From the Movies
Few things are as graceful as a female Twi'lek in motion. This beautiful image has forever doomed generations of young Twi'leks into servitude, as the wealthy and corrupt have taken to brandishing Twi'leks as badges of prestige.
Twi'leks are tall, thin humanoids with skin pigment that spans a rainbow of colors. Their most distinctive feature is a pair of shapely prehensile tentacles that grow from the base of their skulls.
In the waning years of the Republic, the Twi'lek homeworld of Ryloth was represented in the Galactic Senate by the corpulent blue-skinned politician Orn Free Taa. Even a politician of high office was not above flaunting a pair of lovely Twi'lek aides as a sign of influence and wealth.
From the Expanded Universe
The Twi'leks use their head-tails, or lekku, when they speak their native tongue of Twi'leki. The language is a combination of physical and linguistic communication, with spoken word being supplemented by subtle twitches and moves from the lekku.
Twi'leks are omnivorous, eating cultivated molds and fungi, as well as meat from bovine animals called rycrits. They have a sly disposition of patience and adaptability. As the Twi'leks learned from evolving through the harsh storms of their world, strength does not always come from confrontation. Often, as a Twi'lek proverb says, "one cannot defeat a heat storm, one must ride it."
The Twi'leks have developed an industrial-level technology, with windmills and turbines providing power to their homes and industries carved into the Ryloth mountains. Each city complex is autonomous, and governed by a head-clan. Having no native space-faring technology, the Twi'leks instead rely upon neighboring systems (such as Tatooine), pirates, smugglers, and merchants for their contact with the galaxy.
The planet Ryloth provides the galaxy with ryll, a powerfully addictive recreational substance and mineral. Twi'leks have adapted to the criminal attention brought to their world by selling their own people into slavery. This way, the Twi'leks have something to give the criminals, and still retain control of the ryll mines. Unfortunately many Twi'leks, mostly female, bare the brunt of this despicable trade-off.
During the Galactic Civil War, the Twi'leks remained neutral, not wanting to become involved in the struggle. They viewed the Rebel Alliance and the Empire as two heat storms that would eventually dissipate. Only after the storm had cleared, could the opportunist Twi'leks emerge and prosper.
Behind the Scenes
The first Twi'lek seen in the
Star Wars saga is Bib Fortuna, Jabba the Hutt's majordomo in
Return of the Jedi. Actor Michael Carter had to undergo a lengthy make-up session to transform him into the pasty-faced henchman. For
The Phantom Menace, Supervising Sound Editor Matthew Wood played Bib Fortuna during the Podrace scenes. Another pale-faced Twi'lek, nicknamed "Bib Fortuna" during production, was played by Alan Ruscoe and shared a senate pod with Senator Orn Free Taa. This Twi'lek, however, is not really the same Bib Fortuna that counts Tatooine as his home.
Among the colors that Twi'leks have appeared in are white (Lyn Me), blue or Rutian (like Sebulba's masseuses Ann and Tann Gella), green (Oola), red or Lethan, (Shakka). Episode II features purple and orange ones as well.
Though the names "Twi'lek" and "Ryloth" did not appear until well after Return of the Jedi (it was coined for the Star Wars Roleplaying Game in the late 1980s), it was used in Art Department and Production notes in the making of Episodes I and II.
