Elders ( Naboo ) / Legends The " Elders " was a name used to describe a species of spacefaring aliens that first colonized the planet of Naboo in the Mid Rim Territories , several millennia before the Grizmalltian Humans . A Force - sensitive people , the Elders used to build temples and monuments , which were scattered throughout the Nabooian landscape . At least a few similar ruins were also found on the moon Rori . Upon their arrival , the Elders clashed with the Gungans , a race of amphibious humanoids native to Naboo . Both Gungan and Human Naboo scientists agreed that the end of the Elder civilization may have been the result of the Elders ' negligence toward their environment . Others have suggested that the Elders were forced to vacate Naboo after a natural disaster or an invasion . Centuries after the fall of the Elders , archaeologists were divided as to whether the statues were giant representations of the vanished species or monumental portraits of their gods . In the last decades of the Galactic Republic , the crumbling remnants of the Elders had become objects of worship to the Gungans , who thought the sculptures depicted their own deities and sought refuge among them in times of trouble . Biology and appearance . The vanished species who colonized the planet of Naboo in the Mid Rim and passed to posterity under the name of " Elders " were shrouded in mystery . Very little was certain about them , and academic theories pertaining to those beings were mainly based on their architectural relics . While some archaeologists theorized that the stone colossi the Elders left were icons devoted to their deities , others suggest they were indeed a depiction of the Elders themselves . If the latter theory was true , the Elders were very similar to Humans , with an egg - shaped head , two forward - facing eyes , a mildly protruding nose bearing two nostrils , and a mouth with fleshy lips . Their auricles , if they had any , were concealed by pieces of headgear . Still going by that theory and judging by other remains of their stone statues , the Elders had a torso and limbs ending in fingers , which further implied a fairly humanoid body structure . The eyes of the colossi appeared to be closed , as if the figures they depicted were asleep or meditating . Their forehead featured a ring - shaped motif , perhaps a stylized third eye . Based on the meditative stance of the stone heads , the archaeologists deduced that the Elders knew of the Force — a mystical energy field that gave powers to those who could use it — and considered it sacred . The appearance of the Elder statues resemble that of another ancient idol worshipped by the Order of Dai Bendu in the Andobi Mountains of Ando Prime . In both cases , the statues portrayed humanoids with closed eyes and thick lips . On the Elders ' humanoid looks , it should be noted that the native Gungans remained unfazed when the putative first Human colonists landed on Naboo many centuries after the Elders ' departure , which suggest that they had seen Humans before . Millennia later , explorers considered that previous visits to Naboo had indeed existed , although they could find no trace of such landings or any official record at all . Society and culture . The Elders arrived on Naboo from another world , which requires space travel . That means they had reached space - level , which was considered to be the final stage of technological development of any civilization . A people of builders , the Elders erected many temple s containing archways , columns , and massive statues that supported the roofs . The distribution of those ruins suggested that the Elders lived mainly in swampy areas . Their colossi typically depicted meditating , if somewhat awe - inducing , individuals wearing headgears in the shape of a truncated cone . Occasionally , some were portrayed clutching weapons and staring vacantly into space . Based on the speculations of scientists , the Elders may have been among the first civilizations to have conducted a rudimentary study of the Force , before the birth of the Je ' daii Order on Tython in 36 , 453 BBY . History . The Elders were not indigenous to Naboo , a planet on the outer edge of the Mid Rim , but they were its first recorded external visitors . They set foot on their new homeworld in ancient times , while the planet ' s initially molten core was slowly cooling down until it became solid . It happened , in any event , millennia before a group of Humans from the Core World of Grizmallt . colonized Naboo . According to tradition , the Elders engaged in warfare with the indigenous Gungans , a race of amphibious sentients . Despite the rivalry , the Elders ' civilization flourished on Naboo for nearly two thousands of years . As time went by , they built many temples and statues all around the Nabooian countryside . Judging by the similar monuments and colossi that stood on Rori , one of the three moons orbiting Naboo , the Elders also established their presence there . The Elders eventually vacated their adopted homeworld . According to several Gungan and Naboo chroniclers , the disappearance of the Elders could be attributed to their greed and blatant disrespect of the planet ' s ecological harmony . Others theorize that Elders relocated some place else in the galaxy when forced to do so by an undetermined catastrophe , either a a natural disaster or an alien onslaught . In the last centuries of the Galactic Republic , all that remained of the Elders were massive heads and limbs of stone scattered across Naboo ' s surface . The archaeologists , however , disagreed on the interpretation of those artifacts : they were unsure if those effigies were representations of the vanished race themselves or giant portraits of their deities . In any case , millennia after the Elders ' mysterious vanishing , the Gungans used their ruins as places of worship , especially the Sacred Place , an abandoned sanctuary hidden in the foothills of the Gallo Mountains . When the Gungan city of Otoh Sancture was razed in 3000 BBY , its leader Boss Gallo chose to rebuild it in the shadow of a few Elder monuments . Other such ruins included the Gungan Caves , the Lianorm Raceway Podracing course , and what became Rish Loo ' s secret laboratory around 21 BBY . Despite having fought them in the past , they also considered the Elders ' effigies as depictions of their guds — a Gungan word for gods . For example , a certain statue overlooking a waterfall was assimilated to Dobbis , goddess of the rain , and another to Big Maxiboss Gurunda . When the ten - year - old , homesick Human Anakin Skywalker first saw the Sacred Place , he mistakenly identified such colossal remains as " giant Gungan heads carved out of stone , " despite the striking phenotypical differences between the Gungans and the sculptures . On the same occasion , Padmé Amidala , the Queen of the Nabooian Humans , found the Elders ' statuary eerie and unnerving . Behind the scenes . Although the giant stone heads built by the Elders first appeared on Naboo in the 1999 movie , they were originally conceived as part of the Tatooinian landscape . Early concept art from 1996 show an eopie and its rider walking in the sand of Tatooine with a head statue in the background . The Elder heads shown in the movie were crafted in the Industrial Light & Magic model shop by Concept Sculptor Mark Siegel . Whereas " The New Essential Guide to Alien Species " has the Gungans driving the Elders off of Naboo in 100 BBY , the newer reference book " The Essential Atlas " places the end of their civilization in 5 , 032 BBY .