The modern Star Wars canon has reintroduced a dangerous species from the original Legends continuity. Although the Star Wars original and prequel trilogies are part of both continuities, the lore surrounding both trilogies will often result in the same characters or events having drastically different in-universe contexts. Case in point: the pipe-smoking humanoid Dannik Jerriko seen in Chalmun’s Cantina in Mos Eisley is a human in the modern canon, but in the original Legends timeline, he is a member of the vampiric species known as the Anzati.

Star Wars Legends lore explores Anzati in depth, revealing that, despite their human-like appearance, they are far stronger, faster, and more durable than humans. Anzati are also universally Force-sensitive. Terrifyingly, however, Anzati have retractable proboscises on their cheeks, which they use to consume the brain matter – referred to as “soup” by Anzati – of other sentients. Anzati can live for centuries, using their Force powers to entrance and immobilize their victims before feeding on them. While Dannik Jerriko is not an Anzat in the modern canon, the Anzati have been reintroduced to the newer continuity.

The Anzati Are Older Than The Sith – & May Have Inspired Them

In the original Legends continuity, the Anzati may have had a degree of influence on the dreaded Sith Order. The Sith were originally a species from Korriban, and the first Dark Lords of the Sith were a group of exiled Jedi who colonized Korriban and enslaved its population before forming their own distinct dark side culture and philosophies. Sith philosophy includes elements of corrupted Jedi teachings and the culture of the Sith species, and the latter was influenced by the Anzati.

According to Evil Never Dies, an article by Abel Pena, many ancient practices and cultural norms of the Sith species, from sacrificing sapient beings to the traditional dish known as bloodsoup, were influenced by or are directly owed to ancient encounters between the Sith species and the Anzati. The article states:

Some historians have speculated that the atтιтudes of the early Sith people were owed to a prehistoric encounter between their species and the vampiric beings known as the Anzati. Volfe Karkko, a rare Anzat Jedi known for his prolonged study of one of the Jedi Temple’s rare Sith holocrons, was fond of reminding his fellow Knights that the Anzati “remember the very first Sith.” Beyond the anecdotal, though, there is no solid evidence to support this theory.

The Anzati Would Be A Terrifying Threat To The Jedi

The Anzati made their modern canon debut in the fall of 2024 in Star Wars: Battle of Jakku – Insurgency Rising #1 by Alex Segura, Leonard Kirk, and Rachelle Rosenberg. Reyna Oskure – a member of the Acolytes of the Beyond – was an Anzat, and although she would go on to be easily defeated by Luke Skywalker, she and other Anzati are extremely dangerous to most beings. Future Star Wars stories may connect the Anzati to the Sith like their original Legends-era iteration, as well as make them a major threat to Luke and Rey’s respective generations of Jedi.