- "But wesa still needen our beasts, to carry weapons and shields. The evil mackineecks had captured the beasts, for killin' and skinnin'. As the Queen and her big brains plan a big nasty, wesa attacking Camp Six, to rescue our animals and complete disen Gungan Grand Army."
- ―Boss Rugor Nass in a journal entry
Fambaas were herbivorous amphibians native to the swamps of the planet Naboo.
The largest terrestrial herbivores of the swamp, fambaas were technically amphibians but had the scaly hide of reptiles. The creatures were native to the Gungan Swamps of Naboo and the jungles of Onderon.
Characteristics
- "I know how you feel. You lost your master, and I lost my Jedi."
- ―Hondo Ohnaka to Preigo's fambaa
Fambaas were large non-sentient amphibians native to the Gungan swamps of the planet Naboo, as well as Onderon.[3] They obtained food by easily knocking over trees to get at leaves and berries. They also foraged for underwater plants, breathing underwater and swimming with ease. They reached sizes of up to 9 meters.
In the wild, fambaas traveled in herds of up to twelve, but formed breeding herds of hundreds of family units that were so large they were traditionally put to pasture in sacred swampy areas. There were also special fambaa stables contained inside the underwater hydrostatic bubble-enclosed cities for the domesticated breeds kept by Gungans. Females laid large numbers of sticky, gelatinous eggs, which they deposited in puddles and underwater. The young hatched with moist skin and gills, and upon maturity, the gills disappeared and their skin hardened.
Their only known predators were sando aqua monsters breaching the surface of the swamp waters from the abyssal ocean beneath.
History
The fambaa had been domesticated by Gungans for millennia as beasts of burden and cavalry/artillery draft beasts. In times of war, fambaas were used to carry portable deflector shield generators for protecting their Gungan masters. They were also mounted with large booma cannons. During the Trade Federation occupation[4] of Naboo in 32 BBY,[5] the fambaas were placed in Camp Six. They were subsequently released by the Gungan Grand Army and outfitted for use in the the Gungan's diversionary battle.[4] During that battle, the fambaa-mounted shield generator protected the Grand Army[6] until the generators were destroyed by battle droids.[7]
During their Clone Wars insurgency, the Onderon rebels used fambaas to hold heavy artillery.[8] In Abafar, they were used as meat in a dish known as Fambaa Delight.[9] Around that time, Preigo's Traveling World of Wonder had a fambaa as part of the performance. The beast was abandoned to the Ohnaka Gang when Preigo and the other performers fled a Jedi rescue mission.[10]
During the Galactic Civil War, Senior Captain Thrawn of the Imperial Navy, tasked a experienced spacer to kill an adult fambaa for him, then retrieve a vial blood sample in order for Thrawn to conduct a scientific experiment.
Behind the scenes
The original concept sketches of the fambaa were two-legged dinosaur-like creatures, lacking forelimbs like their kaadu cousins. Once the four-legged design was approved, concept artist Terryl Whitlatch developed a hand-drawn walk cycle to demonstrate to ILM animators how the animal should move.
In the 2001 video game Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds and its 2002 expansion pack, fambaas were the Gungan special unit, used as a mobile shield generator. They were also used as the Gungan Assault Mech, armed with a powerful Booma cannon. For the sake of gameplay the Fambaa was the Gungan countermeasure to the Trade Federation's Multi-Troop Transport. The shield generator-mounted ones were upgradeable with a heavier shield.
Appearances
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: Commencement
- Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
- Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace novelization (First appearance)
- Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace
- Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace comic
- Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace junior novel
- Star Wars: Battlefront
- Star Wars Episode I: Battles to Color
- Star Wars Episode I: The Gungan Frontier
- Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns
- Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures
- Star Wars: Republic: The New Face of War
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Shadow Warrior"
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "A War on Two Fronts"
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Front Runners"
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "The Soft War"
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Tipping Points"
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Bound for Rescue"
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Missing in Action" (Mentioned as food only)
- The Last of the Jedi: Death on Naboo (Mentioned only)
- Template:SWG
- Star Wars Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine (Mentioned only)
Sources
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Nexus of Power
- ↑ The Wildlife of Star Wars: A Field Guide
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "A War on Two Fronts" - The Clone Wars Episode Guide on StarWars.com (backup link) (Slide 3)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
- ↑ The New Essential Chronology on page 40 places the Invasion of Naboo in 32 BBY.
- ↑ Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace
- ↑ Star Wars: Battlefront
- ↑ Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Tipping Points"
- ↑ Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Missing in Action"
- ↑ Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Bound for Rescue"