Forest moon of Endor

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The forest moon of Endor

--> Endor.
Distance from Core	43,300 light years
Sector	Moddell
Number of Suns	2
Length of Day	51.5 h
Diameter	6120 km
Primary terrain	Forests, mountains, savannas, lakes
Surface water	18%
Points of Interest	Imperial Shield Generator (destroyed during Galactic Civil War)
Population	1,038,000
Affiliation	Galactic Empire, Rebel Alliance, Ewok

In the fictional universe of Star Wars, the forest moon of Endor, also known as the sanctuary moon, or simply Endor, is a moon which is home to the Ewoks and above which the second Death Star was constructed in Return of the Jedi.

Endor's moon is also the location of the two Ewok TV movies Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, as well as the adventures of the animated series Star Wars: Ewoks. The moon is also home to deadly giant Goraxes, tall and timid Yuzzums, evil yet dim-witted Duloks, rodent-like Teeks, vicious condor dragons and a settlement of offplanet reptilian marauders.

Endor itself is not the moon, but instead the planet which the moon orbits (or orbited). The planet Endor is never explicitly shown in the film, which the novelization explains by asserting that it was destroyed some time earlier and that the moon now orbits its star in a planetary orbit of its own. It should be noted that in three scenes in the film, a pinkish planet can be seen briefly in the background, in the vicinity of the forest moon, though the two bodies are never seen at the same time. This, coupled with the fact that a moon separated from its planet is defined in astronomy as a planet in its own right, has caused some fans to speculate that this pinkish planet is in fact Endor.

In addition, in Star Wars VI Return of the Jedi, the emperor instructed Darth Vader to send the imperial fleet to the far side of Endor, which suggests that Endor still existed at the time of the Battle of Endor, or perhaps the name of the moon itself is Endor, and the planet it revolves around is unmentioned by name in the movie series.

The moon resembles Earth in many ways; however, it seems to have more landmasses than oceans. The landmasses are primarily covered with thick forests of massive ancient redwood trees, and it has at least one desert region. Endor does not appear to have polar ice caps and may have a temperate climate around the globe.

The Star Wars planet is named after J.R.R. Tolkien's Endor, the Elvish name of Middle-earth, probably an allusion to the similarity between Ewoks and Hobbits, or the moon's tall foliage and the mellyrn of Lothlórien.

Contents 1 Endor's Forest Moon and the Galactic Civil War 2 Endor Holocaust 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Endor's Forest Moon and the Galactic Civil War

The Endorian moon played a pivotal role in the Galactic Civil War in Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. It was here that the Rebel Alliance's greatest victory over the Galactic Empire occurred with the destruction of the second Death Star.

On this moon was the Second Death Star's shield generator. It was guarded by its own shield, requiring the Rebels to use stolen codes and an Imperial shuttle to bypass it. On the ground was a contingent of the Empire's scout troopers with armoured support in the form of a unit of AT-ST walkers and at least one AT-AT. However, the Rebels inadvertently formed an alliance with the small, inhabitants of the forests, who believed C3PO to be their deity. These aggressive creatures called Ewoks - although primitive in technology - knew the land better than either the Empire or Rebels and helped ambush Imperial troops, getting the Rebels to the shield generator.

Once the Rebel Alliance took down the Death Star II's shield, the colossal space station was open to attack; Rebel starfighters, assisted by Lando Calrissian in the Millennium Falcon, were able to annihilate it completely. Moments before this final part of the Battle of Endor, Darth Vader killed the Emperor. It was a spectacular victory for the Rebels and would bring about the downfall of the Galactic Empire and the start of the New Republic.

Endor was the next target for the second Death Star and the strike had to be delayed until the battle with Luke, Darth Vader, and the Emperor was over.

[edit] Endor Holocaust

The Endor Holocaust is the theorized devastation of the forest moon of Endor which happened after the second Death Star was destroyed (in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi) by the impact of falling debris. It has not been established to have occurred in any canon sources, but has been proposed as fanon by some fans as a scientifically inevitable consequence of the events portrayed.^[1][2]

In one of the Star Wars Tales comics,^[3] an Imperial veteran of Endor makes an apparent reference to the holocaust theory, after telling the story of his unit's trouble with the Ewoks in a bar. Another character dismisses it as a myth, saying that most of the Death Star's mass was obliterated in the explosion, and that the Rebels "took care of the rest." Inside the Worlds of Star Wars Trilogy describes how the Rebels managed to use shields and tractor beams to protect their strike team on the moon of Endor, though the defense of the rest of the moon is not mentioned.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Forest moon of Endor on Wookieepedia: The Star Wars Wiki
• Endorian Holocaust cartoon by Justine Shaw of Nowhere Girl
• The Truth about the "Endor Holocaust", a PDF essay by Gary M. Sarli which argues against the possibility of a so-called "Endor Holocaust"
• Endor Holocaust, the original article by Curtis Saxton arguing in favor of the idea that the Ewoks were wiped out after ROTJ.

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