The Case for Planet Building on Endor

Max Brooks

My fellow senators, I write to you on the one-year anniversary of our glorious victory over the Empire, to remind you of those forgotten allies whose courage and sacrifice made that victory possible. Many worlds rose in defiance of Emperor Palpatine's tyranny. Many cultures contributed to his downfall. And yet when the entire rebellion hinged on a final, desperate battle, one race leapt heroically into the fray to strike the critical blow for freedom. Of course it was the Ewoks of whom I speak, those eleventh-hour allies who made the difference between victory and defeat and who need our help as badly as we once needed theirs.

On that momentous day of our liberation, as cheers erupted, from Tatooine to Bespin, I danced among the bonfires of Endor, beneath stars once hidden by the looming shadow of the Death Star. With me danced our small, courageous allies, who drummed on the emptied helmets of stormtroopers as they sang songs of peace and freedom. We laughed and cheered and thanked our new comrades from the bottom of our hearts. And then we left them. No provision was made for postwar nation building. No plans were drawn for restoring their land. In our rush to return to private lives and personal interests, we abandoned a deeply traumatized world.

While the moon of Endor may still look idyllic from above, the tranquil forest canopy cloaks deep and festering scars. The horrific battle, combined with years of brutal Imperial occupation, has devastated the fragile terrestrial ecosystem. Ewoks are a subsistence-based society who now find their gathering flora poisoned and their hunting fauna massacred.

Like their environment, the Ewoks' civilization has proven too fragile for the calamity of combat. They govern by extended family groups, or "tribes," and have no concept of centralized leadership. This is why, in answer to previous queries, they have had difficulty comprehending the notion of a galactic representative to the Senate (to say nothing of electing one). Not only were a substantial number of tribal elders killed in the Battle of Endor (Ewoks always lead from the front), but those who survived the carnage have found their legitimacy threatened by the starvation and depredations that have followed.

As the delicate web of traditional order frays, corruption, intimidation, and fraternal bloodshed are now the law of the land. Younger, more militant warriors are now asserting themselves into the power vacuum. Many are veterans of the battle against the Empire, hardened by loss and tempered by violence. As I write this, my friend and former ally Wicket leads a patchwork Northern Alliance in a civil war against a growing faction of religious fanatics.

These younglings refer to themselves as "students," followers of an ancient belief we used to coerce their people to our cause. Never forget, my fellow senators, that we cynically stoked the fires of their religious faith to turn those flames against our enemy. But how quickly do flames spread out of control? Should the students defeat Wicket's Northern Alliance and seize control of Endor, we may one day find those fanatical flames before us. Control your laughter. I mean this in all sincerity.

I do not suggest the possibility of future Ewok starships emerging from hyperspace to threaten the heart of the Republic. Quite the opposite. They may never come to us, but we may have to return to them. The Republic still faces numerous threats both from rogue worlds and from non–state actors. What if the latter launches a devastating terror attack against densely populated Coruscant? And what if that attack is launched from the militarized sanctuary of Endor? What would happen to the pursuit force that attempted to land?

My fellow senators, do not for a moment underestimate the ingenuity, tenacity, and utter ferocity of the Ewoks in battle. Do not be misled by the "sticks and stones" stories of the Battle of Endor. Those primitive weapons soaked Endor's soil in the blood of the galaxy's most advanced warfighters.

Ewoks are masters of stealth and ambush. I personally witnessed a company-sized unit creep within bowshot range of an Imperial legion to launch a surprise attack. Ewoks are also superb logisticians. Without roads, without wheels, without anything but vines and muscle, they somehow managed to preposition both falling and swinging logs that destroyed two Imperial at-st Scout Walkers. While you may laugh at the story of the wood-and-hide glider that fecklessly dropped rocks on another AT-ST, remember that behind this seemingly comical device is a mind capable of comprehending the physics of flight. And it is that mind that saw two Ewoks assist my comrade Chewbacca in not only capturing another at-st but learning to operate its controls! And this, my fellow senators,...