The Brutal Life Forced Upon Neimoidian Children In ‘Star Wars’
Neimoidians are an interesting species, to say the least. They first appeared in The Phantom Menace with the introduction of Viceroy Nute Gunray of the Trade Federation. The Neimoidians are featured all throughout The Clone Wars, but they are mostly villainous Trade Federation members. However, the entire species has a rather ruthless history. While they are known for their business skills, negotiating skills, and greed, they are also a colonial species that migrates to other worlds and adapts to that word's environment. Also, they have no problem enslaving the native species to maintain dominance. With all of their brutal tactics and lifestyles, it is no surprise that the way they raise their children is just a brutal as the way they carry out their adult lives.
While Neimoidians are humanoid in form, they are more amphibious in appearance and biology. This means they do not exactly birth children the same way other humanoid species would. Their children are actually born into hives in a larva state in a similar way to bees. The Neimoidian children then spend the first seven years of the life as grubs. In this maggot-like state, they are forced to compete with each other for food. The children that are able to gather the most food win the prize of survival. That’s right, it is child-rearing through survival of the fittest. Any child, or rather, larva, that does not gather enough food will die. One can argue that this is a necessity due to a limited food supply, but that does not seem to be the case. As stated, the Neimoidians are a colonial species and have conquered many worlds. In theory, this should give them access to a larger food supply. Many members of their species are not only members of the Trade Federation, but also Nute Gunroy was the leader of the Trade Federation. This means their species, or at least certain members, are extremely wealthy. They could have easily been able to feed every child of their species without much issue.
It might help to note that the Neimoidians were once related to the Duros, which is the species Cad Bane belongs to. They seem to have, at one point, been extremely close to the same species. Eventually, roughly 15,000 years BBY (Before Battle of Yavin), the Neimoidians diverged in their physical appearance enough to be considered a separate species. The Duros, however, do not seem to treat their children in the same way the Neimoidians do. At least there does not appear to be any information to suggest that they do. Legends state that they are caring and nurturing in raising their children, but there is not a lot of canonical details. Legends also does not mention anything about Neimoidian child care, so it would appear that this form of brutal child care is not part of their inherent lifestyle but a choice the Neimoidians make.
Neimoidians do not have a good reputation in the Star Wars universe, and it seems there is a good reason for this. Not only are they greedy and often cowardly, but they create a fiercely competitive culture where failure results in death. From childhood to death, in some cases, Neimoidians are constantly fighting for survival even when it is not actually necessary. While there are members of their species who could obviously spearhead change for the betterment of their species, like Gunray, those leaders seem too preoccupied with making as much profit as possible. The rest of the people could theoretically fight this cultural lifestyle and push for change. Instead, it seems they prefer this fierce competitive style of raising their children.
Source: Wookieepedia