Humans were a species of sentient, bipedal mammals with bilateral symmetry possibly native to the planet Coruscant. Throughout the galaxy, they constituted the culturally dominant species and were commonly encountered on most settled planets, from the bountiful planet of Naboo to the desert world of Tatooine. They were known to engage in many different pursuits, from politics to bounty hunting. Species that bore structural resemblance to humans (bipedal gait, two arms and two legs, opposable thumb) were referred to as "humanoids." Species that were very physically similar to, but still distinct from baseline humans were referred to as "near-humans."
By the time of the Galactic Civil War, humans were the galaxy's most numerous sentient species. However, in total there were still more non-human sentients than humans, so humans constituted a plurality rather than a majority of the galaxy's sentients.
Examples of male and female humans.
Humans were an intelligent mammalian species that arguably originated on Coruscant. They gave birth to live young. They were bipedal beings with a bilateral symmetry, having a front and a back end, as well as an upside and downside. Their bodies were comprised of a torso with a head and four limbs attached to it. The upper limbs, or arms, ended in hands which had five fingers each; the lower ones, called legs, ended in feet. The human fingers had multiple points of articulation, and one of them was an opposable thumb that allowed for fine manipulation. Finally, they had one head perched atop their torso. Many other species, including the Twi'leks, the Mon Calamari, or the Zygerrians, were referred to as "humanoids" because of their structural resemblance to humans. Like many other species, humans needed to oxygen from their environment to live.
Compared with the Wookiees of Kashyyyk, humans had little hair on their bodies. Most of it was concentrated on the scalp as well as the lower portions of the faces of some males, though these regions were often shaved in various patterns, either for hygiene or self-expression. Strips of concentrated hair, referred to as "eyebrows," were also located above the eyes, and were used in non-verbal communication. Human skin tones ranged from dark brown, through lighter shades, to pale. The skin of most humans native to Lothal had a copper sheen. Human eyes came in shades of blue, green, or brown. Occasionally, humans with purple or even red eyes could be encountered. The average height of humans was a little below 1.85 meters.
While examining the human Luke Skywalker after capturing him, a wampa noted his appearance, coming to the conclusion that a human was built to be useless and frail. The wampa was unable to fathom how such a lifeform had survived, especially since he saw that Skywalker was not a youngling. Additionally, the wampa noted the human's arms were not built to strike at prey and lacked claws. He also realized a human's legs were too short to be able to run fast across snow or ice. Because the throats of the two species were vastly different, most humans were incapable of speaking Shyriiwook, the language of the Wookiees. However, some humans could imitate Shyriiwook well enough to at least be somewhat understood by Wookiees. In comparison with most other species, the humans' sense of smell was quite underdeveloped.
Count Dooku was a human who could harness the power of the Force.
Like many other species, they could be sensitive to the Force, a mysterious energy that connected all living things in the galaxy and gave special powers to those who learned how to manipulate it. The Chosen One, Anakin Skywalker, was human, as were many Sith and Jedi, such as Darth Sidious, Count Dooku, Mace Windu, and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Sheev Palpatine was a human politician who rose to ultimate power.
Although humans could occupy a variety of occupations, from politicians to bounty hunters or moisture farmers, they were reputedly unable to work as podracers. Anakin Skywalker was reportedly the only human who could race pods. Humans were one of the most successful colonial species at migrating and adapting to dominate new worlds, meaning there existed many diverse planetary groups of humans with their own cultures, such as the Alderaanians and the Pamarthens.
The Grindalid Prybolt Garavult believed humans, at least from what he had seen of their species, had a reckless habit of getting into danger, reflecting that humans had in the past had recklessly become involved in situations involving horrible diseases or death through murder, with some humans escaping such crises but ending up horribly injured. Believing that humans had a horrible and persistent habit to run into a situation no matter the danger present, he believed humans could not be trusted to follow basic safety procedures.
Coruscant was generally accepted as the homeworld of the human species.
Some believed that humans hailed from Coruscant, one of the galaxy's so-called Core Worlds, but that theory was never proven. Many humans changed the course of galactic history, from politicians to slaves and even Jedi Knights. Darth Sidious, the Sith Lord who founded the autocratic Galactic Empire that ruled over the galaxy for over two decades, was a human from Naboo. Many members of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, including its founding members Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, and his adopted daughter Leia Organa were humans as well. The Galactic Empire was known to favor humans at the expense of nonhuman—or "alien"—species. The Empire's government and Imperial Military were dominated by humans. During the Age of the Empire, some humans like the Lothalite athletic director Janus Fhurek harbored xenophobic attitudes towards aliens and thought that their alien physiology gave them an unfair advantage over human grav-ball players.
Han Solo was a Corellian, a human native to Corellia, but made a home for himself throughout the galaxy as a smuggler and rebel.
Like Duros, humans were one of the most successful colonial species, having migrated and adapted to dominate a variety of worlds. Their diverse cultures outside of Coruscant included Naboo, Ming Po, Alderaanian, Corellian, Pamarthen, Chalactan, and Chandrilan. By the time of the Galactic Civil War, humans were the most populous of the galaxy's intelligent species, and could be encountered nearly anywhere communities of people gathered.
Although humans tended to regard their great adaptiveness as a skill, aliens sometimes reproached them for spreading all across the galaxy, forcing themselves upon ecosystems they did not belong to. Burta, a Krish female, notably held that point of view, which she vehemently defended against Jyn Erso. They discussed how humans could adapt, such as using radiated igurts on ice planets, use ridgecrawlers if there were mountains, and used scub-subs if there was water. Erso said that some people would consider humans adapting a skill. Burta, however, mentioned that either humans adapted or they would force the planet to adapt to them.
Humans have appeared so far in the nine film main installments of the Star Wars saga. They have also appeared in several spin-offs and TV shows as main characters.
In the Star Wars universe, the Star Wars Legends originally established that humans lived longer than in the real-world largely as they didn't have to take into account the actors getting older. However, in the new canon, Holocron continuity database keeper Leland Chee has stated that humans lived the same real-world average lifespan, which is estimated to be 71 years old.
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