Battle of Endor

The Battle of Endor, also known as the Mission to Endor, the assault on the second Death Star, or the attack on the second Death Star, was a major and decisive battle of the Galactic Civil War, one in which the Alliance to Restore the Republic shattered the rule of the Galactic Empire and saw the destruction of the DS-2 Death Star II Mobile Battle Station and the deaths of Darth Sidious and Darth Vader. The triumph of the Alliance over the Empire, and the void left in the wake of the Emperor's demise, gave the Alliance the opportunity to give rise to the New Republic, which ultimately prevailed over the Empire in the Battle of Jakku one year later. The legacy of the Battle of Endor reverberated for decades after the fighting ended, including into the brewing war between the Imperial-inspired First Order and the Resistance that arose to combat it.

The origins of the Battle of Endor emerged from the discovery that the Empire was using the Forest Moon of Endor as a staging ground to construct a second Death Star, the first of which had been destroyed four years earlier during the Battle of Yavin. Bothan spies employed by the Alliance gained the intelligence needed to determine the Death Star's location and learn that the Emperor planned to personally oversee the final phases of construction, though the Alliance was unaware that this was an elaborate plot to destroy Luke Skywalker, a Jedi and the son of Darth Vader, and the Alliance itself once and for all. The battle began after the Alliance Fleet assembled near Sullust, and special operations ground forces were deployed to Endor to disable the shield protecting the armored battle station.

The Alliance Fleet soon arrived to discover the Imperial Navy waiting for them, along with a fully operational Death Star. Allied with the native Ewoks, ground forces under the command of General Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa destroyed the shield, allowing the Alliance Fleet to attack the superweapon. Meanwhile, Skywalker engaged Vader in a final lightsaber duel aboard the Death Star. After defeating his father, the Emperor betrayed Vader by attempting to convince the Jedi Knight to kill Vader and turn to the dark side of the Force, only for Luke to refuse. To save his son from the wrath of the Emperor, Vader surprised and betrayed Sidious, killing the Dark Lord of the Sith, and sacrificing his own life in the process—an act that fulfilled the Jedi prophecy of the Chosen One and brought balance to the Force. Shortly thereafter, the Rebel Alliance forces destroyed the Death Star. Imperial forces were left in tatters, enabling the Alliance to form the New Republic and forge a new future free of the Sith and the rule of the Empire, thus allowing the Jedi Order to be restored.

Text and facts from the “Battle of Endor” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.