Talz

• Appeared in:
  
  I
  II
  III
  IV
  V
  VI
  CW

• Homeworld:
  Alzoc III and Orto Plutonia

• Size:
  2.1 to 2.5 meters

• Affiliation:
  Unaffiliated

• 

Hulking humanoids covered in a thick coat of white fur, the Talz species is largely unknown or misunderstood by the greater galaxy at large. A representative of the Talz was first seen in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope (1977), but it would be many years before any sort of additional information came to light about the species and culture. In print, the Talz are traditionally presented as the occasional solitary individual that has somehow entered the galactic community, and little time has been spent depicting the species in any sort of native cultural setting -- that is until the 2009 season one episode of The Clone Wars, "Trespass," (written by Steven Melching and directed by Brian Kalin O'Connell) which showcased a Talz tribe on the moon of Orto Plutonia.

The Orto Plutonian Talz

Orto Plutonia had long been a protectorate of the Pantoran moon, after Pantoran scouts searched the world and found no denizens amid its frozen features. They had missed the Talz population, which lived sequestered in the ice canyons in villages carved out of the ice walls, filled with huts made from animal skins pulled over bone-frames. The Talz lived a simple existence, somehow subsisting off the harsh environment, and using the native narglatch cats as mounts and protection.

During the Clone Wars, the Pantoran Assembly requested that the Republic establish an outpost on Orto Plutonia to serve as an advanced warning station for any Separatist incursions. To that end, the Republic established Glid Station, a clone trooper outpost built within a massive ice spire. The Separatists too established a temporary base in the ice, and all this activity aggravated the Talz. They attacked the newcomers, wiping out both the Republic and Separatist outposts, proving what formidable warriors they were and the level of advantage they had in the cold weather. They left no survivors and left behind grim warnings against any would-be trespassers -- droid heads and clone helmets left perched atop spears.

The Jedi investigated the disappearance of their outpost and discovered the Talz village. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker were welcomed as visitors to the chieftain's hut, and Talz leader Thi-Sen, Son of Suns, explained that the Talz simply wished to be left alone on their world. Kenobi and Skywalker promised a peaceful negotiation with the Pantorans, but the bellicose Chairman Chi Cho did not want to lose claim over Orto Plutonia. First, he argued the Talz weren't intelligent. Second, he declared them the trespassers and waged war against the Talz.

Before the Pantoran Assembly was able to intervene, Cho led a charge of clone troopers against the Talz, which went poorly and the Talz nearly overwhelmed Cho's forces. Senator Riyo Chuchi then extended an offer of sovereignty to the Talz, allowing them to live undisturbed and alone on Orto Plutonia.

Physiology

The notion that the Talz are arctic beings is inherent in the creature's design in Episode IV, but did not go documented until 1989, first in Galaxy Guide 4: Alien Races by Troy Denning, published by West End Games. This guidebook established the Talz name, and confirms that their bulk and fur protect them from the elements. Their four eyes are said to be a protective evolutionary development; the larger eyes close to protect against the sunlight's glare off the ice. At night, all four eyes allow the Talz exceptional night vision.

A curious side-step in the biology of Talz occurred in the short-story "Play it Again, Figran D'An: The Story of Muftak and Kabe" by A.C. Crispin, published in Tales form the Mos Eisley Cantina (1995, Bantam Books). In addition to granting Muftak infrared vision, this tale gives him possible racial memories of emerging from a cocoon in a lush paradise. No other source has backed up such environs, suggesting that they are peculiar to Muftak's recollections. The cocoon was later revealed to be a larval "sac" or external womb from which the Talz emerge full-size after gestation, as detailed in The Essential Guide to Alien Species by Ann Margaret Lewis (Del Rey Books, 2001). The second edition of the book (by Lewis and Helen Keier, 2006, Del Rey Books) elaborated that the Talz are born from eggs, crawl into the sac, undergo chrysalis, and then emerge.

Cinematic Origins

The Talz costume was built for the booth inserts shot well after the main stage photography for the cantina sequences of A New Hope. The creature shop crew nicknamed the otherwise nameless alien "Spider-Man," due to its array of eyes and furry face. It would later receive the name "Cullatran" as a temporary internal moniker, though this name would go unused before being replaced with the species name "Talz." The Talz costume was marched out again for a few notable television appearances, including "The Richard Pryor Show," "The Star Wars Holiday Special" and an anti-drunk driving public service announcement.

In the Expanded Universe

The first Expanded Universe information added to this alien character came in Galaxy Guide 1: A New Hope by Grant Boucher (1989, West End Games). This was the first source to give Muftak a name, but it stopped short of identifying his species. A key element of Muftak's biography was that he did not know where he came from or what species he was. This established the idea that Talz are rare and infrequently encountered, a notion that strains a bit with the inclusion of more Talz in this period in the timeline and earlier. For example, in Decipher's Star Wars Customizable Card Game, a Tatooine expansion (2001) added a second Talz to the cantina -- Caldera Righim. That two Talz barflies frequented the same cantina and yet not know of one another's existence requires a certain suspension of disbelief.

The same year Muftak was established, a second galaxy guide, Galaxy Guide 4: Alien Races by Troy Denning, named the species and began establishing its history.. Here, the species is said to hail from Alzoc III, an icy planet discovered by the Empire. The Empire subjected the Talz to slavery and neglected to include them in any galactic registry, meaning that the Talz species went undocumented. Again, this description doesn't match more recent sources that show Talz as part of the larger galactic community earlier than the time of the Empire. The tendency of artists to reference more well-known aliens seen in the Star Wars films has meant that the Talz now appears in the background of stories set thousands of years in the past, like the Knights of the Old Republic comics series from Dark Horse Comics. The slave trade and the species' subjugation by the Empire, however, leaves open many opportunities for Talz to spread across the galaxy, so in stories set during and after the time of the Empire, frequent Talz spottings are no cause for continuity concerns.

Additional details regarding Talz culture came to light in The Essential Guide to Alien Species by Ann Margaret Lewis (Del Rey Books, 2001).. Talz society is said to be clan-based, and possesses a sophisticated system of resource distribution that ensures no Talz community goes without. The second edition (Del Rey Books, 2006) expands this and notes that Talz have trouble with concepts of ownership, and terms such as his, hers, mine or yours.

The Talz history figured in the backstory of Pter Thanas, a character in The Truce at Bakura by Kathy Tyers (1994, Bantam Books). Thanas was a promising Imperial who ruined his career by refusing the slaughter a Talz village. In fact, he respected the Talz workers under his control and increased their food rations. This story is expanded in The Truce of Bakura Sourcebook by Kathy Tyers and Eric S. Trautmann (1996, West End Games).

One of the most well known Expanded Universe Talz characters is Foul Moudama, a Jedi Knight shown in the second set of Star Wars: Clone Wars micro-series cartoons (2005, Cartoon Network). That a Talz had entered into the Jedi ranks before the species' supposed discovery has raised a number of theories regarding his origins, but nothing has been firmly established. The only source to explore his background, his databank entry (first written by Pablo Hidalgo in 2005), downplays his origins by stating that they are known to few.

Collecting Talz

Though Muftak is one of the more memorable aliens in the Mos Eisley Cantina, he was not afforded an action figure until 1998, when he and Kabe were made available as an Internet exclusive figure. That same mold became the basis of a Foul Moudama figure in 2006. Long before that, a metal figurine of Muftak was available in the Mos Eisley Cantina Miniatures Set made by West End Games in 1989. Modern plastic gaming figures of Talz have been included in the Alliance and Empire expansion from Wizards of the Coast in 2007.