Why Chewie never got a medal after the Yavin (NRM)

Here you have it, the solution to one of the noodle-scratchers that has plagued SW fans since they first saw ANH. Why didn't Chewie get a medal? He was equally helpful in the Battle of Yavin. Well, I'm here to present not one, maybe two, maybe more, definitely several simple, easy explanations for why everyone's favorite Wookie earned no special reward for his heroism at the Battle of Yavin, and I encourage anyone else with ideas to present them. They can be fun or somewhat serious.

1. He wasn't intimately involved in the combat. Han did all the hard work. Chewie was off tinkering with the negative power coupling, or maybe even simply flying the ship. After all, it hardly takes a hotshot, medal-worthy pilot to fly a ship in a straight line and then pull it up.

2. He's allergic. It stands to reason, like many ceremonies here on Earth, weddings funerals etc. that Rebellion Medal-giving ceremonies have a rehearsal before the real deal. During this rehearsal, Chewie was given his medal, and soon broke out with an itchy rash where the ribbon had touched his fur. Moments before the portion of the ceremony that we saw, Leia made an announcement something like this: "We are here today to celebrate our victory over the Empire. Gathered before me are the heroes of that fateful battle. Chewbacca here, unfortunately, had an allergic reaction to his medal, but he will still recieve due compensation." Then when Chewie growls moments later, it's a growl of embarassment that his allergies are revealed.

 

I thought he got his medal in a comic book.

 

I believe the ANH adaptation says he'll get his later because he's too tall for Leia. And I've always thought the medals were for rescuing Leia, since there were a few others at Yavin, like Wedge and the Y-wing pilot, who weren't awarded.

 

His life debt won't allow him to accept awards because he normally would not have been there if it were not for the life debt to Han.

 

Yep, in The Day after the Death Star


Sorry for destroying this retcon



Kam

 

He also got a medal in the old Namco Star Wars game for the Famicom (NES)... instead of Han, who got nothing.

 

Yes, at a party after the formal ceremony, Leia stands on a table and gives him his medal.

[image=http://starwars.wikia.com/images/c/c9/Chewie_medal.jpg]

 

He gets one in the novelization.

 

In Tag and Bink Strikes back, They found his medal laying in the rubble of Yavin

 

And the MTV movie awards is still a better medal ceremony then those.

For one night, I wanted my MTV.

 

Additionally, there are two other retcons. The Galactic Battlegrounds databank says that Wookiees shun awards (I think they got that from another source, but I'm not sure) and according to TimeTales, George Lucas suggested, as a tie-in to the Holiday Special, that Chewie got his medal at a ceremony on Kashyyyk, which is how Luke and Leia met his family.

TC

 

I remember reading---decades ago, mind you---that Carrie had a bit of trouble medalling his neck. The book's pages are a rusty topaz now, no way I'm opening that probably dust mited infested tome. Sorry.

 

Make Peter-long-legs take a knee! Or have him take a couple more steps down from the stage.

It was about timing the scene and Lucas focusing the "hero" moment on the boys instead of Han's dog.

Considering the very "human" crowd in that scene...one wonders about how "alien-loving" the rebs really were before Endor.

 

The band at Yavin were the Alderaanian branch if the Alliance, so it's unsurprising there were few nonhumans.

 

who cares if he didn't get an award?

 

[image=http://starwars.wikia.com/images/5/50/Luke_Swarm_War.jpg]

I care.

 

I Don't Care.

 

You seem to be missing the point of the boards.