Pets of the Old Republic: #26: Hairless Mudhorn

Today I am very proud to say that This Week in Aurebesh celebrates its tenth anniversary!  I have had quite the decade working on this project, exploring weird corners of Star Wars: The Old Republic. This blog has taken many unexpected turns over the years, and I remain curious to see where it goes next,

To celebrate, I’d like to revisit my Pets of the Old Republic side project with a brand new entry: the Hairless Mudhorn, This pet is an appropriate addition to the series both this year with the release of The Mandalorian and Grogu and during this Fall season since it will soon again be available to players to collect.

A Clan of Two

Seven years ago, a Mudhorn first appeared during the second episode of The Mandalorian, The Child. This episode came during one of the most exciting moments in Star Wars’ fandom. Baby Yoda who makes his first full episode appearance here and became, for a while at least, a pop culture juggernaut, overshadowed the Mudhorn. Regardless, this was so significant a moment in the relationship between the two characters, that they would later adopt the symbol of the Mudhorn’s skull as the insignia of their “Clan of Two.” Both Din Djarin and Grogu wear the Mudhorn symbol on their armor.

The Mudhorn as seen in its first appearance on The Mandalorian.

In the episode a group of Jawas forced the Mandalorian to fight a fully grown Mudhorn in order to acquire the creature’s egg for the Jawas to feast upon. Mudhorns are very large and tremendously powerful creatures. Despite his beskar armor and arsenal of weapons, the Mandalorian was unable to dispatch the Mudhorn alone. It took the dramatic reveal of the Child’s Force powers for Mando to be able to overcome the challenge.

Like many creatures in Star Wars, the Mudhorn is a  hybrid of familiar animals, but not in the way I expected. Initially, I assumed Mudhorns were simply a cross between a rhinoceros and a woolly mammoth, but it is more accurate to say that Mudhorns are specifically inspired by the prosaically named “woolly rhinoceros” or the similar but more fancifully designated Elasmotherium, two elephant-sized relatives of today’s rhinos that went extinct towards the end of the last ice age.

The Mudhorn crest bears a remarkable similarity to unearthed skulls of extinct Elasmotheria.

The other creature that The Mandalorian‘s storytellers merged with the large hairy rhino is somewhat more surprising: the duck-billed platypus! According to The Child, Mudhorns are egg laying mammals, even if the eggs are much hairier than the ones we are used to seeing laid. This is a trait that puts them in very rare company amongst the fauna of our world where they are referred to as monotremes, an order of creatures native to Australia that include the platypus and the various types of echidnas.

Mudhorns in SWTOR

It’s a curious fact of the matter that more Mudhorns have appeared in Star Wars: The Old Republic than in any other Star Wars lore. Today’s featured pet is the Hairless Mudhorn, but players can adopt four other Mudhorn pets. In addition, there are three large, but perhaps not fully grown, mudhorn mounts available for players to ride.

Back row: Wetlands Mudhorn Mount (Ruhnuk reputation) and Subterranean Mudhorn Mount (Spring Abundance Festival event)

Front row: Young Wetland Mudhorn (Feast of Prosperity event), Marshland Mudpup (Spring Abundance Festival event)), Hairless Mudhorn (Feast of Prosperity event), Savana Mudpuppy (Spring Abundance Festival event)).

Players can earn all but one of SWTOR’s  Mudhorns through in-game activities. The Hairless Mudhorn is an appropriate choice this time of year because it is one of the rewards from the harvest themed Feast of Prosperity event which returns again to SWTOR next week.

Most of the pet Mudhorns in SWTOR are called “mudpups.” Here on Earth, newborn monotremes are called “puggles” a far more adorable and funny name, so that is what I’m going to call baby Mudhorns from now on. I do wonder, however, if it follows that a hairless Mudhorn hatched from a hairless egg.

Is It Canon?

One of the things I find impressive about SWTOR, that as the longest running anything in Star Wars’ history, it spans and has the freedom to draw upon nearly every aspect of Star Wars lore. I know it drives some fans crazy, but I truly love that you can wear armor inspired by a character from a “canonical” movie that was released a few months ago, ride a mount from a “legendary” comic book that came out thirty years ago and share your adventures with a pet that exists no where else in Star Wars.

A Snowtrooper mounted on a Mandalorian Basilisk and accompanied by whatever the haran that is rip a hole in the time-space continuum.

It only doesn’t make sense if you think about it too much. Why would you do that? Why would you ever want to do that?

A Decade and Counting

I want to thank everyone who has ever visited this blog. It is my goal to explore corners of SWTOR that some players might have overlooked or at least show them off in a way they’d might never have considered before. I have been a freelancer all my adult life. Projects come and go, but This Week in Aurebesh has been a constant I’ve returned to again and again over these last tumultuous years. Because of it, I’ve been lucky enough to meet, play with and become friends with many members of this game’s awesome community. In real life, I’m something of a wallflower, but I’m very glad I took the plunge and put a little bit of myself out there. I never imagined that looking at some fake space letters would take me so far.

Stick around and find out.

Finally, if you’d like to help support this project’s real world expenses, there are a couple ways. I have a Kofi set up to accept tips. In addition I have this year printed a limited number of Pets of the Old Republic stickers that you can purchase from my Etsy shop. I won’t ever place ads on this site or lock content behind a pay wall, so if you prefer to pass, you won’t miss out on anything.

Thank you again. I hope to still be doing this in the months and years to come!