The memes fly over the internet: Din Djarin, like Mando The Mandalorian actually hot, hates Jawa’s but is close friends with the Tusken Raiders. Much to the dismay of Cobb Vanth and the residents of Mos Pelgo.
The Mandalorian and Between Raiders
Perhaps the reason behind that is simple: Mandalorians, like the Tusken Raiders, never show their faces to others. That’s why we suddenly asked ourselves during the premiere of The Mandalorian Season 2 on Disney +: What do the iconic Star Wars desert warriors actually look like under their masks?
They have been part of the extensive franchise from the start. Still, the Sand People rarely showed their faces. With an emphasis on rarely. The Tusken Raiders made their debut in Star Wars: A New Hope. After trying to raid Luke Skywalker, they were chased away by Obi-Wan Kenobi. Which, in keeping with the plot of last Friday’s episode, managed to scare the Raiders away by imitating a Krayt dragon. The circle is round again.
Masks
Life in the Jundland Wastes and Dune Sea is tough. As a result, the characters from Star Wars always wear long robes, masks and gloves. In fact, they usually wear devices that help with breathing. After all, any sandstorm can be deadly, as can Tatooine’s double sun.
Like the Mandalorians, the Tusken Raiders are never allowed to take off their masks in public. This is only appropriate in some private situations. Still, we have the answer to what they actually look like. At least half.
Games in comics
Tusken Raiders have taken off their masks several times in the many Star Wars comics and games over the decades. The first time was in the video game Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, from 1997. It contained a group called Raiders Grave Tuskens, with cat-like faces.
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The second time was seven years later, in 2004. In the comic Star Wars: Republic #62 Anakin Skywalker had a nightmare, in which a Tusken Raider can be seen half without a mask. In that nightmare, the Sand People terrifying distorted faces, in the shape of their breathing equipment. Just like the Predator under its mask looks like its… mask.
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Anyway, do the Tusken Raiders really look like that, or was that just how Anakin imagined the creatures? After all, as far as we know he has never really seen a Tusken Raider without the now iconic masks.
Interesting hint
Luckily we have Star Wars: Republic #59 yet. In it, Jedi Master A’Sharad Hett takes off his mask, to reveal that he is actually human. Anakin is completely in shock, assuming Hett was a Tusken. He was raised only as a Tusken. His mother is a human who has come to live under the Tusken Raiders. In other words, that is still no answer.
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Still, that comic contains an interesting hint. Hett emphasizes in the same comic that the Tuskens are not genetically compatible with humans. The theory that the Sand People consist of all kinds of races that share the same culture, just like the Mandalorians, so does not apply.
Messy history
Yet that again contradicts what has been explained in other Star Wars books: that the Sand People share an ancestor with the Jawas, and that they have no eyelids and are therefore very vulnerable to the brutal suns of Tatooine.
You can already tell: after decades of books, comics and games, the franchise regularly contradicts itself.
New Canon and Legends
After Disney bought Lucasfilm, the canon of Star Wars therefore also cleaned up. Virtually every old video game, comic, or book has been renamed Legends. Great stories, but no longer the actual history of the franchise. This allowed Disney to start with a (very welcome) clean slate, with only the films as a starting point.
In other words, the rare times we’ve seen a Tusken Raider without a mask are technically no longer canon. Not officially anymore. So those were once the official ones canonideas about what Tusken Raiders actually look like, but for now they’re up to Legends declared. It’s up to Disney to decide whether to return those stories canon want to make, as before with Legendscharacters and stories happened over the years.
Half answer
Until the company The Mandalorian Whether a Star Wars movie officially revealed what the Tuskens will look like under their masks, the actual appearance of the creatures thus officially remains a mystery. The answers we have get stuck in a kind of no man’s land. Yes, they were once official, but not anymore.
In the end, that’s doubling what to change canon is. The stories that have already been told are not level fan-fiction. It was once official Star Wars history, but no longer in its current continuity. How much you take that is ultimately up to you.
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The Mandalorian: What Do Tusken Raiders Look Like Under Their Mask?
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