Alien was a Humanocentric biological—and sometimes political—term to describe a sentient species or a person of a species other than a Human or near-Human. It is often used interchangeably with the term Non-Human. The term may have been derived from the first impression of early Humans, when they had their first contacts with species from other planets. However, it seems to have been prevalent even in subsequent millennia.

Since Humans were the most common and prominent sentient species in galactic affairs and history, they were often considered to be a standard or average to which the biology, psychology, and culture of other species were compared. Thus species with a body type roughly similar to Humans were often referred to as humanoid.

Aliens were sometimes victims of speciesism, being derided and avoided by Humans in certain societies, like Taris during the blockade of the Sith.

Behind the scenes

The word alien originally meant "stranger," and came from the Latin word alienus of the same meaning. The word was directly borrowed into English, and frequently used in the sense of "foreigner", as in the legal term for a person who is not a native or naturalized citizen of the land where they are found. It was also used in biology to describe plant or animal species which were not naturally found in a given part of the Earth, but had been introduced there.

The novelization of A New Hope used the term not-men for aliens at one occasion.

In the twentieth century, the term was adopted to describe extraterrestrial intelligent life, whether in fiction or in a more scientific context.

Appearances

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• Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
• Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
• Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (First appearance)
• Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
• Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
• X-wing: Isard's Revenge
• Death Star (novel)
• Tales of the Bounty Hunters

Sources

• Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire trading cards (Card: Leia Visits Spero's Plant Shop)
• Star Wars: Rebellion: Prima's Official Strategy Guide
• The Essential Guide to Alien Species
• The Essential Chronology
• The New Essential Chronology
• The New Essential Guide to Alien Species
• "Refresher Reading"—Star Wars Insider 91
• Fate of the Jedi: Dramatis Personae