Why The Ewoks Are The True Heroes Of The Rebellion
Image Source: Star Wars
Ewoks, the little furry creatures that divide Star Wars fans. Some fans love the little guys, while others wish they never existed. Whatever your opinion on the Ewoks, they were the reason the Rebels were able to defeat the Empire on Endor. They were the true heroes of the Rebellion.
Return of the Jedi began with Leia going to rescue Han, but she got captured. Luke continued his Jedi training on Dagobah with a dying Yoda. Once he reached his full potential as a Jedi, he returned to Tatooine and rescued Han, Leia, and Chewbacca from Jabba the Hutt. Then, they found out that the second Death Star is being constructed. Our heroes went to the forest moon of Endor to destroy the field generator protecting the battle station being constructed. Here, they met the local population of Ewoks, fuzzy little creatures who befriended Leia and took C-3PO as their god. The rest of the party would eventually warm up to them. After the Rebels gained the trust of the Ewoks, the Endor natives would help them fight in the battle against the Empire.
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The Imperial forces on Endor had heavy firepower on their side with powerful weapons like the AT-STs. We had previously seen on Hoth that the Rebels already had a hard time bringing down the AT-ATs. The Rebels on Endor had no chance against this firepower alone. They only had small special ops units, and their numbers were vastly smaller compared to the Empire. However, the Rebels had the Ewoks on their side.
Image Source: Escapist
The Ewoks used their skills and knowledge to help defeat the Empire. They had the time and resources to build up a group of seasoned fighters. They were familiar with the terrains and were able to utilize them to their advantage. They also wanted to defend their home, which was their motivation to fight their hardest against the Empire.
They followed a multi-prong strategy in going up against the Imperial forces. The Ewoks started small by taking out the stormtroopers who were patrolling or on watch. This put the Empire forces off balance, and the troopers were forced to deal with multiple threats at once. Then, the Ewoks went for bigger targets like the AT-STs. With the forest as their cover, they were swift and fast in their takedown and could spread out to take down multiple enemies at once. The Ewoks’ fighting style was quite similar to guerilla warfare. Even George Lucas himself said he drew inspiration from the Vietnam War for the fight on Endor.
The small squad led by our heroes did not have the power to cripple the Imperial forces on Endor and destroy the generator on their own. If you took the Ewoks out of the equation, the Empire would have succeeded in their plans. The Rebels would have been killed, and Luke’s interactions with Vader on the Death Star would have been for nothing. All hope from the galaxy would have been lost as much of the Rebel fleet would have been destroyed, freeing the Death Star II to wipe out entire planets and star systems. However, the Ewoks were able to give them the fighting advantage they needed to destroy the shield generator on Endor protecting the battle station. The Ewoks were essentially the reason the Rebels succeeded in destroying the Death Star II, and saving the galaxy.
Image Source: Star Wars
While the Ewoks may still be heavily debated by Star Wars fans, they were the true heroes of the Rebellion. They were exactly what the Rebels needed to win against the Empire. The Rebels would not have succeeded on Endor without these fuzzy little creatures.
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Source(s): Wired