THE DIANOGA
Lurking beneath garbage and refuse, the dianoga awaits its next meal...
This scene is typical of trash compactors and sewers galaxy-wide where seven-tentacled dianogas - or “garbage squids”, as they're sometimes called -lurk in wait for unsuspecting prey.
The dianoga is a native of the swamp world of Vodran. At least one dianoga escaped the planet (perhaps in the hold of an outgoing spacecraft) and the species has spread throughout the galaxy with frightening ease.
At an average length of 10 metres, dianogas are generally shy and peaceful, but easily motivated to aggression when hungry and threatened, the old more so than the young. This omnivore has a single eyestalk and a mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth. It thrives on sewage and small animals and can consume almost anything except pure metals.
When hunting, the creature will typically use several of its powerful tentacles to grasp its prey. They are notoriously hard to kill, as severed tentacles regenerate quickly.
Natural colouring is translucent, providing perfect camouflage when the creature is submerged, but the marine scavenger tends to adopt the colouring of its most recent kill after feeding.
Young dianogas are used on many worlds as a means of waste disposal. Some space stations have even been known to intentionally breed dianogas in garbage holds. However, older dianogas can become quite aggressive when starved or panicked and extremely large dianogas pose a threat to humans and other species.
In Star Wars: A New Hope, a dianoga tried to devour Luke Skywalker after Han Solo, Princess Leia and he had hidden from the Imperials in a trash compactor.
In the ANH novel Lucas simply describes the creature as a “thick whitish tentacle” and later as a “long, gelatinous limb”.
The filmmakers created several different versions for the film but ultimately, wound up with the familiar eye and tentacle. During filming, the dianoga parts were manipulated from beneath the water by a pair of divers.
