Ghest

"Can we shoot it?" "Yes. But it is notoriously difficult to get off a lethal shot before a ghest bites you in half."

- Luke Skywalker and Taneetcha Soonta try work out how to deal with a ghest

Ghests were a predatory species native to the jungle swamps of the planet Rodia. With long green serpentine bodies, claws and sharp teeth, they prefered to ambushed prey on swamp shorelines by pouncing on them from the water, rarely if ever hunting on land. The Jedi Luke Skywalker and the Rodian Taneetcha Soonta encountered and killed a ghest on Rodia while trying to visit the mausoleum of the Jedi Knight Huulik.

Biology and appearance
"They’re large creatures that like to move quietly in the water before erupting to pluck food off the shorelines, especially herbivores and birds, and we just flew down from the sky to land at the shore&mdash;"

- Soonta describes the ghest, before being cut off as one attacks

Ghests were a large species of predator native to the planet Rodia. They were capable of movement on land and in water, although their speed was far greater on water. Ghests possessed a long serpentine body covered in green scaled skin and had powerful arms ending in clawed hands. Their heads included mouth full of sharp teeth and pale round eyes. Ghests were strong enough to toss speeders short distances with their arms. They were capable of roaring and hissing.

Behavior
"It’s technically possible but highly doubtful. Ghests are much slower on land and perceive that as a weakness. They prefer the quick strike."

- Soonta expresses her doubt about being attacked by a ghest on land Ghests were a species of carnivorous predator, whose prey usually consisted of birds and herbivores. The creatures lived in the jungle swamps of their homeworld Rodia. When hunting, ghests prefered to ambush their prey by moving quietly through the murky swamp water before striking at creatures on the shore. They rarely hunted on land as they were far slower out of water, and perceived the slowness as a weakness, preferring to strike quickly. Ghests were intelligent enough to learn from their mistakes, knowing not to attack targets that they had already found inedible again. When frustrated, ghests would roar.

History
"They are not hunted so often as they used to be, but when they are, they are hunted in teams, and those teams often return with a dead ghest and at least one dead Rodian."

- Soonta describes the dangers of hunting ghests

The sentient Rodian species of Rodia hunted ghest in teams, although by the time of the Galactic Civil War between the Alliance to Restore the Republic and the Galactic Empire, ghest hunts had become less frequent. It was notoriously difficult for hunters to get a kill shot on a ghest before the creature bit them in half, resulting in many ghest-hunting parties sustaining at least one casualty.

Ghest in the galaxy
"Your odds of ensuring the ghest has to eat a lightsaber before it eats you are pretty good."

- Soonta encourages Skywalker to slay a ghest

Shortly after the Battle of Yavin, the Jedi Luke Skywalker and the Rodian Taneetcha Soonta encountered a ghest in the jungles of Rodia while trying to visit the mausoleum of Soonta's uncle Huulik. The pair landed on a swamp shoreline near the mausoleum in a pair of speeder bikes, one of which the ghests pounced upon after the travellers had dismounted. The beast lifted the vehicle and bit down upon its steering vanes before realising it could not eat the bike, which caused it to roar in anger and hurl the vehicle into a nearby rock shelf. With the bike destroyed, the ghest starred and hissed at Skywalker and Soonta before retreating to the water.

The pair then made their way to the mausoleum, where Soonta recovered Huulik's lightsaber from her uncle's sarcophagus and gifted it to Skywalker who had revealed he wished to become a Jedi Knight. Upon Soonta's encouragement, Skywalker returned as bait to the water's edge with both his own and Huulik's lightsaber drawn. After a moment of waiting Skywalker questioned if the beast had simply left, but the ghest pounced immediately after from the Jedi's left. Skywalker swung one of his sabers at the predator and decapitated it, but not before its teeth had sunk into his shoulder. After the separated head was removed from Skywalker's shoulder, Soonta captured images of its corpse and the destroyed bike before the pair left the jungle so Skywalker could get to a infirmary.

Behind the scenes
Ghests were originally created by Peter Venters and Chuck Truett for Creatures of the Galaxy, a Star Wars Legends sourcebook released in 1994 for West End Games' Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game. The species was confirmed to be canon by an appearance in Heir to the Jedi, a novel written by Kevin Hearne released in 2015.

Appearances

 * Heir to the Jedi