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I borrowed A New Hope from the public library a few days ago. God, it fealt SO GOOD to watch the original again

I have a ? though, something i've been wondering about for 30 years: Why at the end of the movie, when you see Leia presenting medals to our heros Luke and Han, WHY DOESN'T CHEWBACCA GET A MEDAL AS WELL????? He was there, too, and is just as deserving as the other two guys.

This question has annoyed me FOREVER, ever since the very first day/time I saw the movie. "Why doesn't Chewie get honored and get a medal as well"?

Out of universe, Chewie was too tall for Carrie Fisher to give the medal to.

And there was no workaround for that? The guy playing Chewie couldn't have bowed down or she couldn't just have given him the medal?

Maybe the political leadership of the Rebellion don't like Wookiees?

If it had been up to me, I might have explained it as a cultural thing, like Wookies don't believe in medals for some reason.

I don't know if canon contradicts this, though.

Edit: Or maybe Chewie's just really modest and declined the honour, but couldn't get out of at least making an appearance on stage.

In the new Disney canon, Chewie got the medal but for undisclosed reasons chose not to receive it at the ceremony. Later, however, he gives it away to some kid. So obviously he was ambivalent about it. This all happened in a recent comic.

We should also remember that out-of-universe the ANH production was a mess so it's possible that with countless other problems that Chewie didn't get a medal probably seemed like a minor issue not worth bothering about.

Maybe Leia just doesn't like Chewie. Don't forget that in The Force Awakens she also ignored him after Han died, instead comforting Rey. Lets ignore the loyal friend who had been with Han for decades in favor of the girl who had known him for a few days.

As I recall, Abrams himself admitted in an interview that the Leia and Rey scene was a mistake.

Formless wrote:In the new Disney canon, Chewie got the medal but for undisclosed reasons chose not to receive it at the ceremony. Later, however, he gives it away to some kid. So obviously he was ambivalent about it. This all happened in a recent comic.

At least one old comic adaption reassures via caption that Chewie does get his own medal but will have to put it on himself as 'few space princesses are that tall'

So silly as it its and an in and out of universe reason apparently.

Leia might be a bit of a racist herself, she does refer to Chewie as a "walking carpet" and in ESB suggests that kissing a wookie is distasteful.

Lord Pounder wrote: in ESB suggests that kissing a wookie is distasteful.

I wouldn't particularly read too much into this, some women just don't like kissing people with a lot of facial hair. My wife for example is quite averse to facial hair for the most part (Hugh Jackman being about the only exception). That, and she was verbally sparring with Han Solo at the time due to all the romantic tension going on, so obviously there was going to be some exaggeration.

It would be comparable if you were trying to flirt with a girl, and she says she'd rather kiss your dog's ass or something along those lines. She's making a comment that she would rather do something she views as unpleasant, rather than kiss you.

I always thought it was because he was the CO-pilot, not the guy who actually piloted the ship and fired the shots that saved Luke.

Lord Pounder wrote:Leia might be a bit of a racist herself, she does refer to Chewie as a "walking carpet" and in ESB suggests that kissing a wookie is distasteful.

Aren't Leia and other Rebel higher ups from the upper classes of Republic/Imperial society? It might certainly explain why the ANH Rebellion looks so much like a "homo sapiens only" club.

Hey, R2D2 didn't get a medal either. And he got shot in the line of duty. Neither did wedge. I'd mention other characters but I can't remember who survived at the end.

R2 got thanked in TPM, but here he gets bupkis. Clearly the everyone became racist toward droids after the clone wars.

Personally, in real life, I always thought it just some mistake in the movie that happened and nobody thought to fix it or couldn't correct it until it was too late. Having Leia trying to present the medal to him and NOT being able to reach his neck & him having to bend over to receive it, could have ended the movie on a funny note. I think she could also have AT LEAST maybe given him a hug or some sign of appreciation that might have been an embarrassing moment for both of them when she gives him a friendly hug and he gives her a big 'ol WOOKIE-SIZED hug in return!
Just some silly movie trivia fluff to ponder (and be annoyed by for the rest of my life!).

One explanation could be that as essentially the crew chief of the Millennium Falcon that he got a medal that was a step down from what Luke and Han got. In the book Low Level Hell, a scout helicopter pilot in Vietnam explained that when he got to his aeroscout unit, the standard practice was that if a little bird pilot was put in for a commendation, the crew chief would be put in for the the commendation one step down on the order of precedence. He lobbied for both pilot and crew chief to get the same award, since the crew chief was in just as much danger.

APlayerHater wrote:Hey, R2D2 didn't get a medal either. And he got shot in the line of duty. Neither did wedge. I'd mention other characters but I can't remember who survived at the end.

R2 got thanked in TPM, but here he gets bupkis. Clearly the everyone became racist toward droids after the clone wars.

Why do you think he was raising such a ruckus at the awards ceremony? His dialogue didn't get bleeped out only because the MPAA couldn't understand droid.

(well, that's my story, and I'm stickin' to it)

U.P. Cinnabar wrote:

APlayerHater wrote:Hey, R2D2 didn't get a medal either. And he got shot in the line of duty. Neither did wedge. I'd mention other characters but I can't remember who survived at the end.

R2 got thanked in TPM, but here he gets bupkis. Clearly the everyone became racist toward droids after the clone wars.

Why do you think he was raising such a ruckus at the awards ceremony? His dialogue didn't get bleeped out only because the MPAA couldn't understand droid.

It is bleeped out. R2D2 only speaks two languages. Basic and Bad Basic.