Wookiees () are fictional humanoid aliens in the Star Wars universe, native to the forest planet Kashyyyk. They are distinguished from humans by their gigantism, hirsutism, and physical strength. The most prominent Wookiee in the films is Chewbacca, the co-pilot of the Millennium Falcon alongside his best friend Han Solo.
Inspiration
According to an interview with creator George Lucas, the inspiration for the Wookiee was Lucas's dog, Indiana (whose name is used in Lucas's Indiana Jones movies): "He was the prototype for the Wookiee. He always sat beside me in the car. He was big, a big bear of a dog." During the climactic chase scene in THX 1138, one of the robotic cops, voiced by actor Terry McGovern, improvises: "I think I ran over a Wookiee back there", and thus the word was born. "Wookey" was the surname of a friend of Terry's, Ralph Wookey, and Terry thought it would be a funny in-joke to include his friend's name in the soundtrack for THX-1138.
In one episode of Animal Planet's series Animal Icons, focusing on the creation of Star Wars figures, it was revealed that the Wookiees were also based on orangutans and lemurs, which are long-haired creatures that live in a hot forest climate. The net effect in terms of the Wookiees' appearance is a marked resemblance to descriptions of the legendary Sasquatch of the Pacific Northwest. Big brown Wookiee
Depiction
Physical characteristics
Adult Wookiees are typically taller than most humans, averaging . They also possess enormous strength. Han Solo states that a Wookiee can pull a man's arms out of his sockets if angered. Wookiees have a keen sense of smell, are fully covered with a thick coat of hair (though some can be susceptible to balding), have good hand–eye coordination, and are shown to be excellent marksmen. Wookiees have been shown in many diverse environments, such as those of Hoth, Tatooine, and Endor, never wearing any protective clothing or showing any signs of discomfort. Wookiees have a lifespan of several hundred years: Chewbacca is 200 years old during the original trilogy and is still in his prime. Chewie also appeared twenty years before at the end of the prequel trilogy, and thirty years later in the sequel trilogy, yet his appearance does not significantly change across this fifty years time span.
Culture
Wookiees are usually depicted as devoted, loyal friends and very distrustful of strangers.
Despite a fearsome appearance and temperamental disposition, Wookiees are very intelligent and are very adept at handling advanced technology. Chewbacca is co-pilot of and performs maintenance on the Millennium Falcon, and also possesses a working knowledge of robotics, managing to haphazardly reassemble C-3PO after he was destroyed by Imperial stormtroopers in The Empire Strikes Back. Wookiees are fast learners; Chewbacca commandeers an Imperial AT-ST during the Battle of Endor and is shown effectively manoeuvring the vehicle and operating its weapons systems. He also fought during the Clone Wars alongside Jedi Grand Master Yoda. Chewbacca is also shown to be an adept strategist at holo-chess (leading to his surprise when R2-D2 outmanoeuvred him in a game).
Wookiee cities on their home planet Kashyyyk, as seen in Revenge of the Sith, are built atop giant forest trees. Their society contains a mixture of traditional, almost primitive-appearing woodwork and decorations intermixed with starships and energy generators.
Due to their heavy coats of long fur, Wookiees do not generally wear clothes - though for practical purposes they will wear toolbelts, etc. Matching the anachronistic appearance of their cities, a Wookiee such as Chewbacca resembles a primitive humanoid bear wearing only a bandolier, containing energy cartridges for his blaster.
Wookiees greatly value morality, courage, compassion, and loyalty. A sacred and ancient Wookiee tradition is that of the honor family. An honor family is composed of a Wookiee's closest friends and companions. These family members pledge a commitment to lay down their lives for one another, as well as members of any honor families these individuals may have. Like the similarly sacred Wookiee life debt, Wookiees are willing to extend this tradition to members outside their species. Chewbacca considered Han Solo, Leia Organa Solo, their children, and Luke Skywalker part of his honor family. In the Solo film, Han says that the Wookiee words for "tribe/friends" and "family" are so similar he has trouble distinguishing them. Apparently, Wookiees themselves don't recognize a significant difference between the two.