Star Wars' Disturbing Alternative To Droids: The Decraniated Explained
Parts of the "Star Wars" universe have always been steeped in darkness. Entire galaxy systems succumbed to the tyranny of a fascist superstructure, which brought unimaginable horror along with it. Although "Star Wars" has never technically fit the horror mold — it is primarily a samurai-styled sci-fi adventure that oscillates between being inspiring and darkly moody — however, some aspects of the franchise's lore are downright chilling. Examples include Imperial torture methods that are pretty inhumane, such as IT-O Interrogator droids used to inflict unimaginable pain on prisoners, or New Republic-backed devices such as the Mind Flayer, repurposed by the regime from old Imperial torture models.
Perhaps the most disturbing part of these darker lore aspects is The Decraniated, who were incorporated in canon to flesh out the worldbuilding in "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" and "Solo: A Star Wars Story." The Decraniated were creations of the Alsakan-based surgeon, Dr. Cornelius Evazan, who started operating on patients in horrific ways to leave them disfigured after experiencing a psychological breakdown. Ezavan's bout of madness made him lose all sense of empathy, prompting him to create the Decraniated as an order of servants meant to serve his every twisted will.
While the Decraniated have not been exclusively focused on in "Star Wars" canon so far, Evazan made his first appearance in "Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope," while his latest appearance was in "Rogue One." Let's dive deeper into the history of the Decraniated to gauge what kind of lives they were forced to lead.
The birth of the Decraniated
Evazan was not always a twisted surgeon — in fact, he started as a skilled doctor on his home planet, Alsakan, but a string of events during his training drove him insane. Viewing his inclination to disfigure patients as "creative," Evazan did not use droid assistance during these gruesome procedures, and haphazardly cut up his patients without any regard for morality. In an ironic turn of events, Evazan's face became disfigured when a bounty hunter tried to kill him before he managed to escape with the help of another thug.
Over the years, Evazan smuggled goods illegally for Jabba the Hutt, which earned him a notorious reputation as a criminal, forcing him to take refuge with the Crimson Dawn syndicate. As Evazan served as a physician for the gang, he was at liberty to satisfy his morbid curiosity to experiment with different types of life forms. Taking his depravities to new heights, he created a new class of cyber-augmented, subservient beings known as the Decraniated, some of whom went on to serve in Dryden Vos' yacht, First Light. Some of the Decraniated also resided in Jedha City before it was destroyed by the Death Star.
The term "Decraniated" refers to the major portions of their missing heads, which were probably scooped out to trigger their subservient traits and alienate them further from any sense of humanity. Given how these beings never had any autonomy in their creation or daily roles, their existence within the galaxy is inevitably tinged with tragedy. These people used to be wounded or incapacitated victims of war pre-surgery, pushed into lives of servitude without ever being given a choice.
There's more to the story of the Decraniated
While most of Evazan's experiments sadly ended up serving Imperials and catering to their every whim, some fought against their inherent programming in an attempt to do something meaningful for the galaxy. "Rogue One" details Vos and Ezavan's goals to turn insurgency casualties into the Decraniated, but their plans are foiled when Jedha City gets destroyed. However, some of the Decraniated survivors joined the Partisans' resistance group in an attempt to stand up to the Empire, regaining some of their humanity in the process of fighting against pure evil.
When rebel insurgent Saw Gerrera and his group fought against Imperial control in Jedha (which was heavily mined for lightsaber kyber crystals), a high-gravity humanoid named Caysin Bog was blown apart during the attack. Evazan treated Bog's injuries and retrofitted cybernetics into his body, robbing him of his autonomy and making him subservient like the Decraniated. Bog's head was also taken out, and his limbs were augmented with cybernetics with exposed a portion of his guts. While Bog was never the same after Ravazan's surgery, he was able to fight through his programmed urges and was pretty hell-bent on exacting revenge for the surgeon's transgressions.
While some of the Decraniated were able to escape the horrid demands of their existence, the very nature of their birth is unnatural and undoubtedly inhumane. Who needs the Empire to be an evil monolith when a lone mad doctor is going around desecrating the sanctity of life in whatever way he wishes?