It’s long been a bone of contention among Star Wars fans that Chewbacca didn’t receive a medal at the end of A New Hope. He played just as big a part in destroying the Death Star as Han Solo did, yet was over-looked when it came to the ceremony. But in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Maz Kanata finally put things right by giving Chewbacca a medal during the final celebrations.
But where did this medal come from? Well, I think we can assume that Leia wasn’t carrying around the medal intended for Chewie all those years, so this must be either Han or Luke’s. Apparently, the answer lies within the young adult novel Star Wars: Force Collector. Set before the events of The Force Awakens, the book follows the teenager Karr Nuq Sin as he realizes he’s Force-sensitive and sets off to explore the universe.
During the story, we find out that Han Solo sold off Luke’s medal to pay for drinks at Maz Kanata’s bar. That honestly seems pretty low, even for a scoundrel like Han, but hey, the book’s canon, so I guess there’s no arguing with it. And from there, I suppose it makes rough sense for Kanata to hold onto the medal and eventually give it to Chewbacca during the events of The Rise of Skywalker.
Still, the film does sort of imply that Leia was in possession of this medal when she died, which may mean the true story of where it came from is yet to be told. Or, maybe it was a dumb bit of fan service that people probably shouldn’t read too much into?
Whatever the case, real Star Wars fans will know that Chewbacca did indeed receive a medal from Princess Leia at the 1997 MTV Movie Awards. In this star-studded event, Mike Myers introduced Chewbacca as a career inspiration, before Carrie Fisher officially presented him with a medal for his services to both man and Wookie-kind.
