Ewok

Ewok
Ewok
In-universe information
Distinctions	Primitive, bicurious
Language	"japanese"

Ewoks are a fictional species of hunter-gatherers in the Star Wars universe. They are native to the forest moon of Endor. The Ewoks originally appeared in the film The Return of the Jedi, and were subsequently featured in a pair of made-for-television films - Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor. They also appeared in several books and games (e.g.: the popular Star Wars: Battlefront), as well as an animated television series called Ewoks.

Origins

In his original draft for Star Wars, George Lucas had the movie end in a battle between the technologically armed forces of the Empire and a primitive woodland creatures known as the Wookies. However, having established (through Chewbacca) that Wookies could use technology the idea was scrapped. When Lucas began writing the script for Return of the Jedi he used the original draft in places, such as creating a second Death Star, and reintroducing the woodland race.

To make the distinction from cookies, which Lucas had described and depicted as tall hairy creatures, he made the Ewoks short. A massive casting call was made for dwarf-actors to depict the Ewoks. Kenny Baker (actor of R2-D2) was originally set to also play an Ewok, but due to him falling ill he was replaced by Warwick Davis. Warwick's performance, in which he was also able to bring some amount of expression to the Ewok mask with his tongue, impressed Lucas so much that he named the character (Wicket W. Warrick) after him.

While many critics have derided the Ewok's defeat of Imperial forces as implausible, yet Lucas has more recently claimed that his inspiration came from the Vietnam War in which a much larger, guerilla based force was able to "triumph" against a more powerful, air-supported military force.

Physiology

In the Star Wars universe, Ewoks appear as stocky, sapient bipeds that stand about one meter tall. They resemble ambulatory teddy-bears, Lhasa Apso, and some long-haired cats, but share certain features with chipmunks and apes as well. They are completely covered in fur and have large jewel-like eyes; both their fur and their eyes come in a variety of earth-tones, primarily brown, white, grey, gold and black. They are omnivorous and their diet is primarily composed of berries, fruits, and small critters, although Ewoks are known to hunt in packs for larger creatures also. They also seem to be far stronger than their size would suggest as some Ewoks were shown to physically overpower the Imperials and an Ewok even threw a much larger Storm Trooper; this detail is not consistent throughout the film however.

Society

The majority of Ewoks are depicted as living high among the trees of their home planet's forests, in villages built between the closely spaced trees. They are shown venturing to the forest floor to hunt, and set traps to catch various prey. Although extremely skilled in forest survival and the construction of primitive technology like gliders and catapults, the Ewoks have yet to progress past stone-age technology. They use spears and slings as weapons; they also use hang gliders, battle wagons, and bordoks as vehicles. They are quick learners, however, when exposed to advanced technology with simple mechanical processes and concepts.^{[citation needed]}

The Ewoks have a tribal culture, with a Council of Elders ruling over them, and the Council, in turn, headed by the Chief. A medicine man also lives in the Ewok village, a healer and a keeper of mystical lore.^{[citation needed]}

The surrounding giant trees play an important cultural role in the Ewok religion; the Ewoks are a deeply spiritual race who believe themselves to be descendants of the Great Tree, a sacred tree in the forests. Ewoks also get their medicine from a single tree deep in the forests of Endor. The tree excretes a substance in which the Ewoks call "Chak". They use it to heal their ills.^{[citation needed]}

Ewoks are not the only species that live on Endor, others include boar-wolves and the marauders of Endor.^{[citation needed]}

Involvement In Return of the Jedi

The Ewoks are involved in a large portion of the final installment in Lucas' original Star Wars trilogy. When the Empire began operations on the moon of Endor, prior to the events depicted in the film, they dismissed the primitive species as harmless. Imperial operations were situated around the area near Bright Tree Village, the village led by Chief Chirpa. Princess Leia Organa, part of a Rebel strike team, befriended the Ewok Wicket W. Warrick, a scout from said village, and was taken to meet the other Ewoks.

These Ewoks also worshipped the protocol droid C-3PO, thinking he was a god due to his golden, metallic skin and various displays of power arranged by Luke Skywalker through the Force. Threepio told the Council of Elders the adventures of the Rebel heroes Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo. The Ewoks accepted the Rebels into their tribe, and allied themselves to their cause. The Ewoks helped in the ground battle to destroy the Imperial shield generator on the forest floor, and their primitive weapons felled the Imperial Stormtroopers and the AT-ST walkers of the Empire. This assistance paved the way to victory at the Battle of Endor. Later that night, the Ewoks held a huge celebration that could be heard throughout the forest.

In one Expanded Universe comic, nearly all of the Ewok population was killed due to environmental devastation caused by the destruction of Death Star II (See Endor Holocaust). Opponents of this theory however have argued that the majority of the Death Star's debris was either removed by the Rebel fleet, blocked by deflector shields on the moon's surface, or sucked into a nearby wormhole called the Endor Gate.

Criticism

Many fans of the Star Wars franchise objected to the introduction of the Ewoks into the films and the Star Wars universe, and today the Ewoks are often considered emblematic of George Lucas' supposed "fall from grace" by many fans of the first two movies.^{[citation needed]} Some concerns surrounding the Ewoks include:

Ewoks were an obvious attempt to pander to a younger demographic.
Ewoks were designed to increase marketability of Star Wars action figures and other products.
Ewoks were too lighthearted and cute, ill-befitting the themes of the original Star Wars trilogy and the tone of the final installment.
A small band of hunter-gatherers with stone-age technology triumphing over highly trained, technologically advanced, professional soldiers was utterly implausible.

Language

The Ewoks speak "ewokese".

Some have noted that certain phrases uttered by the Ewoks resemble other languages of Earth, such as Tagalog (the major basis for Filipino, the national language of the Philippines). The Ewoks seem to say "Ayon, puno daw ito!" when C-3PO is being worshipped. "Ayon, pinuno daw ito!" means "There it is! This is said to be a leader!" in Tagalog. "Puno" is a root word - from it comes pinuno, "leader", and pamumuno, "leadership". Immediately after, another Ewok replies with, "Maganda!" meaning beautiful. Also, when an Ewok is hit by a AT-ST laser, his companion (probably Wicket) apparently says, "Patay!", which is Tagalog for "Dead!". There are also resemblances to Hindi, an official language of India. "Yeh, Yeh gira." means "This, this fell," in Hindi. Gira also means "war" in a dialect of the Philippines.

The manager of a Tibetan Buddhist center in Seattle, John Vichorek, relates that a visiting monk from Tibet was brought to a theater to see this movie - the first movie this monk had ever seen - and he gleefully translated a fair bit of what the Ewoks were saying, much of it loosely corresponding to what C-3PO was "translating", which indicates that some element of the Ewoks' language must have been based on Tibetan.^{[citation needed]}

Other phrases appear to be modified English (two Ewoks worshipping C-3PO seem to say something similar to "That guy's wise" and "As I am short") and Swedish. Samples of the audio track from The Return of the Jedi movie have been leaked over the internet. In these the Ewoks sing a phrase which sounds very similar to: "Det luktar flingor här". In Swedish this means "It smells like cereal here".

Influences

The Ewoks bear a striking resemblance in appearance, culture and behavior to H. Beam Piper's "Fuzzies". The Fuzzies were diminutive, furry aliens with an apparently primitive culture, and feature in Piper's science-fiction novels Little Fuzzy (1962); The Other Human Race (1964), later known as Fuzzy Sapiens; and Fuzzies and Other People which was published posthumously in 1984, two decades after the author's suicide. The Fuzzies are also featured in subsequent novels written by other authors, such as William Tuning's Fuzzy Bones (1981) and Ardath Mayhar's Golden Dream: A Fuzzy Odyssey (1982). The "Fuzzy" novels generally revolve around the question of how human beings should relate to the innocuous aliens, whether or not it is ethical for humans to colonize and develop the Fuzzies' home planet, and whether the Fuzzies are truly sapient creatures. As in the Star Wars films, the Fuzzies were allied with a group of dissidents (although in Piper's novels the action is mostly legal, political and economic rather than military) who opposed a monolithic invading force.

External links

Ewoks in the StarWars.com Databank
Ewok on Wookieepedia, a Star Wars wiki
Action Figure Archive - Ewoks cartoon series action figure guide.