Lit Natural History/Cosmology of the GFFA

Save a few video games and one or two reference books (Wildlife of Star Wars, Guide to Alien Species) and the TV shows I really only know EU stuff from Wookieepedia. Has the natural history of life in the GFFA ever been hinted at? Like, is there an in-universe explanation for why there are so many humanoid species or why there are reptiles/fish/mammals on multiple planets? Or why there are biochemical similarities (all have midichlorians, enzymes capable of metabolizing biomolecules that evolved on different worlds)? Is Hyperspace old enough to seed the galaxy with life that originated once or did life independently arise each time on each planet? Was it seeded pre-technologically by space travelling species like Purgill? Is Admiral Ackbar closely related to an Opee Sea killer as they are both fish? Or, if life evolved independently on each planet, is Jar Jar closer to an Opee Sea killer (Naboo life and Mon Cala life being unique in their own way and similarities are due convergent evolution)? Can you even think in standard biological terms with Star Wars or is it more creationist (the force being, if not a god, some sort of biasing or guiding supernatural element)? How old is the Star Wars universe? Relative to that, how old is life/civilization/galactic civilization? Considering its a galaxy far far away and not a separate universe entirely, are the humans in Star Wars related to those on Earth? I know officially its Space Opera Fantasy and its never really supposed to be thought of in these terms but I kinda like it when there's interesting in universe explanations. Adds to the verisimilitude.

 

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/The_galaxy/Legends

The Galaxy was formed 13 Billion years BBY. Wookiees and other species were evolving by 2 million ABY.

The earliest civilizations recorded existed more than 100,000 BBY including early humans, the Sharu, and the celestials(IIRC). There were undoubtedly civilizations prior to this. And probably countless civilizations emerged and perished without achieving space travel.

There is no ancestral humanoid species in Star Wars that seeded all humanoid life like in Trek that we know of. I'd say bipeds are convergent evolution or maybe the force's will.

The force isn't a sentient God or deity. It does seem to have a will or purpose that is relevant to individuals. The skywalker clan being the perfect example. I have always seen it as a sort of panen-semi theistic entity-it is and transcends the universe(Beyond Shadows and the Netherworld aren't mundane places) and seems to be semi sapient or have an inkling of consciousness. The force seems to have existed since the beginning of time or prior-the living force would not exist without life though the cosmic force might. If the cosmic force existed prior to the universe-that would imply the force being closer to a deity than an all encompassing river.

Hyperspace as a dimensions seems natural-it does require technology or the force or both to access.

The Pre-Republic era had the Rakata, Gree, Kwa, celestials(who may have not even been biological as much as they were supernatural or they may have ascended in that direction, Killiks, and Sharu). I recall reading somewhere Corellia Antilles states that most species have decipherable languages by 300,000 BBY or something to that affect. Implying the existence of most contemporary galactic species for at least 1-2 million years.

But you raise a lot of interesting questions and I hope this thread generates productive and insightful full discussion.

 

I've always wanted to see a biology book for the Star Wars galaxy. Something like the Wildlife book, yes, but much more detailed, possibly co-written by real-life biologists. It could be an in-universe science manual or something.

 

Of the force - "It seems to have a will...it would control us to achieve some measure of balance."

The cosmology of the Star Wars galaxy is tied in at the strongest level to the notion of the Force. Like many Earthbound theologies, the Force in its simplest definition is life, is everything that is, that can be.
Yet, like with all such theology, there are the forces that would turn away from its will, to forge their own path in defiance of its 'Truth'.

Star Wars suffers from a lack of development on natural history lines as you rightly highlight - much as it suffers in showing technological development in alien/human societies. But the evolution we do see in species always places focus once again on the Force, harmony with it, or development of abilities and powers that strongly resemble it.

In terms of species that exist in the galaxy - we are told explicitly that humans are the dominant species - in as far as they are too the 'societal norm against which others are judged'. The development of other species seems based around the ecology of their home planets - they continued to propagate elsewhere in the galaxy as they discovered - just like humans - that they could survive on planets other than their point of origin. Too, we see evidence of progressive colonization - the definitions of Wild Space, the Unknown Regions and even the Outer Rim shift considerably between the period of the Old Republic and the years post-ROTJ.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Unknown_Regions/Legends

Star Wars always seems caught on philosophical lines rather than anthropological ones - it is part of the reason, arguably, that the EU environment must have 'expanded' so quickly, because planets and cultures were never really detailed out in terms of their origins - just given outlines enough to be able to serve as a setting for politics, war, conflict etc. I think that's a shame.

 

The screenplays and novelizations of the films have always said that the films are narrated by, "The Whills." ROTS' screenplay reveals that a "Shaman of the Whills" taught Qui-Gon how to become a Force Ghost. Around the time that ROTS was released, Lucas explained that everything in the movies is a story that R2 and 3PO are telling to the Whills and that the opening crawls are the contents of the Journal of the Whills.

It's unknown if the Whills have any relation to the Celestials, a precursor race mentioned in some Legends material.

 

I always assumed the Whills were the Earth human race, and that Lucas saying that Star Wars is what was told by R2 to a Shaman of the Whills was a joking way of saying the story was what was told by R2 to Lucas himself.