Ginntho

This article covers the Canon version of this subject.  Click here for Wookieepedia's article on the Legends version of this subject. 

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For other uses, see Ginntho.

"You are gathering people to you. You hunt like a ginntho at the center of a web."
"Is that what it looks like to you? A web?"
―Velya Faer and Marda Ro[5]

Ginnthos were large non-sentient carnivorous spiders native to the planet Utapau who lived in the world's dark sinkhole caverns. They had the ability to spin durable silk, which they used to trap their prey before consuming it. Ginnthos were domesticated by Pau'ans, sometimes being kept in stables to remove vermin. At some point no earlier than 379 BBY, the Evereni Velya Faer remarked that the Evereni pirate leader Marda Ro was like a ginntho at the center of a web, which Ro mentioned in a message she recorded for her descendants. In 19 BBY, ginnthos in Utapau's capital Pau City were employed in the fight against battle droids belonging to the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

Biology and appearance

Ginnthos were large non-sentient[1] spiders from the Outer Rim Territories planet Utapau, who possessed eight legs that enabled them to crawl on vertical surfaces. Their bodies also featured feathery antennae[4] and their average length reached two meters. They had purple-and-black skin with purple markings on their abdomen. Their bodies contained six spinnerets that produced exceptionally strong silk.[1]

Behavior

Utapau was home to ginnthos.

Utapau was home to ginnthos.

Ginnthos were carnivorous[1] and wrapped their prey in silk for several weeks prior to devouring it.[2] They lived in dark passageways in the sinkhole caverns on Utapau and could be domesticated and trained to produce silk on command or hunt vermin.[1] Ginnthos were associated with webs.[5]

History

When the society of the Pau'an natives of Utapau was primitive, ginnthos hunted side by side with them and developed a close bond with the sentients. The creatures eventually ended up sometimes being kept in stables to deal with vermin such as rodents.[1] In 19 BBY,[6] there were ginnthos in[3] Utapau's capital Pau City[2] and the arachnids were used to create traps to ensnare battle droids belonging to the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Battle of Utapau.[1]

Ginnthos in the galaxy

At some point no earlier than 379 BBY,[7] the Evereni Velya Faer compared Marda Ro—the Evereni[5] founder of a group of pirates who would eventually become the Nihil[8]—to a ginntho at the center of a web while talking about how[5] she[9] was different from other Evereni due to surrounding herself by beings. Ro later mentioned this comparison in a message she recorded for her descendants while recounting her conversation with Faer.[5] By 252 BBY,[10] during his youth, Ro's great-great-grandson Marchion Ro had listened to her journal, including the message where ginnthos were mentioned.[9]

Behind the scenes

Ginnthos first appeared in Revenge of the Sith.

Ginnthos first appeared in Revenge of the Sith.

Ginnthos first appeared in the prequel trilogy film Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith,[3] which was released on May 19, 2005.[11] In the current Star Wars canon, they were first identified in the "Guide to the Galaxy" section of the thirtieth issue of the De Agostini Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon magazine[12] released around July 29, 2015.[13] The creature's length and their ancestral history with Pau'ans were among the lore that author Tim Veekhoven established while writing for the magazine.[14] The name originates in the Star Wars Legends continuity, where it was introduced in the 2006 reference book Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary.[15]

The Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know reference book[16] released on September 4, 2015[17] describes them as large spiders,[16] as does its updated and expanded edition,[2] published on October 1, 2017.[18] Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia—a reference book[4] released on April 4, 2017[19]—also labels ginnthos spiders but includes them in a section labeled "arachnid-like."[4] "Visiting Utapau"[12] and the "Guide to the Galaxy: Wildlife of Utapau" article in the fortieth issue of Build the Millennium Falcon[1]—released around October 7, 2015[20] and also written by Veekhoven[14]—state that their classification is arachnid,[1][12] with "Wildlife of Utapau" also describing them as spiderlike.[1] As the classification provided by Absolutely Everything You Need to Know, Updated and Expanded is the most consistent one, this article treats it as the correct one.

Appearances

This article has an associated index page with page numbers and/or timestamps.

Sources

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon 40 Guide to the Galaxy: Wildlife of Utapau
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know, Updated and Expanded
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 "A Closed Fist Has No Claws" — The High Republic: Tales of Light and Life
  6. ↑ Star Wars: Timelines dates the Battle of Utapau to 19 BBY.
  7. ↑ The segment of "A Closed Fist Has No Claws" depicting a Jedi's death onboard the Gaze Electric takes place around 379 BBY per the reasoning here. Marda Ro met the Faers after the Jedi's death; therefore, she must have met them no earlier than 379 BBY.
  8. ↑ YouTube Interview with Tessa Gratton: "A Closed Fist Has No Claws" (TALES OF LIGHT & LIFE) on the Friends of the Force YouTube channel (October 6, 2023) (backup link)
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 The High Republic: Temptation of the Force
  10. ↑ "The Lie" chapter in The High Republic: Eye of the Storm 1, which includes Shalla Ro's death, features Asgar Ro's ascension to Eye of the Nihil, an event dated to 252 BBY by Star Wars: The High Republic Character Encyclopedia. As The High Republic: Temptation of the Force establishes she introduced Marchion Ro to Marda Ro's journal, he must have listened to it by that year.
  11. ↑ Star Wars Year By Year: A Visual History, New Edition
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon 30 Guide to the Galaxy: Visiting Utapau
  13. ↑ The second issue of the De Agostini weekly magazine Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon was set to be published on January 14, 2015, according to Premium-Era-real De Agostini Publishing: Build the Millennium Falcon Magazine & Model by Chris Wyman on TheForce.net (January 8, 2015) (backup link archived on November 6, 2016). Therefore, Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon 30 was published around July 29, 2015.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Direct message from Tim Veekhoven — Used with permission
  15. ↑ Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know
  17. ↑ DK-Logo Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know on Dorling Kindersley's official United States website (original link is obsolete)
  18. ↑ DK-Logo Star Wars Absolutely Everything You Need to Know Updated and Expanded on Dorling Kindersley's official United Kingdom website (original link is obsolete)
  19. ↑ PenguinRandomHouse-Logo Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia on Penguin Random House's official website (backup link) (US hardcover)
  20. ↑ The second issue of the De Agostini weekly magazine Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon was set to be published on January 14, 2015, according to Premium-Era-real De Agostini Publishing: Build the Millennium Falcon Magazine & Model by Chris Wyman on TheForce.net (January 8, 2015) (backup link archived on November 6, 2016). Therefore, Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon 40 was published around October 7, 2015.
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