Wampas are fictional predators of the Star Wars

Star Wars

Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...

universe

Fictional universe

A fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting with elements that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed or fictional realm ....

.

Characteristics

Wampas are Yeti

Yeti

The Yeti or Abominable Snowman is an ape-like cryptid said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal, and Tibet. The names Yeti and Meh-Teh are commonly used by the people indigenous to the region, and are part of their history and mythology...

-like creatures that live on the sixth planet of the Hoth

Hoth

In the fictional universe of Star Wars, Hoth is the sixth planet of a remote system of the same name. It is a terrestrial planet blanketed by snow and ice. Many meteorites from a nearby asteroid belt pelt the planet's surface, making temporary craters in the planet's ever-moving snow drifts. Hoth...

 system. Wampa's hands have five fingers, each with one large claw. They also have a horn protruding from either side of their heads that curves and points forward. The Wampa's feet do not protrude from the legs and are rather massive. Wampa have sharp teeth and attack with a vicious slash using their massive claws.
Wampa sometimes join forces to hunt in packs in equally beneficial situations or to eliminate a common threat (such as human settlement). Wampa have long-lasting memories but limited intelligence.

Appearances in film and television

In Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is a 1980 American epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner. The screenplay, based on a story by George Lucas, was written by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan...

, Luke Skywalker

Luke Skywalker

Luke Skywalker is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the original film trilogy of the Star Wars franchise, where he is portrayed by Mark Hamill. He is introduced in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, in which he is forced to leave home, and finds himself apprenticed to the Jedi master...

 is captured by a Wampa and trapped in a cave, suspended upside down by his feet, which are frozen to the ceiling. Luke uses the Force

Force (Star Wars)

The Force is a binding, metaphysical and ubiquitous power in the fictional universe of the Star Wars galaxy created by George Lucas. Mentioned in the first film in the series, it is integral to all subsequent incarnations of Star Wars, including the expanded universe of comic books, novels, and...

 to retrieve his lightsaber

Lightsaber

A lightsaber is a fictional weapon in the Star Wars universe, a "laser sword." It consists of a polished metal hilt which projects a blade of light about 1.33 metres long. The lightsaber is the signature weapon of the Jedi order and their Sith counterparts, both of whom can use them for close...

, and having cut himself loose, cuts the Wampa's arm off and escapes. According to the Expanded Universe

Star Wars Expanded Universe

The Star Wars Expanded Universe encompasses all of the officially licensed, fictional background of the Star Wars universe, outside of the six feature films produced by George Lucas. The expanded universe includes books, comic books, video games, spin-off films like Star Wars: The Clone Wars,...

, Luke returns to Hoth nine years later and encounters the very same Wampa whose arm he had severed. The Wampa, in turn, remembers him and his lightsaber due to their long memory spans. This time, Luke kills the Wampa with his lightsaber.

The Rebel Alliance

Rebel Alliance

The Alliance to Restore the Republic is an interstellar faction of the fictional universe of Star Wars....

's base of operations on Hoth, Echo Base, holds several Wampas in cages (as seen in Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire is a multimedia project created by Lucasfilm Ltd. in 1996. The original idea was to create an interquel, a story set between the movies The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi , and to explore all commercial possibilities of a full motion picture release,...

). In a deleted scene, C-3PO

C-3PO

C-3PO is a robot character from the Star Wars universe who appears in both the original Star Wars films and the prequel trilogy. He is also a major character in the television show Droids, and appears frequently in the series' "Expanded Universe" of novels, comic books, and video games...

 tears off a sticker when the Rebels were trying to escape the besieged base to trick the pursuing Imperial stormtrooper

Imperial stormtrooper

The Imperial Stormtroopers are fictional soldiers from George Lucas' Star Wars universe. Stormtroopers are the soldiers of the imperial army under the leadership of the evil Sith Lord and Emperor Palpatine and his commanders, most notably Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin.They are shown in...

s into entering one of the rooms (this shot is seen in one trailer for the movie). The sticker can be seen off to one side of the screen when Han Solo

Han Solo

Han Solo is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise played by Harrison Ford. Introduced in the film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope , Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot, Chewbacca , become involved in the Rebel Alliance against the Galactic Empire...

, Princess Leia

Princess Leia Organa

Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe...

, and C-3PO try to escape.

The wampa also made an appearance in the Family Guy

Family Guy

Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...

 episode Something, Something, Something, Dark Side

Something, Something, Something, Dark Side

"Something, Something, Something, Dark Side" is the season finale of the eighth season of the animated comedy series Family Guy and part of the series's trilogy Laugh It Up, Fuzzball. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on May 23, 2010...

. It attacked and captured Luke

Chris Griffin

Chris Griffin is a character from the animated television series Family Guy. He is the son and middle child of Peter and Lois Griffin, brother of Stewie and Meg Griffin. Chris is voiced by Seth Green.-Personality:...

 in the same way that it did in the Empire Strikes Back. However, the Wampa is portrayed by an adaptation of the Cookie Monster

Cookie Monster

Cookie Monster is a Muppet on the children's television show Sesame Street. He is best known for his voracious appetite and his famous eating phrases: "Me want cookie!", "Me eat cookie!", and "Om nom nom nom" . He often eats anything and everything, including danishes, donuts, lettuce, apples,...

 from PBS's long running Sesame Street

Sesame Street

Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...

. When his arm is severed by Luke, he says 'Me was going to ask you to Snow Monster ball, but now forget it!'

Behind the scenes

Several other Wampa sequences were planned for Empire, but they were ultimately cut. In one such scene, the beeping of astromech droids attracted wampas. There was a scene where a wampa broke into the Echo Base and attempted to attack R2-D2, but was killed by Rebel soldiers. Some of these scenes appeared in Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics

Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...

' adaptation of Empire, originally published in its long-running Star Wars series (currently reprinted by Dark Horse Comics

Dark Horse Comics

Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...

 in their Classic Star Wars collections).

The Wampa sequences originally seen in Empire were shortened due to technical problems. Brief shots of a puppet were used instead to depict the creature attacking Luke. In the ice cave sequence, no shots placed the wampa in plain view, a technique intended to increase suspense

Suspense

Suspense is a feeling of uncertainty and anxiety about the outcome of certain actions, most often referring to an audience's perceptions in a dramatic work. Suspense is not exclusive to fiction, though. Suspense may operate in any situation where there is a lead-up to a big event or dramatic...

 (similar to that of the monstrous antagonists in Jaws

Jaws (film)

Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...

and Alien

Alien (film)

Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto. The film's title refers to its primary antagonist: a highly aggressive extraterrestrial creature which...

). There are, however, shots of the Wampa suit used in the original 1980 release, and Des Web (John Web) is credited for playing the snow monster. The ice cave sequence was altered for the 1997 Special Edition

Special edition

The terms special edition, limited edition and variants such as deluxe edition, collector's edition and others, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints or recorded music and films, but now including...

. Shots of a fully visible actor — in a suit and on a new set with brighter lighting — were inserted into the original scene.