The
bone-chilling
cold is not the only danger that awaits a traveler on the Hoth plains. Despite standing over two meters in height, the wampa ice creature is nonetheless a stealthy predator. Its white fur is the
perfect camouflage, and the howling Hoth winds mask its approach until it is too
late. With a crushing
blow from its clawed hand, a wampa is strong enough to snap the neck of even a hardy tauntaun.
Wampas live in caves carved from the ice. It is here that the ice creature drags its prey. It suspends its victims from the cave ceiling until it is ready to feast.
The Rebels were plagued with wampa attacks when they erected their hidden
base on Hoth. Commander Luke Skywalker was savagely attacked by a wampa while on scouting duty. Skywalker narrowly escaped becoming a meal and dying in a Hoth
blizzard. Despite bacta treatment administered by the skilled medical droid
2-1B, Luke still bears scars from that encounter.
Just prior to the evacuation of the Hoth
base, the Rebels had to deal with repeated wampa attacks. The first indication that was something amiss was the discovery of a dead tauntaun, its neck mysteriously broken. Attracted to the sound of astromech droids, several wampa ice creatures penetrated deeper and deeper into the Alliance caverns. The Rebels were able to capture at least one wampa in a
pen before having to abandon Echo
Base altogether.
