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What was the longest natural biological lifespan in Star Wars canon among "normal" sentient characters/species?

"Normal species" would be any species or characters who are not somehow supernatural (like The Ones who presumably are Celestials but basically an embodiment of The Force; or Abeloth; or Anzati who feed off lifeforces of others and are basically infinitely-existing vampires).

By natural lifespan I mean:

  • being biologically alive (e.g. if some Sith Lord is placed in stasis for 10000 years and lives for 40 years before and after statis, their lifespan would be 80 years, not 10080).

  • If someone exists as a ghost/etc, or replaces their body with a machine, that also doesn't count.

  • If you help the biology along (using the Force, or advanced medical technology etc...) it doesn't count.

I'm fine if the answer is either a long-lived species, or unusualy long-lived individual members of shorter-lived species.

The answer can be from any canon C and above

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  • Sentient, semi-sentient, and/or non-sentient?
    – BennyMcBenBen
    Jun 23, 2012 at 12:34
  • @BennyMcBenBen - definitely sentient. I'm not sure what you mean by semi-sentient. NOT non-sentient.
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Jun 23, 2012 at 12:58
  • The Essential Guide to Alien Species (2001) defines semisentient as "a species has some reasoning ability but cannot grasp elevated or abstract concepts. In many cases, a semisentient group has not yet formed a written or spoken language. Under the Empire, these species were not entitled to land ownership, but this prohibition is not being reconsidered in the senate of the New Republic." Examples include Hssiss and Purella.
    – BennyMcBenBen
    Jun 23, 2012 at 13:05
  • They might not qualify as "normal", but Zonama Sekot and space slugs (and similar space-dwelling life forms) should easily exceed the about 1000 years offered so far, for different reasons.
    – Raphael
    Jun 24, 2012 at 12:37
  • 2
    @DVK - I would say Zonoma Sekot is a 'biological entity' as well as 'sentient', but I would not classify it the same way as a 'normal' species
    – The Fallen
    Jun 24, 2012 at 22:07

9 Answers 9

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10

The answer is, rather obviously the Gen'dai, who had a average lifespan of 4,000 - 7,000 years old, due to their trait of biological regeneration. A trait of the species as a whole.

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    Is there a reference anywhere to support that 4000-7000 year lifespan?
    – mu is too short
    Apr 2, 2014 at 5:31
  • For the record, I meant to agree with Mu's edit. My brain and laptop conspired against us both!
    – Meat Trademark
    Apr 2, 2014 at 5:36
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    Sorry Mu. It'll go through. It's a good and valid edit. Now I live in shame. Oh, the pain.
    – Meat Trademark
    Apr 2, 2014 at 5:40
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In every case, your answer probably lies with the Sarlacc. If you count it as sentient, it wins with a life span of 20k - 50k years.

If you don't, it still wins, as it prolongs the lives of its victims, so it can digest them:

In its belly you will find a new definition of pain and suffering as you are slowly digested over a…thousand years! [C-3PO in ROTJ]

From the Wookieepedia article:

After being swallowed by the tongue, the victim made its way into the sarlacc's stomach to be digested, purportedly being kept alive and slowly digested for a millennium.

(emphasis by me)

So, most victims that are not infants would have a lifespan greater than 1000 years. The pain probably makes you think it was more, or go insane, or both.

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  • 1
    According to the Essential Guide to Alien Species (2001), Sarlaccs are semisentient.
    – BennyMcBenBen
    Jun 23, 2012 at 14:54
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    "victims" of Sarlacc would not have a "natural" lifespan, as the question asks. Sorry, I have to withdraw my accept, now that I re-read my question.
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Feb 5, 2014 at 21:58
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    I always read it that the digestion process would take a thousand years, not that it somehow keeps you alive
    – Valorum
    Apr 2, 2014 at 11:37
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    @Why indeed. Why would any creature expend that much effort to keep its food alive?
    – Valorum
    Apr 6, 2014 at 6:02
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    @Richard: Do you have a fridge?
    – bitmask
    Apr 6, 2014 at 8:44
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According to my research flipping through The Essential Guide to Alien Species (2001), your best answer is probably Hutts. Sadly, life span is not one of the criteria listed for each alien species so I cannot say for sure. Perhaps the New Guide published in 2006 has additional answers.

From the entry on Hutts on page 59:

Hutts are among the longest-living species in the galaxy, with a maximum recorded life span of 1,000 years.

No life spans close to 1,000 years were found skimming this book so this is probably your best answer.

On the entry on Klatooinians on page 71:

The overriding reverence for time is at the center of Klatooinian religious beliefs, so it was natural that the Klatooinians were in awe of the Hutts, who revealed that they live to an age of over 1,000 years.

One could surmise that if the Klatooinians found a longer living species than the Hutts, then they would be in servitude to them rather than the Hutts.

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  • You seem to have confused "criteria" for "attributes".
    – Acccumulation
    Feb 15, 2020 at 21:24
4

Despite the fact that the species as a whole is Force sensitive, the Neti seem to have a natural lifespan of several thousand years, making them rival the Gen'dai. Being tree-like beings, they can survive for millennia as long as they have access to light and some water.

However, since the species comes from the Force-rich world of Myrkr, they have evolved to be natural Force users, not unlike various other animal species with whom they shared the planet. Using Force trances, it is believed that the Neti lifespan has no theoretical upper limit.

I know the question asked specifically for non-Force enhanced lifespans, but I believe the Neti are still contenders for the top spot, with their very imprecise lifespan of "several" thousand years (usually meaning at least 3, but without a clear upper limit). The species is rather unknown and the few known individuals pretty much all ended up being Jedi Knights and Masters that mostly died unnatural deaths, so it's hard to tell.

One such example is Jedi Master Ood Bnar, who was known to be alive before the Great Hyperspace War of 5000 BBY. He died in 10 ABY, sacrificing his life to help Luke Skywalker and Kam Solusar defeat Executor Sedriss. While it is true that Master Ood Bnar could have used the Force to enhance his natural lifespan, the living conditions on Ossus didn't necessarily require it. His birth is also undocumented, but he was already an accomplished and respected Jedi by the time of the Great Hyperspace War, making him at least over 5000 years old, probably closer to 6000.

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  • LOL what's with the Neti popularity in the last 15 minutes? :)
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Apr 2, 2014 at 13:08
  • Also, same comment as the other Neti answer: that "several thousand years" fact on the Wikia isn't cited (Unlike Gen'Dai's); and this hard to ascertain how canonical it is. The "became a myth" complicates it even further - perhaps the lifespan was a myth or a distortion as well.
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Apr 2, 2014 at 13:08
  • Yeah, I had started up an answer, but had to go AFK for a few minutes. When I came back, there was apparently another Neti answer :p
    – Dungarth
    Apr 2, 2014 at 13:12
  • Added Ood Bnar as an example, whose age of over 5000 years is somewhat documented. While his species as a whole became myth, the guy still took part in the Great Hyperspace Wars yet only died saving Luke's ass against Sedriss.
    – Dungarth
    Apr 2, 2014 at 13:29
  • Well everyone keeps refering to "became a myth" as an excuse to excuse the several thousand year age. It wasnt that the age WAS a myth. You just rarely seen them. The race as a whole was a myth since their home world had been destroyed. And they had a slow reproductive rate seeing that every thousand years another NETI offspring was born. And when the neti prent died some would sprout instantly where the parent left. They infact had a life span that rivaled the Gendai but became the myth like i stated for the fact you rarely seen them.
    – user63888
    Mar 28, 2016 at 14:45
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Since fay's lifespan was considered ageless due to the Force that makes Kadri'Ra the longest i can think of.

"Kadri'Ra were a long-lived species, with a natural lifespan of 1,000 to 1,500 years."

The Empire labeled them as non-sentient so they could be use as slaves, even though they were considered wise, and philosophers.

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    "ageless due to the force" is outside the scope of the question: "If you help the biology along (using the Force, or advanced medical technology etc...) it doesn't count". Good find though!
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Feb 7, 2013 at 14:02
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Based on what we see purely in the films, you'd have to say that Yoda's species were the longest-lived - he talks about being 900 years old, but there is of course no suggestion of whether that's at, below or above par for the species as a whole. I'm assuming from your phrasing of the question, however, that you're discounting Force users as having 'helped the biology along', although Yoda's Wookieepedia article only mentions his 'very long lifespan' without any suggestion that it was enhanced by the Force.

The next species that comes to my mind are the Wookiees. It was established early on that Chewbacca was 200 years old by the time of the Battle of Yavin, but again, lacking any context regarding Wookiees as a whole we don't know that that was exceptional. Wookieepedia talks about their lifespan averaging 600 years, but doesn't suggest a source for this figure; the Complete Star Wars Enyclopedia only says Wookiees have lifespans 'several times that of a human' without putting a figure on it.

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The Gen'Dai were believed by many to be almost immortal. They were formless masses of nerves and soft tissue that could live between 4,000 and 7,000 years. They can be found in Legends. The best example of a Gen'Dai would be the bounty hunter Durge from Volume 1 of the Clone Wars Microseries that aired in 2003 in the battle of muunilinst.

They were able to suffer serious damages, such as dismemberment, impalement, decapitation, etc. and would regenerate and get up like nothing had happened.

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1

Duinuogwuin (aka Star Dragons) could reach 2000 (src: Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds RPG rolebook)

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Neti - Sentient plants with a lifespan of several thousand years.

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  • Good find, but that fact on the Wikia isn't cited and this hard to ascertain how canonical it is. The "became a myth" complicates it even further - perhaps the lifespan was a myth or a distortion as well.
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Apr 2, 2014 at 13:04

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