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- "One doesn't ally with worms against a krayt dragon."
- ―Deathstick and a smuggler
The term "krayt dragon" referred to a number of large, carnivorous reptilian species that hailed from Tatooine, a desert planet in the galaxy's Outer Rim Territories. Krayt dragons, despite their fierceness, were hunted for the precious pearls found in their bodies.
Biology and appearance[]

A leviathan krayt dragon spitting acidic poison from its mouth.
"Krayt dragons" was an umbrella term for a number of giant carnivorous reptiles, including the venom-spitting, sixteen-limbed[5] leviathan krayt dragon,[2] the smaller and more common canyon krayt, and the larger greater krayt.[1] Tatooine myths also claimed that at least one krayt dragon, known simply as Krayt, had large wings.[6] Due to their large size and ferocity, they were the apex predators of Tatooine.[7] Their bodies produced krayt venom, which helped the dragons as an acid in pre-digestion of their food.[8] If a krayt dragon felt threatened it could project the venom from its mouth, dissolving any organic tissue that the venom came into contact with.[9]
Behavior[]
Hungry krayt dragons posed a serious threat to the diminutive Jawas,[10] and their cry was enough to ward off the fierce sand nomads known as the Tusken Raiders.[11] The massive leviathan krayt dragon subspecies[5] were known to burrow within abandoned sarlacc pits after eating the sarlacc that resided there. Those krayts were also known to burrow beneath the sand close to the surface, disrupting nearby objects that it passed. Some Tusken Raiders studied the digestion cycle of krayt dragons for generations, and fed banthas to them, to protect their settlements and make the dragons sleep longer.[9]
History[]
- "Of course. I've been to Tatooine, actually, and bagged a krayt dragon there. Its pearls paid for the upgrades on the Jewel."
- ―Nakari Kelen

The skeleton of a greater krayt dragon
Krayt dragons were commonly known for their pearls, bodily concentrations that were considered to be highly valuable.[12] The Tusken Raiders also believed that dragon bones possessed powerful magic.[13] At the time of the Invasion of Naboo, a canyon krayt dragon had taken up residence in the Laguna Caves on Tatooine, in which rescue teams for the Boonta Eve Classic did not dare to go.[10] One area of Tatooine was known as the Krayt Canyon.[14]
Sometime after the Great Jedi Purge, a legend arose on Tatooine concerning the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, who local Tusken Raiders believed had slain the flying krayt dragon Krayt.[6] In his exile on Tatooine, Kenobi came to greatly understand the sounds and sights of the planetary ecosystem. As such,[15] when Luke Skywalker was surrounded by three Tusken Raiders[16] in 0 BBY,[17] Kenobi knew how to copy the cry of a krayt dragon to scare off[15] the trio, who recognized Kenobi as a shaman their tribe chief A'Yark warned them of.[18]
In 3 ABY, a leviathan krayt dragon pearl was stolen from Tusken Raiders by bandits. Criminal Kay Vess recovered the pearl for the Tuskens in exchange for Sullustan Hoss, who was held hostage by the Tuskens. During her search for a tooth coming from a sarlacc's second mouth, Vess found a krayt dragon of the same subspecies.[19]
Prior to the death of Jabba Desilijic Tiure in 4 ABY,[20] the Hutt owned a young dragon on his LO-KD57 sail barge, the Khetanna. The Gran Ree-Yees distracted the dragon with a bone while he looked for Jabba's frog-dog, Buboicullaar.[21]

An alliance between a group of Tusken Raiders and the people of Mos Pelgo was made to kill a leviathan krayt dragon that was a problem for both.
Around 9 ABY,[22] a massive leviathan krayt dragon repeatedly attacked the village of Mos Pelgo, as well as a group of Tusken Raiders. In order to handle the animal, Cobb Vanth made a deal with Mandalorian Din Djarin, wherein Djarin would aid Vanth in killing the krayt in exchange for the lawman's set of Mandalorian armor. The pair later sought help from the aforementioned Tusken Raiders, which attempted to feed it with a bantha to make it sleep longer, but the animal devoured a Tusken instead. Being out of ideas how to handle the dragon, the group joined forces with villagers from Mos Pelgo, and together they formulated a plan to kill the dragon, which involved coaxing the krayt dragon from its den toward a set of buried explosives, which were meant to destroy it from the underside. The plan ultimately failed and Djarin was forced to improvise an alternative, making use of explosives that were strapped to a bantha, allowing himself and the bantha to be swallowed whole by the dragon. Using his jetpack to escape from the dragon's mouth Djarin activated the explosives, finally killing the dragon. It had a gigantic pearl which was found by the Tuskens as they savaged its body.[9]
Around 34 ABY, the toy maker Zabaka manufactured small toy replicas of krayt dragon skeletons for children on the planet Batuu's Black Spire Outpost.[23]
Behind the scenes[]

The original krayt dragon concept by Ralph McQuarrie for Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope.
Although a krayt dragon's skeleton appeared in the 1977 movie Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope,[11] living specimens made their first appearance in Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, which was released in 2001 in Star Wars Legends. Krayts made their first appearance in Disney Interactive's canon mobile strategy game Star Wars: Commander, which was released on August 21, 2014 for iOS devices. In celebration of the game's second anniversary, players were awarded five krayt dragon gift units, along with five Droideka Oppressors and five Droideka Sentinels.[7] The krayt dragon made its first live-action appearance in The Mandalorian season 2 premiere, "Chapter 9: The Marshal."
Appearances[]
Non-canon appearances[]
Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge — "Episode 1" (In flashback(s)) (Statue only)
- LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Sources[]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Ultimate Star Wars
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Star Wars Bestiary, Vol. 1: Creatures of the Galaxy
- ↑
Tatooine in the Databank (backup link)
- ↑ Star Wars: Uprising
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Star Wars: The Mandalorian Handbook
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "The Knight & the Dragon" — Myths & Fables
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Star Wars: Commander
- ↑ Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2
The Mandalorian — "Chapter 9: The Marshal"
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Heir to the Jedi
- ↑ Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary, New Edition
- ↑ Star Wars: Squadrons
- ↑ 15.0 15.1
"Forces of Nature: The Wild Spaces and Wilder Creatures of the Star Wars Galaxy" — Star Wars Insider 216
- ↑ Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
- ↑ Star Wars: Galactic Atlas
- ↑ "Rites" — From a Certain Point of View
- ↑ Star Wars Outlaws
- ↑ "Tales of Villainy: Done Dirty" takes place prior to Jabba's death, which Star Wars: Galactic Atlas dates to 4 ABY.
- ↑
"Tales of Villainy: Done Dirty" — Star Wars Adventures (2020) 11
- ↑ Star Wars: Timelines dates the events of "Chapter 1: The Mandalorian" and "Chapter 16: The Rescue" to 9 ABY. The events of Chapters 1 through 16 of The Mandalorian must therefore also take place in 9 ABY.
- ↑
Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge — Toydarian Toymaker