Utapaun

• Appeared in:
  
  I
  II
  III
  IV
  V
  VI
  CW

• Homeworld:
  Utapau

• Size:
  1.9 meters tall (Pau'an), 1.22 meters tall (Utai)

• Weapon:
  P-38 starfighter, dactillion, varactyls, scoop speeders

• 

From the Movies

The native inhabitants of Utapau are divided into two distinct species. The taller, stately Utapauns are more highly evolved, and present the public face of the planet to travelers from abroad. They have deeply lined ashen faces, dark eyes, gaunt builds and wrap themselves in thick yet tightly-bound clothing that covers all but their faces and hands. These Utapauns control the planetary government and administer the port facilities in the sinkhole cities. When the Confederacy of Independent Systems subjugated Utapau during the Clone Wars, it was these Utapauns who peacefully capitulated to preserve their world, living a life in servitude to their Separatist rulers.

Conversely, little changed for the smaller natives of Utapau. The stubby working class aliens have short, stocky builds and rounded faces with distended eyes. Since they have little involvement in the management of the planet, sticking mainly to such menial chores as tending to the dragon corrals and working as ground crew on the various landing platforms, these Utapauns saw little change in their day-to-day life.

When Obi-Wan Kenobi arrived on Utapau to search out General Grievous, he made contact with Port Administrator Tion Medon. Despite being watched by Separatists overseers, Medon surreptitiously informed Kenobi that the planet was under siege and that Grievous was indeed hiding there. Kenobi returned the covert favor by tipping Medon off about the incoming Republic task force that would liberate the planet.

Medon spread the word to the Utapaun resistance, so that when the Republic clone troopers did storm Utapau, they were bolstered by native Utapaun forces. In a cruel reversal, however, Chancellor Palpatine secured his position of Emperor and immediately subjugated Utapau under martial law. His loyal clone troopers defeated the Separatist battle droid units, but almost immediately began placing Utapaun resistance fighters under arrest to further control the planet.

From the Expanded Universe

The Pau'ans, the taller of the two Utapaun species, are long-lived for humanoids, with lives that span centuries. For this, they have been nicknamed the Ancients by the outlanders who frequent Utapau.

Though the Pau'ans developed on the windswept surface of the planet and moved deeper into the sinkholes once climatic changes forced them to, Pau'ans prefer darker environs. They prospered in the shadowed crevices of the Utapaun sinkholes. This predilection fostered in them a pale countenance, made even paler by their diet of raw meat, easily incised by their sharp double-rowed teeth.

Because of the isolation inherent in sinkhole-based civilizations, Pau'an genealogies and subdialects are diverse. Tracking bloodlines is a revered and often tempestuous tradition in Pau'an culture; disputes regarding heredity along with other cultural differences had led to conflicts and all-out war between cities in the past.

A revered Pau'an named Timon Medon unified the disparate communities of Utapau by not only hammering out a constitution of beneficial principles, but also by drafting treaties between the various sinkhole cities.

His descendent, Tion Medon, was the Port Administrator of Pau City during the Clone Wars. He carried on his ancestor's tradition of diplomatic compromise when encountered by the bellicose forces of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Unfortunately for Utapau, General Grievous was hardly one to negotiate.

In contrast, the Utai are largely ignorant and disinterested in worldly or interstellar relations. They've been called Shorts, due to their small stature but also their brief lifespans. As the Pau'ans developed on the surface, the sinkholes have long been home to the Utai. They colonized the inner walls and crevices of the planet's sinkholes, and tamed the dactillions who once terrorized the skies as well as the helpful varactyls.

The skittish Utai have distended eyes well adapted to lowlight conditions. Hardy Utai brave the lower depths of the sinkhole grotto to use the water pools found there as a basis of aquacultural fields. When the taller Pau'ans met the Utai, they brought to their smaller cousins the secrets of windpower harnessed from the upper levels of the planet, and the two were able to share these resources in an exchange that benefited both cultures.

Behind the Scenes

The design of the gaunt Utapauns was originally illustrated to be native inhabitants of Mustafar, with Utapau originally being home to a species of lemur people. The evolving storyline of Episode III instead did away with the lemurs and transplanted the tall aliens to Utapau. Their dry ashen faces and scarlet wardrobe, well suited for the molten world, now stood in contrast to the neutrally-colored desert sinkhole planet.

The smaller species, dubbed the Utai in publishing, was developed specifically for the role of lizard wrangler, for a comical scene originally scripted but never shot. As Obi-Wan Kenobi browses the dragon corral, he sees a particularly energetic dragon toss aside a diminutive wrangler, dropping him into a pool of mucky water.

While the Utai were realized as computer-generated characters, the taller Pau'ans were a mix of practical and digital creature effects. Tion Medon, having a more involved on-screen presence, was created as a prosthetic makeup effect worn by actor Bruce Spence. The supporting Utapauns in the scene wore slip-on masks as their performance needs weren't as precise. The warriors and background Pau'ans were digital characters,