This installment of Pets of the Old Republic features the most famous pet in all of Star Wars lore, even if it may not actually be a pet: the Kowakian Monkey-Lizard! There are several varieties of monkey-lizards available to players of Star Wars: The Old Republic, but in honor of the yuletide season, I picked the jolliest and reddest of them all: the Ruddyscale Kowakian Monkey-Lizard.
There are six very different monkey-lizards currently available for players to collect. They be found with different colored fur, with cybernetics, carbon-frozen or even zombified. The Ruddyscale was introduced in the Cartel Market, but these days players of Hero rank with the Underworld Exchange reputation track, can purchase it for 100,000 credits and 10 Cartel Market Certificates from one of the Underworld Exchange vendors in either Fleet’s Cartel Bazaar.
A troop of Kowakian Monkey-Lizards (clockwise from the left: Carbon-Frozen, Sablefur, Cyborg Sablefur, Flamehair, Ruddyscale and Plaguetail), confront a chef who seems to have over-cooked some of their kin.
In the interest of honesty I must admit that I did not include a monkey-lizard on my original list of pets to include in this project. The monkey-lizard is one the older pets I’ve studied as part of this project, and in comparison to many of the recent pets we’ve seen, it hasn’t aged well. However monkey-lizards, tied with Dwedtoof, were the most requested pet for me to illustrate for this project. Even though I put it off to very nearly the end, never let it be said that I did not give the people what they want.
I’m glad I did. SWTOR’s depiction of the monkey-lizard has a ton of charm with an expressive face and signature cackling laughter. If someone in your group is adventuring with a monkey-lizard, everyone will hear its mirth clear as day, as well they should. Nevertheless, the SWTOR team has shown a willingness to revisit some older assets in the game, and I would not object if they decided to update one of Star Wars’ classic little buddies.
Salacious B. Crumb, moments before Jabba’s sail barge exploded.
The most famous monkey-lizard in Star Wars is Salacious B. Crumb, the companion of the vile gangster Jabba the Hutt from Return of the Jedi. This fellow not only merits a first and last name, but is the one of only two live-action Star Wars characters with a middle initial.
During the production of Return of the Jedi, aliens were often given humorous names by Industrial Light and Magic’s creature designers. The first name “Salacious” was derived from a drunkenly slurred pronunciation of the word “shoelaces” and the last name came from George Lucas after the underground cartoonist Robert Crumb, known as simply R. Crumb. Crumb’s comix are often infamously obsessed with exaggerated depictions of women, and the creature’s mocking laughter and leering presence likely connects the names Salacious and Crumb.
The question of whether Kowakian Monkey-Lizards are intelligent is not clearly addressed by Salacious’ portrayal in Return of the Jedi. Wookieepedia describes them as “semi-intelligent” which seems to me like dodging the question. Salacious’ puppeteer, Tim Rose, gave him a speaking voice which we can hear in the movie’s supplementary material, so I think it’s fair to say he is intended to be an intelligent life-form and not simply an animal. Numerous depictions in other Star Wars lore reinforce this interpretation of monkey-lizards as intelligent as any other alien species in the galaxy.
However, I should point out that in The Mandalorian and even in SWTOR, Monkey-Lizards are regarded as food in some corners of the galaxy. Personally I don’t consider it ethical to eat a monkey-lizard, but I’m sure there are plenty of folks out there, probably starting with many of the Hutts we have met who wouldn’t think twice about it.
Salacious B. Crumb and the monkey-lizards as seen in SWTOR fit within a larger culture traditions that are worth mentioning. They are the court jesters of the Star Wars universe. Jesters and Fools can be found across the history of our own world. Jesters were known as entertainers and musicians and had a prominent position in court because they would laugh at the king’s jokes and laugh at the king’s subjects.
The cultural significance of monkeys is far too broad a topic to cover here, but monkey companions are extremely common in all sorts of stories including but not limited to Tarzan media, the Ronald Reagan comedy Bedtime for Bonzo, the Flying Monkeys of The Wizard of Oz, Abu from the animated Aladdin movies, Marcel from Friends, Boots from Dora the Explorer and many, many more. Monkey-lizards fit perfectly within the role of “pets” rather than “companions” for our characters in SWTOR. Even though I do not think of them as animals, they, like many bards, escape notice in a firefight simply for being not important enough to kill in the heat of battle.
The monkey-lizard’s design reflects this history. As with nearly every pet in this series, they are a hybrid of many types of animals. Its long tail and body type are unmistakably simian, but I don’t actually see much lizard in the creature’s design. The monkey-lizard’s long pointed ears remind me very much of a jester’s cap with points sticking straight out from the side of the head. Instead of a mouth, Monkey-lizards have a broad sharp beak like a vulture, a creature whose reputation as a scavenger seems appropriate for Jabba’s nasty little sidekick.
Salacious’ big mouth and comic relief status reminded many people of the Muppets who, thanks to their TV show and series of movies, were very popular at the time of the original trilogy. Muppets and Star Wars intersected in many places at this time; Frank Oz performed both Yoda and many Muppets including Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear. ILM’s creature designers were influenced by what Jim Henson was doing both with the Muppets and also the fantastic creatures created for Henson and Oz’s movie the Dark Crystal. I also believe Salacious influenced the creatures seen in the movie Gremlins, both the friendly Gizmo and the mischievous Stripe.
Imagine being a Star Wars fan who hates Wicket W. Warwick, Salacious B. Crumb and Max Frickin’ Rebo.
In time, however, serious minded fans came to dislike these similarities. Even though the original trilogy now occupies a rarified space in the canon of Star Wars films, hipsters of the 1990’s criticized Return of the Jedi with the same fury and opprobrium that some of today’s fans reserve for many modern Star Wars productions. I’ve always felt that this rage was misplaced, and this project is proof that I enjoy the sillier and weird side of Star Wars. If I’m being honest, I don’t think there is anything wrong with The Phantom Menace or The Clone Wars cartoons or The Rise of Skywalker that isn’t also wrong with Return of the Jedi. So, yeah, if you ask me, we all could stand to have a monkey-lizard around to laugh at us and keep us honest when we start taking things too seriously.