Twi'leks, sometimes derisively called "Tail-heads," are pronounced /'twilɛk/ or /'twaɪlɛk/. This omnivorous humanoid species hails from the planet of Ryloth. Their diet commonly includes cultivated molds, fungi, and the meat of the rycrit. Notable traits encompass their colorful skin, with varying pigments among individuals, and a pair of elegant, prehensile tentacles extending from the base of their skulls. These tentacles, referred to as "brain-tails", "lekku," "tchun-tchin", or "head-tails", are sophisticated organs utilized for both communication and cognitive processes. While Twi'leks have a typical humanoid vocal structure allowing them to learn most alien languages, they generally favor their native tongue, Twi'leki, which incorporates subtle lekku movements. They can even communicate discreetly using their adaptable brain-tails if desired. Due to their beauty, Twi'lek females were frequently exploited as slaves or dancers.
Twi'leks are a sentient species of largely hairless mammalian humanoids characterized by two arms and two legs.
As omnivores, their dietary habits were essential, considering the scarcity of food on their homeworld, Ryloth. The presence of multiple stomachs is an unusual characteristic that allows Twi'leks to consume almost any food. When venturing off-world, they seldom decline food, which often results in obesity among those who travel the stars. Their society also views obesity as a symbol of wealth and prosperity. Fat storage causes the ear flaps of obese Twi'leks to grow larger.
Despite lacking evidence, some members of the New Republic have pondered a potential link between the Yevetha and the Twi'leks.
The most prominent features of a Twi'lek are the wide array of skin colors exhibited by the species and their pair of brain-tails. These brain-tails, also known as "tchun-tchin" or "lekku," extend from the back of the skull and house a portion of the Twi'lek's brain. It is believed that the term "Twi'lek" itself originates from the semi-Basic phrase "twin lekku." In their daily lives and culture, the brain-tails of a Twi'lek fulfill numerous roles, including fat storage and serving as erogenous zones. The Twi'leks' native language, Twi'leki, or Ryl, is expressed through a combination of spoken words and subtle lekku movements. Newborn Twi'leks do not possess lekku.
The Twi'lek species evolved and underwent mutations that resulted in variations in skin pigmentation, leading to the emergence of numerous races and subraces. Apart from skin color, these races are physically identical. The extensive and vibrant range of skin colors includes numerous shades of blue, red, yellow, orange, deep green, white, pale brown, pink, and lavender. Some Twi'leks even display diverse phenotypes, such as stripes, orange with red mottling, red with pink palms, and blue with pink lips.
The frequency of these pigment variations differs across the Twi'lek population. For instance, the red-skinned Lethan Twi'leks are among the rarest subgroups, possibly the rarest, with only one in a million possessing red skin. Conversely, the blue-skinned Rutian Twi'leks are more prevalent within the population.
The perceived natural grace and exotic beauty of some female Twi'leks made them highly sought after by slave traders, leading them to become dancers and status symbols for members of the Hutt Cartel. The Galactic Republic tolerated slavery, which served as the primary currency of Ryloth. Twi'leks favored "riding the storm" over "defeating it," as a common saying went, and generally avoided taking strong positions on most matters. This was demonstrated during the Clone Wars, when their politicians maintained loyalty to the Republic while certain individuals engaged in negotiations with the Separatists. The Twi'leks practiced the worship of a singular female deity.
While many Twi'leks pursued careers as merchants or even criminals, the species also possessed a distinguished and honorable warrior tradition. A Twi'lek Mandalorian participated in the Battle of Vanquo during the Mandalorian Wars in 3964 BBY. Twi'lek warriors developed the Chir'daki, also known as Deathseed, starfighters that combined the TIE fighter cockpit with the S-foils of the X-wing starfighter, employing a rotation system akin to that of the B-wing starfighter. During the Bacta War, Twi'lek warriors aided Wedge Antilles in his fight against Ysanne Isard.
Twi'lek society was organized into clans, each governing its own city. A five-member head-clan led each city's government. These five Twi'leks oversaw all societal affairs until one of them died. Upon a member's death, the remaining members of the head-clan would be exiled to the desolate landscape on the day-side of the planet, presumably to perish, paving the way for the next generation to assume leadership. If the next generation was not prepared to take over, regents would be chosen to govern until the appropriate time.
Instead of having distinct personal and clan names, Twi'leks had a single name that combined both elements. The personal portion of the name was selected with the clan name in mind, often involving intentional alterations of the words or shifts in the letters to modify the overall meaning of the name. This alteration symbolized unity. A Twi'lek's name would be divided into multiple parts if they were exiled for criminal activity, as this was considered highly dishonorable.
In some instances, Twi'leks merged the multi-part name of a non-Twi'lek into a single name, frequently altering the pronunciation similarly to how they would modify their own given and clan names. For example, Twi'leks often pronounced Wedge Antilles's name as Wedgan'tilles, which meant Slayer of Stars. Using the Galactic Basic Standard pronunciation, a generous translation would suggest "one so foul he could induce vomiting in a Rancor."
An example of a genuine Twi'lek name is Nawar'aven. When used outside of the local culture, this name would be divided into two parts, becoming Nawara Ven (where Ven is the clan name, and Nawara was chosen to move the last a into the second half of the name, thus altering its meaning).
This naming convention did not appear to be in practice during the decline of the Galactic Republic, when even prominent Twi'lek leaders like Ro Fenn and Pol Secura preferred using their core names, even in private conversations with each other on Ryloth.
Twi'leki, also known as Rylothean or Ryl, was the primary language of the Twi'leks. While it primarily relied on subtle body language, making it difficult to understand, it also included enunciable words and was as widespread as Galactic Basic. Conversely, the Lekku language was exclusive to Twi'leks, as it involved body language.
During the Clone Wars, some Galactic Basic Standard speakers had accents that emphasized certain vowels, such as dropping the "s" at the end of a word or pronouncing a high-accent vowel like a low-accent vowel, and vice versa.
According to Ashaa, the Mother Machine, the Twi'leks originated as a synthetic life form she created under orders from the Rakata, as part of experimentation they hoped would give them insight into the loss of their connection to the Force. This places the species' origins around 25,200 BBY. However, despite the Mother Machine's creation of her "children" on the planet Belsavis postdating the fall of the Infinite Empire, an advanced Twi'lek civilization already existed on Ryloth in 36,453 BBY, when a visiting Tho Yor starship transported a group of Force-studying mystics to Tython.
Around 10,000 BBY, the Galactic Republic discovered the Twi'lek homeworld of Ryloth. Despite their society's primitive state, the Twi'leks had lived in relative harmony for centuries and joined the Republic soon after their discovery.
Twi'lek society was composed of clans of varying sizes. When the galaxy became interested in Ryloth's abundant ryll spice, Twi'lek clan leaders increased drug production and prepared to ship it off-world. However, the clans lacked experience in the galactic economy, and Hutt criminal cartels soon seized control of the planet's mining operations. The Twi'leks were enslaved and forced to work in their own mines for the Hutts' profit or were sold on the open market. After generations of slavery, the Twi'lek population became more dispersed throughout the galaxy than on Ryloth, and most felt disconnected from their homeworld.
After 3643 BBY, the Twi'lek clans regained control of their planet from the Hutts, but their prosperous ryll mines remained targets for pirates and mercenaries. To safeguard their wealth, most Twi'lek clan leaders chose to sell their own people—particularly their [women](/article/gender-legends]—into slavery to deter threats. The Republic consistently tolerated the sale of Twi'lek dancing girls, and slavery remained Ryloth's primary currency, as it had for millennia, while the ryll trade fueled the planet's black market economy.
The name Twi'lek originated in the 1987 West End Games publication The Star Wars Sourcebook. It was never uttered in any Star Wars films.
George Lucas himself has used the Expanded Universe name Twi'lek, as evidenced by a remark of his during the production of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith that is documented in an Episode III Set Diary entry.
In The Clone Wars, the Twi'leks all speak with French accents, a specific request made by Lucas, according to Dave Filoni. A few audiobook narrators also do this.
The books Order 66: A Republic Commando Novel and Imperial Commando: 501st state that Twi'leks and Humans are not inter-fertile, while The Clone Wars television series has depicted Twi'lek/Human hybrid children, as clarified by Star Wars: The Clone Wars Character Encyclopedia. It remains unclear whether this is a natural occurrence or if Twi'lek/Human pregnancies require genetic engineering to be viable.
The game Star Wars: X-Wing includes a training mission set around the planet "Twi'lek," which is another name for Ryloth.
In Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Chop'aa Notimo's generic blaster-wielding thugs are Twi'leks.
In Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, female Twi'leks are among the playable species for Jaden Korr (canonically a human male). Korr is also portrayed as a female Twi'lek in Hoth: Under the Ice.
Twi'leks are among the default playable species for players choosing the Smuggler, Jedi Knight, Sith Inquisitor or Jedi Consular class in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Since patch 1.2, they can be unlocked for any class. Choosing dark-side options causes their basic skin color to fade toward white.