# What was he inspiration for a Wookie?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-he-inspiration-for-a-wookie/619536>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [April 21, 2012, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-he-inspiration-for-a-wookie/619536 "2012-04-21T21:41:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![The\_Hairy\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@The\_Hairy\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hairy_One)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-he-inspiration-for-a-wookie/619536/1 "2012-04-21T21:41:14Z")

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I am now convinced that George Lucas’ inspiration for Chewbacca the Wookie was a 15 year old boy. They’re tall, hairy, communicate in grunts & howls, and threaten to remove your arms if you even look at them in the wrong direction.

This was inspired by recent “conversations” with my son. Those of you with teenage children (or older, or if you are a 15 year old boy) are invited to respond.

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-he-inspiration-for-a-wookie/619536/2 "2012-04-21T21:49:31Z")

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Thus spake wikipedia:

> [@](#):
>
> According to an interview with creator George Lucas, the inspiration for the Wookiee was Lucas’ dog, Indiana (whose name is used in the Lucas-inspired Indiana Jones movies). “He was the prototype for the Wookiee. He always sat beside me in the car. He was big, a big bear of a dog.”[cite this quote] During the climactic chase scene in THX 1138, one of the robotic cops, voiced by actor Terry McGovern, says: “I think I ran over a Wookiee back there”, and thus the word was born.[1][2][3][4]

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-he-inspiration-for-a-wookie/619536/3 "2012-04-21T22:45:36Z")

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Chewbacca’s appearance was no doubt drawn from [Jo-Jo the Dog-faced Boy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fedor_Jeftichew)