From the Movies
A commonly encountered species found in ports across the galaxy, these short humanoids are characterized by broad toothy snouts, sparse hair and coarse skin.
From the Expanded Universe
Centuries of hardships have produced a soulful, introspective people in the Snivvians. The stocky bipeds hail from the frigid world of Cadomai, where they keep to their underground homes during the long winter months. Their dense skin acts as an efficient temperature regulator, letting body heat escape in warmer climes and trapping it in during bouts of cold.
The Snivvians have developed advanced genetic engineering to combat a bizarre genetic flaw that results in unstable twins. Snivvians typically give birth to single offspring, but on the rare occasions that twins occur, only one of the infants is usually viable. The other is plagued with birth defects, or if not, will succumb to debilitating or potentially dangerous chemical imbalances as they mature. As a result, twins are a terrible omen in Snivvian society.
Snivvians have long been subjected to slavery, as Thalassian slavers prey upon the defenseless people. The scourge of slavery, past tyrannical dictators born of genetic imperfections, and the temperature extremes of Cadomai have all served to temper the character of the Snivvians. Many of the galaxy's finest artists, writers and poets are Snivvian, who have transformed their suffering into evocative, emotional and creative works.
Behind the Scenes
The Snivvian design was developed for
A New Hope, as a cantina alien identified simply as "Snaggletooth." The mask was refined and re-used in 1978's "
Star Wars Holiday Special," for a character named Zutmore. That character was later reissued as an action figure, with the production moniker of Snaggletooth.
When Kenner Toys first made the Snaggletooth figure, they only had reference photography of the alien's head. The body was an unknown, so the sculptors and artists imagined a tall alien with a tight, blue spacesuit and silver boots. When reference stills from the Holiday Special showed Snaggletooth to actually be a short alien with a red uniform, the figure was retooled with shorter legs and a red paint job. Still, Kenner's Snaggletooth represents a costume not devised for any film.
The A New Hope "Snaggletooth" differed from the Holiday Special "Snaggletooth" in wardrobe and hairstyle. The former was later identified as Takeel, and the latter, renamed Zutton, was revealed to be Takeel's brother.
The Snivvian mask was reused with new wardrobe for background aliens in The Empire Strikes Back (Cloud City's Wiorkettle) and Return of the Jedi (Geezum, found in Jabba's palace).
