Battle of Endor/Legends

"An explosion bright as a star. A forest world, intrepid defenders, escaping ships, and&hellip;you, I think, somehow at the center of it all. Skywalker, it won't matter if you find them. It won't matter if you find and kill every Jedi who survived Order Sixty-Six. I understand now&hellip;the Force will never die."

- Roan Shryne's vision of the battle of Endor in 19 BBY

The Battle of Endor, fought between the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire in 4 ABY, was one of the largest and most important engagements of the Galactic Civil War. It signified the decline of the Empire with the deaths of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, as well as many major Imperial leaders, and the destruction of the Death Star II.

Plans for the battle began after the Rebels learned that the Empire was building a new Death Star above the forest moon of Endor. In addition, spies had informed Rebel leadership that not only were the Death Star's defense systems incomplete, but also that the Emperor himself would be overseeing the completion of the superweapon's construction. Seeing an opportunity to strike a crippling blow to the Empire, the Alliance planned an attack on the incomplete space station. Part of the Rebels would fight on the moon's surface in an attempt to destroy the shield generator protecting the Death Star, while another group would fight in space, assaulting the battle station in Endor's orbit once the protective shield was deactivated. Unbeknownst to the Rebels, Palpatine had deliberately leaked false information to them&mdash;the Death Star was in actuality operational and ready for combat. The Emperor also had a fleet of Star Destroyers waiting to ambush and destroy the Rebel Fleet upon their arrival.

On the ground, a group of Rebels lead by General Han Solo fought the Imperial stormtroopers stationed on the forest moon in attempt to destroy the shield generator protecting the Death Star. Meanwhile in space, the Alliance Fleet, led by Admiral Ackbar and aided by Lando Calrissian in the Millennium Falcon, battled the Empire's naval forces and attacked the battle station. However, the Empire held a significant advantage in the space battle due to the massive fleet of Star Destroyers defending the battle station. In addition to the numerical advantage of the Imperials, Palpatine's battle meditation further helped the Imperials by scattering the attacking Rebel forces. Shortly, the Rebels realized that they had been tricked for the Death Star's weapon systems were already operational. Despite this quick realization, the Rebel fleet still suffered severe losses through the Death Star's superlaser, secretly controlled by IG-88, who also planned to overthrow the Empire. With the strike team on the ground still struggling to take down the shield, the Rebels were able to turn the tide of the battle with the help of the native Ewoks and gain access to the generator command bunker and rig it with explosives. After Solo's team was able to take down the shield generator, several squadrons of Rebel snubfighters led by Calrissian and Wedge Antilles began their attack on the Death Star's reactor core. At the same time, Darth Vader brought Luke Skywalker to the Emperor in order to turn his son to the dark side of the Force.

Skywalker dueled his father in the Emperor's throne room, and used his anger to emerge as the victor. However, Skywalker refused to give in to Palpatine's demands and kill Vader, the Sith Lord attempted to torture the young Jedi using his Force lightning. Unable to see his son die, Vader saved his son and killed his master by grabbing him and throwing him down the Death Star's reactor shaft. He had redeemed himself, becoming Anakin Skywalker once again and fulfilling his role as the Chosen One, though due to the damage inflicted by the Emperor's Force lightning, he died in the act. Soon after, Calrissian and Antilles were able to destroy the Death Star's reactor core, setting off a chain reaction that obliterated the entire battle station, along with IG-88 and the other Imperials inside it. The Rebel fleet was able to escape its destruction, as did Skywalker. The Imperials, having seen the destruction of the Death Star and no longer having Palpatine's battle meditation on their side, were forced to retreat. On Endor, Skywalker and the others celebrated their freedom, as did the inhabitants of many other worlds. With its two main leaders dead, the Empire began its long decline, with multiple warlords fighting for power. Many Rebel heroes of the battle, such as Wedge Antilles, were hailed as liberators, and they helped form the New Republic shortly thereafter. While the actions of the battle did not signify the end of the war, they marked the beginning of the end for the Empire and also succeeded in restoring balance to the Force.

Prelude
"The Emperor has made a critical error and the time for our attack has come."

- Mon Mothma

Shortly after the rise of the Galactic Empire, Jedi Master Roan Shryne experienced visions of the Battle of Endor after learning of the true identity of Darth Vader, and being subsequently defeated by Vader. Just before his death at Vader's hands, he related the details of his vision to the Sith Lord.

Many years later, the Rebel Alliance learned that the Empire was constructing a second Death Star space station under the supervision of Moff Tiaan Jerjerrod. The Alliance leadership soon discovered the Empire had corrected the design flaws that had been exploited in the original Death Star at the Battle of Yavin. It was decided that the station would have to be destroyed, as it would be virtually impossible to stop after it became fully operational.

Through intelligence operations that cost the lives of many Bothan spies, the Alliance learned that the space station was orbiting the forest moon of Endor. In addition, the rebels learned that, although the station was protected by a powerful deflector shield projected from a base on the moon, the station's weapons were not yet ready for service. Furthermore, they also learned from the Emperor's datapad itself, stolen in the Battle of Korriban, that the Emperor was personally supervising the final construction of the station. Destroying the station while he was still aboard would deliver a crushing blow to the Galactic Empire, perhaps the blow that would free the galaxy.

Determining the opportunity too vital to pass up, the Alliance planned a two-pronged attack. A commando squad, led by General Han Solo and coordinated by General Brenn Tantor, a former Imperial general who had set up the shield generator, would land on the moon in a stolen Imperial shuttle and disable the base's deflector shield projector. This would allow a Rebel fleet to attack and destroy the Death Star.

Meanwhile, Rebel ships launched an attack on Imperial forces near the planet of Sullust in an attempt to lure Imperial ships away from Endor. While the Rebels were successful in their objectives, it proved to be a miscalculation made by them, as Palpatine had devised a strategy to maintain the majority of the fleet close to Endor. There, the fleet would provide security and support for the second Death Star instead of engaging the Rebel Fleet, a strategy not revealed until the commencement of the battle above Endor's forest moon.

The Rebels were unwittingly falling into a trap devised by the Emperor himself. In an attempt to effectively eliminate the Rebellion, Palpatine planned on drawing the Alliance to Endor using simple disinformation: he hid the fact that the station's primary defense systems were already operational (and had dispatched Darth Vader earlier to ensure the systems were ready on time). With a large naval force hidden on the far side of the moon and an elite legion of Imperial troops standing by on the moon's surface near the shield generator, he was ready to crush the Rebels once and for all. The Emperor also predicted that the young Rebel Luke Skywalker would surrender to Imperial troops in an attempt to bring his father Anakin Skywalker back from the dark side. Knowing this, Palpatine planned to turn the young Jedi to the dark side, installing the youth as his new apprentice, in much the same manner as Anakin had supplanted Count Dooku at his side 23 years before.

The ground assault
"An entire legion of my best troops await them."

- Emperor Palpatine

The Rebels took the Emperor's bait and a squad headed to Endor on board the captured shuttle Tydirium, stolen by Wedge Antilles on Prefsbelt IV. After using a stolen clearance code that, while outdated, the Executor cleared, Solo piloted the shuttle to the moon's surface. At that time, Luke began having second thoughts about coming on the mission after sensing that Vader was on the Executor; he feared Vader would sense his presence through the Force and endanger the entire operation. At the same time, Renegade Squadron also slipped past the planetary shield. Solo's team landed, with Renegade Squadron landing some ways away.

After landing on the planet, Solo's team traversed through the forest until they encountered two Imperial Scout troopers. Solo attempted to sneak up on the soldiers, but the attempt backfired when he accidentally stepped on a twig, giving away his position and forcing him take them out openly. The commotion alerted two more nearby Scout Troopers, who escaped on speeder bikes to report to the main Imperial base. Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa, mounting the speeder bikes of the troopers Solo had felled, left in pursuit. After being separated during their pursuit of the Imperials through the forest, Skywalker returned to find Organa had not. Sending the rest of the strike team to continue on to their objective, Skywalker, along with Han Solo, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2, left to search for Leia. Meanwhile, Leia, unconscious after crashing her speeder bike, was awoken by a native Ewok named Wicket Wystri Warrick. Unsure whether she was friend or foe, Wicket was initially cautious of Leia because she was human and the local stormtroopers have killed many Ewoks. However, after the two were ambushed by scout troopers and worked together to overcome them, she had gained his trust and he took her back to his village. There she was reunited with Han, Luke, Chewbacca, C-3PO and R2-D2 after they had been captured by the Ewoks and taken to Bright Tree Village, where they were to be sacrificed. The Rebel heroes would have met their end had Skywalker not convinced the Ewoks to help them by levitating C-3P0 on his god-throne, as the Ewoks considered the golden droid to be a deity. After explaining their story, the Rebels were anointed as official members of the Ewok's tribe. That night, Luke Skywalker, after asking about her real mother, revealed to Leia Organa that she was his sister and that Darth Vader was their father, information that shocked the Princess. Skywalker, sensing that Vader had felt his presence and had come to the moon in search of him, then left the Ewok village with a dual purpose: To protect his friends from discovery, and to surrender to Vader in an attempt to turn him from the Dark side.

The next day, the Rebels, accompanied by a force of Ewok warriors, descended upon a secret entrance to the Imperial bunker. While planning how to infiltrate the bunker, one of the Ewoks, in an attempt to create a diversion, snuck onto a nearby speederbike and raced away into the forest. After most of the stormtroopers guarding the entrance raced away in pursuit of the Ewok, Solo and the rest of the rebels easily gained entrance to the bunker and, after capturing the Imperials inside, began to set explosives. Their victory was short-lived, however, as they were soon ambushed by another contingent of Imperials, who led them out of the bunker where they were met by hundreds of stormtroopers and AT-STs. With the hopes of the Rebel task force all but dashed, the concealed Ewok force leapt out of the trees and attacked, stunning the Imperials who had already dismissed them as primitive natives. Meanwhile, Renegade Squadron heard over their comlinks that Solo was surrounded, and they rushed to his rescue. First, they liberated an Ewok village captured by stormtroopers. Finally, Renegade Squadron prevented the repairs from being finished, some Imperials were trying to repair an AT-AT that had been crippled by Solo's strike team earlier.

Although initially surprised by the ambush, Tempest Force regained the upper hand and squads of stormtroopers pursued the Ewoks into the forest. Despite being outnumbered by the natives, the stormtroopers with their armor and advanced weapons forced the Ewoks back, and Imperial AT-ST scout walkers decimated Ewok holdouts. The Ewoks tried, but were unsuccessful with a number of tactics, such as using gliders to drop stones on top of the walkers, and trying to trip them with ropes.

Hoping to take the upper hand, a pair of Ewoks, led by the Wookiee Chewbacca, successfully captured Tempest Scout 2, one of the AT-ST walkers, throwing Lieutenant Watts out of the scout walker in the process. Renegade Squadron also sent at least one of their men into the walker. The tide of the battle began to turn as Chewbacca used this AT-ST to take out isolated Imperial units as well as another Imperial walker. The sight of this rallied the remaining Ewoks, who had been retreating into the woods, and they doubled their efforts behind the stolen AT-ST.

With the Ewoks springing a number of more successful traps, they, along with Chewbacca's commandeered AT-ST, were able to defeat the remaining scout walkers. With the Imperials in disarray, General Han Solo posed as an AT-ST pilot, informing the Imperials within the bunker via comlink that the battle was over, that the Rebels were fleeing into the woods, and that reinforcements were needed to continue the pursuit. Three squads of reinforcements were sent to help search for the Rebels. The Rebels, however, were waiting at the bunker door, and the Imperial reinforcements, sorely outnumbered and under the guns of an AT-ST, surrendered to the combined force of Rebels and Ewoks. The Rebels proceeded to infiltrate the Imperial facility and destroyed the bunker with several proton charges. Renegade Squadron prevented any stormtroopers from entering the bunker while they did this. Storm commando captain Sarkli attempted to intercept Solo and stop him from escaping the burning bunker, but failed and was shot dead. The destruction of the facility brought down the deflector shield surrounding the forest moon and the Death Star. At the same time, X2, a former elite clone trooper who turned against the Empire, also participated in the battle. He met up with Col Serra of Renegade Squadron on the surface of the moon. There, he fought a group of Imperial troopers and freed several Ewoks before shutting down the Imperial communications network. The space station was now vulnerable to attack, and the next phase of the battle began.

The space battle
"Admiral! We have enemy ships in sector 47!''" "''It's a trap!"

- Captain Verrack and Admiral Ackbar

At the same time the commandos were captured by the Imperials, the Alliance Fleet exited from hyperspace and moved to attack the apparently unshielded Death Star. General Calrissian noticed that sensors were not detecting the residue of a deactivated shield, which meant that the Empire was jamming the Alliance and the shield was likely still up. As they pulled up to avoid crashing into the shield, the Alliance Fleet spotted a group of Star Destroyers moving toward them. The Empire, having previously been informed of the imminent attack, staged a trap to capture and crush the Rebellion by sandwiching the Alliance Fleet between the Imperial Sector Fleet and the Death Star II.

TIE fighters were deployed from the Imperial Fleet to engage the Rebel fighters and capital ships. Some of the smaller warships were destroyed by the TIEs, and the Rebel and Imperial fleets engaged from a distance. Soon, the Death Star II fired its main superlaser on Liberty, destroying it. The Rebels, having believed that the Death Star's weapons systems were not yet operational, were shocked and General Lando Calrissian suggested to Admiral Ackbar that the Rebel fleet attack the Imperial Navy at point-blank range, hoping that the Death Star would hold fire to prevent destroying Imperial ships. Soon, the two sides were engaging each other at ranges little more than a few hundred meters, and the Death Star did limit its fire, though it still destroyed Bulk Cruiser Urjani and the MC80 Maria. Even with the Death Star's decreased rate of fire, the Imperial fleet still outnumbered and outgunned the Alliance and with the fleet in their path and interdictor fields raised and generated by Immobilizer-418s in the outer system, retreat was not an option for the Alliance. Furthermore, Calrissian pointed out to Ackbar that they would not get another chance at destroying the Death Star in its incomplete and vulnerable state.

As the enemy TIE fighters were launched, they began to swarm against Admiral Ackbar's flagship Home One. As a result, Ackbar needed to bring in X2 for aid. After destroying the enemy fighters, X2 was called to Home One, as it had been boarded by Imperial troopers. He and Ackbar defended the ship's reactor core from a group of stormtroopers, and X2 eliminated the invading troopers. Once the cruiser was secured, X2 proceeded to Endor's surface.

After receiving word that the Rebel strike team had destroyed the shield generator, Admiral Ackbar ordered the fighter squadrons to commence their attack on the Death Star's main reactor. Taking advantage of the new tactical situation, General Calrissian led all of the remaining fighters of Red and Gold Squadrons into the Death Star's superstructure, with several TIE Fighters and TIE Interceptors in pursuit.

In order to dissuade more Imperials from swarming the Rebel fighters within the Death Star's superstructure, Ackbar ordered a concentrated assault on the Imperial flagship, the Executor, in order to buy Calrissian more time. Green Squadron A-wings provided support for the Home One by disabling the ion cannons on three Star Destroyers. One frigate was severely damaged by a kamikaze attack from a CR90 corvette. With a combined effort of the entire Rebel flotilla of capital ships, the bridge shields were temporarily brought down.

Several fighter squadrons began to target the Executor main sensors. After A-wing squadrons destroyed one of the giant sensor spheres, Green Leader Arvel Crynyd, whose fighter had taken critical damage, steered his fighter into the bridge. This resulted in the cataclysmic destruction of much of the command bridge, killing all of the bridge command staff. Before the secondary command center could regain control of the ship, the Executor was caught by the second Death Star's gravity well, and was consequently pulled toward the battle station. It then crashed into the surface of the Death Star, exploding into a ball of fire and killing every remaining officer and crewman on board.

Moff Jerjerrod, remembering his orders from the Emperor to destroy the moon if the shield was brought down, began to rotate the Death Star toward Endor. The Rebel fighters, led by the Millennium Falcon, sped to the space station's reactor at its center. Jerjerrod responded by flooding the area with interference to hinder the Rebel's progress, and presumably issued an evacuation order to the battle station's non-essential crew. After this, Ackbar ordered that all ships be moved away from the Death Star, sensing that soon it would be destroyed.

While the Imperials had successfully led the Rebels into a trap, they were unaware of who truly controlled the Death Star. In the years beforehand, the droid IG-88, a feared assassin and bounty hunter, had prepared to launch a droid revolution. The last surviving model, IG-88A, built a duplicate of the Death Star's computer core and switched its fake one for the real system, transferring his consciousness into the computer itself. When the Imperials installed the core, IG-88A literally became the Death Star, with complete access and control to all systems. None of the Imperial personnel knew, although Palpatine suspected a foreign presence when a series of doors in his throne room opened and closed mysteriously. When the Rebels arrived, IG-88A fired the superlaser at the Rebel fleet when the Death Star gunners sent the signal to do so, letting the Imperials believe they were in control, while he prepared to transmit his master control signal that would cause all droids to turn on their masters. Many times, the aiming points and the firing coordinates of the gunners were slightly off and would have missed their intended targets completely had IG-88 not been in command to guarantee accuracy.

Demise of the Sith
"You were right. You were right about me. Tell your sister&hellip; you were right."

- The redeemed Anakin Skywalker to his son, Luke

Meanwhile, Darth Vader brought Luke Skywalker to the Emperor's observation tower within the Death Star. There, Palpatine attempted to turn Luke to the dark side of the Force and install him as his new apprentice in Vader's place. Taunting the young Jedi, the Emperor instigated a lightsaber duel between Vader and Luke. The father and son began a vicious battle, each attacking and parrying the other's strikes, all the while Luke maintained control of his emotions and continued to attempt to turn his father to the Light Side. However, the situation changed when Vader sensed that Luke had a sister and threatened to corrupt her instead. Luke gave into his anger at this threat, gaining the upper hand in the duel and slicing off Vader's prosthetic hand. In the end, Luke managed to overpower Vader through his rage, in the same way that Anakin had won his duel against Count Dooku, another duel instigated by Palpatine. Yet when Palpatine ordered him to kill Vader, thus cementing his place as a Sith, he refused. When the Emperor asked Luke to join him and rule the galaxy side-by-side with him, Luke vehemently denied Palpatine's proposal, affirming his identity as a Jedi. Furious that he had failed to turn Luke, as had been the case with Galen Marek six years earlier, Palpatine unleashed deadly Force lightning on Luke, nearly killing him.

The injured Darth Vader, conflicted between loyalty to his master and love for his son, remembered how he had caused the death of Padmé Amidala years earlier, and refused to let his son die. Finally, Vader shed his dark identity, and Anakin Skywalker rebelled against his former Sith Master in order to save his son. As Palpatine continued to attack Luke with a barrage of Force lightning, Anakin hurled the Emperor into the Death Star's reactor shaft, ending his reign of terror. With its Dark Lord dead and his apprentice redeemed, the Order of the Sith Lords was no more. Ultimately, though, Anakin's final act was one of self-sacrifice, as the Emperor's lightning caused his life-support system to short-circuit. A dying Anakin told his son that he had always been right with the conviction that evil could be redeemed. Anakin died in the arms of his son before he could board his shuttle. He was finally now free from the evil that had consumed him from the conclusion of the Clone Wars throughout the Galactic Civil War, having fulfilled his role as the Chosen One, who would bring balance to the Force.

Final actions
"This is one victory that'll go down in history, for sure."

- Col Serra

All the while, Wedge Antilles and Lando Calrissian were approaching the main reactor. Using concussion missiles and proton torpedoes, they detonated the Death Star's power regulator and main reactor, causing a massive explosion. This ignited a chain reaction that ultimately destroyed the station. Luke was able to escape in Vader's shuttle just before the explosion reached the equatorial docking bays, while Wedge and Lando narrowly made it out of the superstructure as the fireball ripped through the doomed space station.

With the Death Star's destruction and the cessation of fleet combat, there was only cleaning up to do for the Rebels. They landed a force of tanks and other weapons that, under the command of Brenn Tantor, successfully mopped up the last of the Imperial presence on the moon with a direct assault on their base. X2 captured the ion cannon command bunker and fired the weapon against several Star Destroyers. He and Col Serra then destroyed two AT-ATs heading toward the Ewok village. Finally, Renegade Squadron's soldiers captured the final three command posts on the surface, ending the Empire's control of the world.

Having seen the destruction of the Empire's two most powerful weapons, the Imperial Fleet lost the stomach to fight and fled. After the destruction of the Executor, command was supposed to pass from Fleet Admiral Piett to Admiral Harrsk or the commander of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Chimaera, which was serving as the secondary command ship. It was Gilad Pellaeon, acting captain of the Chimaera, who ordered a retreat from Endor and to Annaj, the capital of the Moddell sector. He did this without the consent of Admiral Harrsk, a higher-ranking officer than Pellaeon, which would later lead to the Admiral's defection. Pellaeon also abandoned Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik, who escaped the destruction of the Death Star and instead of fleeing as his colleagues Takel and Afsheen Makati did, unsuccessfully tried to rally the fleet and fought on alone for three more hours. Finally, his flagship, Eleemosynary, succumbed to barrages of ion cannon fire and was captured. He was later executed for war crimes by Rebel authorities.

Had the Rebels failed to destroy the station, the end result would have been worse than anticipated, but surprisingly, it would have been an ill turn of events for the Empire as well. IG-88A was still planning to launch his droid revolution against the Empire. When the Death Star core exploded, all power was lost and the destruction of the station wiped out IG-88A for good.

The battle was thus sealed for the Rebellion. It has been theorized by Grand Admiral Thrawn that with the death of Emperor Palpatine, the subtle influence he exercised on his troops through the Force disappeared with his death, drastically reducing the Imperial Navy's fighting ability. It is known, however, that Grand Admiral Nial Declann perished with Palpatine aboard the Death Star, and that he had been using the rare Force power of battle meditation to aid the Imperial Fleet.

The Rebels were overjoyed, hit with a major boost in morale, while the Imperials were drained and confused. The reason for this was the death of Palpatine and the shock and death shortly thereafter of Grand Admiral Declann. Demoralized by the loss of the Emperor and the Death Star, the remaining Imperials retreated deeper into Imperial space, believing that the Rebels would not press the attack. As for Rebel losses, they were quite severe nevertheless. One-fifth of the Alliance Fleet was destroyed, along with several Mon Calamari cruisers and many smaller ships.

Aftermath
"Wesa free!"

- Shouting from the Theed celebration following the Battle of Endor

The Imperial Fleet regrouped and repaired near Annaj following the battle; several days after the defeat, Admiral Prittick notified the rest of the Empire of the crushing defeat. Presumably by that point, Prittick temporarily assumed command of the Fleet.

The Rebels and Ewoks celebrated during the night, an event occurring on thousands of planets across the galaxy, as they had accomplished their main goals. The Emperor was dead, and the Empire had been dealt a massive blow. In this glorious celebration, Leia revealed to Han that Luke was her brother. During this, Luke Skywalker saw the ghost of his father, along with the ghosts of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda.

The remains of the Rebel Fleet screened the space directly above Bright Tree Village to avoid any debris from the Death Star blast from harming that area. However, some of the wreckage from the battle, including a Star Destroyer, remained on Endor for years afterward. So did an Imperial scout trooper and Rebel trooper, who ran into each other by chance a year later without knowing who had won the battle. After the Imperial commmented on the stupidity of the Rebel strategy, the two discovered that the shield generator had been destroyed, and the Imperial stated that the Rebellion would form a new, peaceful society.

The Empire attempted to give a cover story about their devastating defeat at Endor. However, they weren't able to get that chance as the Rebel Alliance managed to transmit the feed of the full details of the results of the battle. As a result, upon hearing of the Emperor's death, citizens on many worlds, such as Naboo and Tatooine, staged various uprisings celebrating the death of the Emperor and Lord Vader and the defeat of the Imperial Fleet at Endor. At least the Naboo and the Tatooine uprisings were successful in galvanizing anti-Imperial sentiment, even though some of them were crushed. Bespin was liberated by Lando Calrissian several days after the battle; its inhabitants also celebrated the major Rebel victory. Endor would also become a battlefield again, when the Nagai invaded the world, though the Alliance of Free Planets, which had been formed from the Rebel Alliance, defeated the invaders and set up its base on Endor.

The celebrations, and the violence that came with them, spread to Coruscant, then called Imperial Center, citizens staged an uprising upon hearing of the Emperor's death. They set off fireworks, attacked Imperial forces in the streets, toppled statues of Palpatine, and desecrated other symbols of the Empire. However, the Empire cracked down on the celebrations, killing citizens and covert Rebels before order was restored. The New Republic was finally able to invade Coruscant and liberate its people from Imperial rule a little over two years later.

The Alliance of Free Planets, and soon thereafter, the New Republic, was soon formed from the Rebel Alliance, and during the years immediately following the Battle of Endor, heroes of the Rebellion like Wedge Antilles traveled around the galaxy to drum up support for the burgeoning Republic. Luke Skywalker would fulfill his destiny by creating the New Jedi Order, eventually becoming its Grand Master and training many students in the Jedi ways, including many heroes of Endor and their offspring.

What started as a trap to eliminate the Rebellion once and for all became the start of the Empire's downfall and demise. While the Empire continued to exist for many years after the Battle of Endor, it entered a state of decline, and did not revert to its original state. The disintegration and collapse of the Galactic Empire began shortly after the Battle of Endor as news of the Emperor's death became widespread. As Palpatine deliberately did not plan for succession of rule, numerous Imperial leaders began carving out personal fiefdoms. This decay and collapse accelerated approximately six years after Endor during the events surrounding the clone Palpatine and his eventual defeat. Years later, the small and mostly ignored Imperial Remnant signed a peace treaty.

Though Rebel Alliance and its successor governments extolled their victory during the Battle of Endor, they were not the only ones to utilize the Battle of Endor for propaganda purposes. Although the battle dealt a devastating blow to the Empire, efforts were made to provide it with a pro-Imperial spin. In one case, Imperial agents stated that the Ewoks had been annihilated following the battle. Also, a Galactic Museum exhibit presented the Second Death Star as a weapon of the Rebel Alliance, rather than the Empire, and portrayed Palpatine and Darth Vader as heroes who sacrificed themselves to destroy the battle station after attempts at peaceful negotiations failed. Although it presented a far stretch from the truth, even Wedge Antilles, who visited the exhibit while undercover on Coruscant, felt it was as compelling as the true history. As late as 41 ABY, the aging Luke Skywalker and his allies were fighting a new Sith Order led by Darth Caedus, Darth Vader's grandson. After escaping from Coruscant, the Jedi used the former Imperial outpost from the Battle of Endor. In a costly mistake, Caedus refused to search for Luke Skywalker on places such as Hoth or Endor that reminded the Jedi Master of his Rebel years. Eventually, though, Caedus's fate was like that of his Sith predecessors, as he was killed and later redeemed, and peace was restored to the galaxy once again.

The deaths of Vader, Palpatine and the destruction of the Darth Star II caused a wound in the Force so intense that it caused Leia to collapse when she returned to Endor five years later.

Emperor Palpatine


The first Emperor of the Galactic Empire, Palpatine was also known as Darth Sidious, Dark Lord of the Sith. In order to destroy the Rebellion once and for all, Palpatine planned a trap for the Rebels at Endor, leaking false information to them, such as the fact that the Death Star's weapon systems were not yet operational. He planned to turn Luke Skywalker to the dark side of the Force, and had him captured by Darth Vader. He set up a deadly lightsaber duel between Luke and Vader, and tempted the young Jedi to kill his weak father. When Skywalker refused, Palpatine used Force lightning to nearly kill him. Darth Vader, finally redeeming himself, threw Palpatine down the Death Star's reactor shaft, killing Palpatine and ending his menace. Palpatine's death threw the Empire into disarray; even when he returned as a clone six years later, the Empire never recovered from his death.

Darth Vader


The Sith apprentice of Palpatine, Darth Vader had once been Anakin Skywalker, a heroic Jedi Knight. Prior to the Battle of Endor, he and Palpatine planned to turn Vader's son, Luke Skywalker, to the dark side. Vader took his son from Endor to the Emperor's throne room aboard the Death Star, and presented him to Palpatine. There, he dueled his son, and although Vader used the power of the dark side and tempted Luke, he lost the duel and was at the mercy of his son. When the Emperor tortured Luke for not killing Vader, Vader was torn, and finally killed his master by throwing him into the Death Star's reactor. Anakin Skywalker was redeemed but died from his injuries, with his life-support system damaged. He had finally fulfilled his duty as the Chosen One, having restored balance to the Force.

Moff Tiaan Jerjerrod


Hailing from Tinnel IV, Tiaan Jerjerrod had acted as the Moff of the Quanta sector during the Galactic Civil War. Just before to the Battle of Endor, he was assigned to supervise the construction of the Death Star II. Darth Vader was very displeased when he saw that the Death Star's completion was behind schedule; as a result, Jerjerrod ordered his men to accelerate their work. During the battle, Jerjerrod ordered his men to fire the battle station's superlaser at the Rebel fleet, destroying several of their capital ships. Jerjerrod later positioned the Death Star to destroy Endor's forest moon, remembering Palpatine's orders to destroy it if the Rebels brought down the shield. However, before he could carry out that order, he was killed when the Death Star was destroyed by the Alliance.

IG-88A


The first of the IG-88 assassin droids, IG-88A gained a strong level of sentience following his creation, and planned to launch a droid revolution against the Human-controlled Galactic Empire. After all the other IG-88 units were destroyed, IG-88A gained access to the computer core inside the Death Star II, and controlled the battle station's weapon systems. During the Battle of Endor, IG-88A was in control of the superlaser when it was fired at the Rebel Alliance's capital ships. While the Empire was unaware that he was actually controlling the Death Star, Palpatine was suspicious when several of the doors in his throne room mysteriously opened and closed. When the Rebels managed to destroy the Death Star, IG-88A was obliterated, and both his body and consciousness were destroyed. As a result, his planned revolution never occurred.

Luke Skywalker


A Jedi Knight and hero of the Rebel Alliance, Luke Skywalker was shocked when he learned of his identity as the son of Darth Vader. During the Battle of Endor, he was part of the Rebel strike force that descended onto the forest moon of Endor. He descended with the Rebels onto the moon; while there, he revealed to Leia Organa that the two of them were siblings. He then left to surrender to Vader, who had come looking for him, in order to protect his friends. On board the Death Star, Palpatine attempted to turn Luke to the dark side of the Force, and had Luke duel his father. Luke gave in to his anger and emerged victorious, but when he refused to kill his father and join the Emperor, Palpatine attempted to kill him using Force lightning. Finally, Vader saved his son by killing the Emperor, and redeemed himself, telling Luke that he had been right all along. Skywalker escaped the exploding battle station with his father's body, and though he was saddened by his father's passing, he joined the Rebel celebration on Endor that night. He would go on to serve the New Republic and form the New Jedi Order, achieving his destiny.

General Han Solo


A former smuggler, Han Solo joined the Rebel Alliance and fought for it on numerous missions. After being frozen in carbonite, he was rescued by his friends, and went on to command a Rebel force at the Battle of Endor. Solo was in charge of the strike team sent to the forest moon, and he lent his starship, the Millennium Falcon, to his friend Lando Calrissian for the space battle. After arriving on Endor, Han and Luke, Leia, Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3PO met the native Ewoks and gained their help. Solo and his group infiltrated the shield generator bunker, and after a skirmish during which the Ewoks helped the Rebels, the Death Star's shield was brought down, allowing Calrissian and the others to attack the superweapon. Following its destruction, Han Solo celebrated with the rest of the Rebels in Bright Tree Village. He learned from Leia Organa that Luke Skywalker was her brother, which allowed him to continue his love affair with her. Later, he served the New Republic, continuing what he accomplished at Endor.

Leia Organa


An Alderaanian princess, Leia Organa became one of the Rebel Alliance's most important fighters. During the Battle of Endor, she traveled to the surface of Endor, along with Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and a group of other Rebels. In the moon's forests, she and Luke rode speeder bikes against Imperial troopers. After being isolated from the rest of the group, Leia found Wicket W. Warrick, one of the Ewoks, and befriended him. She and her companions spent the night with the Ewoks in Bright Tree Village. That night, Luke made a stunning revelation to Leia: he was her brother and Darth Vader was their father, shocking Leia. She would fight alongside the other Rebels in the assault on the shield bunker, and remained on Endor until the end of the battle. Following the Alliance's victory, Leia told Han the truth about Luke, and celebrated with the other Rebel heroes. She would continue to serve the New Republic, formed soon after the Battle of Endor, for many years to come.

Wicket Wystri Warrick


The leader of a tribe of Ewoks on Endor's forest moon, Wicket encountered the members of the Rebel Alliance during the early stages of the Battle of Endor. While walking through the forest, Wicket encountered Leia Organa, who had been injured during a speeder bike pursuit, and befriended the Human woman. When the rest of the Ewoks captured Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2, Wicket opposed the religious ritual that the others wanted to perform. During the ensuing battle on Endor's surface, Wicket rallied his fellow Ewoks from Bright Tree Village to fight alongside the Rebels. When Solo, Organa, and the rest of the group were in distress, Wicket brought an army of Ewok warriors along with him, stunning the Imperial troopers. With the Ewoks' help, the Rebels were able to destroy the shield generator, and later, the Death Star itself. Wicket was involved in the Rebel celebration following the battle.

General Lando Calrissian


A smuggler, gambler, and friend of Han Solo, Lando Calrissian followed in his friend's footsteps and joined the Rebel Alliance. During the Battle of Endor, he was promoted to the rank of general by the Alliance. He was assigned to pilot Solo's ship, the Millennium Falcon, which had been his in the past. Lando flew in the space battle while Solo led the ground assault. He fought with the Alliance Fleet in orbit of Endor, but he, along with the other Rebels, realized that the battle had been a trap, as the Death Star's weapon systems were already operational. Calrissian flew in the desperate fight, but when Solo's team on the ground brought down the Death Star's shield, things turned better for the Alliance. Lando, along with Wedge Antilles, flew deep into the Death Star to destroy its reactor core, blowing up the station. Following the battle, he celebrated with his friends on Endor, and still fought for the Alliance, and later the New Republic, for many years following the battle.

Admiral Ackbar


A renowned Mon Calamari admiral, Ackbar was a former Imperial slave who joined the Rebel Alliance. He was involved in the preparations for the Battle of Endor aboard his flagship, the Home One, and led the Alliance Fleet in the battle over Endor's forest moon. However, he soon discovered that the battle was a trap by the Empire, as the Death Star's weapon systems were already in operation, even though the Rebels had believed the opposite. The Alliance took heavy casualties, and the battle became a fight for the Rebels' lives as Ackbar's cruiser came under attack. However, Ackbar ordered the fleet to fire on the Executor to buy Calrissian and Antilles enough time to destroy the Death Star's core, and the tide of the battle turned in favor of the Alliance. Soon after, Lando Calrissian and Wedge Antilles were able to destroy the Death Star from the inside, leading the Alliance to a nearly impossible victory. Being hailed as one of the battle's many heroes, Ackbar would go on to serve the New republic for over two decades.

Different portrayals
The Battle of Endor, and the events immediately preceding and following it, form most of the 1983 film Return of the Jedi, from the rising action to the climactic final battle. The battle was introduced in the novelization, which caused slight discrepancies between the two versions, in addition to all the other spin-off materials released. Also, the re-releases of the original trilogy made some minor alterations to certain scenes, including those from the Battle of Endor. While most were trivial changes in color, sound effects, or music, very brief scenes of celebrations were added to the end, and Anakin Skywalker's Force ghost was changed from Sebastian Shaw's face to that of Hayden Christensen, who portrayed Anakin in the prequels. Lucasfilm Ltd. has stated that the 2004 DVD versions are the canonical depiction of the events in the trilogy, including the Battle of Endor.

The battle presented in Return of the Jedi inspired many other spin-off materials, including television series and video games. Many characters who had only had very brief appearances in the movie were given names and backstories. The Ewoks received much attention, spawning a television series, as well as two TV movies, Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor. The fate of the Ewoks has been discussed in the Endor Holocaust theory, which states that Endor, along with the Ewoks on it, was inevitably destroyed by falling debris from the Death Star. This theory has been asserted by Curtis Saxton's Star Wars Technical Commentaries website, but has been refuted by way of new source materials, such as Pablo Hidalgo's explanation in a question-and-answer column of Star Wars Insider 76. Hidalgo asserted that a hyperspace wormhole transported debris from the Endor system to the other side of the galaxy, as with Darth Vader's glove in The Glove of Darth Vader. Hidalgo also uses another argument, stating that the laws of physics can be put aside in this case because George Lucas wanted the story to end well for the protagonists. Two of the Legacy of the Force novels are set on Endor; these show the moon and its inhabitants as fine, with only very limited damage to their habitats.

The Battle of Endor was also shown in various toys, such as a large LEGO playset, as well as numerous video games, such as X-wing Alliance and Force Commander. Star Wars: Battlefront and Battlefront II allowed gamers to replay the battle as they wished, therefore making its portrayal non-canon. Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron, released in 2007, and its 2009 sequel, Elite Squadron, both had Endor missions in their campaigns. These showed the battle from different viewpoints, the first from Col Serra's Renegade Squadron and the second from X2, with the objectives in both paralleling the events in Return of the Jedi. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy and its sequel, The Complete Saga, both had four missions related to the Battle of Endor, though the portrayal of the events varied from that of the film. Because the events in the game are treated with a humorous approach and do not strictly follow the story, this article assumes that they are non-canon.

Another non-canon portrayal of the battle occurred in the comic Star Wars Infinities: Return of the Jedi, which rewrote the events of the film in an alternative scenario. While this storyline involves the same characters, locations, and battles as the movie, the plot is altered. During the Battle of Endor, a group of Rebels manages to land on Endor and destroy the shield generator, but in this story, Han Solo is unfrozen from carbonite aboard the Home One and mans the turrets on the Millennium Falcon while still blind, Luke has been captured by the Empire after leaving Dagobah, and Leia goes on a mission to rescue the latter. When Wedge Antilles and the X-wings under his command manage to destroy the Death Star's reactor core, both Skywalker siblings are in the Emperor's throne room. After Luke loses his lightsaber duel to Vader, the latter asks to be forgiven. Anakin is redeemed and changes to an all-white version of his armor. The Rebels, along with the redeemed Anakin, go on a mission to stop Palpatine, who has escaped the Death Star's destruction.

The story after Endor
While the events during the Battle of Endor conclude both the original Star Wars trilogy and the Star Wars movie saga, did not end the whole Star Wars story. George Lucas, who has constantly denied any possibility of any future movies, has affirmed his belief that the saga ends with the death of Anakin Skywalker, since he is the tragic hero. However, the Expanded Universe became a source of many post-Endor stories, and countless new Expanded Universe works told stories of what had happened to the Rebels and the Imperials in the following years. The Truce at Bakura by Kathy Tyers, released in 1994, detailed the events in the aftermath of the Battle of Endor; so did the Marvel Star Wars comics. Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy, beginning in 1991 and ending in 1993, showed the continuing war five years later (in the in-universe chronology), with the New Republic fighting the newly ignited force of the Empire. Many later works introduced new post-Endor stories, including Palpatine's resurrection as a clone and Luke Skywalker's foundation of the New Jedi Order, and the conflicts and challenges facing it. For both the Battle of Endor and all other events in the Star Wars movies, the film continuity and the Expanded Universe material have been meshed together to form part of the whole Star Wars epic.

Non-canon appearances

 * Star Wars Infinities: Return of the Jedi
 * The Return of Tag & Bink: Special Edition
 * Star Wars: Battlefront II
 * Star Wars Battlefront: Mobile Squadrons
 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
 * LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga