Aqualish/Legends

The Aqualish were tusked bipeds from the planet Ando whose appearance combined aspects of arachnids and aquatic mammals. Aqualish had a reputation for being nasty, crude and aggressive, and generally pursued off-world careers as mercenaries, bounty hunters and pirates. One of the most infamous such Aqualish was the smuggler Ponda Baba.

Culture and History
The three types of Aqualish, the Aquala, the Ualaq, and the Quara, were distinguished by their hands and eyes. Aquala had finned hands, while the Ualaq and Quara had clawed, fingered hands. The fingered Aqualish also varied in the number of eyes&mdash;while the Quara, like the Aquala, had two eyes, the less-common Ualaq had four; the Quara had five-fingered hands like those of humans, while the Ualaq had three-fingered hands with very thick digits. Though Ualaq and Quara only made up about ten per cent of the Aqualish population, their fingered hands made them more comfortable with technology. Thus, they were the species more commonly found off-world. Quara often claimed they were the genetically superior race. Each of the subspecies had their own dialect, but they could understand each other without difficulty. The Quara and Aquala were constantly warring with each other. The Aqualish Civil War was initiatially started by the Aquala, who blamed the Quara for the declining harvests of fish. The Ualaq generaly did not participate in the wars.

When Aqualish discovered sublight space travel capability from an exploratory craft that they destroyed, they began a series of bloody conflicts with their sister world. They embarked on a campaign of unified conquest, sparking the Aqualish-Corellian War. After this failed&mdash;mainly because of the inferior Aqualish weaponry&mdash;their armies were carefully dismantled. As Ando joined the Galactic Republic, the violence became a black mark on the species's reputation, and the Republic initiated several attempts to demilitarize the Aqualish, each ending in conflicts like the Battle of Raquish and the Horos Spine Incident.

By 95 BBY, the Aqualish had colonized fifteen Mid Rim worlds that later formed the Andoan Free Colonies. During the Clone Wars, the Andoan Senator Po Nudo seceded from the Republic, aligning much of the Aqualish species and their homeworld with Count Dooku's Confederacy of Independent Systems. However, the Andoan Free Colonies, represented by Senator Gorothin Vagger, remained loyal to the Republic.

Under Palpatine's Galactic Empire, the Empire took over Ando and turned it into a police state to control the violent Aqualish. Several Imperial and corporate interests were also permitted to ravage Ando's natural resources. Though the Aqualish resented the Empire, they showed no interest in joining the Rebel Alliance. Still, by 9 ABY, Ando had joined the New Republic. This made the Aqualish homeworld the target of a feint attack by Grand Admiral Thrawn's Bellicose before his assault on Ukio.

During the Yuuzhan Vong invasion in 25 ABY, Ando was offered to be spared by Warmaster Tsavong Lah if they destroyed all droid units and killed any Jedi on the planet. Thus, the Aqualish killed the Jedi Knight Dorsk 82, only to be invaded and crushed regardless.

Behind the scenes
In one of A New Hope's best known continuity errors, Ponda Baba's arm has fin-like hands when still attached, but is hairy and clawed in the close-up shots of the severed arm on the floor. This inspired the writers at West End Games to develop the Aquala and Quara types of Aqualish. When Aqualish characters appeared in the prequel trilogy, more detailed, four-eyed masks – Ualaq masks – were used. Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary retconned the error by creating a new character, Teak Sidbam, said to be sometimes mistaken for Baba.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 9: Flashpoint Interlude: Homecoming
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
 * Knights of the Old Republic: Commencement
 * Darth Maul: Saboteur
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
 * Star Wars Republic: Twilight
 * Star Wars Republic: Darkness
 * Star Wars Republic: The Devaronian Version
 * Star Wars: Bounty Hunter
 * Star Wars: Jango Fett
 * Star Wars: Zam Wesell
 * Outbound Flight
 * Star Wars Republic: Honor and Duty


 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
 * Republic Commando: Hard Contact
 * The Cestus Deception
 * Star Wars Republic 61: Dead Ends
 * Star Wars Republic: Trackdown
 * Star Wars: Clone Wars
 * Chapter 21
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars Republic: Into the Unknown
 * Star Wars Republic 78: Loyalties
 * Ando: Planet of the Walrus Men - Planet Hoppers
 * First Impressions
 * Star Wars Empire: Darklighter
 * The Hovel on Terk Street
 * Smuggler's Blues
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * The Rebel Thief
 * Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina
 * A Hunter's Fate: Greedo's Tale
 * Hammertong: The Tale of the 'Tonnika Sisters'
 * Doctor Death: The Tale of Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba
 * The Emperor's Court
 * LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
 * The Star Wars Holiday Special
 * Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided
 * Light Duty
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
 * The Revenge of Tag and Bink
 * Darksaber
 * Planet of Twilight
 * Young Jedi Knights: Crisis at Crystal Reef
 * Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial
 * Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse
 * Edge of Victory I: Conquest
 * The Joiner King