Wicket Wystri Warrick

"You're a jittery little thing, aren't you?"

- Leia Organa

Wicket Wystri Warrick was an Ewok who helped the Rebel Alliance defeat the Galactic Empire at the Battle of Endor. He was the son of Deej Warrick and his wife Shodu.

Early life
Wicket was born and raised in Bright Tree Village, an ewok village built 50m above ground level. He was a descendant of the great warrior Erpham Warrick; Wicket had two older brothers and a baby sister. He often hanglided with his best friend Teebo and entered the summer archery contests. Although he had great loyalty to his friends he always wanted to explore, he had many encounters on his expeditions, he met a friendly Gupin and stumbled across the Evil witch Morag. Wicket engaged in several skirmishes with Duloks which were taller more aggressive cousins of Ewoks. Like many other young Ewoks he had aspirations to become the medicine man but he failed these attempts because of his mistrust in magic from adventures; his close friend Teebo took up the spot and Wicket resumed his role as hunter gatherer.

Helping the humans
In 3 ABY, Wicket and the others of Bright Tree Village encountered a group of humans whose starcruiser had crashed in the forest nearby. At first, they encountered the youngest child, Cindel, who Wicket quickly became good friends with. After a misunderstanding with her brother Mace, the Ewoks, along with Cindel and Mace, returned to the village. Cindel soon grew sick, so the Ewoks, along with Mace, went into the forest to retrieve a magical liquid that would heal her. After she was better, she informed Wicket that they had been in their starcruiser, and had crashed. Eventually, the Ewoks learned that the boy and girl's parents, Jeremitt and Catarine, were missing. Logray determined that the parents were being held by the Gorax in his lair, which was located in the Desert of Salma. So a group of brave Ewoks, along with Cindel and Mace, formed a caravan of courage to save the parents. They crossed the expanses of the Endor moon until they reached the Gorax's lair. Using their inginuity, the group managed to kill the Gorax, and save the parents, who were being held in a cage, high above the ground. The group returned to the village where they celebrated being back together again. But the happiness was not to last.

Jeremitt soon began work on repairing the starcruiser. But one day, when his repairs neared completion, and the family were soon to leave, the Sanyassan Marauders, led by King Terak, attacked the Ewok village. Catarine was soon killed by the Marauders. However, the method in which she died is unknown. Cindel and Wicket, who had been picking flowers in the forest, returned to the village when Wicket sensed danger. Cindel found Mace, who was helping the Ewoks defend the village. Mace instructed her to go find Jeremitt, and to get help. Cindel did as her brother said. Mace dragged his mother's body into a nearby hut, in hopes of evading blaster fire. But unfortunately, the hut was destroyed by Marauders, which brought Mace's life to an end.

The Marauders began capturing the Ewoks and loading them into wagons. Terak, assisted by Charal, a nightsister, harrassed Jeremitt. He ordered his men to tear the Towani starcruiser apart, as he was searching for "the power," which was the power supply from the ship. The Marauders had apparently crashed on Endor temselves, and needed the power supply for their own ship. They eventually located the power supply on his ship, and stole it from him. He managed to escape, but not after being shot and wounded in the back by a blaster. He ran upon Cindel, who had been watching his encounter. He knew he would not survive, so he wished his love to Cindel, and told her goodbye, instructing her to run back to the village, and to find Deej and the other Ewoks. Jeremitt was soon killed by the Marauders when they located him in the forest.

Cindel ran, as her father had instructed. However, Charal, in her bird form, was flying after her. Charal caught up to Cindel and turned back into her human form. After catching Cindel, Charal took her back to the village to Terak. Cindel was placed in the same Marauder wagon as Wicket, and the wagon headed for the Marauder castle. But Cindel and Wicket managed to escape into the woods, followed by a few of the Marauders, which they managed to evade. They wandered into a cave &mdash; high above the forest floor. After a cave in, they seemed to be stuck in the cave. But Wicket, using his Ewok inginuity, managed to build a hanglider out of materials in the cave. They escaped once again into the forest.

In the forest, they encountered Teek, who was named after his species. Teek led them to a house in the woods. Cindel and Wicket liked the place, and planned to stay. But soon they encountered Noa, an old hermit who's ship had also crashed in the forest &mdash; long ago. After some apprehension, Noa allowed them to stay and grew fond of them.

One day, Cindel heard a voice, and was lured to a woman in the woods. The woman turned out to be Charal, the evil witch that Cindel had encountered previously. Charal took Cindel to Terak, who expected Cindel to provide him with "the power." Back at Noa's house, Teek noticed Cindel was gone. He awoke Noa and the two left for Terak's castle to rescue Cindel. Once at the castle, they made their way inside. They eventually managed to take back the power supply, and escaped the catle. In the process, they managed to hold back the marauders and rescue the ewoks. They headed back to Bright Tree Village... followed by the Marauders.

Back at the village, Noa, Cindel, Wicket, and the Ewoks battled the Marauders once they arrived. Noa took the power supply to his ship, and installed it. His ship now had power. He and Wicket defended the ship using the ship's turrets, while Cindel took watch. Terak eventually captured Cindel, and demanded Noa to give him the power... otherwise he threatened to kill Cindel. Noa and Terak fought &mdash; Noa with his walking stick, and Terak with his sword. Wicket finally used his sling to shoot a rock at Terak, which knocked the crystal out of his chest. Terak began to burn from the inside. After a few moments, Terak turned to ashes. He was dead. As a consequence, the Marauders were defeated.

Noa re-installed the power supply into his ship again, and, after a sad goodbye, he and Cindel lifted off of Endor, and off into the galaxy once again.

The Battle of Endor
Wicket was the first Ewok to make contact with the Rebel Alliance during the Battle of Endor, when he met Princess Leia Organa. Although they were initially fearful of each other, Wicket eventually took Leia to his village. It was not long before the rest of the Rebels arrived, having been captured and nearly used as food by the other Ewoks.

C-3PO, who the Ewoks thought was a golden god, convinced the Ewoks to aid the Rebel strike team. The Ewoks and the Rebels successfully held off the Galactic Empire's Stormtroopers and destroyed the shield generator protecting the second Death Star. After the superweapon was destroyed and the Emperor dead, the Rebels and Ewoks celebrated together in the forests of Endor.

Sometime after the fall of the Empire, Wicket married his longtime friend, Princess Kneesaa, and became chief of the village when Chief Chirpa, Kneesaa's father, died.

Behind the scenes
It was initially planned that Kenny Baker would play the part of the Ewok who befriended Princess Leia in Return of the Jedi, however, when the day came to start filming his scenes, he was unable to because of an illness. As a result, Warwick Davis' Ewok, at that time named simply Warrick, was used as a replacement. Davis' Ewok eventually became Wicket Wystra Warrick, while Baker's became Paploo, the Ewok who stole an Imperial speeder bike. This discrepancy can be seen in Marvel's comic book version of the movie, which shows Wicket taking the bike rather than Paploo. Davis reprised the role in the television movies Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor.

Wicket was the main character in the animated television series Star Wars: Ewoks. Like most of the characters, he changed slightly between the first and second seasons. In the first season he wore an orange hood and was voiced by Jim Henshaw (and sounded more like he did in the Ewok movies). In the second season, he wore a green hood and was voiced by Denny Delk.

Appearances

 * Wicket Finds a Way: An Ewok Adventure
 * Star Wars: Ewoks
 * Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure
 * Ewoks: The Battle for Endor
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
 * Return of the Ewok