Imperial-Ewok War

During the Galactic Civil War, a disjointed conflict pitted the Ewoks of Endor against the invading forces of the Galactic Empire. It began when the Empire came to establish a shield generator bunker to protect its second Death Star battlestation. It only ended in 4 ABY, when the Alliance to Restore the Republic managed to defeat the Empire.

Prelude
After the destruction of his planet-killing Death Star battlestation, Emperor Palpatine of the Galactic Empire had ordered the construction of a second superweapon. Thousands of survey teams were sent to scout locations for the new Death Star's potential construction site. One of those scouting expeditions, Survey Team IX3244-B, was led by Captain Toss. The team's planetologist, Lieutenant Kiviett, landed on the forest moon with a group of four, and they attempted to make contact with the inhabitants of a nearby Ewok village. As the Imperials tried to make their way to the village, unseen Ewoks forced them to hike in circles.

After two hours of being misled, Kiviett's team was completely lost in the forest, and the Ewoks started to beat drums all around them. The Imperials panicked, and started firing their blasters randomly into the woods. Their frenzy, however, did not stop the Ewoks. Ultimately, Kiviett and his men found that in their wanderings, they had returned to the landing spot of their shuttle, and they retreated to Captain Toss' frigate without hesitation. Toss, however, did not believe that the Ewoks could cause any trouble. He dismissed the planetologist's advice, reporting that Endor met all of the requirements, and that its natives posed no threat.

In the aftermath of the IX3244-B expedition, Endor was indeed selected as the second Death Star's construction site. However, Emperor Palpatine was personally displeased with the Toss' sketchy report. As a consequence, a second expedition led by Sergeant Pfilbee Jhorn was sent back to Endor in hopes of gathering more detailed information. Jhorn constated that Toss's rushed reporthad failed to mention the presence of many hazards of the forest moon, from the giant man-eaters know as Gorax, the flying condor dragons, and a band of ruffians known as the Sanyassan Marauders. Contarily to the IX3244-B team, Jhorn and his men did meet the Ewoks and had actual contacts with them. Although one of his fellow scouts was fascinated by the Ewok's culture, the Imperial sergeant found them laughably primitive. Jhorn was convinced that the bear-like natives would be no match for the Imperial troops. The survey time soon left the Ewoks and continued their travels.

Failed first contact
Some time later, a platoon of Imperial stormtroopers was dispatched to Endor. Despite Sergeant Jhorn previous encounter with the Endor natives, the platoon was tasked with observing first contact protocol with them. The troopers soon met a group of five Ewoks, one of which carried cut flowers. When said Ewok placed a flowers in the barrel of a stormtrooper's blaster rifle, the Imperials interpreted it as an attempt to disable their weapons and opened fire. A few days after the botched first encounter, the stormtroopers were assaulted by a group of Ewok warriors, who swooped down on them from a tree and lassoed trooper Kovacs, taking him away in the night forest with the sound of drums. Several days later, the platoon found the gory remains of their squadmate. Following that incident, the Ewoks kept playing their drums all night long in the vicinity of the Imperial bunker, in an attempt to wear the enemy soldiers out. Some of the stormtroopers went insane with exhaustion, and where killed by the ambushed Ewoks as soon as they dared set a foot outside of the bunker at night.

Battle for the Sunstar
Sometime later, an Imperial scientist named Raygar came to the forest moon of Endor on a personal quest. Doctor Raygar, who desired to rule the Galactic Empire, wanted to obtain the powerful Sunstar, a magical artifact that belonged to the Ewoks of Bright Tree Village. Setting out with a contingent of Imperial Reconnaissance Droids, the doctor laid a trap with which he hoped to catch a wandering Ewok, whom he would then interrogate in hopes of determining the location of Bright Tree Village. Although he only managed to catch a wild fircle, the animal's cries attracted the attention of four Ewoks, Wicket, Kneesa, Latara, and Teebo. Riding a floating weapons platform, Raygar attacked the foursome. He forced them to reveal Bright Tree's location before incarcerating them in the Imperial-class Star Destroyer that had brought him to the forest moon.

Now in possession of the information he needed, Doctor Raygar and his droids attacked Bright Tree Village, damageing some of its structures in the process. The village's leader, Chief Chirpa launched a prompt retaliation that involved the use of catapults, but his warriors were unable to take down the doctor's platform. Ultimately, the tribe's shaman [[Logray] entered the battlefield. The shaman easily got rid Raygar's droids, but the doctor still manage to fire at Logray, destroying the walkway the Ewok was standing on. As Logray fell, the Sunstar fell to another walkway below, allowing Raygar to seize the gem. The doctor then raced back to his ship. On the command bridge, the doctor attempted to use the Sunstar's power build a cannon that would kill the Emperor. However, Raygar's Ewok prisoners had managed to set themselves free, and they attacked him. During the scuffle, Raygar accidentally launched the cannon., the blast of which blast hit the Emperor's shuttle, which was just landing in the destroyer. Even as the scientist was being arrested for high treason against the Empire, the Ewoks recovered the Sunstar and escaped from the destroyer back to Endor.

Skirmish at the Endor shield bunker
In order to build their shield generator bunker to protect the second Death Star, then Imperials invaded and destroyed the Dulok Swamp, which was inahbited by a tribe of Duloks&mdash;the bellicose cousins of the Ewoks. The Duloks were deemed to belligerent to be kept as slaves, and the Imperial officer in charge, Lieutenant Renz, ordered their extermination. A Dulok named Agluk, who had escaped the capture, managed to reach the Ewok Bright Tree Village. He convinced Chief Chirpa's tribe that the Imperials, whom he called the Skulls Ones, were committing unprecedented atrocities on Endor. Additionally, the destruction of the Dulok Swamp had awakened the Griagh, a monstrous creature that dwelled below the surface.

After seeing what the Imperials had done to the Duloks, a group of Ewoks consisting of Latara, Wicket Warrick, Teebo, and Kneesa decreed that no lifeform deserved such a cruel fate, regardless of its reputation, and they decided to combat the Empire. The three Ewoks then followed Agluk in an alleged subterranean shortcut for the Imperial bunker. The tempoorary alliance between the Ewoks and the lone Dulok went awry when Agluk refused to free Zrani, a Wistie whom he kept in a lantern. The commotion attracted the Griagh, and the legendary creature ate Agluk. Knowing that they could not beat the Griag, the Ewok companions fled the cavern. On their way back to Bright Tree Village, the foursome discovered that two members of their tribe, the shaman Logray and his assistant Paploo, had been discovered by stormtroopers, who intended to imprison them with a group of Duloks.

Immediately, Wicket, Kneesaa, Latara and Teebo ambushed the Imperial soldiers, killing them one by one. The fight took an unexpected turn when a dangerous third party entered the arena: the griagh. Soon, the Ewoks were divided between killing Imperials, free captive Duloks and defend themselves from the legendary beast. The shaman Logray then decided to destroy the griagh thanks to the energy of the magical stone known as the Sunstar. Although the stone had been weakened, it did manage to kill the griagh, thanks to the Wistie Zrani, who sacrificed her life to speed up and direct the Sunstar tossed at the beast.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Ewoks—Shadows of Endor
 * Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi
 * Star Wars: Ewoks—Shadows of Endor
 * Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi