The Blog Unleashed

Welcome back to The Blog Unleashed. Last week I talked about Leia's iconic role being recreated in SW:TOR. This week I'm going to continue that theme somewhat but talk about another character. If you didn't guess by the title of this article I'm speaking of the one and only Chewbacca.

Sadly, based on everything we've seen so far about SW:TOR, I think it's safe to say that being able to have your character's race be Wookiee is out. This is rather sad seeing as how we've seen NPCs in various media that were Kel Dor, Twi'lek, Togruta and Rodian (In the “Deceived” trailer there's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance by a Rodian Jedi). If these (arguably) less iconic races might be on the table alongside humans then why no love for the venerable Wookiees?

Let me share with you some thoughts I have on this.

The first being that the Wookiee language, Shyriiwook, isn't anywhere near as widely spoken as Basic, the common language of the the SW universe. It's also been established in Expanded Universe material Wookiees can't speak Basic unless they have what to their species is a major speech impediment. (No, really.) Lowbacca (Chewie's nephew) had to use a small translator droid that he essentially wore as a belt in order to communication while attending Luke's Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4.

In addition to the language barrier, Force-sensitivity is SUPER rare among Wookiees. In fact, I only know of two Wookiees who could use the Force; the aforementioned Lowbacca and Tyvokka; Plo Koon's Jedi Master. This makes Wookiees unlikely choices for the Sith Warrior or Jedi classes. Especially the Sith Warrior since the SW:TOR webcomic specifically mentioned recently that Wookiees are not welcome on Korriban; the very starting world of the Sith Warrior.

Running with this idea, Wookiees also don't seem to be good choices for the other classes we've seen. Would it really seem right to see a Wookiee Smuggler hiding behind things and sniping at people with a pistol? Hardly the Wookiee way of fighting. No less wrong would be a Wookiee clad in heavy armor firing away with a rifle. And never mind a Wookiee bounty hunter zooming around on a jetpack frying people with a flamethrower.

Wait a second. That would be AWESOME!

Anyway, take heart, my Wookiee-loving friends. For I think that might be a silver lining in all this.

Earlier KOTOR games gave us great Wookiee characters like Zaalbar and Hanharr as party members and the folks at BioWare are smart enough to know not to mess with success.

So while being able to play as a Wookiee is almost certainly out, having a Wookiee buddy to watch your back is a SW tradition that I think we can safely expect to return. In addition we've been told that the iconic characters will be the templates for a lot of what's in the game so I can't imagine that Chewbacca's role in the the SW saga will be forgotten.

Looks like the Wookiees win after all.

Written by :

Skyrocket