Page 94 - Star Wars Insider #181

UGNAUGHTS

UGTHOUGHTS

ON THE
UGNAUGHTS

They may not be pretty, but they’re pretty essential, so spare a thought for
the Ugnaughts—true heroes of the Star Wars universe!

W ORDS: SHANA O’NEIL

hey keep the heating running. They keep In fact, Ugnaughts are the workers we may not always
the lights shining. They maintain gravity, see or appreciate, but further research shows them to be
T run critical systems, work in inhospitable resourceful and highly adaptable. Their homeworld of Gentes
environments, and people seem to ignore
isn’t the most hospitable of planets, and the Ugnaughts were
them for the most part. They’re Ugnaughts, often raided and taken all over the galaxy to be slaves and
and Cloud City (not to mention all sorts of indentured servants. However, in the end, they wound up
other places) would be lost without them. being an integral part of the infrastructure of many worlds.
It’s true, they’re not the most attractive aliens in the galaxy, They also have personality! Star Wars Rebels has shown us
and their language is mostly squeals and grunts, so it is hard that Ugnaughts are more than willing to help in a pinch. In
to bond with them. But Ugnaughts help make the Star Wars “Steps Into Shadows,” Ezra, Sabine, Zeb, and Chopper are on
universe function and it’s time someone gave them more than a mission to steal Y-wings for the Rebellion with some help
a little credit for that. from Hondo Ohnaka. That plan goes sideways multiple times
and could have ended in everyone’s death. But the Ugnaughts
Have Ugnaughts Gotten a Bad Rap? on Reklam help our heroes, and even show us how Han’s
The Ug-haters will always point to the same obvious “situation normal” conversation on board the Death Star
examples to support their argument that our might have gone if Han had been an Ugnaught.
diminutive porcine pals are a blight on the Ugnaughts Ugnaughts even built their own city. When
galaxy. “Ugnaughts tried to melt down C-3PO,” help make the Corellian Lord Ecclessis Figg set out to build
they will complain. “They helped carbon-freeze Cloud City in the sky above Bespin, he recruited
Han Solo, which enabled Darth Vader to hand the Star Wars three different Ugnaught clans to build it and
him over to Boba Fett,” others will cry. universe freed them from slavery. They then built their
But let’s look at the actual evidence, shall we? own floating metropolis in orbit of the planet,

The Ugnaughts weren’t the ones who shot function. known as Ugnaught Surface, with a capital city
C-3PO and, really, they don’t know who he is called Ugnorgrad.
or that he speaks and understands 6 million
languages (or that he’ll pick up another million). He’s metal. All Hail The Ugnaughts
He’s scrap. He gets put on a conveyor belt and sent to be As the Star Wars adventure continues, it’s possible we will
melted down into who knows what. It makes sense. It’s what see Ugnaughts in yet more places. Maybe we’ll learn more
they do for a living. about their lives and their clans. With any luck, we’ll see little
Some Ugnaughts happen to work in the carbon-freezing Ugnaught kids working away with toy hammers as they learn
chamber, where Vader has everyone doing his bidding, but about the systems their parents helped to build and maintain.
they may be the reason that Solo’s freezing procedure goes as Whatever we discover, one thing’s for sure: Ugnaughts
well as it does. They had done it before. In “The Citadel,” an keep things running smoothly. They’ve proven they can fi x
episode from the third season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, pretty much anything, given a chance, and work in conditions
Anakin Skywalker suggests everyone on the mission be frozen that are inhospitable even to a droid. In real-world terms,
in carbonite so that their life signs won’t be detected by battle Ugnaughts are like duct tape—essential, ready when needed,
droid scanners. The carbon-freezing is done by Ugnaughts able to work in any environment, and what keeps everything
in a facility in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Given that together on a day-to-day basis.
Ugnaughts can live up to 200 years, who knows, maybe one So the next time you see one, just remember, they have
of those same Ugnaughts was in the chamber on Bespin that a family and they’re working to take care of them just like
day. It’s certainly a skill that would have been taught to others we all do. They’re out there doing the jobs that keep the
as Ugnaughts found their way across the galaxy. infrastructure of the galaxy together. They’re heroes, too.

94 / STAR WARS INSIDER