Kneesaa a Jari Kintaka

"But Latara, I do chores. Training to lead the tribe one day is a big responsibility."

- Princess Kneesaa

Kneesaa a Jari Kintaka was the Princess of Bright Tree Village, daughter of Chief Chirpa and Ra-Lee, and younger sister to Asha. In her youth, she was part of the same circle of friends that included Wicket W. Warrick, Paploo, Teebo, and Latara. The young Ewoks had many adventures on the forest moon of Endor, involving such creatures as Gupins, Yuzzums, Duloks, and Morag the Tulgah witch.

The childhood
When Kneesaa was just a wokling, she and her mother and older sister were attacked by a hanadak in the forest. When Chief Chirpa came later, only Kneesaa remained; Ra-Lee was dead and Asha was missing. So Chirpa raised Kneesaa by himself. But despite growing up an only child, and frequently wishing she could see her sister again, Kneesaa was not lonely.



As Kneesaa grew up, she became close friends with Wicket, Teebo, and Latara. More mature than her three friends, she frequently advised them when they were getting themselves into in trouble or embarking on foolish adventures.

Since her childhood, Kneesaa became a tender and a kind girl for all that lived together with her.

The blue gem on Kneesaa's hood was a gift given to her by Asha on the day she disappeared. Kneesaa wore the gem on her pink hood during much of her youth.

The first attack of Phlogs
On one occasion, when Kneesaa and Wicket were picking berries in the forest, they stumbled upon two creatures attempting to cut down the forest's trees. When the two got back to their village, they told Chief Chirpa of the giants, which they learned were called Phlogs. Wicket later recounted the story before the Council of Elders, an opportunity he had never had before. Unsatisfied with the decision of the Council, the young Ewoks turned to the shaman Logray, who told them the history of the Phlogs of Simoom and what a threat they posed. Logray gave them a white powder which they were able to use on the Phlogs to make them run back to their own land and leave the Ewoks' forest alone. During the celebration that day, both Wicket and Kneesaa were made honorary members of the Council of Elders.



The midsummer festival
The annual midsummer festival was another special time for the Ewoks, as they would participate in contests to show what they could do best. Wicket encouraged Kneesaa to enter the basket-weaving contest, but she felt that she would rather enter a competition in which she wasn't so experienced. When she expressed interest in the archery contest, an event which Wicket intended to win, he revealed to Kneesaa his sexist views on females in athletics. When Kneesaa entered the contest anyway, Wicket continued to put her down and promote his chauvinistic viewpoint. Still determined, Kneesaa entered the vine-swinging contest and then inadvertently got herself into the dangerous Log Ride Contest... and won. This impressed Wicket, so much so that he apologized to Kneesaa, realizing that girls could in fact be good at sports. Kneesaa then suggested that Wicket might perhaps win the next year's basket-weaving contest.

Despite this little incident, Kneesaa and Wicket keeped a flirt that was very evident for the Ewok Elders.

Saved by Wicket and Teebo
Once, when picking berries with Wicket and Teebo, she stepped on a poisonous nightshade thorn. The poison would have killed her, but her friends Wicket and Teebo crossed the deadly Gorge of Fire to retrieve the liquid of a sunnydew flower and brought it back to the village, saving her life.

Heiress of chieftain
"But, Logray! How can you defend what´s yours and live the way you want to live without hurting anyone?"

- Princess Kneesaa

Soon after that, at a celebration for her birthday, Kneesaa received some very special gifts. One was a baby bordok whom Wicket and Teebo had spent many weeks training for her; she named him Baga. Another gift was one her father presented her: a ruling staff made from a branch of the Gemwood tree. Chirpa announced that if should anything ever happen to him, Kneesaa would become the new ruler of the village. This did not sit well with some of the elders; First Elder Kazak spoke out, saying that all Ewok leaders had always been men, and that "the leader of the Ewoks should at least be sturdy enough to carry a spear into battle!"



This deeply troubled Kneesaa, but she was given an opportunity to prove herself soon enough: when a group of Zorbian space pirates led by Captain Krag attacked the village to steal the Gemwood tree, she led the women and children Ewoks and defeated the Zorbians without even a single Ewok being harmed. Her father was very proud of her, as were Kazak and the other elders. They admitted that they were wrong and said that Kneesaa would be, and already was, a strong leader.

Helping Chief Chirpa to fight the Kreegon
"I just can´t stay here and do nothing!" "But, Kneesaa, your father said..." "He said it was his duty to help our people! And it´s my duty to help him... If I can!"

- Princess Kneesaa and Wicket

One day, Chief Chirpa departed alone to fight the Kreegon, a deceased, dangerous and big predator turned back to life by Morag´s magic. After seeing the reborned monster through Logray´s crystal image spinner, Princess Kneesaa decided to help her father. Wicket offered himself to go with her, and the two young Ewoks departed together. Some hours later, the couple found and freed Chirpa (who was trapped by Morag), and the three Ewoks departed to find the Kreegon.

The Kreegon was found destroying some trees and going to the Bright Tree Village. The predator was under Morag´s sorcery, and didn´t see the Ewoks calling him. So, Kneesaa throwed a Logray´s amulet against the monster, making a explosion that attracted the monster´s attention. The Kreegon started to persecute the three Ewoks. They followed a Chirpa´s plan: when they found Morag again, the three Ewoks jumped to escape from Morag´s blast. The witch hit the Kreegon´s eye, and the predator returned to be a skeleton. The Kreegon´s bones covered Morag, and Chirpa, Kneesaa and Wicket went back home.



With the Fleebogs
"It's never too late! I hope!"

- Princess Kneesaa

Kneesaa proved her worth once again when she was shrunken and kidnapped by the Fleebogs. Despite the fact that she continued to shrink, she bested the ra-lugg beast and proved to the Fleebog that even small beings could handle big threats.

Three lessons for a leader
"We can't destroy their home, not even to save ours."

- Princess Kneesaa, for Wicket, about the Trome tree

As Kneesaa's friends partied at an afternoon dance, the Princess left her chieftess-to-be training lesson at Logray's hut to join them. But their dancing was cut short when an ever-growing stranglethorn began wreaking havoc and taking over the village. When Kneesaa realized she was to blame, she set off to gather the three ingredients Logray needed to tame the wild plant. Fearing for Kneesaa's safety, Wicket joined her in her journey.



The first ingredient was Keet nectar. Kneesaa had an idea: the duo could climb up the Keet's palace with leaf-shoes soaked by some kind of mud that was around the palace. Once inside the Keets' labyrinthine hive, the duo evaded the unfriendly Keets and discovered their stockpile of nectar pearls. Next, they learned from a bobber bird the proper way to retrieve a ganga root from the ground, and then had to flee with the last root so that the bird would not eat it. They needed to bore the root to extract its air inside and take it from the ground. And thirdly, Wicket spotted a Trome tree; however, the tree only had one branch left, and when the resident Tromes appeared, they pleaded with the Ewoks not to destroy their home. Knessaa then came up with a new plan, and Wicket instead carried the three Tromes on his shoulders back to the village.

At the village, Kneesaa used the shoes to climb a tall tree where the stranglethorn imprisoned Malani, Nippet and Wiley. The four got off together. The other villagers followed a Kneesaa's plan: While the Tromes distracted the stranglethorn, Wicket sneaked into Logray's hut and retrieved the potion that would tame the plant. Logray instructed Wicket to place one drop into each of the plants mouths, but seeing how many heads the plant had sprouted, Wicket instead gathered a group of acorns into his satchel and poured the potion over them. Then he, the Tromes, and the Ewoks fed them to the plant until it shriveled back to it's original size.

Some minutes later, Logray said that Kneesaa learned her father's three lessons: the Hand's Lesson (when climbed the Keet's palace), the Mind's Lesson (when discovered how to retrieve the ganga root) and the Heart's Lesson (when saved Trome's tree). The villagers celebrated the victory, and Chief Chirpa became very proud of his daughter again.



Asha returns
One day, after her friends Paploo, Wicket, and Teebo had come back from their day's travels, they reported that they had seen an Ewok with red fur. Kneesaa, believing this mysterious Ewok to be her sister, went out in the middle of the night to search for her. Together with Wicket, she found Asha many years after their initial separation and took her back to the village, to the delight of Chief Chirpa.

A guardian for the Soul Trees
Some times later, Kneesaa was not having very good luck with her gardening. Despite her pleading, her last surviving flower died. Kneesaa worried that the village would never trust her to take care of the Soul Trees. Wicket, Latara, and Teebo visited her, but they weren't very encouraging.



But then, in a sudden swirling wind, the Leaf Queen arrived. She asked Kneesaa to take care of a special plant for her. Kneesaa told her that all the plants she was taken care of have died, but the Queen said to give it "lots of love" and she would do fine. The Queen vowed to return for the plant in three suns time, and with another swirling wind, she vanished.

The other Ewoks teased Kneesaa about the plant, and Wicket caused her to spook Baga, causing him to run off, puling the wagon carrying the plant—and now Kneesaa—along with him. They finally crashed in a pit of mud. Kneesaa wished for something to help clean her up, and the plant magically gave her brush. Then she wished for something pretty to wear, and the plant gave her a bow. Teebo discovered that what she had was a wish plant.

Then Latara decided that she wouldn't mind having a wish plant for herself, so she later took the plant from Kneesaa's hut. But the same greed grabbed hold of Wicket, and later Teebo, and the three all keep taking the plant from each other. By the time Kneesaa got it back, the plant was wilted from being all used up.

When the Queen came back for plant, Wicket fibbed that the plant was sleeping because Kneesaa had been giving it naps. The Queen warned them about happened to the last creature who harmed one of her plants and said that she would return before the sun goes down.

So Wicket got out to try to find another wish plant. In the mean time, Teebo tried to heal the plant with a magic spell, but as usual, it didn't turn out quite right. Wicket returned having not had any luck either.

Kneesaa cried over the plant as she apologized to it. She turned to leave the hut to go tell the Leaf Queen the truth, not seeing that her tears healed the plant. Kneesaa started to apologize, and her friends joined in. But when the Queen retrieved the plant, they all saw that the plant was fine. The Queen then assured Kneesaa that she would take good care of the Soul Trees one day. The wish plant then bloomed some seeds for Kneesaa, which the Queen said she should plant them before it snows. Of course, the other Ewoks wanted Kneesaa to share her wish plant seeds!

Battle of Thorn Forest
During the Battle of Thorn Forest, Kneesaa made the two last acts that decided the Ewok´s victory over the Wizards of the Night Spirit. While Wicket was pinning the Stranger to the ground, the Princess used her grappling hook to spin the Sunstar and reverse the ritual that was drawing the Wizards onto the forest moon. At last, when the Stranger tried to carry Wicket out of Endor with him, Kneesaa throwed Wicket's lost Belt of Honor around the Stranger's outstretched hands. The strong leather belt soon had the Stranger's hands tied, and he released Wicket from his grasp. The Stranger and the other Wizards of the Night Spirit were banished again, and Kneesaa saved Wicket´s life.

Battle for the Sunstar
"Listen, Wicket. If you help the others, they will help you someday."

- Princess Kneesaa



After Dr. Raygar stole the Sunstar from the Bright Tree Village, Kneesaa and her three close friends had PD-28´s help to go to Raygar´s Imperial Destroyer and recover the powerful stone. After this, on board the Destroyer, when Raygar was able to destroy PD-28 and kill the arrested Teebo and Latara, Wicket and Kneesaa defeated Raygar, recovered the Sunstar and saved PD-28, Teebo, and Latara.

After the Battle of Endor
Kneesaa eventually married her childhood sweetheart, Wicket, who co-ruled Bright Tree Village with her after Chirpa's death.

Behind the scenes

 * In Star Wars: Ewoks, Kneesaa was voiced by Cree Summer in the first season and Jeanne Reynolds in the second.
 * A white-haired Ewok (probably female) wearing a red hood appears dancing with Wicket in the final scene of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. She may be Kneesaa, but this has not been confirmed.