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Alien

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"Some creatures in the galaxy are aliens. There are lots of different aliens. Aliens are not human."

, a –era piece featuring seven "alien" species — *Strength and Unity*, aClone Wars–erapropaganda piece featuring seven "alien" species

"Alien" was a general-purpose term used inthe galaxy byhumans and even somedroids to refer to anyone of asentient species that was not a human.^[1] Sometimes, the termnonhuman was used interchangeably.^[2] To theChiss, the term was used to describe non-Chiss species, as well as by theKilji to refer to non-Kilji.^[3] There existed within both theGalactic Republic andGalactic Empire a set ofUnknown Alien protocols that governed official encounters with unknown alien species.^[4]

Xenophobia[]

Main article:Xenophobia

"… I have no issues with aliens myself—some of my best friends are nonhumans—but some grav-ball fans object to alien physiognomies, seeing them as giving nonhumans an edge."

―Janus Fhurek^[2]

As theGalactic Empire looked down on aliens, it was rare to find nonhumans serving asImperial officers. Nonhuman species likeWookiees were regarded as animals and exploited asslave labor.^[5] The Empire favored humans in its government andmilitary.^[6] In addition, the Empire discouraged the learning of alienlanguages and cultures such asIthorese, and sought to impose high "Imperial standards" for its citizens.^[7]

This pro-human bias was an intentional part of Imperial policy. Imperialpropaganda actively supported state-sponsored ethnocentricxenophobia and fear-mongering. To the Empire, aliens were by and large unwelcome within itsorder, with aliens being seen as "different" and "strange." As such, the Empire treated nonhuman segments of its populations as serfs, slaves, or obstacles needing to be tamed, removed, or ignored. The Empire supported the idea that aliens were untrustworthy—unlike humans—and behind their veneer of innocence lurked a vicious monster. The Imperial propaganda machine was so effective in its message that evennear-human species exhibited an inherent distrust towards nonhuman populations.^[8]

Nevertheless, some nonhumans were known to occupy lofty roles within the Empire, such as theChagrian Mas Amedda, who served as the Empire'sGrand Vizier,^[9] theChiss Grand Admiral Thrawn,^[10] thePau'an Grand Inquisitor,^[5] and four otherInquisitors known as theSeventh Sister, theFifth Brother,^[11]Ninth Sister^[12] and theEighth Brother.^[13]

Some fans ofgrav-ball during theAge of the Empire objected to the presence of alien players on grav-ball teams, feeling that their alien physiognomies gave them an unfair edge over the human players. TheJunior Academy of Applied Sciences'sathletic director Janus Fhurek attempted to convince his grav-ball center-strikerZare Leonis to remove theAppSci SaberCats' two alien players: theRodian Frid Kelio and theAqualish Hench Sina. When Leonis refused, Fhurek unilaterally transferred the alien players to another school.^[2] Reflecting on his experiences with Fhurek, Leonis regarded the athletic director as xenophobic.^[14]

TheKilji religious species were xenophobic: they viewed beings who did not follow their beliefs—theKilji way of order and enlightenment—as inferior, and ignored them and treated them badly until they were enlightened to their philosophy. The Kilji ruler,Generalirius Nakirre, allied himself with theGrysk "Jixtus," an alien, who covered all of his body so no one saw a Grysk body or face until he sat at the ancient thrones of the ancient kings of the Chiss planetCsilla.^[15]

Behind the scenes[]

"Their motives were driven based on psychological motifs that had been around for thousands of years in mythology[…] I mean it's also from Episode IV, which is the first time you treated aliens as humans, as if there was nothing special about them, they just look funny. They were unique but they weren't monsters. They weren't crazy aliens. They were just characters. And I don't think anybody had seen that before and I think they liked it."

―George Lucas, on what made his characters timeless and still resonating with audiences^[16]

Aliens first appeared in the1977 original trilogy film,Star Wars: Episode IVA New Hope.^[17] DirectorGeorge Lucas stated that theStar Wars mythology, beginning withA New Hope, was the first time aliens are shown not as monsters, but simply common characters.^[16]