Born on the forest world of Kashyyyk, Shalbacca was part of the ruling family of the village Rwookrrorro. For his early years, Shalbacca was well respected until an unfortunate accident separated him from his fellow Wookiee's when he was named a madclaw. In actually, Shalbacca had been forced to use he claws in order to free a fellow Wookiee from strangulation, but the latter died from wounds to his abdomen that Shalbacca did not know of.