Rathtar

"What's a rathtar?" "You want the scientific description? They're big and dangerous and ugly."

- Rey and Han Solo

Rathtars were large, octopus-like creatures that slithered on land. They were very dangerous creatures known for hunting in packs, and were involved in an incident known as the Trillia Massacre.

They shared common ancestry with the sarlacc, blixus and vixus.

Biology and appearance
Rathtars had large, slug-like bodies, small brains, and long tentacle-like appendages. Much like their sarlacc relatives, rathtars were ravenous eaters, capable of consuming virtually anything that could fit into their mouths which were funnel shaped and lined with rows of razor sharp teeth. Their throat distended outward into a hollow tongue, useful for swallowing struggling prey.

Capable of locomotion, rathtars curled their tentacles inward to form a ball and roll themselves forward. Covered in a hard, rubbery exterior, they were heavily resistant to blaster bolts.

Another feature of the rathtar was that they had rows of puce colored eyes on their backs. Rathtars had trouble distinguishing transparent objects, observed first when a rathtar attempted to attack Finn, Rey, and Han Solo through a containment window, and again when another attempted to eat them through the Millennium Falcon's cockpit shield.

Rathtars in the galaxy
"You're not hauling rathtars?''" "''I'm hauling rathtars."

- Finn and Han Solo

Thirty years after the Battle of Endor, Han Solo transported three Rathtars aboard his Baleen-class heavy freighter, the Eravana, though getting the creatures aboard cost Solo most of his crew. The creatures were being transported by Solo to a collector, King Prana, who he said was in competition with the regent of the Mol'leaj system. When Han, Chewbacca, and BB-8 are confronted by Kanjiklub and the Guavian Death Gang, Rey and Finn were below the deck, listening. When it seemed like Han was in trouble, Rey proposed they close the blast doors on either side of Han and Chewie. Instead, Rey accidentally opened the wrong doors, unleashing the rathtars. The rathtars attacked and killed most of Kanjiklub and the Guavian Death Gang. Finn was grabbed by a rathtar and almost killed, but Rey saved him at the last second by closing a door on the tentacle holding Finn.

When Rey, Finn, and Solo boarded the Millennium Falcon to escape, a rathtar attached itself to the cockpit window. The Falcon entered hyperspace while the rathtar was still clinging to the ship, and the extreme acceleration ripped the rathtar apart.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens
 * Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens novelization
 * Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens junior novelization
 * Han & Chewie Return!