Chewbacca

Background:

Major Plots:

We first see Chewbacca in Revenge of the Sith as he helps fight for the Republic against the separatist's invasion of Kashyyyk. He is overseeing the battle with Jedi master Yoda when Order 66 comes down from soon to be Emperor Palpatine, Chewie helps Yoda escape from the now turncoat clones. Chewie then leads Yoda to a hidden escape pod which will save him from the clones now searching for any Jedi to kill.

 Chewie and Han

With a life debt still owed to Han Solo now owed to Han Solo, a smuggler, Chewbacca has become his full fledged partner. Its on Tatooine that the two meet Obi-Wan Kenobi seeking safe passage to Alderaan with Luke Skywalker and some droids, C-3PO and R2-D2, the latter who is carrying plans for a secret Imperial weapon. They agree when the payment is plenty to cover some debt Solo owes to a gangster Jabba the Hutt. Despite some roadblocks from bounty hunters and stormtroopers they are able to take off in the Millennium Falcon.   

The group reach Alderaan or rather what is left of it. After realizing the planet has been destroyed they spot a nearby moon which turns out to be the Empire's new and powerful weapon, the Death Star. The Falcon is trapped in a tractor beam which pulls the ship into the Death Star but luckily the Falcon has smuggling compartments which allow the group to hide. They discover that Princess Leia, who was the one to request Kenobi return the droid to her, is imprisoned on the Death Star.

With Chewbacca pretending to be a prisoner and Han and Luke pretending to be stormtroopers, they make an assault onto the detention center where Leia is being held. After a foray into some trash and pissing off a few stormtroopers everyone finds their way back onto the Falcon, minus one Jedi knight, and are able to escape the Death Star.

The Empire doesn't like losing their prisoners though and have stashed a tracking beacon aboard the Falcon. On Yavin IV, in the rebel alliance's hidden base, the rebels quickly form a plan to attack the Death Star in hopes of destroying it. Since Han Solo pretends to have only interest in his reward for rescuing Leia, Chewie and Han leave before the attack begins. But just when Luke needs help the most, the Falcon is able to disable Darth Vader's advance TIE fighter which allows Luke a clean shot that destroys the Death Star. Chewbacca, Han, Luke, are all treated as heroes and even given medals for the bravery.

I ain't cold 

Chewie continues to follow with Han and the rebel alliance fighting the Empire wherever they are best suited. After barely patching the Millennium Falcon back together, escaping Hoth just as the Empire bears down on them, and hiding in an asteroid field, Chewie, Han, and Leia all arrive at a nearby system, Bespin, where Han has an old friend, Lando Calrissian. There they are treated nicely until they are invited to a dinner hosted by Darth Vader and Boba Fett. Fett was able to track Solo down after the asteroid field incident and intends to take him to Jabba the Hutt who now has a large bounty on Solo's life. 

 Putting 3PO back together

Vader has other plans, he intends to use Han's pain and torture in order to lure the now Jedi in training, Luke Skywalker to Bespin in order to freeze him and bring him before the Emperor himself. In jail on Cloud City, Chewie attempts to put back C-3PO back together in his spare time and is forced to watch Han frozen in carbonite. Lando has a change of heart once he realizes what is happening to his friends and helps Leia and Chewie escape, including recusing Luke, on the Falcon.

Chewbacca spends his time away from Han protecting Leia, on Han's order. With her and Lando they discover Han is being held at Jabba the Hutt's palace. One by one they infiltrate the palace with Leia posing as a well known bounty hunter and Chewbacca being brought in as a captive. This sets up Luke's ultimate plan for recusing Han and all his friends. In a daring escape Luke frees everyone and in the deluge Jabba the Hutt is killed.

With everyone now safe they begin focusing once again on the fight against the Empire. The rebels have formulated a plan that would cripple the Empire and it involves destroying a new Death Star that is being built around the forest moon of Endor. Chewbacca is with Han on a mission down to Endor's surface in order to remotely shut down the Death Star's shield generator.

On Endor, however, nothing goes exactly according to plan. Even after befriending a group of indigenous Ewoks the assault on the shield generator is foiled when more Imperial troops arrive. But having tiny furry friends pays off, the Ewoks stage their own attack on the stormtroopers holding Chewie and the rebels hostage. Chewie and his friends are freed to help fight in the battle with Chewie even taking over an AT-ST with a few Ewoks which allows the rebels enough firepower to compete with the Imperial troops.

With enough chaos caused to defeat the Empire on Endor they are able to destroy the shield generator just in time for the rebels to once and for all deliver the finishing blow to the Empire.

Personality and Traits:

Chewbacca is known as one of the heroes of the Rebel alliance and is a model of courage and strength. Just like many Wookies he posses great strength as well as height. He has been known to occasionally rip arms off after losing and holographic chess but for the most part Chewbacca is kind and gentle to those who are nice in return. Chewie also possesses knowledge of starships which allows him to act as both copilot to Han Solo as well as undertaking repairs around the ship. His crossbow is his usual weapon of choice and has become iconic to Chewbacca himself. 

But perhaps Chewbacca's most unique features are his height and fur. Originally Chewie was based off of George Lucas' dog, Indiana, and after a handful of design drafts by artists his distinct body of fur was born. Also born was the height of Chewie, after all Chewie was an alien species and needed to be different than the human actors. During casting in England, Lucas met Peter Mayhew who is 7 feet 3 inches tall and instantly Lucas knew he would be Chewbacca. 

Trivia

• The idea for Chewbacca largely came from George Lucas' Alaskan Malamute, Indiana, who would sit in the director's passenger seat in his truck, acting as ersatz co-pilot.  The dog also lent his name to another cinema icon, Indiana Jones.
• Despite carrying a bowcaster weapon for most of the films he appears in, Chewbacca only ever fired it once, in Return of the Jedi, at a fleeing speeder bike.
• Like R2D2, Chewie seems to understand Galactic Basic (English to you far, far away people), yet doesn't speak a word of it.  Han & 3PO seem to speak wookiee well enough to understand him, though.
• Chewbacca's iconic roars, growls and other assorted noises come from a variety of sources orchestrated by sound designer Ben Burtt.  These include walrus, bear, badger, camel and tiger sounds.
• A serious concern of 20th Century Fox during the making of Star Wars was that the wookiee had no pants.  They attempted to persuade Lucas to have him wear shorts, at the very least.