The Battle of Endor in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi is one of the most pivotal moments in galactic history. With the Empire busy at work on a second Death Star, the Rebels launched a daredevil mission to scrub this monstrosity from orbit once and for all. This very nearly failed as it was, to quote some immortal words, “a trap!,” though the Rebels squeaked by and the Empire fell.
However, things could have been very different if it weren’t for the intervention of everyone’s favorite flesh-eating teddy bears; the Ewoks. Their triumph over Stormtroopers and AT-STs is generally considered one of the more unlikely victories in Star Wars, but one fan believes they had the upper hand all along:
Ewok battle tactics aside, it’s worth underlining that their victory underlines many of the core themes of the Original Trilogy. The Empire’s true weakness was its overconfidence, perhaps most notably demonstrated by a belief that the first Death Star was invincible, and that the X-Wing assault in A New Hope was a futile gesture. On Endor, their human-centric superiority complex and reliance on technology prevented them from ever seeing the Ewoks as a threat.
Beyond all that, George Lucas has explained that one of his core inspirations for the Ewoks was the Viet Cong, with his perspective on the Vietnam War being “a large technological empire going after a small group of freedom fighters.” Just like the Empire, the U.S. underestimated the resolve and ingenuity of the Viet Cong, and just as in Return of the Jedi, they eventually suffered an embarrassing defeat at their opponent’s hands.
If there’s a moral here, it’s to never underestimate your enemy, and that there’s a colossal advantage to fighting on home turf.
