variety of beings in the Star Wars universe than in any other I know of. These are 99 out of the estimated 20 million sentient races in the galaxy.
Here is a quick index to the species. After the jump, I have them in alphabetical order with pictures (all culled from Wookieepedia with a certain amount of assumed common use), an inventory of where they appear, and any other relevant information.
INDEX
Advozse — Aleena — Anzat — Aqualish — Arcona
Barabel — Besalisk — Bith — Bothan
Caamasi — Cathar — Cerean — Chadra-Fan — Chagrian — Chiss — Clawdite
Devaronian — Drall — Dug — Duros
Elom — Elomin — Er’kit — Ewok
Falleen
Gammorean — Gand — Gen’daii — Geonosian — Gossam — Gotal — Gran — Gree — Gungan
Herglic — Human — Hutt
Iktotchi — Ishi Tib — Ithorian
Jawa
Kaleesh — Kaminoan — Kel Dor — Kissai — Kitonak — Klatoonian — Kubaz
Lannik
Mirialan — Miralukan — Massassi — Mon Calamari — Muun
Nautolan — Neimodian — Nikto — Nimbanel — Noghri — Nosaurian
Ongree — Ortolan
Pau’an — Phindian — Polis Massan
Quarren — Quermian
Rakata — Rattataki — Revwien — Rodian
Sand People — Selonian — Sith — Snivvian — Ssi-Ruuk — Stennes — Sullustan
Talz — Thisspiasian — t’landa Til — Togorian — Togruta — Toydarian — Trandoshan — Twi’lek
Ubese — Ugnaught — Utai
Verpine — Vodran
Weequay — Whiphid — Wookiee
Xexto
Yinchorri — Yuzzem
Zabrak — Zeltron
Advozse
Where you’ve seen them — A New Hope
Aleena
Where you’ve seen them — The Phantom Menace
Anzat
Where you’ve seen them — A New Hope
Aqualish
Where you’ve seen them — A New Hope
Arcona
Where you’ve seen them — A New Hope
Barabel
Where you’ve seen them — in the EU
Besalisk
Where you’ve seen them — Attack of the Clones.
Bith
Where you’ve seen them — A New Hope
Bothan
Mentioned in Return of the Jedi but first seen in the EU
Caamasi
Where you’ve seen them — the EU
Cathar
Where you’ve seen them — in the EU
Cerean
Where you’ve seen them — The Phantom Menace
Chadra-Fan
Where you’ve seen them — A New Hope
Chagrian
Where you’ve seen them — The Phantom Menace
Chiss
Where you’ve seen them — Heir to the Empire
Clawdite
Where you’ve seen them: Attack of the Clones
Devaronian
Where you’ve seen them — A New Hope
Drall
Where you’ve seen them — in the EU
Dug
Where you’ve seen them — in The Phantom Menace
Duros
Where you’ve seen them — A New Hope
Elom and Elomin
Where you’ve seen them — Elom in A New Hope; Elomin, in the EU
Er’kit
Where you’ve seen them — The Phantom Menace
Ewok
Where you’ve seen them — in Return of the Jedi
Falleen
Where you’ve seen them — Shadows of the Empire
Gammorean
Where you’ve seen them — Return of the Jedi
Gand
Where you’ve seen them — The Empire Strikes Back
Gen’daii
Where you’ve seen them — in the EU
Geonosian
Where you’ve seen them — Attack of the Clones
Gossam
Where you’ve seen them — Attack of the Clones
Gotal
Where you’ve seen them — A New Hope
Gran (aka Malastarian)
Where you’ve seen them — The Phantom Menace
Gree
Where you’ve seen them — in the EU
Gungan
Where you’ve seen them — The Phantom Menace
Herglic
Where you’ve seen them — the EU
Human
Where you’ve seen them — Everywhere
Hutt
Where you’ve seen them — Return of the Jedi
Iktotchi
Where you’ve seen them — The Phantom Menace
Ishi Tib
Where you’ve seen them — The Phantom Menace
Ithorian
Where you’ve seen them — A New Hope
Jawa
Where you’ve seen them — A New Hope
Kaleesh
Where you’ve seen them — Revenge of the Sith
Kallidahin, see Polis Massan.
Kaminoan
Where you’ve seen them — Attack of the Clones
Kel Dor
Where you’ve seen them — The Phantom Menace
Kissai
Where you’ve seen them — the EU
Kitonak
Where you’ve seen them — Return of the Jedi
Klatoonian
Where you’ve seen them — The Phantom Menace
Kubaz
Where you’ve seen them — A New Hope
Lannik
Where you’ve seen them — The Phantom Menace
Massassi
Where you’ve seen them — the EU
Miralukan
Where you’ve seen them — the EU
Mirialan
Where you’ve seen them — Attack of the Clones
Malastarian, see Gran
Mon Calamari
Where you’ve seen them — Return of the Jedi
Muun
Where you’ve seen them — Attack of the Clones
Nautolan
Where you’ve seen them — Attack of the Clones
Neimodian
Where you’ve seen them — The Phantom Menace
Nikto
Where you’ve seen them — the EU
Nimbanel
Where you’ve seen them — A New Hope
Noghri
Where you’ve seen them — Heir to the Empire
Nosaurian
Where you’ve seen them — The Phantom Menace
Ongree
Where you’ve seen them — Attack of the Clones
Ortolan
Where you’ve seen them — Return of the Jedi
Pau’an
Where you’ve seen them — Revenge of the Sith
Phindian
Where you’ve seen them — the EU
Polis Massan (aka Kallidahin)
Where you’ve seen them — Revenge of the Sith
Quarren
Where you’ve seen them — Return of the Jedi
Quermian
Where you’ve seen them — The Phantom Menace
Rakata*
Where you’ve seen them — the EU
(*they are probably not extinct by the time of ANH, according to 9780786953998)
Rattataki
Where you’ve seen them — the EU
Revwien
Designed for A New Hope, they first appear in the EU
Rodian
Where you’ve seen them — A New Hope
Sand People (aka Tusken Raider*)
Where you’ve seen them — A New Hope
(*Tusken Raider is a slur used exclusively by non-Sand People)
Selonian
Where you’ve seen them — in the EU
Sith (Red Sith)
Where you’ve seen them — in the EU
Snivvian
Where you’ve seen them — A New Hope
Ssi-Ruuk
Where you’ve seen them — in the EU
Stennes
Where you’ve seen them — A New Hope
Sullustan
Where you’ve seen them — Return of the Jedi
Talz
Where you’ve seen them — A New Hope
Thisspiasian
Where you’ve seen them — The Phantom Menace
t’landa Til
Where you’ve seen them — in the EU
Togorian
Where you’ve seen them — in the EU
Togruta
Where you’ve seen them — Attack of the Clones
Toydarian
Where you’ve seen them — The Phantom Menace
Trandoshan
Where you’ve seen them — The Empire Strikes Back
Tusken Raider, see Sand people
Twi’lek
Where you’ve seen them — Return of the Jedi
Ubese
Mentioned in Return of the Jedi but first seen in the EU
Ugnaught
Where you’ve seen them — The Empire Strikes Back
Utai
Where you’ve seen them — Revenge of the Sith
Verpine
Where you’ve seen them — the EU
Vodran
Where you’ve seen them — the EU
Weequay
Where you’ve seen them — Return of the Jedi
Whiphid
Where you’ve seen them — Return of the Jedi
Wookiee
Where you’ve seen them — A New Hope
Xexto
Where you’ve seen them — The Phantom Menace
Yinchorri
Where you’ve seen them — the EU
Yuzzem
Where you’ve seen them — the EU
Zabrak
Where you’ve seen them — The Phantom Menace
Zeltron
Where you’ve seen them — the EU
1 March 2017 at 10:20 AM
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1 March 2017 at 2:48 PM
Thank you for this!!! I just learned there’s a difference between Geonosian and Gossam! Those are some of my favorite species. :)
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