This would be a fun adventure romp if it hadn’t started with a tragedy. Brace yourself if you love the Towani family from Caravan of Courage. Here be spoilers, its an unavoidable part of the plot of Ewoks the Battle for Endor! The Ewoks aren’t the only beings on Endor, and the family aren’t the only spacefarers to crash. But not all of those that end up castaway on Endor, are friendly.
Cindel and Wicket are the heart of this adventure, forced into being the heroes. They soon meet up with a crusty man named Noa (also stranded) and a odd speedy furry fellow who doesn’t speak, named Teek. But the Ewoks need them to save them and an evil enemy is out to find Cindel. It’s all up to friendship and courage to save the day.
Notably some of the Ewoks are missing fromEwoks the Battle for Endor entirely, as is the Tree village. However, this adventure does suggest a reason why Wicket’s family and some others that lived on the forest floor finally decided to move up into the village proper when the Empire showed up..
Brief Review of Ewoks Battle for Endor
I enjoyed the adventure and the symbolism but I hated what Ewoks the Battle for Endor did to the Towani family and the parting at the end hurt too. I first saw it as a kid after Caravan of Courage aka The Ewok Adventure and it was hard to see past that. Now though, I can appreciate the rest far more. But Noa and Treek are great characters, even though Treek doesn’t say a word. His appeal is all in the body language. Noa seeming all crusty hides a soft heart that is just reluctant to take on the responsibility of a little girl and her little furry friend. He has, after all, been hurt before.
The villains of Ewoks the Battle for Endor are a motley nasty lot that would fit right into a Hutt’s gang. They are also pretty dense, since none seems to know that the ‘star power’ is not magic but instead a part of a starship. Other sources reveal they crashed there long ago (not surprising, if they think the ship was powered by magic.)
My one real regret is that there is no reunion story for Cindel and Wicket. It would have made for a good children’s story book and I’m sure with the galaxy spanning news of the Emperor’s defeat specifically at Endor, she would’ve been concerned about their welfare.
Summary for Ewoks the Battle for Endor
We start out in Ewoks the Battle for Endor with Wicket and Cindel, now a bit taller and older, flower picking. Her father is fixing the ship and its nearly ready, leading to a sad discussion between the two friends about having to say goodbye soon.
But Wicket senses trouble and on return to the small ground ewok village, we see its under attack! Ewoks are being rounded up and thrown in a caged wagon.
The ever important life monitor on Cindel’s bracelet is flashing and she finds her mother is unconscious by Mace, who screams at her to get Dad. Soon after, as she runs back to the repaired ship, both of their life monitor lights go out.
The villains have reached Jeremitt Towanin and are tearing apart the ship. He isn’t fighting, but when he sees the life monitor and Cindel, he leaps up shooting and runs for her, carrying her away. He tells her a story, that she must go, find the ewoks and go. Soon after, his light goes out too.
Cindel and Wicket escape but they face cold, hunger, pursuit, a Condor dragon who leads to an Ariel battle between Wicket on a glider and the monster. Their wits and kindess lead them to shelter, when they meet Teek.
Noa isn’t thrilled to find they’ve invaded his home, but the crusty old man is soon won over. As they gradually learn each others stories and relax a bit, we switch to the fortress of the foe.
The woman, Charal, is threatened by the king for being unable to make the ‘magic work’ (in reality, its a piece of a starship, as even Cindel knows.) So the woman tracks down, lures out and catches the young girl.
Now its up to Wicket and Noa, with Teek, to infiltrate the fortress and rescue Cindel and the ewoks. But even if they escape, its a handful against an evil marauder army – unless Noa can get his own long stranded ship working with that power core. can the Ewoks hold off the foe?
Mythical Motifs in Ewoks the Battle for Endor
Noa’s house has a positively elfin appearance, peaked roof, blended with trees. His interior is decorated as part of a trees (ala Yoda) and part pieces of starship. He’s a messy housekeeper, living on his own so long since his partner vanished into the enemies dungeon.
Charal becomes a raven, and in so doing is able to track from the sky. In Greeyk mythology, they are considered signs of bad luck.
The witch disguises herself as a beautiful blond woman complete with white unicorn colored steed, until she reveals her evil nature with raven crow black hair and a steed dark as night.
The Condor dragon sans fire adds a dragon to the mythical aspects and we have monsters in a moat to complete the look.
Inside the fortress: a wicked king of unknown origin.
The Ewok Warriors Return
Ewoks being a peaceful people are not unskilled in protecting their own. In Ewoks the Battle for Endor the catapult owned by Noah may be metal and electronic instead of wood, but serves the same function. They bring out the same bows, arrows, spears and logs on a smaller scale as they do in Return of the Jedi. Noa himself even uses a few of the same to keep people from finding his ship!
They also prove pretty decent shots when introduced to the guns of a starship: point it, fire it, down go the bad guys.
Ultimately it comes down to a one on one with Noah against King Terak for the power crystal, after the King grabs Cindel. But when this nearly goes wrong, its the little furry Wicket who hits the right spot to stop the war, with surprising results!
Unfortunately, this means a sad goodbye between Wicket and Cindel, with promises she’ll be back.
Lore and Continuity
Ewoks the Battle for Endor is preceded by Caravan of Courage, the Ewoks cartoon happened directly before that.
Originally, the Ewok movies were considered totally separate from the original trilogy and not brought into the timeline. Some were even told it was hundreds of years later (making Wicket pretty old for a kid).
But with the expanded universe, Caravan of Courage is officially given the date 3 years ABY. Since this seems to be months or a year later at most, its almost certainly right before the invasion of the Empire to build the Shield Generator and the Second Death Star. The events in Return of the Jedi happen in 4 ABY.
There is one follow up story Ewoks Shadows of Endor, a pocket size graphic novel adventure which has Wicket and his cartoon show friends discovering the Empire.
You can visit at least one Ewok village in Star Wars Galaxies game, officially offline but there are various fan servers.
For more on Ewok culture see here.
Cindel Towani
As for Cindel, according to the old databank, she traveled with Noa for a time. After he retired from travel she grows up to be a journalist living on Coruscant and is mentioned in the Black Fleet Crisis.
Noa
A scout, the man set out with his partner to dig into the Moddell sector. The power source of the ship being damaged led to his partner going to find another and never returning.
https://web.archive.org/web/20100210005409/http://starwars.com/databank/character/noa/index.html
Salak
He’s long gone by the time of Ewoks the Battle for Endor. But Noa’s left guarding and repairing the ship alone. By Noa’s admission it seems likely he did scout around a bit and wait for him. But Noa’s reaction to discovering the skeleton was Salak, suggests he had no idea the Mauraders had captured him, let alone what for. (Their lack of knowledge to call it by its proper name or even describe what it did, pretty well confused Cindel too and she was looking at it. The moon after all is the size of a small planet. No reason he’d have any clue to look beyond a certain radius.
Sanyassan Marauders
This band crash landed on Endor 100 years before Yavin, putting them before even the rise of the Empire. They carved out their own turf which was unfortuntely close to Bright Tree Village.
Charal
A nightsister with shapeshifting capablilites that escaped Dathomir’s exile. Her shapeshifting power was unusual but not unheard of, and was aided by the Talismen of the Raven that she stole.
Both Charal and the Sanyassan Maruader Fortress are on Endor in Star Wars Galaxies.
Real World Trivia:
the clasps on Noa’s gear that he decisively snaps into place to rescue Cindel were pretty new at the time Ewoks the Battle for Endor aired. They’d later be pretty commonly used on belt bags and such. But at the time they seemed exotic and intergalactic!
