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This article is about the fictional creature. For the article on the French punk band, see Les Wampas. Wampas are fictional predators in the Star Wars universe, resembling Yetis or the extinct giant ground sloth.
Characteristics Wampas live on the planet Hoth. Wampas' 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 resemble an elephant's, in that they don't protrude from the thigh and are rather massive. They have a mouth of sharp teeth and attack with a vicious slash using their massive claws. The wampa's main prey is the tauntaun. Appearances in film In Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker 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 to retrieve his lightsaber, half-buried in the snow. After cutting himself loose, Luke cuts the wampa's arm off and escapes. The Rebellion's base of operations on Hoth, Echo Base, held several wampas in cages (as seen in Shadows of the Empire). The dead tauntaun that is seen in Echo Base during Empire was most likely killed by a Wampa. Doors to the Wampa cage rooms had a bright orange warning sticker. Although it was cut from the movie, C-3PO tore off one such sticker when the Rebels were trying to escape the besieged base to trick the pursuing Imperial troopers 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, Princess Leia, and C-3PO try to escape. 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. The wampa sequences originally seen in Empire were trimmed down due to problems with the wampa suit. Instead, a few quick shots of a puppet were used to attack Luke, and the sequence in the ice cave was done so that the wampa was not seen, adding to its menace (similar to that of the shark in Jaws). There are, however, one or two shots of the wampa suit in the original 1980 edition, and Des Web is credited for playing the snow monster. The 1997 Special Edition put in new footage of the wampa to complete the sequence. Appearances in video games Wampas have appeared in several video games. The first was Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (NES), in which the player fights them in the first part of the Hoth level. Next was Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back; they appear in the early Hoth interior and exterior levels, and are able to jump and freeze the player with their breath. One of the early bosses in the game is a giant wampa. They also show up in Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire in Echo Base, as well as a canyon on the moon of Gall. In this game, a cheat mode is accessible through the player setting their name to "Wampa Stompa". They also make an appearance in the video game Jedi Academy. In Star Wars: Empire at War, wampas are one of the environmental hazards the player must deal with while playing a land battle on Hoth. In Star Wars: Demolition, wampas throw giant snowballs in the Hoth map. Wampas also make an appearance in the game Star Wars: Battlefront II. In the Hunt mode on the planet Hoth, the player is given the option to play as either the rampant wampas or as a member of the Rebellion. All wampas have listed for their equipment is "claws." On January 31, 2006, LucasArts introduced downloadable content for the game via Xbox Live; the included "Rhen Var: Harbor" map also allows gamers to play Hunt with or against wampas. Most recently, a wampa appeared in LEGO Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy, during the opening cutscene for Episode V, Chapter 1, portraying the events in the actual movie with a comedic twist; when Luke severs the wampa's arm, it drops to the ground and the wampa, instead of roaring, falls silent and stares at it in disbelief. | ||||||||
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