There are lots of things in the Star Wars universe that we could only ever experience with our imagination. Whether that’s meeting the unusual characters in the different worlds or even completing the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs, some of these things are so absurd they’d never happen in real life. That doesn’t mean real-life things didn’t inspire George Lucas when he was creating the famous franchise.
Lightsabres
For as long as the movies have been out to enjoy, children (and let’s face it, adults, too) have been swinging around poles pretending they are lightsabres. Whether it’s a big stick, the empty cardboard roll from a roll of wrapping paper or even one of the highly realistic replica toys, it’s hard to resist the urge to produce a low “zummmm” noise with your mouth and swing it around like your favourite characters.
The lightsabres might seem like the most high-tech weapon ever invented. They can glow in the dark, slice someone’s arm off from feet away and yet still be made safe and clipped on your belt when not in use. While this gadget may seem futuristic, the inspiration for these weapons are anything but. According to an interview George Lucas gave as a DVD extra to one of the films, he was inspired by classic films that involved sword swashbuckling and also historical Asian swordplay from centuries ago when designing these tools.
Sabacc
Sabacc is probably one of the most complicated card games in any galaxy. There are many different cards, decks, suits and even variations on the game. That’s meant that anybody who can play well can end up a very rich person indeed. If you win the occasional game, it could still earn you some big money. Of course, we all now know that the most famous ship in the galaxy, the Millennium Falcon, was actually won by Han Solo from his soon to be friend Lando Calrissian in a heated round of the game.
Although it’s hard to imagine how you’d even start playing the game in real life, it’s easy to see where it got its origins from. The way of keeping score with chips, the number of cards they hold and even the different stages of the game are clearly inspired by the ancient casino game poker. While it’s unlikely this form of the classic game will ever catch on because of its complexity, poker has modernised for the 21st century and is now available to play anywhere on the world over the internet. Websites like Unibet will even let you play for real money from your smartphone, a concept many people would have thought just as alien a mere couple of decades ago.
Porgs
While a porg might be a cute creature that we’d only ever see in the Star Wars universe, we’ve probably met some of its ancestors in real life before. Creature concept designer Jake Lunt Davies is said to be inspired in his design of the creatures by three traditional animals – puffins, seals, and pug dogs. In fact, the only reasons that porgs exist is that they thought it’d be easier to paint over real-life that appeared on the set uninvited during shooting with the mystical creatures than digitally remove them from the scene.