Sentience

"If I ask? Then I think. And... as there are only two things that think... I must be one. Or the other."

―The Scourge^[1]

Motley crowd-TFA — A group of sentients from various species (and a droid), witness the Hosnian Cataclysm through sub-hyperspace, from Takodana Castle on Takodana

Sentience (Sapience) was the quality of self-awareness, abstract thinking, and higher reasoning. Sentients possessed a personality, feeling emotionally as well as thinking intelligently.^[2] Sentient species of the galaxy numbered in the tens of thousands, with 3PO-series protocol droids being programmed to recognize more than 30,000 of them.^[3] The number of individual people in the galaxy was numbered in the millions of billions. Some sentient species included humans,^[4] Ewoks,^[5] Patitites,^[6] Gungans,^[7] and Geonosians.^[8]

Non-sentient organics of the animal kingdom were variously referred to as "creatures"^[9]^[10] or "beasts."^[11]^[12] There also existed creatures that appeared to have emerging sentience, such as the Zillo Beast and Purrgil, being known as semi-sentient.^[13]^[14] The soul of the varactyl beast was considered simpler and purer than that of a sentient. Despite this, the creature was still intelligent in its own way.^[3] Droids were also capable of being sentient,^[15]^[16] although as with organic beings,^[17] some droids, such as 0-0-0^[18] and EV-9D9, took pleasure in inflicting pain upon others.^[19]

Behavior

"Near-random bursts of free association, emotion-soaked ramblings, descents into holes of rumination and regret, decisions guided by delusions."

―The Scourge, describing organic sentient thought^[1]

The majority of sentient species dwelt on land, where frequent rain sustains lush forests, gardens, and grassy plains, although many species also inhabited dry ecosystems and rocky habitats. These species ability to adapt to survive on these harsher worlds made them better equipped to adapt offworld as well. Certain sentient species preferred to be immersed in liquids, and lived on worlds covered in water but could survive in airy environments without need for any breathing apparatus or environmental suits.^[20]

Sentient rights

"Sentients, please prepare for takeoff!"

―Pilot droid RX-24 addresses his passengers^[21]

Under the laws of the Galactic Republic, sentient beings could not be used as slaves. However, slavery thrived on certain remote planets, such as Tatooine,^[22] and was considered a profitable trade among the Zygerrians.^[23] Droids were commonly treated as property and inferior to organic sentients,^[21] and most droids were afforded programming that did not allow them to harm organic sentient beings, with notable exceptions such as police droids^[24] and battle droids.^[25] Despite their programming, mechanical beings developed personality quirks and eventually sentience; however, this was suppressed through memory wipes, a process opposed by those in support of droid rights, who advocated for sentient rights for droids and raised the point of the Galactic Empire's Galactic Constitution declaring that all sentients were equal, and that slavery and forced servitude was outlawed.^[2] The Second Revelation was made up of sentient droids.^[16]

Sentience and the Force

Jar Jar aotc — Jar Jar Binks was a victim of being manipulated by Darth Sidious.

With his sentience, Darth Sidious manipulated unwitting senators of the Galactic Senate such as Jar Jar Binks to grant him supreme authority,^[25] although by the will of the Force, Sidious was deposed by the son of the Chosen One,^[19] who was conceived by the midi-chlorians—organisms that formed a symbiotic relationship with organic beings and communicated to them the Force's will;^[22] the foundation of life and what connects and maintains the symbiotic relationship between the Living Force—the energy of all life—and the Cosmic Force, which bound all things in the galaxy.^[26]