Nexu

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"After seeing this creature in action, I have come to the conclusion that I am not a cat person."

―An artist, in his journal^[src]

Nexu were predatory felines native to the planet Cholganna.^[4] They were also found on Zhanox.^[7]

Characteristics

Bestial Fury SM — A nexu in the wild on Cholganna

Nexu were agile catlike animals predators with four^[4] red eyes^[3] and sharp quills.^[4] They had infrared vision^[5] and were 4.51 meters long. Typically 0.94 meters tall,^[2] nexu possessed sharp teeth and claws, as well as long forked tails.^[3] It's light build allowed it to remain highly agile and difficult to hit, but also meant that it was easily hurt or even killed if struck with enough force; a single kick was enough to stun a nexu and cause significant pain.

History

Seize the Day Conv — Poggle the Lesser attempted to use a nexu to kill Senator Padmé Amidala.

Poggle the Lesser kept a nexu in the Petranaki arena on Geonosis. The beast was used in the attempted execution of Senator Padmé Amidala prior to the outbreak of the Clone Wars. When a Geonosian guard attempted to direct the nexu with a blast from an electric pike, the creature became irritated and killed its provoker, tackling him off his mount and crushing his neck in its powerful jaws. It then found Senator Amidala, however, to be more difficult prey. Though it landed the first blow and slashed the senator across the back, injuring her, causing her to scream in pain, she returned the favor with a powerful kick which stunned the Nexu due to its weak skeletal structure; the predator was swiftly killed soon afterwards by a Reek ridden by Anakin Skywalker, which rammed it head-on with its horn.^[3]

By the time of the war between the First Order and the Resistance, the Ithorian storekeeper Dok-Ondar had the head of a nexu mounted on a wall in his store, Dok-Ondar's Den of Antiquities, in Black Spire Outpost on the planet Batuu.^[8]

Behind the scenes

Nexu Concept Art — Concept art by Robert E. Barnes

The nexu that appeared in Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones was nicknamed "Bad Kitty" by the ILM animation team.^[9]

Robert Barnes designed the nexu; early concept sketches depicted a very lionlike creature. The nexu's final design came about when Barnes mixed feline traits with those of other species, such as reptiles and humans.^[10]