The Elespads were a sentient species of pachydermoid. Each Elespad had two small eyes with a white scelera and black pupil. These eyes framed a long, flexible trunk marked with concentric wrinkles down its length. Below the trunk, an Elespad could grow pointed, white tusks that jutted out from the lower jaw. Atop the skull of each Elespad grew two large ears, which flopped over loosely.
Elespads had two arms, which ended in four fingered hands. Each finger was tipped with a pointed nail. Elespads had brown or orange skin pigmentation, with a darker shade on the underside of their ears. At least some members of the species stood shorter than 1.72 meters.
Luke Skywalker confronts an Elespad.
Elespads wore clothing that included long sleeved, flowing gowns in white or beige; red hooded aprons; and decorated shoulder pads and collars.
Approximately around the year 0 BBY, several Elespads were resident on the desert planet Tatooine, located in the galaxy's Outer Rim Territories. Those Elespads encountered the moisture farmer, Luke Skywalker, while he was searching for his astromech droid, R2-D2. The droid had been stolen by a changeling named Sasori Vader. The pachydermoids fought Skywalker, but were defeated by the lightsaber-wielding Human.
Elespads appeared in Star Wars, a video game produced by Namco in 1987 and only released in Japan. Their name was revealed in the Japanese language manual of the game, in which it was rendered as エレスパッド in katakana syllabary.
The status, and therefore timing, of the plot in this game is unclear. It is based loosely on the events of the first two Star Wars films, but departs from the script. The article "Game On!," published in Star Wars Insider 135, and the game manual, indicate that the changelings in the game were "intended as illusions representing Luke's fears, like the Cave of Evil scene in The Empire Strikes Back," while a blog article on StarWars.com described the changelings as "weird apprentices of Darth Vader." These articles offer conflicting interpretations of how the Elespads may fit within the Star Wars Legends continuity.