They're sometimes freaky and often adorable, becoming squeezable plushies or surprising toys on our carefully maintained bookshelves (which, yes, are also full of tie-in novels and Black Series figures).
The artists that bring "Star Wars" to life - creators like Ralph McQuarrie, Terryl Whitlach, and Phil Tippett - are magic makers, each as important to the franchise's legacy as George Lucas himself, and the creatures on this list represent some of their best work. Life itself is a necessary ingredient for making a fictional world feel lived in, and the creatures of "Star Wars" are not only part of these intricate landscapes, but memorable in their own right. A variety of planets, their people, and their environments create unique settings for the fantastical stories we grew up with. "Star Wars" just wouldn't be "Star Wars" without the decades of world-building that went into creating that galaxy long ago and far, far away.