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Grakchawwaa was a Wookiee who served as King of Kashyyyk, the Wookiee homeworld, in the last years of the Galactic Republic. During the Clone Wars between the Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, the king wielded a Klorri-clan battle shield and fought alongside Wookiee warriors such as Alrrark on Kashyyyk. When Separatist forces invaded the planet in 19 BBY, Grakchawwaa stood beside Jedi General Luminara Unduli in the tree-city of Kachirho as Wookiees and Republic forces prepared to jointly repel the invaders. While the invasion was thwarted, the Republic's clone troopers turned against their Jedi leaders and the Jedi's Wookiee allies; the clones remained loyal to the Republic's successor, the Galactic Empire, and Kashyyyk fell into the Empire's hands, which enslaved the world's Wookiee population until they were liberated by the New Republic in 5 ABY.
Biography[]
King Grakchawwaa stands alongside Jedi General Luminara Unduli in the prelude to the Battle of Kachirho.
The Wookiee Grakchawwaa was King of Kashyyyk in the last years of the Galactic Republic. Alongside Wookiee warriors such as Alrrark, Grakchawwaa fought in the Clone Wars on his species' homeworld Kashyyyk,[1] which was invaded by the Separatists[3] in 19 BBY.[4] With a Klorri-clan battle shield[5] in hand, Grakchawwaa stood alongside[3] Jedi General Luminara Unduli[6] and the Republic clone troopers under her command in the final moments of the Clone Wars, surveying[3] the Kashyyyk tree-city of Kachirho's beach as Separatist forces moved to mount an amphibious assault there. While the natives and Republic forces prepared to repel the Separatists, Wookiee warriors from across the planet Kashyyyk flocked to Kachirho because of its strategical importance in the region.[6]
The Separatist Alliance lost the resulting Battle of Kachirho, although the clone troopers turned on their Jedi commanders during the battle in response to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine's Order 66 command; in the Kachirho settlement, Palpatine's troopers captured Luminara Unduli and attempted to kill Jedi Grand Master Yoda, a respected figure amongst Wookiees. With allies becoming foes, the Wookiees were then targeted by clones serving Palpatine's Galactic Empire, a regime that replaced the Republic soon after the issuance of Order 66 and went on to enslave the Wookiees of Kashyyyk,[6] including warriors such as Alrrark who fought alongside Grakchawwaa,[1] until the world was liberated by New Republic forces[6] in 5 ABY.[7][8]
Personality and traits[]
Grakchawwaa was a male Wookiee who sported predominantly light brown hair, although there were some patches of dark brown hair on his limbs. The king had five hair braids descending from his head to over his chest, each featuring a red knot.[2]
Equipment[]
Grakchawwaa's Klorri-clan battle shield
As with some other Wookiees, Grakchawwaa held a[3] Klorri-clan battle shield[5] moments before the Battle of Kachirho began. In addition, the Wookiee had a brown belt around his waist and a bandolier that rested on both of his shoulders, converged at his chest, and wrapped across his torso.[3] Grakchawwaa also donned a Wookiee helmet with a fabric neck cover,[2] although he did not wear it while the Wookiee and Republic forces prepared the defense of Kachirho.[3]
Behind the scenes[]
Continuity[]
Grakchawwaa appears in the 2005 prequel trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith.[3] In the new Star Wars canon, the name "Grakchawwaa" was first mentioned in the 2015 mobile game Star Wars: Uprising,[1] with a 2018 card from Star Wars: Card Trader attributing the name to[2] the Revenge of the Sith Wookiee that was established to be Grakchawwaa in the Star Wars Legends continuity.[9]
Revenge of the Sith[]
- "Chewie's actually way younger than all of you. You guys are the senior warriors of the pack here, and Chewie is just a little kid in this movie, and he grows up to be an important Wookiee later on."
- ―Rob Coleman directs the Wookiee extras during the filming of Revenge of the Sith
Grakchawwaa was one of eight Wookiees to have a practical costume in the production of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith.[11] The eight costumes were constructed by Industrial Light & Magic's creature department for the film,[10] a task Star Wars Chronicles: The Prequels describes to be the most difficult for the department.[12] While Chewbacca was portrayed by actor Peter Mayhew during the production of Revenge of the Sith in Sydney, Australia,[11] each of the remaining seven costumes were worn by local extras, which included several basketball players and a corrections officer.[12] The film's credits do not state which person played which Wookiee,[3] but other official sources have connected four of the extras to their respective roles. Grakchawwaa is not one of those roles, but process of elimination reveals that the character was played by either Steven Foy, James Rowland, or Julian Khazzouh, and was either Wookiee #1, 2, or 6 in the production of Revenge of the Sith.[13]
A photograph of the seven Wookiees, excluding Chewbacca and including Grakchawwaa, (top-left) taken during the production of Revenge of the Sith
Each Wookiee extra had a full body and head cast made for use in a fitted fiberglass muscle suit[10] that was then covered in an elastic material knitted with modacrylic hair.[12] Scenes of Wookiees preparing for battle and battling on Kashyyyk in Revenge of the Sith were filmed against a bluescreen on Stage 2 at Fox Studios in Sydney, with the shots, excluding those of Chewbacca and Tarfful, being taken with a single camera on May 17, 2004. The shoots were directed by Industrial Light & Magic's Rob Coleman, who had met with film director George Lucas a week prior to discuss the Wookiees' hero shots.[11] When Coleman directed the Wookiee extras, he stated that their characters were senior Wookiee leaders, and that Chewbacca was significantly younger than them.[10]
Grakchawwaa appears twice in a tracking shot of Revenge of the Sith. Earlier in the shot set on Kashyyyk, a part of Grakchawwaa's body is visible to the right of the screen, holding a long-gun and conversing with Lachichuk as clone troopers ran by the pair of Wookiees. Later in the shot, Grakchawwaa is fully visible to the left of the screen, holding a shield next to Luminara Unduli.[3] For another scene, when the Wookiees charge towards the Separatists at the beach, Grakchawwaa and four other Wookiee characters were filmed repeatedly rushing over a barrier. Each time the scene was filmed, the Wookiees took new positions and carried different weapons and accessories. The shots for the Wookiee charge were then digitally combined to fill out the front row of the Wookiee army,[10] and the Wookiees were afterward digitally duplicated so as to present dozens of additional warriors standing behind them and participating in the beachfront battle.[14] The multiple Grakchawwaa costumes in the final cut of the film held either a long-gun or a Wookiee bowcaster.[3]
Appearances[]
- Star Wars Adventures (2020) 3 (Cover only)
- Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith (First appearance)
- Star Wars: Uprising (First identified as Grakchawwaa)
Non-canon appearances[]
Sources[]
Wookiees in the Encyclopedia (content now obsolete; backup link) (Picture only)- Star Wars Helmet Collection 5 (Helmets: Scout trooper (recon trooper)) (Picture only)
- Star Wars: Card Trader (Card: König Grakchawwaa - Topps Choice 2)
- "Imperial Troops" – Star Wars Encyclopedia (Picture only)
- The Star Wars Book
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Star Wars: Uprising—Crew Member: "Alrrark"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3
Star Wars: Card Trader (Card: König Grakchawwaa - Topps Choice 2)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
- ↑ Star Wars: Galactic Atlas
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary, New Edition
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Star Wars: Complete Locations
- ↑ Aftermath: Life Debt
- ↑ Star Wars: Galactic Atlas dates the Battle of Endor to 4 ABY and further dates Shara Bey and Kes Dameron's move to Yavin 4 in 5 ABY. The move is placed six months after the Battle of Endor by Before the Awakening. Since Aftermath: Life Debt is set just after Shadow Fall, which takes place around six months after the battle, the events of Life Debt must also occur in 5 ABY, around six months after the Battle of Endor.
- ↑ Dressing a Galaxy: The Costumes of Star Wars
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 The Wookiees Are Back!—Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith DVD
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 The Making of Star Wars Revenge of the Sith
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Star Wars Chronicles: The Prequels
- ↑ The sources Merumeru in the Databank (content now obsolete; backup link), The Wookiees Are Back!—Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith DVD, Salporin in the Databank (content now obsolete; backup link), and The Making of Star Wars Revenge of the Sith connects four of the Wookiee extras in Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith to their respective roles. By process of elimination, the film's Wookiees—including Grakchawwaa—whose actors were not explicitly attributed must have been played by the remaining three extras dressed in Wookiee costumes in The Making of Star Wars Revenge of the Sith: Steven Foy, James Rowland, and Julian Khazzouh. In accordance with the three extras' Wookiee numbers as established in the same book, Grakchawwaa was either Wookiee #1, 2, or 6 in the production of Revenge of the Sith.
- ↑ Wookiee in the Databank (content now obsolete; backup link)
