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Post by Taloombray on May 22, 2010 23:58:45 GMT -5
Hey all. I find myself wondering about elements of Wookiee culture I have not encountered in my reading, so I appeal to you all in hopes you have encountered different manifestations of the Star Wars universe than I have.
Since Wookiees have a warrior-oriented culture, death would be common. As they also value honor and (by extension) ceremony, it seems likely they would have funerals/death ceremonies of some to-do. However, I have not encountered any reference to what such a ceremony is like in any of my reading, which, admittedly, happened some time ago.
[Edit] Also, it occurs to me that though Wookiees do have armies, I have never heard of any sort of ranking system, or what it might take to rise in the ranks in such an otherwise long-lived species. Any info on this -- the/a Wookiee military ranking system -- would be greatly appreciated. [/Edit]
Have any of you encountered reference to one or other of these things, either in your experience with the video games (none of which I have played) or in some of the more recent books (I stopped reading when Ep 1 came out)? I'd appreciate any references you can give me.
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Post by Alexander Organa on May 23, 2010 0:58:51 GMT -5
I am unaware of any wookiee death ceremony. I know that wookiees are a very proud race where reputation and honor was everything. And that such things were celebrated and remembered.
In a side-quest in KotOR, you find a wookiee corpse in the shadowlands. Rorworr was a hero among some of the younger wookiees with an honorable reputation. Known only to one other, Jaarak, this wookiee was in fact a traitor who was attacking other wookiees and selling them. Jaarak killed Rorworr and left his body in the shadowlands but did not expose his treachery in order to keep his reputation and honor alive in the hearts of the younger wooks. When you expose Rorworr's treachery in the game, Jaarak becomes angry and makes you leave his home because by exposing it you not only defaced Rorworr's honor but also caused distrust and remorse in the young wooks.
Life Debts I'm sure you are aware of. When you save a wookiee's life they are indebted to you for life and will serve you without reservation, even if it costs them their own life.
But, like I said, I can't think of any particular instances where a death ceremony or ritual was observed. From what is seen in KotOR, with Jaarak leaving the body, and with Chuundar giving you a mission to kill his own father but not bring back anything, it seems that there is no established burial or death ritual involving the body.
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Post by Taloombray on May 23, 2010 2:35:43 GMT -5
Hmmm... Thank you General.
I wonder if the lack of ceremony in both of those cases might have been tied to the dishonorable nature of Rorworr and the bad blood between Chuundar and his father respectively rather than being indicative of no ceremony existing. I know from the 4-part comic book mini-series Dark Horse produced after Chewbacca was killed off in Vector Prime that one clan leader had a multi-story bust of Chewbacca carved into the side of a tree in his honor. That was admittedly an unusual case, what with Chewbacca being a national hero or something. Still, the KotOR data is handy.
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Post by Josh Nayayen on May 23, 2010 9:24:37 GMT -5
Actually, looking at the Chewbacca 4-parter that you were talking about, Attichitcuk says that "I've buried friends and I've buried family". Granted, that is nearly 4000 years later but it's the closest to any sort of Wookiee funeral that I can find.
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Post by Taloombray on May 23, 2010 13:29:28 GMT -5
Good point. Sadly I don't have the books here with me and had to go on memory. Kinda makes me wonder where they would bury their dead though, considering the up in the trees nature of their settlements. I would be surprised if they would trek down to the Shadowlands for burial, what with the effort, danger, and general negativity surrounding the place.
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Post by Jerex Talan on May 23, 2010 23:31:36 GMT -5
They actually hunt there 'all' the time. At least in groups. Also, remember that the comment about burying friends may just be a verbal author to reader 'translation' and not an actual burial. They may or may not bury their dead, but actually burn the body like others in the Galaxy do or, in my best opinion. let the jungle claim them. They seem more in touch with the nature culture and closeness that I personally and with bias would play them leaving the dead on the forest floor to become a part of the jungle. Kind of a lion king view of death. Very naturalistic. But all still just my opinion. That could also be the ceremonies they refer to and the burial reference. Or even just the current custom, and is no longer practiced in a few millennia.
My best advise would be to pave the road for this part of the culture yourself in the fashion you think best fits for 'your' character's outlook and story. Others can then wrestle with whether its common practice among 'all' Wookiees or just your tribe that your involved with.
PS, they might even use the burial customs of outsiders when involved with a lifedebt or not on their homeworld. Just extra info for you to consider.
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Post by Taloombray on May 29, 2010 5:53:55 GMT -5
These are good points. I often "fill in the blanks" with what makes sense to me about their culture, but in this case I figured there might have already been some canon depiction. I've heard on one of my other SW forums that Chewbacca's funeral ceremonies are covered in some detail in "Vector Prime", but I refuse to read that one.
I like your idea of a "Lion King"-esque approach to death. I've read a couple accounts of Wookiees believing in "The Life Force" and seeing death as a return to it. It was unclear whether those references were synonymous with "The Force" either in or out of the story. Either way, that fits with the letting the jungle retake the body idea. I can't really see them burning bodies, given the overbearing presence of flammable shit everywhere, plus the stories told of the great tragedies of the trees burning. Kinda like the maritime rules; no open flames on the wooden ship.
When I encounter holes in their cultural canon, I tend to fill it in with applicable customs mixed from tribal African and early Irish, as I see a blending of those two being the closest model for Wookiee culture. I don't know what the most common funeral activities among tribal African groups, but I know old Irish customs regarding death included long wakes where much food, drink, and stories of the deceased were shared. There is also a fun Irish custom (sadly almost gone today) of three keeners; widowed women who would keen (wail horribly) as a sort of mourning of the dead and alert to the afterlife of the new arrival. Klingons in Star Trek displayed a similar behavior in TNG.
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