Krayt, a creature of legend, was a krayt dragon that made its home on the desert planet of Tatooine. Legends say that sometime between 19 BBY and 0 BBY, a tribe of Tusken Raiders made their settlement in close proximity to Krayt's nesting grounds. This proximity led to Krayt initiating a pattern of consumption, taking one of the Tusken's animals each night. After it had devoured all of the animals, it escalated its attacks, shifting its focus to the village's children. The Tuskens' efforts to fend off Krayt were unsuccessful, which prompted them to raid a nearby town, capturing several villagers to be used as offerings to appease the dragon.
The disappearances of these townspeople caught the attention of Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Jedi Knight in hiding. He intervened by freeing the remaining captives, offering himself in their place. Upon Krayt's arrival, Kenobi revealed his true powerful nature, initiating a fierce battle that lasted for an hour, drawing the attention of the entire Tusken tribe. Ultimately, the Jedi pretended to be exhausted, and as Krayt lunged in for the killing blow, Kenobi used the Force to bring the dragon under his control. The Tuskens rejoiced at this victory, but Kenobi warned them that should they ever abduct others again, he would return with Krayt to destroy them. The tale of Krayt's actions later became a widespread legend throughout the galaxy.
Krayt, as the stories tell, was a krayt dragon who made its lair in the sandy expanses of the desert planet Tatooine. It is said that the dragon lived for a very long time, and had seen many tricks, such as hiding in holes in the sand to try to avoid being seen. Sometime between 19 BBY and 0 BBY, a tribe of Tusken Raiders established a village not far from Krayt's lair, unknowingly inviting the dragon's anger. After a period of peace, Krayt decided to get rid of the Tusken Raiders, starting by eating the Tuskens' animals. The dragon would visit the village each night, taking the animals back to its lair to eat. For five nights, the villagers were scared, but at the end of that time, ten of the tribe's strongest warriors took their weapons and stood guard at the animal pens, hoping to scare Krayt away. Krayt came that night, but the Tuskens' weapons did not hurt the dragon's skin. It pushed the warriors aside with its wings and flew away with one of their animals.
In time, Krayt had eaten all of the animals, and was happy to see the pens were empty, meaning it could now eat the Tuskens. It used its wings to knock down the village's tents, grabbing a boy from his mother's arms to eat. Krayt kept coming each night and eating the Tuskens' children, so the villagers started hiding their young in holes under the sand. Krayt knew what they were doing and dug up one child each night. Because of this, the villagers chose a warrior to go into the desert and attack Krayt at its lair. Krayt defeated and ate the warrior, but because it did not fly to the village, the Tuskens thought their champion had won and was dragging the dragon's head across the sand. When Krayt came back the next night, the villagers realized that their plan had only meant Krayt did not need to travel for its food and that they needed a different plan.
A small group of villagers attacked a temporary camp of another tribe, taking their animals to their own pens to try to stop Krayt from eating villagers. However, Krayt was too hungry to be satisfied by animals, and instead chose to eat another Tusken. The villagers decided to choose people to give to Krayt, but they would not give up members of their own tribe. A group went out to capture other people to offer, but the journey took two days and Krayt ate two more villagers during that time. The group captured seven humans from a town, who were put in the village's animal pens and tied to posts to be given to Krayt one at a time. The dragon did not trust the Tuskens and wondered if they were trying to poison it, but Krayt's sense of smell told it that the offerings were fresh. The villagers were happy when their plan worked, as they could live their lives normally as long as they kept sending out groups to capture victims.
After three more people were sacrificed, the Tusken Raiders launched another raid to capture townspeople to give to Krayt. The disappearances in another city on Tatooine caught the attention of Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Jedi Knight who was living in exile on the desert planet. He decided to investigate the disappearances and learned about Krayt's attacks. Kenobi allowed himself to be captured by the villagers and freed the others, making sure he would be given to Krayt that night. When the dragon came, it laughed at its new victim, but Kenobi broke free and revealed his lightsaber, showing that he was a Jedi.
Krayt roared because it was not going to get an easy meal, but, believing it could beat Kenobi, started a fierce fight that all the villagers came to watch. The dragon flew low to attack with its tail and claws while Kenobi moved out of the way. After an hour without either one hurting the other, Kenobi pretended to be tired, making Krayt fly down to attack. The Jedi lowered his lightsaber and raised his hand, using the Force to take control of the dragon's mind and stopping Krayt just centimeters before it hit Kenobi. As the villagers watched, Kenobi turned off his weapon, and Krayt sighed and lowered its head to the ground, like a Loth-wolf kneeling before its mother.
The villagers cheered, thinking that Kenobi had used magic on Krayt. Kenobi looked at the villagers with a face that was more scary than Krayt's before telling the dragon to stand up. As Kenobi moved, Krayt followed him. The Jedi said that the dragon would no longer scare the village, making the Tuskens cheer, but Kenobi told them to be quiet and warned them that if they ever attacked other settlements and captured other people, he would come back with Krayt and destroy their village. To make his point clear, Krayt spread its wings. Kenobi then led the dragon into the desert. The villagers listened to the Jedi's warning, becoming different from other Tusken tribes on Tatooine by never attacking other tribes or taking captives again. The story of Krayt, the Tusken Raiders, and Kenobi later became a legend throughout the galaxy, being told to children on planets like Tatooine and Naboo.
Krayt was a scary, arrogant creature who wanted to keep its own territory. When the Tusken Raiders came to live in its territory, Krayt used its slyness to plan how to get rid of them by eating them slowly, knowing that the Tuskens could not beat Krayt in a fight. Krayt's laziness and long life as a krayt dragon meant that it did not need to hurry to eat the Tusken Raider tribe. It liked the taste of the villagers, especially children, and wanted to eat all of the Tuskens' animals so that it could eat the people. Krayt enjoyed making its victims suffer. The dragon looked scary, with dark cyan scales, blue eyes, large wings, and a long tail. Krayt's head had five horns on top and several horns below its mouth, which had a pointed tongue and many fangs.
The flapping of Krayt's wings caused strong sandstorms that could knock down the Tusken Raiders' tents. Krayt also had a good sense of smell, able to tell if its food had been poisoned. During their fight, Kenobi knew that the dragon was too strong for him to beat, so he tricked it to take control of it.
Krayt was in "The Knight & the Dragon," a short story in the 2019 book Myths & Fables, written by George Mann and illustrated by Grant Griffin. Krayt was first mentioned and shown in the book's announcement on StarWars.com, on January 31, 2019, before the book was released on August 6, 2019. When making the pictures for the book, Griffin tried to draw as if he was an in-universe artist who was drawing legends that had been told across the galaxy and had become big mythologies and fantasies.