Summary

  • Jawas remain mysterious in Star Wars lore, as there is no official depiction of their appearance.
  • Recent hints suggest that Jawas are furry and have a musky smell like wet rats.
  • Visual depictions from concept art and toys show unsettling, rodent-like features under their hoods.

Jawas were the first alien species introduced in Star Wars back in 1977, yet Lucasfilm has been hesitant to show what lurks under their hoods. The meter-tall sentient species was seen kidnapping R2-D2 in George Lucas' A New Hope, and since then they've appeared in several other Star Wars movies and TV shows. More recently, Din Djarin had his Razor Crest torn apart by a gang of Jawas in Disney+'s The Mandalorian season 1. Like Din, Jawas make an effort never to show their faces, but Legends material, as well as visual depictions, have solved some of the ongoing mystery.

Despite Jawa Juice — a drink at the Galaxy's Edge theme park — being named after them, no one knows what Jawas look like. While they have been presented as humanoids in canon, Star Wars Legends made them out to be devolved, rodent-like humans that carried a very potent smell. Native to desert planets like Tatooine, the scavengers travel the land in Sandcrawlers to scavenge for supplies. In A New Hope, a group of Jawas sold C-3PO and R2-D2 to Owen Lars and Luke Skywalker. The greedy little species made a living off of looting ships for scraps.

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What Jawas Look Like Under Their Hoods – All Canon Hints

In Chuck Wendig's novel Star Wars: Aftermath, a gangster named Adwin Charu claims Jawas have a musky, animal odor that's reminiscent of a colony of wet rats.

The Book of Boba Fett episode 5 broke new ground in treating Jawas as individuals, since Peli Motto claimed she had once dated a Jawa, suggesting they don't keep themselves to themselves quite as much as they did in Star Wars Legends. According to Peli Motto, Jawas are furry. In Chuck Wendig's novel Star Wars: Aftermath, a gangster named Adwin Charu claims Jawas have a musky, animal odor that's reminiscent of a colony of wet rats. All this corresponds rather well to the traditional idea that Jawas evolved from rodents, suggesting Jawas are quite rat-like.

Visual Depictions Of Jawas Without Hooded Robes

Star Wars

Ralph McQuarrie, a legendary concept art designer/illustrator, worked alongside Lucas in the development of the original Star Wars trilogy. McQuarrie illustrated many of the scenes through concept art while also designing many notable characters, like Darth Vader, Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3PO. McQuarrie also made sketches of what Jawas would look like under their hoods. In this design, the Jawas looked more human-like, wearing bowl-shaped helmets and round-framed goggles.

Furthermore, a recently released Star Wars toy gave fans a horrifying look at Jawas without robes, which matched more of what Foster's novel described. Their appearance looked more creature-like with dark textures of skin or fur, linking to the rodent interpretation — and fitting with Peli Motto's comment that Jawas are furry. The undressed toy was more like a thing of nightmare rather than a revealing look into the anatomy of an ambiguous species. Star Wars may never directly confirm what's under a Jawa's robe, but maybe that might just be for the best.