Chewbacca

Chewbacca  (or "Chewie", as he was known by his friends) was a male Wookiee from Kashyyyk and co-pilot of Han Solo's ship, the Millennium Falcon. He had notable roles in both the Battle of Kashyyyk and the Battle of Endor.

The Clone Wars
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.

Rebellion
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, 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, himself decorated with a sash, growled in delight.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Galactic Defense
 * Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
 * Escape from Darth Vader
 * The Adventures of Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight
 * Star Wars 1: Skywalker Strikes
 * Star Wars: Commander
 * Heir to the Jedi
 * Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back
 * Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi
 * Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens
 * Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens