The Face of the Tusken Raider?

If you were to kill a sandperson and remove his facial coverings, what would he look like?

 

Beef jerky. I've always had that feeling that's what their skin looks like.

 

I would assume they did not look human. The reason is in one of the comics Anakin Skywalker was working with a Tusken Jedi. When the Jedi removed his face wrappings and reveiled a human face, Anakin was shocked. The Jedi told him he was a human that was raised by the Tuskens.

AG88

 

Do you think the mystery of the Tusken's true appearance will ever be resolved?

I'd love to see a scene in a film, or a concept drawing, revealing what the sandpeople look like.

 

There was some comic where Luke and the droids set off on a mission to find out what a Tusken looked like without their mask. They went out searching for them and shot them all up and the last panel has Luke reaching for the mask but I'm not sure if the story was ever resolved.

In any event, it was an old strip and doesn't seem like a very valiant thing to do.

 

Tuskens (and Jawas) are supposed to descend from the rodent-like Ghorfa, prehistoric Tatooine oasis-dwellers...

But clearly, at least a minority of Tuskens are actually humans - some adopted into the tribe without knowing their origins (Tahiri; Sharad Hett's mate), some human exiles whose origins are acknowledged (Sharad Hett), and some the children of culturally-Tusken human parents, born and raised as Tuskens (A'Sharad Hett); since Tuskens don't see any faces except those of their mates, they probably wouldn't even realise in interspecies matings...

Also, at least some Tuskens are supposed to have cyborg implants, including artificial eyes, further blurring the appearance barrier...

But the fact that the Tuskens aren't a real biological species in themselves is probably at least part of the reason why they have the taboo in the first place...

- The Imperial Ewok

 

I think you seem some Tusken faces in one of the early SW video games. The one for NES perhaps.

-Paul

 

the comic with A'Sharad and Anakin actually did have a Phantom of the Opera pic of a Tusken face, half in the helmet, half out of it. The skin was brownish and looked tough and leathery, with spikes over the eyes and a deadly looking mouth. Sort of like a Nikto crossed with a Weequay. And some bugging out eyes.

 

hmm... could the tusken ghorfa species actually interbreen with their adopted human tuskens? humans have been known to create half-breed species with other aliens...

 

Nope, since A'Sharad as much as says to Anakin that Tuskens are genetically incapable of crossbreeding with humans. His mother was fully human, who mated with his Jedi father years after relinquishing her former identity.

The Sandpeople were evidently a species indigenous to Tatooine, going by the histories presented in Knights of the Old Republic, but were forced underground for a time following the Rakatan-induced ecological holocaust around twenty-whatever millennia earlier. Some adaptive mutations surely must have set in during this period, after which they reemerged into the blighted desert that we know from the films.

 

It could be that we see an unmasked Tusken Raider in the Illustrated Star Wars universe. But don't quote me on that

 

there is a wizard 1/2 issue with a variant cover i have that has a line-up onthe cover including Boba Fett -- Art by Tim Bradstreet.

from what i remember, one of the characters in the lineup is supposed to be a Tusken without his mask - but obviously that is not canon.

 

I've got the tpb of Boba Fett: Enemy of the Empire which has the 'Salvage' story in it. The lineup has the 'Tusken' at the left, Fett in the middle, and someone in a Stormtrooper helmet on the right. All I could find was a small image of the cover, which you can see here on TFN.

 

thats the one i was talking about

 

I thought I remember reading somewhere that Tuskens were descendants of a near-human (or maybe in fact human) group of pioneers that settled Tattoine very early on in the times of human expansion outward from the core (back when hysperspace was first discovered). But I might be confusing them with something else.

Their exact appearance unknown, but I always figured Tuskens to be near-human, similar to the Chiss.

 

in the end, they just look like their mask does.

btw why don't they take off their masks at night? then we could have seen some faces in episode 2

 

btw why don't they take off their masks at night? then we could have seen some faces in episode 2

They don't take their masks off period -- except during mating perhaps... the only persons to see a tusken without their masks would be their mother or their mate. all else would be taboo.

ep2's depiction annoyed me slightly because they differentiated between genders in the costuming...

 

The whole "spaceship-crash survivors" backstory looks to have fallen by the wayside for the nonce, unless somehow the pre-Builder proto-Tuskens were one and the same as these castaways...depends upon when the original source says it occurred. The Rakata arrive circa 33,958, which would obviously mitigate in favor of pre-hyperdrive circumstances.

 

"Their exact appearance unknown, but I always figured Tuskens to be near-human, similar to the Chiss"

Their appearance is not unknown. The Republic issue featuring the battle of Aargonar showed a Phantom-of-the-Opera-esque pic of a Tusken face, half helmet on, half helmet off.

I think they keep their masks on b/c they're so ugly. Like walking around with a paper bag over your head.

 

I always found it a bit hard to believe that no one has ever seen their faces. I'm sure someone who has killed one of them at one time had to get curious and unwrap him (unless the tusken's buddies or bantha was still around)

 

Tuskens are so ugly that anyone who did so probably wouldn't want to talk about it. Or just died from the horrific experience of seeing such a Gorgon.

And judging by Anakin's dream, and is reaction to A'sharad, I'm guessing Anakin did see a Tusken's unmasked face. He killed a whole tribe, so I reckon he might have taken a peak. That must be why he turned to the Dark Side.

 

If you think about it logically, it makes sense for Tusken males and females to be dressed differently. If you never see the face or body of your "partner" until you mate, you want to be pretty sure they're of the right sex...

 

quentingeorge-
lol - tis true

 

If you never see the face or body of your "partner" until you mate, you want to be pretty sure they're of the right sex...

Well there's always perhaps having different voices, or different scents, or a variety of other non-visual cues that can help you figure it out. plus you could always just ask them... presumably if you were going to marry them, you might want to build that trust...

 

Marriges are arranged by the Tribe's elders. In the Tusken tribes that do not differentiate between sexes (such tribes have been documented by Mammon Hoole and others), the Elders are also responsible for keeping track of who is male and who is female, and arranging marriges accordingly. This has led to some embarrising mistakes...

TC