The Star Wars franchise has created some of the most enduring and beloved creatures of science fiction and fantasy. One of the first, introduced in 1977's A New Hope, are the mysterious Jawas. Despite playing an important role early in that original film and, more recently, the first season of The Mandalorian, little is known about the hooded scavengers, including what the creatures look like beneath their brown robes. But, as Hasbro's Black Series Jawa action figure reinforces, some secrets are best kept hidden.
A Jawa's face has never been shown in Star Wars canon, which was narrowed significantly following Disney's 2012 purchase of Lucasfilm. What is known about them is they find, or steal, droids and ship parts to re-purpose and resell across the wastelands of Tatooine, Arvala-7, and Nevarro. Due to residing on hot and dry planets, they cover their typically one-meter-tall bodies in hooded robes to retain moisture and shield their eyes from sunlight. As a result, their faces are only shown as glowing yellow eyes emerging from the shadow of their hoods.
If only it had remained that way. However, Star Wars fan Thomas Harper found that, if you remove the fabric robe from the Hasbro Jawa figure, you're left with a horrific, faceless being that is the stuff of nightmares. "The toy designer who thought it was a good idea to give Jawas removable clothing should be imprisoned for not less than 10 years," he wrote on Twitter, where he shared the following image:
While this is almost certainly not meant to be the canonical appearance of a disrobed Jawa, that it's the basis of an official piece of Star Wars memorabilia may indicate a much more frightening truth than originally assumed.
The only on-screen hint to the Jawas' appearance is their furry, five-fingered hands, as shown in A New Hope. From other sources, such as novelizations and visual dictionaries, it's known that Jawas have a distinct and repugnant odor. Some of those sources indicate Jawas are either rodent-like, some form of devolved humans, or both. The validity of these sources is questionable, as the novelizations and companion books have been ignored in favor of films and television series.
There is further evidence to back up the claim that Jawas are some form of bipedal rodents. The legendary Ralph McQuarrie depicted a hoodless Jaw in his original concept art for Star Wars. The design was unmistakably rodent-like, and showed the Jawa sporting a helmet similar to a real-life construction hat, and goggles that were the source of the creatures' glowing eyes. Ultimately that design was never used, and the appearance of the Jawas was left a mystery. That decision benefited the film, creating an even more alien feel to Tatooine.
Looking back into Star Wars Legends, the supplemental books, comics and other supplemental material released before Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm, there are some additional clues about the Jawas' physiology. One source claimed in-universe that Jawas were decedents of an extinct species on Tatooine; that evidence also indicates the Tusken Raiders share that common ancestor. However, given that Jawas have since been seen in canon on Avalar-7 and Nevarro, it's not as clear which planet is their origin point. It seems Jawas are physically the same across all three planets, as the only visual difference is the color of their robes. So, it can be assumed Jawas retain common traits and ancestry across the galaxy.
Until more canon materials are released featuring the Jawas, there is limited information about them. Given the intentional decision to leave their appearance a mystery, me may not ever see what's beneath the robe, except in action figure form.