Star Wars Plot Summary
A billion years in the making (according to the trailer, although we’re pretty sure that’s an exaggeration), Star Wars, the first of George Lucas’s epic sci-fi saga, landed in cinemas at the tail end of December 1977 and quickly became a box-office sensation.
The movie tells a classic good-against-evil story, with farmboy Luke Skywalker, cocky space pilot Han Solo, the feisty Princess Leia, and tough Wookie Chewbacca joining up with the Rebel Alliance to take down the dastardly Darth Vader and the rest of his Imperial Forces.
Along for the ride are Jedi Knight Ben Kenobi (Obi-Wan to his friends) and lovable droids C3PO and R2D2 who help (and in the case of the trash compactor scene, sometimes hinder) the heroes of our story and help to save the Galaxy from the Empire’s world-destroying Death Star.
After the Empire suffers a shattering defeat at the hands of the good guys, Luke and Han return to the Rebel base where they are hailed as heroes. They are rewarded for their good work with a medal at a ceremony presided over by Princess Leia.
The two men turn to the crowd, alongside Chewbacca, and everybody applauds them. The Wookie growls twice and if you listen closely, the sound he makes is quite sorrowful. We don’t think George Lucas intended Chewie to appear downhearted at the end of the movie, but let’s be honest, the hairy fella (Chewie, not Lucas) had the right to be a little peeved. Why? Because he didn’t get a medal!!
So, why didn’t Chewbacca get rewarded for his bravery? Was his fur that thick that they couldn’t fit one around his head? Let’s journey back to that galaxy far, far away.
Where do we meet Chewbacca?
After the movie’s opening segments, where C3P0 and R2D2 narrowly avoid getting fried by a Stormtrooper, the two droids end up on Tatooine, where they end up in the hands of Luke Skywalker and his soon-to-be-incinerated aunt and uncle.
Shortly after, Luke and the droids run afoul of the spiky-headed Tusken Warriors and are saved by Ben Kenobi, formerly known as Obi-Wan, a Jedi Knight who has retreated into a hermit-like existence.
Ben tells Luke about his father (but doesn’t reveal his true identity) and how he fought alongside his father during the Clone Wars. R2D2 then plays the message that had been passed to him by Princess Leia, pleading with Ben to take the Death Star plans to her father in Alderaan.
After discovering the burnt remains of his relatives, Luke has no reason to stay on Tattooine anymore and so he decides to leave the planet with Ben to learn the ways of the Force and to aid him with his quest.
They take a trip into town to find a pilot to take them into space and enter a cantina, wherein Luke is accosted by a criminal who then has his arm lopped off by Ben’s lightsaber. Ben also meets with Chewbacca, who we discover is co-pilot to Han Solo’s roguish smuggler.
Han agrees to give our heroes a ride, for a price, and shortly after, they board the Millenium Falcon where we learn it’s unwise to let a Wookie lose at a holographic chess game!
Is Chewbacca a hero?
Yes! Chewbacca is instrumental in the rescue of Princess Leia and in the final space battle, he and Han save Luke from being killed by Darth Vader. This gives Luke the opportunity to destroy the Death Star. Without Chewbacca, the galaxy could have been destroyed!
So, the question remains: why didn’t Chewbacca get a medal at the end of the film? He was hailed as a hero alongside Luke and Han by the people at the ceremony, so his actions didn’t go unnoticed. But he didn’t get the reward that was granted to his friends.
“RAWRGWAWGGR” wails Chewie at the end of the film and while we don’t know what he’s saying, it might be that he’s saying “Where the blazes is my medal?”.
We don’t really think he was saying that – he was likely giving a satisfied sigh – but as we don’t understand the Wookie language, we will never know for sure.
But as he is as much a hero as Luke and Han, it was only right that he should have been given a medal too.
Why didn’t Chewbacca get a medal at the end of Star Wars?
In an early draft of George Lucas’s script, Chewbacca did get a medal. It features the line: “Han presents Chewbacca and a delegation of Wookees with a treaty, gifts, and a Medal of Honour.”
Of course, in the finished film, Chewbacca didn’t get the medal. Lucas explained why in an interview he gave shortly after the release of the film. He said:
“Chewbacca wasn’t given a medal because medals don’t really mean much to Wookiees. They don’t really put too much credence in them. They have different kinds of ceremonies. The Wookiee Chewbacca was in fact given a great prize and honor during a ceremony with his own people. The whole contingent from the Rebel Alliance went to Chewbacca’s people and participated in a very large celebration. It was an honor for the entire Wookiee race.”
So, there we have it. Chewbacca didn’t get a medal because material rewards don’t matter to him. That’s according to Lucas. But chances are, a scene involving Chewbacca being given a medal may have been logistically difficult due to the Wookie’s size compared to the diminutive stature of Leia. That’s just our assumption but it might be Lucas did decide giving a medal to a Wookie was inappropriate for the story.
Was Chewbacca ever awarded a medal?
Chewbacca didn’t receive a medal at the end of the film but in the novelization of the 1977 film that was published six months before the movie’s release, he does get the Medal of Honour, along with Han and Luke.
And in the 1980 Star Wars comic ‘The Day After The Death Star,’ (see below) which retold the events at the end of the film, there is a panel of Princess Leia standing on a table to bestow a medal upon Chewbacca at the ceremony. Hilariously, Luke and Han have to hoist Leia onto the table so she can reward Chewie with the medal, and this encapsulates what we mentioned earlier about the logistics of Leia trying to give the Wookie his reward.
Chewbacca didn’t get a medal at the end of Star Wars: A New Hope but years later, he was rewarded a medal during the events of Rise of Skywalker. After nearly losing his life in the battle against the First Order, he was approached by pirate-queen-turned-Resistance-warrior Maz Kanata (Lupita Nyong’o), who said the words “This is for you” while presenting him with a medal.
This scene is quite touching and it was likely included to please the millions of fans who cried out in anger after feeling a disturbance in the Force at the end of the 1977 film when Chewbacca didn’t get the reward that was owed to him!
Read More: 10 Movies Like Star Wars
Feel free to check out more of our movie reviews here!
Thanks Kristen – the Force was with me when I wrote that one :)
Love this – thanks Lee!