Star Wars Creatures From The Empire Strikes Back

Last month I took a look at all of the creatures (non-sentients) from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. This month I’m continuing the series by examining the creatures that inhabited the worlds in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. From the “smells bad on the outside” tautaun, to the terrifying wampa, to the pesky mynocks, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is filled with a delightful variety of great additions to the Star Wars universe.

Here are the main creatures in order of how they appeared in the fifth episode of Star Wars.

TAUNTAUN

The tautaun is one of the most docile (and apparently smelly) creatures that exists in the Star Wars universe. Used as a horse-like transport for the rebels in their Hoth base, the tauntauns can tolerate the cold and move fast enough so their riders don’t suffer frostbite.

Tauntauns can also be used to keep warm in case of emergencies by cutting them open and snuggling up with their insides. While this was a bit of a yucky moment in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, that scene also
inspired this amazing sleeping bag pictured below.

Fun fact: Tauntauns would spit at one another when angry. Their saliva appears to not smell very good either.

Best scene: Seeing Luke try to calm his tauntaun down right before being struck by a wampa paw. He tried to warn you Luke!

WAMPA

When the Rebel Alliance was looking for a place to hide out from the Imperials they must have weighed the pros and cons of each planet they considered. The wampa would definitely make the con list for the Hoth system. The wampa is basically a larger, more viscious version of a polar bear who feeds on anything that can survive the harsh weather conditions on Hoth.
Luke came face to face with a wampa and barely escaped with his life. In the deleted scenes wampas were seen invading the Rebel Base.

Fun fact: The wampa’s primary food source are tauntauns.

Best scene: When the bloodstained wampa looks up from whatever poor thing he is eating to see what’s making all that noise on the other side of the cave.

EXOGORTH (SPACE SLUG)

‘This is no cave.”

Well, it seemed like the Millennium Falcon was in an asteroid cave. After exiting their ship to shoo off the power sucking mynocks, Han Solo becomes suspicious of the moisture in the air and squishiness of the ground in their hideaway. A short blaster shot to the his feet leads to a quick departure and a narrow escape through the jaws of the giant worm-like creature who lives inside asteroids.

Fun fact: Exogorths could propel themselves from asteroid to asteroid to find a new home.

Best scene: The reveal that the Millennium Falcon has barely escaped a bite from the space slug.

MYNOCK

Mynocks are one of the few Star Wars creatures that can be described as nuisances. These flying bat-like creatures are also a bit like a leech. They attach themselves on unsuspecting ships and suck out their power by chewing on the power cables. Mynocks are one of the few Star Wars creatures that can survive in the vacuum of space so they can be found almost anywhere.

When Han, Leia, and Chewie are hiding out from the Imperials in what they they think is a cave (see above), they soon learn that they have attracted a flock of mynocks. While mynocks are not dangerous to humans, they can cause a lot of damage to ships and can’t be ignored.

Fun fact: Live mynocks can be found flying around the inside of a space slug for extended periods of time before they are digested.

Best scene: When Princess Leia looks out the window of the Millennium Falcon and a mynock attaches its tentacles to the window.

DRAGONSNAKE

There are glimpses of a lot of wildlife as Luke explores Yoda’s secret hideout on Dagobah. Snakes, lizards, and flying birds are just a few of the creatures that call the swamp their home. However, the one creature that steals the show in Degobah is the dragonsnake.

One of the scariest things about the dragonsnake is that you can’t really see it so you’re not sure what you’re dealing with. It’s similar to the fear induced by diagona in A New Hope. When Luke first arrives in Dagobah R2-D2 disappears while Luke is moving from his X-Wing to land. To everyone’s relief R2-D2 doesn’t taste very good, and the dragonsnake spits back out everyone’s favorite astromech droid. The dragonsnake echoes the Lochness Monster as the sea creature you know is there but never see. In The Clone Wars Obi-Wan Kenobi gets a closer looks (and squeeze) from a dragonsnake in the episode “Hunt for Ziro”.

Fun fact: Dragonsnakes can top the scales at 50,000 kilograms.

Best scene: The glimpse you get of the dragonsnake after it has spit out R2-D2.

Coming next . . . the rancor, the sarlaac, and all the creatures from Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

 

The Cantina Cast

The wretched hive your Jedi Master warned you about!

Follow Amy on Twitter  and read more from Amy  at:  ,  , and