Before Baby Yoda, Baby Groot and the Gremlins, Ewoks were generally the most adorable movie critters to Star Wars fans and moviegoers alike. Ewoks played a vital role in the Empire’s collapse at the hands of the Rebellion during Return of the Jedi. Many different publications have shown that the Ewoks were at war with the Empire long before the Rebellion arrived on Endor. It appears that the Ewoks generated a lot more fear from the Empire than their Rebel counterparts.
“Apocalypse Endor” by Christian Read, Clayton Henry, Jimmy Palmiotti, Steve Dutro and Dan Jackson in Star Wars Tales #14 depicts a former stormtrooper relaying horror stories of his time on Endor. The trooper explains that when the Empire first arrived on Endor, a team of stormtroopers was sent into the forest to contact the native species. The Ewoks were extremely welcoming and brought gifts of flowers, which they tried to adorn the troopers’ weapons with. The squad mistook the gesture for an attempt to block their weapons and began firing at the Ewoks. This would mark the beginning point in the Imperial-Ewok War.
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The Ewoks quickly became hostile and begun to lay traps for unsuspecting stormtroopers. The veteran trooper describes horror stories of the Ewoks taking his friends one by one. The creatures would lay spike traps to capture the soldiers and often exploit the weak points in their enemies’ armor. A soldier even surrendered to Rebels, claiming that he just wants to get away from the Ewoks.
The Ewoks’ ferocity was further shown in Zach Giallongo’s graphic novel Star Wars: Ewoks – Shadows of Endor. The Empire had enslaved the Duloks, a rival tribe of the Ewoks, but one had escaped and made his way to the Ewoks’ home of Bright Tree Village. Upon seeing the Dulok, the chief of the Ewoks exclaims that Duloks are usually gutted on sight. The Ewok chief dismissed the Dulok’s claims and locked him up instead. Not long after, he is freed by Wicket and his friends.
The Ewoks eventually got into a skirmish with the stormtroopers that quickly became lethal. The stormtroopers were cut through with ease and some of the Ewoks even learned to use their high-tech weapons. In the process of fighting the stormtroopers, the Ewoks also awoke a legendary monster that they took down after defeating them. This battle would take place 8 months before the Rebels landed on the moon.
Return of the Jedi also gave prime examples of why the stormtroopers feared the Ewoks. When Han, Luke and Chewie are captured by the Ewoks, they are tied up and prepared for a feast. This almost seems like a familiar process to the Ewoks in the movies. Stormtroopers would not have had C-3PO to get them out of that situation, so there’s no telling how many troopers were eaten by the Ewoks. There are also hints in “Apocalypse Endor” that allude to Ewoks eating stormtroopers
The Ewoks furthered their dominance of the Empire by using excellent military tactics. They were completely outgunned and outmanned, but the environment worked to their advantage. After all, Stormtroopers are rarely shown training for the environments that they battle in. The soldiers who travel with Palpatine and Vader would have difficulty adjusting from all of the different environments they had fought in. The Empire rarely had to account for native retaliation in the other planets they had visited, and were even assisted by the civilians on Bespin. The Ewoks are the only species shown that actually fought for their home. They used the knowledge of their environment to make their spears and bows much more deadly than they should have been.
EA’s Star Wars Battlefront II shows the greatest first-person experience of what the stormtroopers would have experienced on Endor. The mode “Ewok Hunt” has the player take control of a stormtrooper and try to survive the night on Endor while they wait for extraction. The only source of light is the dimly lit windows from the trees and the flashlight pointing from the stormtroopers’ guns. Combine that with the soft drums playing from deep in the forest and the pitter-patter of small feet running around, and EA managed to create a truly horrifying experience.
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