Chewbacca

Chewbacca  (or "Chewie", as he was known by his friends) was a male Wookiee warrior, smuggler and co-pilot of Han Solo's starship, the Millennium Falcon. Originating from the Mid Rim planet of Kashyyyk, Chewbacca would become a hero of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. During the Clone Wars, Chewbacca helped three Jedi Padawans escape from Trandoshan trophy hunters; establishing a friendship with the Jedi Order that continued when he aided Jedi Master Yoda's flight from the Galactic Republic following the Battle of Kashyyyk.

Nineteen years later, Chewbacca's involvement in the Rebellion against the Republic turned Galactic Empire began when he and Han Solo agreed to ferry Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker to the peaceful planet of Alderaan. However, unbeknownst to them, Alderaan had been destroyed by the Empire's new superweapon, the Death Star. Initially evading capture, Chewbacca and the others boarded the battle station and discovered that Princess Leia Organa of the Rebel Alliance was being held aboard as a prisoner. Disguised as Imperial stormtroopers, the group was able to rescue the Princess and escape from the Death Star. They fled in the Millennium Falcon to the Rebel base located on Yavin 4. The Empire pursued and a battle ensued. After the Empire was subsequently defeated, Chewbacca was one, among the others, who was decorated for his role in the return of Princess Leia Organa.

A short time later, Chewbacca and Han Solo continued their assistance to the Rebellion by leading an assault on an Imperial compound. However, Solo and Chewbacca were anxious to pay off an old smuggling debt to the crime lord Jabba the Hutt who had placed a bounty on them. But the two were delayed by needed repairs to the Millennium Falcon. Being pursued by the Empire and bounty hunters alike, Solo and Chewbacca, along with Leia Organa, traveled to the gas giant of Bespin where one of Solo's old friends, Lando Calrissian, was the Baron Administrator. Solo hoped that Calrissian would help him repair the Falcon, but Calrissian had already betrayed his friends to the Empire. Solo was captured and tortured before being frozen in carbonite, by the Empire, and given over to a bounty hunter named Boba Fett. Chewbacca and Organa were to stay on Bespin permanently under Imperial guard, but Calrissian redeemed himself by helping them escape from the planet.

Later, Chewbacca was part of a team that secretly infiltrated Jabba's Palace where Han Solo was being held prisoner. Solo and Chewbacca were once again reunited after the successful rescue and subsequent death of Jabba. With his debts behind him, Solo rejoined the Alliance and was selected to lead a task force against an Imperial shield generator on the forest moon of Endor. Naturally, Chewbacca accompanied Solo on this mission. However, the task force was unaware that they were falling into a trap laid by the Empire; nevertheless, Chewbacca and his companions prevailed, completed the mission and defeated the Empire.

The Clone Wars
"Go, I will. Good relations with the Wookiees, I have."

- Yoda announces his plan to travel to Kashyyyk.

A Wookiee male, Chewbacca hailed from Kashyyyk, the arboreal homeworld of his species. Some time during the Clone Wars, Chewbacca was captured by Trandoshan trophy hunters only days after Ahsoka Tano was similarly captured by the same Trandoshans. The purpose of this capture was to serve as prey in a trophy hunt. Chewbacca was taken to the Trandoshan moon of Wasskah, where he was to be hunted by the Trandoshans. After Ahsoka and her fellow Jedi younglings destroyed the prisoner transport vessel, he escaped and joined them. Using his technical expertise and parts from the crashed transport, he constructed a transmitter to contact his fellow Wookiees, which eventually allowed all those trapped on the Trandoshan hunting island to escape after they defeated the hunters in their fortress.

Chewbacca was a major player in the Battle of Kashyyyk, overseeing the confrontation between the Grand Army of the Republic and the invading droid forces alongside Tarfful and Jedi General Yoda. Following the implementation of Order 66, Chewbacca helped Yoda elude the clone troopers and escape from the planet.

New Heroes
"Will someone get this walking carpet out of my way?''" "''No reward is worth this."

- Leia insults Chewbacca on the Death Star, irritating Han Solo.

When the Galactic Republic was reorganized into the Galactic Empire, the planet of Kashyyyk was blockaded by the Empire and the Wookiees pressed into service by the Empire, sent to work as slaves mining spice in the Spice mines of Kessel. Chewbacca, however, somehow managed to escape and signed on as the first mate and co-pilot of Han Solo on his Millennium Falcon.

During one of their smuggling attempts, the Millennium Falcon was boarded and the two lost the cargo that they were hauling for Jabba the Hutt. The two found themselves in the Mos Eisley Cantina on Tatooine, where Chewbacca was approached by Ben Kenobi, who was searching for passage for himself, Luke Skywalker and the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO to Alderaan. Promised 2,000 credits in advance and an additional 15,000 upon arrival at Alderaan, Solo and Chewbacca reluctantly agreed to the commission, but not before having to deal with a bounty hunter named Greedo sent by Jabba himself, and pursuing Imperial vessels.

During the hyperspace journey, while Kenobi began training Skywalker in the use of the the Force, Chewbacca played a game of dejarik with R2-D2, who turned out to be a fairly skilled player. When R2 made a move that Chewbacca disliked that was nevertheless fair, Chewbacca became upset, but C-3PO advised him that screaming about it wouldn't help him. Solo, however, advised that it would be best to let Chewbacca have his way, as Wookiees were known to pull people's arms out of their sockets when they lost. This led C-3PO to suggest a new strategy, "Let the Wookiee win."

Upon the Falcon's exit from hyperspace, the group was dismayed to find they appeared to be caught up in some sort of meteor storm. They were even more shocked to discover the planet Alderaan itself appeared to be gone and in its place was a massive orbital battle station, the Empire's planet-destroying Death Star. The group managed to evade capture by hiding in the Falcon's cargo hold, then slipped aboard the Death Star, hoping to disable its tractor beam in order to escape. While Kenobi slipped away to disable the tractor beam, the remaining members of the group made a startling discovery: the princess Leia Organa was being held in Detention Block AA-23 and was scheduled to be executed. They hatched a daring plan that involved binding Chewbacca and having him pose as a prisoner that was being transferred to AA-23. Upon arrival, they then removed the cuffs and had him create a distraction while they attempted to locate the cell that Organa was being held in. They eventually found and rescued Organa and, after a series of further escapades, escaped from the Death Star. Kenobi was successful in disabling the battle station's tractor beam, but lost his life in a duel with Darth Vader, becoming one with the Force. After an easy escape into hyperspace from pursuing Imperial ships, it quickly became clear to Organa that a homing beacon had been installed aboard the Falcon and that the ship was being tracked in order to lead the Empire to the Rebellion's secret base.

When the group arrived at Yavin 4, Luke Skywalker was hopeful that Chewbacca and Solo would join the Rebellion in their attempt to overthrow the Empire, but Solo was more concerned with receiving his payment in order to pay off Jabba. Though Chewbacca growled his apparent dissatisfaction at this course of action, the two departed, seemingly leaving the Rebel Alliance on its own to deal with the Death Star. The Alliance launched their assault, but things looked bleak when several members of the group failed in their attempts to destroy the Death Star and were instead themselves killed by the Empire. As Luke Skywalker made his run, however, he was unexpectedly aided by the sudden arrival of the Falcon, whose intervention disabled one the fighter of one of Vader's allies, damaging Vader's own ship in the process. Skywalker successfully fired a proton torpedo into the Death Star's exhaust port, destroying it. Back on Yavin 4, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo were both awarded medals while Chewbacca howled in delight.

Assaulting Weapons Factory Alpha
"Chewie, stand down! Do not fire! You take a shot at Darth Vader and the whole factory will be on alert!" "Are you crazy? Chewbacca if you have a shot at Vader I order you to take it! Forget about us! Killing him is more important! Do you hear me Chewie? Take the shot! Now!"

- Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa

Several weeks after the Battle of Yavin, Chewbacca took part in an assault on Weapons Factory Alpha, on the moon Cymoon 1. Chewbacca and C-3PO flew the Millennium Falcon through the debris field that surrounded Cymoon 1 and landed in the huge refuse fields that surrounded the factory. Chewbacca then trekked to a large metal structure that overlooked the landing platform where he watched Han, Luke, Leia and R2-D2 posing as the envoy from Jabba the Hutt through the scope on his sniper rifle. Chewbacca saw Han converse with Overseer Aggadeen, hand over their weapons and make their way into the factory. Leia was disguised as one of the Hutt's bodyguards and contacted the team and ordered them to hold their positions. Han's team was to rig the main power core to self destruct while 3PO was to start the autopilot on the Millennium Falcon. The Falcon would then swoop in and pick them up while Chewbacca covered their retreat. But the plan changed when a Lambda-class T-4a shuttle touched down on the landing platform where the false envoy had arrived. Chewbacca contacted Han and told him what he was seeing; the Dark Lord of the Sith&mdash;Darth Vader&mdash;the negotiator had arrived. Han ordered Chewbacca to stand down, firing on the Sith Lord would put the entire moon on alert. But Leia disagreed with Han and ordered Chewbacca to take the shot&mdash; their lives were nothing compared to killing the the dark Lord. Chewbacca thought and consented, aimed then fired&mdash;but Vader sensed danger and deflected the first shot with his lightsaber. Chewbacca fired dozens of shots but none hit their mark, for the Sith Lord had lifted two stormtroopers into the air using the Force and used them as human shields. Chewbacca took aim again but was unable to hit Vader because the structure he was standing on began to shake&mdash;Vader was using the Force to topple the structure Chewbacca was perched upon. The building collapsed and he jumped from the wreckage. Vader recognized Chewbacca as a Wookiee and ordered several stormtroopers to hunt him down. Han tried to make contact with the Wookiee using his comlink, but Chewbacca was unable to answer.

After regaining his composure, Chewbacca began the long hike back to where the Falcon was hidden while avoiding Imperials. After several minutes he arrived at the freighter only to discover 3PO in pieces strapped to a tentacled alien. There were several more aliens who were dismantling the Falcon. Chewbacca lets out his rage upon the intruding aliens, he threw the scavenger carrying 3PO into his brethren. He shot more aliens with his blaster rifle as he roared, as he fought them he got into contact with Han. Han rejoiced that his friend was alive and told him to bring the Falcon to their position. Han and Leia had hijacked an All Terrain Armored Transport and were escaping Weapons Factory Alpha in the walker with Vader on their tail. Chewbacca went to work repairing the damage the scavengers had created. Shortly thereafter, Han agian asked the wookiee to come to their aid; Chewbacca informed Han that he would need a day and a half to repair the damage. Han rejected his estimate, telling him they would be dead in five minutes.

As Chewbacca continued to weld and work, Vader succeed in bringing down the stolen AT-AT. Han and Leia survived the crash though Han was mildly injured. Soon after, Luke returned to the factory to blow up the core reactor while mounted on a 74-Z speeder bike. Because the Imperials had been victorious in defusing the reactor's meltdown. Although Luke was ultimately the victor after he destroyed the core, causing the entire facility to explode magnificently.

Chewbacca gathered up C-3PO and piloted the Falcon to the team's position. He extracted them and many slaves Luke had freed and began retreating from Cymoon 1. Leia took over the controls so Chewbacca could repair the hyperdrive. Han did not pilot his prized ship because he was still delirious. A blockade of Star Destroyers blocked their escape, but Leia fled into lightspeed after Chewbacca repaired the hyperdrive. The Rebels and now free slaves rejoiced at their daring escape.

Within two days, the Millennium Falcon and its compliment rendezvoused with the Rebel Fleet on the edge of the galaxy. The team was debriefed on their successful mission, and Solo was treated for his injuries. Soon, Chewbacca and Solo went to work repairing the Falcon on an Alliance Nebulon-B frigate. Solo noted that it was a miracle that his freighter had even flown with the rushed, ramshackle repairs Chewbacca had given it. Chewbacca countered that if Solo hadn't crashed the walker, he wouldn't have been so rushed. Although, the Wookiee did not believe Solo's claim that Vader had cut the walker down with his lightsaber; and neither did Solo&mdash;even though he had been there.

Hunted by the Empire
Following the events of the Battle of Yavin, Han Solo and Chewbacca joined up with the Rebel Alliance, aiding them in their efforts. Three years after the battle, Chewbacca was effecting repairs on the Millennium Falcon, grumpy with Solo, who agreed to come and lend him a hand. Han's past caught up with him thanks to a chance encounter with a bounty hunter named on Ord Mantell. Solo had a price on his head, as he had never paid off his debt to Jabba. Solo decided to leave in order to go take care of his affairs and Chewbacca, as his loyal first mate, accompanied him. Before the two could depart, however, Imperial forces sent a probe droid, which infiltrated their new base, Echo Base on Hoth and revealed their location to the Empire. It targeted Chewbacca, but was destroyed by a shot from Solo's blaster, but not before getting off its message to the Empire. With this information, the Empire launched an all-out assault, forcing Chewbacca, Solo, Princess Leia Organa and the droid C-3PO to flee on the Millennium Falcon while Luke Skywalker traveled to Dagobah to commune with the great Jedi Master, Yoda, taking the droid R2-D2 with him.

Darth Vader had employed the services of several bounty hunters, hoping that they would capture Han Solo and by extension, Chewbacca, in order to lure in his son, Luke Skywalker. One of the most ruthless of these was Boba Fett, the son of Jango Fett, who pursued the group relentlessly even as the Empire's forces failed to capture the Falcon and its crew. The group eventually ended up on the planet Bespin in Cloud City, where Solo and Chewbacca met up with an old friend, Lando Calrissian. Calrissian, however, had already been intercepted by Darth Vader and cut a deal with him in order to avoid the wrath of the Empire being brought down upon Cloud City. Solo was captured and Chewbacca imprisoned, along with the disembodied parts of C-3PO. He managed to reassemble C-3PO, but inexpertly, putting his head on backwards, leading C-3PO to insult him as a "stupid furball," resulting in Chewbacca deactivating him. Lando eventually brought the group back together, explaining that Vader's plan was to place Solo in carbon-freezing in order to lure Skywalker. Han Solo was led away to the carbon-freeze chamber and though Chewbacca tried to fight, there was nothing he could do and he was forced to allow himself to be placed in stuncuffs as Solo was marched off. Later, when Calrissian had a change of heart, Chewbacca was not quick to trust and reacted violently, grabbing him and choking him. C-3PO begged that Calrissian be allowed to help and Calrissian provided details of Solo's location. Chewbacca released him upon pleading from Leia Organa and C-3PO apologized, stating "He's only a Wookiee."

The group managed to escape to the Falcon, battling their way past stormtroopers. They then rescued Luke Skywalker, who had just come out the worst in a duel with his father, Darth Vader. The group still needed to escape the planet, but first the Falcon's hyperdrive had to be fixed. C-3PO was sure that Chewbacca could do it, but R2-D2 had vital knowledge that allowed him to fix the problem. Luke was sent to a medical center to heal after having his arm cut off by Vader, where he agreed to await Chewbacca's signal that would indicate that he, Organa and Calrissian had found Han Solo. "May the Force be with you," he wished them.

Rescue from Jabba's palace


Chewbacca and the others tracked Han Solo to Jabba's Palace on Tatooine, where he was being held captive by Jabba, encased in carbonite. The group hatched a daring plan for Solo's rescue that involved Luke Skywalker sending the two droids R2-D2 and C-3PO to infiltrate the palace, Leia Organa posing as a bounty hunter along with Lando Calrissian as one of Jabba's staff and Chewbacca allowing himself to be put up for bounty in order to get into the palace. Though not without its challenges, the rescue was a great success. Jabba offered the supposed bounty hunter a bounty of 25,000, which the "bounty hunter" countered with 50,000. Jabba had a fit at this, but when the "bounty hunter" revealed that "he" was in possession of a thermal detonator, the impressed Jabba offered 35,000, an offer C-3PO suggested should be taken.

With the negotiations complete, Leia was able to gain access to Han Solo, but was unaware that she was being shadowed by Boba Fett. She freed Solo from the carbonite, who awoke somewhat confused and temporarily blinded, but overall still alive and well. Jabba, however, had been given word of what was going on and declared that Solo was to be fed to his bantha, despite Solo's plea that he would pay triple the credits that he owed Jabba.

Han was thrown in a cell together with Chewbacca, whom he didn't immediately recognize due to his blindness. He did, however, recognize characteristic Wookiee howl and gave him a passionate embrace. He then, from Chewbacca's howls, learned that Luke Skywalker was on his way and planned to rescue them all using skills he had learned as a Jedi Knight. He was skeptical, as felt that Skywalker could barely take care of himself, let alone rescue anybody. Chewbacca, however, seemed optimistic.

Luke did indeed arrive and requested an audience with Jabba from one of Jabba' guards, Bib Fortuna, using an ancient Jedi mind trick to convince the guard that was urgent that he be allowed to see Jabba. The weak-minded Fortuna consented to Skywalker's request and brought Skywalker before Jabba, only to face Jabba's rage for falling victim to a trick that would only work against someone of such a weak mind. Jabba ordered that Skywalker be fed to his rancor, but Luke used his Jedi skills to evade the rancor's attack and eventually killed it by contriving to get it underneath a door, which he then smashed down upon it. This enraged Jabba, who was quite fond of his pet, and he declared that the entire group would be fed to the mighty Sarlacc, a powerful creature living in the Dune Sea. As Jabba made this declaration, Solo expressed his opinion that this fate was something to be avoided, to which Chewbacca growled his agreement.

The group was brought to the Dune Sea, but Luke seemed unafraid and warned Jabba that he had one last chance to free them all or face death. Jabba was unpersuaded, and so the rescue began, with Skywalker using more of his Jedi skills to escape his captivity and then freeing both Chewbacca and Han Solo from their bonds. During the battle, Chewbacca and Solo were thrown against a railing, which wounded Chewbacca, who howled in pain. Despite being injured himself, Chewbacca was able to provide direction to Solo, who gained possession of a spear, then, with Chewbacca providing guidance, used it to attack Boba Fett's rocket pack and send him hurtling into the Sarlacc, to be slowly digested over a thousand years. As Chewbacca growled congratulations, the fight continued, with Leia using a chain to strangle Jabba the Hutt to death. Lando Calrissian fought off some guards, aided by both Solo and Chewbacca, who saved Solo from slipping, allowing Solo to pass his spear to Calrissian.

Lando successfully fought off the guards, but was still in great danger. He was slipping towards a painful death inside the Sarlacc, having been grabbed by one of the monster's tentacles. Fortunately, Chewbacca had obtained a blaster from one of the guards, which he provided to Solo, who was beginning to recover from his blindness. He landed a direct hit on the Sarlacc's tentacle, causing it to free Calrissian. After some more intense battle, the group escaped on a skiff to their own vessels, finally free of the great conflict. Han Solo expressed his gratitude to Skywalker and Chewbacca mussed his hair in appreciation.

Toppling an Empire
"It's just a dead animal, Chewie.''" "Chewie, wa-wait! Don't!" "''Nice work. Great, Chewie! Great! Always thinkin’ with your stomach."

- Chewbacca's hastiness gets the group captured by Ewoks.

With the business of rescue complete, the group was freed to pursue their goal of bringing an end the Galactic Empire, which was rushing to complete a second Death Star superweapon. After making a detour to once more see Yoda, Skywalker reunited with the group, including Chewbacca, who were meeting with the top leaders of the Rebel Alliance to determine a plan of attack against the Empire. Han Solo, as a General of the Alliance, was leading a strike team, but was lacking a command crew for his shuttle. This problem was solved when Chewbacca raised a paw, volunteering for the mission, which involved a raid on a shield generator based on the forest moon of Endor.

As the group proceeded with their mission, they hoped to gain access to the moon using a clearance code that had been intercepted by the Rebels. Solo was nervous as to whether or not the code would work and Chewbacca growled in agreement of his nervousness. The code did, indeed, grant them access, though this was a trap by Darth Vader, who sensed the presence of Skywalker on the vessel and recognized that the fact that the clearance code was old meant that something was off. Solo urged Chewbacca to "fly casual."

The group went ahead with their mission on the moon. At one point, they encountered two Imperial scouts, whom Solo encouraged the rest of the group to leave to him and Chewbacca. The two scouts were soundly drubbed, but the rest of the group were left to pursue two other scouts that had entered the fray, but then sped away on speeder bikes. Luke and Leia were separated, with Leia getting into an accident and losing consciousness, while her pursuer perished in the same accident. She was rescued by an Ewok named Wicket W. Warrick, while the rest of the group sought her out.

During their search, Chewbacca came across a dead animal on a stake, which proved irresistible bait to him. He pulled at it, springing a trap that ensnared the entire group, leading Han to complain "Nice work. Great, Chewie! Great! Always thinkin’ with your stomach." He and the others had been captured by Ewoks, members of the same species as the furry creature that had rescued Leia. Chewbacca was forced to surrender his bowcaster, but when the Ewoks spotted C-3PO, they became excited, seeming to believe him to be some sort of god, something which both R2-D2 and Chewbacca seemed to find very amusing. Han hoped that they could use this to their advantage, but C-3PO told him that it was against his programming to impersonate a deity. The group were tied to large poles, with Han placed on a spit. It seemed that the Ewoks planned to cook and eat them, with Han as the main course at a banquet in C-3PO's honor.

Just then, Leia arrived with Wicket. Seeing what was happening, Leia asked C-3PO to call for an immediately halt to the proceedings. Luke told C-3PO to tell the Ewoks that if they didn't do as she wished, he would use his "magic" against them. After he did so, Luke then used the power of the Force to levitate C-3PO's throne, awing the Ewoks, who were unfamiliar with the power of the Force. They immediately rushed to free their prisoners. That evening, C-3PO told the Ewoks a story, a retelling of the great adventures of him and the other members of the group. The Ewoks declared them all part of their tribe, with one giving Chewbacca an enthusiastic hug. Solo quipped to Chewbacca that "short help is better than no help at all." The Ewoks then agreed to show the group the quickest way to the shield generator.

As the group prepared to leave, Luke Skywalker pulled aside Leia Organa and made two startling revelations: that Darth Vader was there on that moon searching for them and that Vader was the father of both him and Leia. Luke left to turn himself in to Vader, leaving the rest of the group to complete the mission. As Luke surrendered to Vader and was brought before Galactic Emperor Palpatine, the group considered their planned assault on the shield generator. Overlooking it, Han Solo assured Leia and that he and Chewbacca had gotten into a lot of places previously that were more heavily guarded. The Ewoks led the group to a secret door at the back of the facility, then provided a distraction for the group to enter. While they were making their move, however, the Emperor was gleefully gloating to Skywalker on the second Death Star that they would find the shield fully operational. Indeed, the group was soon surrounded by a full contingent of Imperial forces and quickly rendered helpless. It was a trap, and they had been expected. Chewbacca, Han and Leia could only exchange helpless looks as, above, an assault began that was seemingly doomed to failure due to the presence of the shield.

The group was led away by stormtroopers, but were distracted by C-3PO and R2-D2, whom they had not captured. As they moved to take the droids, they were assaulted by a massive group of Ewoks. Up above, the rebel forces were assaulted by the Death Star, which was revealed to be fully operational, while the Emperor tried to turn Luke Skywalker's anger against him. As the struggle continued to defeat the Empire and disable the shield, Imperial walkers entered the fight. Chewbacca swung from a vine, accompanied by two furry Ewok companions, onto one of these assault machines. When one of the pilots of the walker opened the window to find out what was happening, he was ripped from the machine and then the two Ewoks boarded and disabled the other pilot. Their violent actions nearly caused Chewbacca to be expelled from the walker as well, by accident, and he stuck his inside to bark angrily at the Ewoks. He then slipped inside and they got the walker under control, rampaging through the forest and decimating other Imperial troops. As they did so, Han, Leia and C-3PO were cornered by a stormtrooper who ordered them to freeze. They did so, but it was a ruse. As they stood up, Leia revealed a blaster, which she used to shoot the stormtrooper. Chewbacca and his Ewok companions then arrived.

Up above, a furious battle was happening between Skywalker and Vader. Meanwhile, with the shield still up, the Rebels were facing heavy losses and the Empire moved to crush them. Back down on the ground, the Rebels stormed the bunker, surprising stormtroopers, who threw down their guns as they realized they were surrounded and outnumbered. Chewbacca, Han and several other of the Rebel forces planted explosive charges, then fled from the soon-to-be-destroyed facility. Back on the Death Star, Luke Skywalker made a fateful decision; he refused to surrender to his rage, telling the Emperor that he would never turn to the dark side of the Force. The Emperor, enraged, told him "So be it." On Endor, the group was blasted back by a shockwave as the shield generator met its end.

With the shield generator disabled, the Rebel attack commenced in earnest. Skywalker was brutally tortured with Force lightning by the Emperor, the evil Darth Sidious, but was saved when Vader, realizing he could not simply stand by, grabbed the Emperor and tossed him down a reactor shaft, seemingly bringing an end to his machinations for good. In the Imperial attack, the Death Star was rocked by explosions, as it no longer had any protection. Luke moved to flee the vessel and wished to take his father, now once more Anakin Skywalker, with him, but Anakin's armor had been severely damaged by the Emperor's lightning and could no longer support his vital functions. As Luke pleaded that he had wanted to save him, Anakin told him that he already had and urged him to save himself.

Thanks to the valiant efforts of the whole Rebellion, the Battle of Endor was won. Chewbacca, Han, Leia and the others looked to the sky and cheered as they witnessed the final destruction of the Death Star. Han, however, sensed Leia's worry over Luke, whom she revealed to be her brother. That night, a bonfire was the scene of celebration. As Lando Calrissian rushed in to join the party, he was enthusiastically embraced by both Chewbacca and Han Solo. As the fall of the Empire was celebrated across the galaxy, Chewbacca roared and danced in triumph along with his friends, old and new. After a long struggle, the terror of the Emperor's reign had come to end.

Post-Endor
"Chewie... we're home."

- Han Solo to Chewbacca

Approximately 30 years after the Battle of Endor, Chewbacca and Han Solo remained active in the galaxy and were present on the Millennium Falcon.

Behind the scenes
Chewbacca first appeared in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. He had a major role in both of the subsequent films of the original trilogy, Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Episode VI Return of the Jedi, and also appeared in the prequel film Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. He was portrayed in all films by Peter Mayhew, who will reprise the role for Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens.

Chewbacca was a major character in many stories of the Expanded Universe, the continuity now known as Star Wars Legends, but was killed off in the novel The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime, a decision that proved unpopular with some fans. On April 25, 2014, the Expanded Universe was declared non-canon as a whole, with the only elements considered canon being the original and prequel films, the television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the film that launched it, and most material released after that date.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Galactic Defense
 * Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars: Story Before The Force Awakens
 * Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
 * A New Hope Read-Along Storybook and CD
 * Escape from Darth Vader
 * Epic Yarns: A New Hope
 * The Adventures of Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight
 * Star Wars: Battle Pod
 * Star Wars: Princess Leia, Part I
 * Heir to the Jedi
 * Star Wars 1: Skywalker Strikes
 * Star Wars 2: Skywalker Strikes, Part II
 * Star Wars 3: Skywalker Strikes, Part III
 * Star Wars 4: Skywalker Strikes, Part IV
 * Star Wars: Commander
 * Smuggler's Run: A Han Solo Adventure
 * Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back
 * The Empire Strikes Back: So You Want to Be a Jedi?
 * Epic Yarns: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi
 * Return of the Jedi Read-Along Storybook and CD
 * Rescue from Jabba's Palace
 * Return of the Jedi: Beware the Power of the Dark Side!
 * Star Wars: Journey to the Force Awakens - Shattered Empire 1
 * Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens
 * Epic Yarns: Return of the Jedi
 * Epic Yarns: Return of the Jedi