Elephant

An elephant was a species of creature. The Ortolan musician Max Rebo had a snout resembling the trunk of an elephant.^[1] Species resembling elephants were referred to as elephantines.^[2]

Behind the scenes

"Let's try to redress an elephant again, as they did for the banthas in A New Hope. That was literally the framework: Let's have some new updated versions of old creatures."

―Christian Alzmann^[3]

Elephants were first mentioned in the current Star Wars Canon in an in-universe context in the 2016 young reader's reference book The Amazing Book of Star Wars, written by Elizabeth Dowsett.^[1]

They were first mentioned in the Legends continuity in the 1976 novel Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, which was an adaptation of the 1977 film of the same name.^[4] Their first visual depiction in the same continuity—albeit a non-canon one—was in the 2011 video game LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars, in which they appear as a ridable mount in the level "Liberty on Ryloth."^[5]

Creating a bantha — Mardji in-costume on the set of *A New Hope*

The real-life counterparts to elephants have been utilized in some form multiple times in Star Wars production history. During the production of the 1977 film Star Wars: Episove IV A New Hope, an Asian elephant named Mardji portrayed the bantha under added cosmetics.^[6] The movements of the All Terrain Armored Transports seen in the 1980 film Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back were based on footage of Mardji walking.^[7]

Elephants were also used in the sound design of the films. The sound of a TIE/ln space superiority starfighter's engines were the result of mixing cars streaking past and the trumpeting cry of an elephant.^[8] For the 1999 film Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, the design characteristics of the Multi-Troop Transport were based on a massive elephant.^[9]

In the 2015 art book The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, written by Phil Szostak, an excerpt from^[3] illustrator and concept artist^[10] Christian Alzmann states that the production crew of the 2015 film Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens could redress elephants to create new creatures for the film, similar to how banthas were created in A New Hope.^[3]