Tokkat

"Yes, Chopper. Your crew did a good job. Now let's take them back home."

―Hera Syndulla congratulates Tokkat, Princess Kneesaa a Jari Kintaka, and C1-10P^[3]

Tokkat^[4] was an Ewok who participated in the Battle of Endor on the behalf of the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War.^[2]

Biography[]

Graced by a god[]

Tokkat was an Ewok male born in 17 BBY on Endor,^[1] a forest moon where^[2] he^[1] lived as part of^[2] the Bright Tree tribe in Bright Tree Village.^[5] By 4 ABY, he had become one of the village's warriors and was part of a hunting party led by the scout Teebo that set forest net-traps. Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3PO—part of a group of Alliance to Restore the Republic members who had come to Endor to fight the Galactic Empire—were caught in one of the traps, but broke free from the net and fell to the forest floor. As they recovered, Tokkat and the rest of the hunting party emerged from the undergrowth and surrounded them, with Teebo and several others holding the rebels at spear point. Tokkat kept his spear raised, but dissarmed Solo of his blaster pistol after the rebel drew it.^[2]

C-3PO, a golden protocol droid, then sat up from within the undergrowth, causing shock among the Ewoks as they mistook him for the deity^[2] known as the Golden One.^[6] Tokkat and others fell to their knees and began repeatedly bowing to the droid, chanting as they did so. Solo then asked C-3PO to order the Ewoks to release them, but when the droid refused to impersonate a deity, Solo lunged at him. Tokkat and the other Ewoks immediatly came to their supposed deity's defense, raising their spears at Solo. The rebels were all taken prisoner bar C-3PO and prepared for transport back to the village, with R2-D2 placed on a stretcher that Tokkat and another Ewok carried.^[2]

Feast, interrupted[]

Upon reaching the village, the group headed for the centeral platform, where Solo was hung above a fire pit. Meanwhile, Tokkat and three other Ewoks positioned the still bound R2-D2 beside where C-3PO was seated on a throne nearby. The Ewok shaman Logray then pushed past Tokkat and others to reach C-3PO and inform the droid that the prisoners would be served as part of a banquet in the Golden One's honor. While preparations for the feast began, Tokkat remained in a crowd around C-3PO, bowing down before the deity several times.^[2]

Skywalker asked C-3PO to tell the Ewoks to stop preparing to cook Solo, or the deity would become angry, but they ignored the warning and continued. Skywalker then used the Force to lift C-3PO and his throne into the air. Tokkat and the other Ewoks in the village center panicked and fled until Logray ordered the prisoners be released, at which point the warrior hurried to release them. Tokkat and the Ewok^[2] Wunka^[7] watched from a distance as Teebo and^[2] the Ewok Lumat^[8] freed R2-D2, who shocked them in retaliation, prompting all four Ewoks to retreat. Later that night, Tokkat and many other tribe members gathered in one of the village's huts to hear C-3PO share stories of the rebels' exploits against the Empire. The tribe's leader, Chief Chirpa, the proclaimed the rebels part of the tribe and declared that the Ewoks would help them fight the Empire.^[2]

Battle of Endor[]

True to their word, the Ewoks aided the rebels in attacking the Empire's shield generator bunker on Endor, which provided a shield for their Death Star II superweapon in orbit above the moon. The rebels entered a secret rear entrance to the bunker but were captured as part of a trap and marched back out into the forest, where a large number of Imperial stormtroopers and All Terrain Scout Transport walkers awaited them in a clearing outside. C-3PO and R2-D2, who had not entered the bunker, then called out to the troopers from nearby in the forest, and several stormtroopers quickly detatched from the main group to capture them. Tokkat and a number of other Ewoks then leapt up over a fallen tree trunk and ontop the troopers, knocking them down.^[2]

Horns blared to signal a full Ewok attack, with Tokkat and other Ewoks then firing a volley of arrows into the Imperials as the rebels broke free. Fighting between the two groups then broke out, with Tokkat charging with a spear as blaster fire caused explosions around him. As the fighting continued, Tokkat ended up among a group of Ewoks fleeing from a walker until the vehicle was destroyed by a second walker that had been commandeered by Chewbacca, Wunka, and^[2] Widdle Warrick.^[9] Soon, the Ewoks had begun to gain the upper hand and Tokkat fired arrows at Imperial from atop a log before helping set up a rope trap between two trees in order to knock an Imperial scout trooper from his speeder bike. With aid from the captured walker, the rebels were soon able to destroy the bunker, allowing the Alliance Fleet to destroy the Death Star and claim victory over the Empire.^[2]

Post-battle[]

"Ewoks? What are they doing here?"
[C1-10P and Kneesaa a Jari Kintaka respond in non-Basic]
"They're good in a fight on the ground, not up here. Alright, you two. Get to it!"

―Hera Syndulla is surprised by the presence of Ewoks on her ship^[3]

Following the victory over the Empire, the rebels and Ewoks celebrated back in Bright Tree Village, with Tokkat dancing in the village center alongside his allies among bonfires that lit up the night.^[2] Not long after the battle,^[10] Tokkat and Princess Kneesaa a Jari Kintaka practiced spear attacks in the forest with the rebel C1-series astromech droid C1-10P beside the Ghost, a VCX-100 light freighter captained by the pilot Hera Syndulla. Syndulla interrupted the training to inform the droid that a pair of Imperial TIE fighters leftover from the battle were heading to attack Bright Tree Village and that they had no time to gather additional crew for the Ghost. Tokkat and Kintaka then spoke to C1-1OP^[3] in Ewokese^[1] before boarding the Ghost with him.^[3]

Once Syndulla located the TIEs and engaged, she ordered C1-10P to man the freighter's guns, but the droid informed her that his new crew could do that instead. To the captain's surprsied, Tokkat and Kintaka then entered the cockpit and although she initially protested that Ewoks were only effective fighters on the ground, she eventually sent the pair and C1-10P to the guns as the TIEs continued to attack. Each manned an individual gun, with the princess eventually hitting one TIE and causing it to crash into the other, destroying both. Tokkat cheered in his seat at their victory before returning to the cockpit where Syndulla congratulated the trio of gunners and promised to take the Ewoks back home.^[3]

Personality and traits[]

Tokkat was mischievous, cheeky, and cheery, bringing a sense of joy and excitement to every gathering with his quick wit and a twinkle in his eye. Known among his tribe for his playful nature, he was a true trickster at heart and secured laughter on every adventure, always seeking out new ways in which he could entertain his friends. He had dark gray fur,^[1] light skin, and golden eyes.^[2] Tokkat stood two foot and eight-and-a-half inches (0.87 meters) tall.^[1]

Equipment[]

Tokkat wore a dark green hood and used a spear and bow and arrows in combat.^[2]

Behind the scenes[]

"I was in a dark brown suit, which looked black on film, playing Tokkat the Ewok warrior. So, I did things like take the gun out of Han Solo's hand and help carry Artoo-Detoo on a stretcher. When See-Threepio sat up, and we were all bowing, I'm the Ewok right behind him. I was also in the bow-and-arrow scenes, jumping off the log, and running around like a little scaredy-cat. I even ran through the explosions!"

―Margo Apostolos^[11]

Tokkat was portrayed by Margo Apostolos in the 1983 original trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. Apostolos recieved a call from the person who had hired her for the 1981 film Under the Rainbow asking if she would be interested in auditioning for Return of the Jedi, at that time known by the production name "Blue Harvest." Prior to the audition, Apostolos and around one hundred others did extensive training with a choreographer who had them limber up, run around, and do a number of drills in order to make sure they would be able to move around in an Ewok suit. Director George Lucas then chose around forty or fifty of those auditioning while they performed their movements, including Apostolos.^[11]

At twenty-two years old, Apostolos filmed scenes in both the Ewok village set and in the exterior forest enviroments, taking part in some that involved explosions.^[11] The Ewok village scenes were filmed between January 18 and February 2, 1982 on Stage 3 at Elstree Studios in England, while the exterior scenes involving the character were filmed between May 3 and May 14 that year in the giant Redwood Forests of Crescent City, California.^[12] At one point after the production name changed to "Revenge of the Jedi," Apostolos and the other Ewok actors went on strike. Wearing t-shirts with "Revenge of the Ewoks" written on them, they arrived on set early and then marched down a hill at the crew chanting "Revenge, Revenge, Revenge" after the coach that normally dropped them off arrived empty. Apostolos also enjoyed filming the scenes where the Ewoks attacked the stormtroopers, using rubber mallets to strike them.^[11]