Gungan/Legends

"Gungans no dyin' witout a fight, Wesa warriors."

- Jar Jar Binks

The Gungans were amphibian humanoids that were technologically sophisticated species native to the planet of Naboo. Prior to the Invasion of Naboo, the Gungans were a largely isolationist society. The Gungans were able to combine machinery with biology.

Individuals were called a Gung (eg. Militiagung)

Biology and appearance
The Gungans were separated into two races: the lanky orange or purple-skinned Otolla race, and the heavier green-skinned Ankura race. However, they all exhibited many of the same physical traits.



Starting life as tadpoles, Gungans developed into tall beings with extremely flexible cartilaginous skeletons (composed of resilient cartilage). Strong leg muscles and fin-like ears (called haillu) aided them in swimming and expressing aggression, friendship, and fear. They had partially retractable eyestalks with nictitating membrane when underwater.

Expressive faces and long bills with flaring nostrils were signatures of Gungan physiology. Lengthy muscular tongues and large blunt teeth allowed them to eat lesser amphibians, while a layer of tough skin on the head allowed for burrowing. A Gungan's arms ended in four digits, and their feet had three stubby toes. Females were smaller with sleeker faces and tended to tie their ears back. As male Gungans aged, some, like Roos Tarpals, developed prominent whiskers.

Gungans had nostrils that sealed when they entered the water. They also boasted compound lungs, allowing them to breathe both air and water, along with well-padded kneecaps and powerful calves and legs for increased swimming speed. However, because they were so well-adapted to their watery environment, their skin dried easily in hot and arid climates, which Jar Jar Binks experienced during his visit to Tatooine.

The Gungans appeared to be related to the Gungan Glurrgs, whom they used as a worker caste in their society.

Society and culture


"My warning you, Gungans no liken outsiders, so don't spect a werm welcome."

- Jar Jar Binks

Long ago, explorers to Naboo discovered the Gung Slabs, a set of ancient stones engraved with Olys Corellisi on one side and Old Gungan on the reverse. These relics, coupled with the work of philologist Burro Flats of the Baobab Archives, helped the Galaxy to better understand the culture and language of the Gungan people.

The later Gungan language of recent times is largely a pidgin dialect that most users fluent in Basic can understand. Gunganese, as it is commonly referred to, combines these Basic altered words with the occasional Old Gungan term (i.e. "Seeks doopeewees isa berry good" is translated as "Six landspeeders are very good.") Patience and practice are required to master Gunganese.

Utilizing their own unique phraseology, Gungans have established a rather successful history of scholarly excellence, albeit unknown to the Galaxy at large. Among their achievements include the epic poem Das Depu Epu Sea, or Deep Dark Water. This ode to Da Beauty Al'Round is a source of great pride to these noble beings.

Gungan alpha-males often exhibited a series of oral clicks when aggravated or angered.

Religion
"Your gods demand that his life belonds to me now. - Qui-Gon Jinn"

- Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

The Gungans worshiped a pantheon of deities, many of which were forces of nature. The chief deity and creator of all life was called Oma-Oma.

Like the Wookiees and Srrors'tok, the Gungans believed in the concept of the life debt. Under Gungan tradition, if the life of a Gungan was saved by another, that Gungan's life belonged to their savior. A known example was Jar Jar Binks' life debt to Qui-Gon Jinn. According to Gungan tradition, the gods lived in a beautiful underwater city called Ossorus, protected by enchanted sando aqua monsters and giant Gungan warriors on their kaadu mounts.

Monuments and ruins, scattered throughout the planet, were built by the Elders. The largest of these ruins, located on the northern edge of the Lianorm Swamp, was identified as the Sacred Place. The Gungans viewed these ruins as sacred, and their builders as "guds".

History


The Gungans were believed to be indigenous to Naboo, but this is uncertain. Because of their cloven feet, biologists believe the Gungans, wherever their original home, evolved originally as land-dwellers.

On Naboo, evidence of Gungan habitation extended for ages, as there are records of battles of survival with the woolly veermoks during an ice age around 500,000 BBY. However, the primary reason they developed warfare technology was the threat of the bursas that often attacked their settlements. The Gungans assembled a "Grand Army" to meet this threat, eventually driving the bursas into extinction. Their technology was peculiar in that everything, from tools to structures is not constructed, but 'grown', each device being therefore organically unique.

Ancient starfarers told tales of great Gungan migrations across the plains of Naboo prior to their shift to more aquatic environs. The reason most commonly accepted for their flight to the water revolves around an alien civilization of reptilian humanoids remembered as the "Elders", who colonized Naboo around 7,032 BBY. They engaged in warfare with the Gungans, forcing them to retreat underwater, giving rise to modern Gungan civilization. Undoubtedly, the presence of healthful underwater plants and tasty gumfish did much to solidify their change in lifestyle.

The Ankura and Otolla branches of Gungans united, forming a symbiotic relationship. They dominated Naboo for millennia afterwards, though largely keeping to the swamps and waterways; the mountains and grasslands were considered 'desert-like'.



About 3,032 BBY, Gungans were separated in tribes that fought against each other (War of Gungan Tribes), until united under Boss Gallo. Gungans from various cities migrated to a new large city, Otoh Gunga, which was the major and capital city of Naboo (as far as Gungans are concerned).

The Gungans and the Human inhabitants of Naboo did not get along, as the Gungans believed the Naboo to be pompous cowards while the Naboo believed the Gungans to be barbarians. This attitude lasted until Queen Amidala united the Gungans and Naboo to fight the Trade Federation in the Battle of Naboo. Gungans, over the millennia of Human presence, have developed their own dialect based on their language, called Gungan Basic.

After the Battle of Naboo, the Gungans attained representation in the Galactic Republic Senate through Representative Jar Jar Binks. The Gungans also colonized the moon of Ohma-D'un. During the Clone Wars in 22 BBY, a CIS biological weapon known as the "Swamp Gas" was unleashed on Ohma-D'un and wiped out much of the population. Later, a Jedi task force defeated the CIS forces on the moon during the Battle of Ohma-D'un, thus saving Naboo.

Following the end of the war, the newly formed Galactic Empire established a presence on Naboo. Fearing enslavement, the Gungans went into semi-seclusion. After the Empire's defeat at the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, the Gungans and the Humans of Naboo banded together once more to oust the Imperial presence from their world, reclaiming the world as free for both species. As a result, the species began traveling in much larger numbers, across Naboo and the galaxy. During the New Republic era, the Chommell Sector was represented by a Gungan Senator.

Behind the scenes

 * According to an interview with George Lucas, the name "Gungan" came from his toddler daughter's name for big trucks on the road. Apparently, she would point and say, "Daddy, gungan?"