The quickest criticism hanging on the tongue of almost any Return of the Jedi cynic is that the Ewoks are a soulless merchandising cash grab. These nay-sayers want you to believe that the sight of cuddly teddy bears beating Stormtroopers with nothing but sticks and stones turns the idea of Star Wars into a kiddie playground for babies. Sure, out of the original trilogy films, Return of the Jedi is perhaps the one with the most issues – but the Ewoks aren't one of them. No way. They’re not cuddly teddy bears, they’re hardened death machines. The truth is simply that the Empire rolled up to the moon of Endor like the colonial marines rolled up on LV-426 in Aliens. They had no idea what they were getting into, and they got slaughtered.
It is entirely plausible that an indigenous culture like the Ewoks could ward off a technologically superior occupying force like the Empire. There's historical precedence that George Lucas himself has said he used as inspiration for the ongoing conflict in Star Wars, such as the American Revolution and the Vietnam War. George has been open in the past about drawing inspiration from the Vietnam War in particular, going as far as to say the Ewoks were inspired by the Viet Cong. He was fascinated by the idea of small fighting forces defeating powerful global entities with irregular warfare, which is represented by the Rebellion’s underdog struggle against the Empire. George’s interest in this kind of war story becomes even more apparent with the Ewoks. He always intended for a more primitive Star Wars species to overthrow the Empire in the "final" episode.
Originally, George intended for Wookies to fill this role in the final battle. The massive ground battle we see on Endor was a concept George had in mind for the first film with Wookies instead of Ewoks. Although this idea was abandoned, we still got Chewbacca in the final cut. The Wookies would have been a somewhat primitive species that use crude weaponry compared to blasters, speeders, and walkers. They would have been trained to fly spaceships for a space battle happening simultaneously. The ground battle concept was brought back for the third film, but by this time Wookies already knew how to fly spaceships and fight with blasters. George realized that Chewbacca had already set the precedent for Wookies to be competent, space-faring technologists in the previous two films. Chewie co-pilots the Millennium Falcon, pieces C-3PO back together, and he wields a bowcaster. While George could have claimed Chewie was an outlier, it was just simpler to invent a new type of Star Wars creature. So, enter the Ewok, a clever reversal of the term Wookie.
Despite their adorable outward appearance, Ewoks are too quickly underestimated. Fans often wonder how an armored Stormtrooper could be taken down by a bonk on the head with a rock. That's because Ewoks are canonically just as strong as Wookies. You think there's plush cushioning under all that fur? It's pure muscle. Ewoks are strong enough to throw spears straight through plastoid armor. Those rocks aren't just boo-boo makers, they're skull-smashing dodgeballs when they're hurled by an Ewok. For their small size, their proportionate strength ratio means the rocks they throw will tear through a Stormtrooper's helmet like paper mache. Maybe it looks funny, but when a Stormtrooper ducks too slow, they don't just shake it off and get back up off-screen because they're incredibly deceased.
In addition to brawn, Ewoks have brains. They’re military geniuses. Using guerilla tactics, Ewoks move in unison to overwhelm their enemy with numbers. They’re brilliant engineers, having designed and built massive traps, snares, and catapults to combat foes much larger than themselves. It’s unlikely the Ewoks learned this kind of construction overnight. Ewoks developed these contraptions to defend themselves against the deadly megafauna of their moon. One of these native predators the Ewoks regularly contend with is the Gorax – giants who live in the mountains and sometimes attack the Ewok villages. The threat of these roaming beasts is one of the reasons why Ewoks build their villages high into the trees, away from the dangerous forest floor. With this context, scenes that might seem adorably pathetic – like Ewoks dragging behind an AT-ST with a trip rope – actually make more sense. They’ve done this maneuver before, this band of Ewoks just wasn’t prepared for the increased strength of the mechanized walker, compared to a Gorax.
The little Ewok that can be seen attacking the AT-ST's foot is likewise employing a sound strategy. He’s trying to compromise a vulnerable joint, which is a tactic that probably work on the organic creatures he's used to fighting. The only thing these strategies don't account for is that the Empire's beasts are made of metal. His persistence isn't cutely misguided — this Ewok has likely hacked through the hide of beasts much larger than he is countless times, and he knows it takes some elbow grease. Another beast native to Endor is the Condor dragon, which were known to swoop down from the sky and snatch Ewoks from their steeds. Doubtless, the hang gliders Ewoks use against the Empire are designed through observation of threats like the Condor dragons.
Speaking of the Empire’s metal war machines, the Ewoks prove to be quick learners who are able to suss out new tools and turn the enemy’s technologies against them. They can pilot speeders, and they understand the nature of the Empire’s vehicles to figure out how to destroy them. By the time the Rebels meet the Ewoks, the Empire has already razed one of their villages and occupied their land for the construction of the shield generator. They’ve seen what Stormtroopers can do, and they know what blasters are, and they’ve had time to study the scout walkers. One of the most strangely maligned moments during the battle is the double battering ram that smashes an AT-ST. Not only does this demonstrate the Ewok’s understanding of the enemy, but of advanced physics as well.
When they’re not using their sheer might or sharp wit, Ewoks exhibit a frightening brutality that gives them an advantage in battle. Ewoks don’t always go for the quick kill. They use jagged weapons to make wounds that are hard to patch up. They aim poison-tipped arrows at the gaps between armor plates. They’re not interested in delivering instant death. Ewoks break your bones, damage your organs, and leave you helpless in the woods to die a slow and painful death. Though Ewoks have the front-set eyes of predators, they’re socially evolved to evoke underestimation. While an enemy is trying to figure out if an Ewok is dangerous, it’s likely they’ve already fallen into a trap they’re unlikely to escape– and Ewoks don’t take prisoners. They’re omnivores who have learned to prepare their meat fresh. Hunters are known to slit the throats of Imperial officers and bring back the bodies for feasts, according to a canon junior novel by Tom Angleberger. Remember that when Han, Luke, and Chewie first encounter the Ewoks, they were brought back to the village to be cooked and eaten. If it wasn’t for C-3PO, they would have been the main course for the Ewoks that night.
The biggest thing that gets overlooked with the Ewoks is that they are a proud society deserving of dignity. When the Empire first arrived at the moon, Stormtroopers razed an Ewok village to make space for their shield generator complex, and the survivors fled to a neighboring village to regroup and prepare. The Ewoks are fighting a war, and they suffer losses. Some of these little fuzzers died. I’m not going to describe the scene. You remember it. This isn’t Build-A-Bear Workshop, this is an active theater of war.
Ewoks are an indigenous population with rich religious, artistic, medical, and political cultures. They build complex structures that are safe and secure in the heights of conifer trees, which are fire-resistant and serve as a natural insect repellent. They’re resourceful, resilient, they care for one another, and they’re not so afraid of Imperial humans that they are unwilling to give the Rebel heroes a chance to help them. They’re cute, yes, but they’re also stone-cold badasses. The whole point of the Ewoks is that we are supposed to underestimate them. We are not supposed to look at them and think that they can overpower the Empire. But they can. And they do. Pretending that they’re nothing more than fodder for toy store shelves only belies a fundamental lack of understanding of what the Ewoks are and what they were created to do. So let’s start giving Ewoks the respect that they deserve for bringing the Empire to its knees when they went stepping in places they shouldn’t have.