The Stranger (Star Wars)

The Stranger was a major antagonist in the relatively obscure Ewoks cartoon series - which in turn was loosely affiliated with the expanded Star Wars universe.

Early life
The Stranger was one of many Wizards of the Night Spirit that originated from the forest moon of Endor. The Stranger and his people were servants of the Night Spirit, an evil deity that was the source of all darkness on the world and may have been the Endorian representation of the dark side of the Force. The Wizards were located within the thorn forest, a vast expanse that was said to be rife with the presence of the Night Spirit. In their home, they carried out arcane rituals involving their Stone Circle and may have had some part in the creation of the Shadowstone, a dark Force-sensitive object.

At some point ages before the Battle of Endor, the Wizards came into conflict with the native Ewoks, who opposed the supporters of the Night Spirit. An epic showdown resulted in the Ewoks employing the Sunstar, a powerful object with incredible powers. The object was placed on a table within the center of the Stone Circle and spun clockwise, resulting in a beam of golden energy erupting from the stone. The beam also opened a tear in space and forced the Stranger and all of the Wizards off the world and into the rift.

The rift closed as soon as the Wizards had entered, and they found themselves trapped within. On a devastated otherworld, the Stranger and the rest of his kin spent many ages waiting for the rift to open again, so that they might return to Endor and exact revenge on the Ewoks who had banished them to their new home.

A chance for revenge
The Wizards waited patiently on their new home, remaining constantly vigilant should the rift open again. Eventually, after many years of waiting, two moons of Endor aligned over the world. For unknown reasons, this alignment temporarily opened the rift once more. Luckily for the Wizards, the Stranger had been on watch; seeing the rift open, he quickly shot through the rift in his quick starship. The Wizards' long waiting had finally paid off.

As the Stranger sped across the surface of the forest moon, he quickly located his former home and landed on the outskirts of Bright Tree Village, the home of the Sunstar. Climbing out of the craft, soon to self-destruct, the Stranger glided through the mists as he made his way towards the Ewok village. Just as the stranger was leaving his doomed ship, he spied the young Ewoks, Wicket Wystri Warrick and Teebo as they came upon his recently landed craft. However, the Stranger left them alone, perhaps because he believed the self-destruct on the ship would soon deal with the two curious Ewoks.

An unfair partnership
On his way to the village, the Stranger realized his need for a distraction so that he could lay his hands on the Sunstar unnoticed. For this endeavor, the Stranger sought out the Duloks and their King Gorneesh. The Duloks were also servants of the Night Spirit, and he knew they would answer to his commands. As the Stranger slowly glided into the Dulok's swamp, King Gorneesh tried to stop the Stranger from approaching. However, the Stranger was not unarmed, and he used beams within his eyes to badly shock the arrogant Dulok. With the rest of the tribe's attention, the Stranger ordered them to follow him to Bright Tree Village. Gorneesh was no longer in any mood to disagree, and he echoed the Stranger's decree, commanding his soldiers to obey.

The Stranger and his band of Duloks were soon at the Ewok village, where he ordered the tribe to attack and ransack the sleeping village. The Duloks did as they were told, and a war call rang out among the Dulok warriors as they began to raid the Ewok homes. As chaos ensued, the Ewoks became aware of the Duloks presence and the two groups were soon locked in a clash of arms. As Chief Chirpa tried to force the Duloks away from his village, the Stranger used the distraction to find the Sunstar and capture it for himself. With the Sunstar in his possession, the Stranger fled from the battlefield, but not before being spotted by four young Ewoks, including Wicket and Teebo, whom he had earlier ignored.

To prevent the children from sounding the alarm, the Stranger used the Sunstar to create a raging fire on the bridge that the children were standing on. Leaving the young ones to be consumed by the rapidly rising flames, the Stranger sped to the forest floor, where King Gorneesh and his Shaman Umwak were waiting to celebrate the capture of the Sunstar. While the Dulok King believed himself to be in a partnership with the Stranger and was ready to share the Sunstar, the dark wizard had no such thing in mind. He declared that the Duloks had served their purpose and ordered them to leave. When Gorneesh protested, he used the Sunstar to fire several bolts of energy at them, forcing a retreat.

The summoning
With his objective achieved, the Stranger sped back to his former home in Thorn Forest, intending to use the Stone Circle in tandem with the Sunstar so that he could summon his people back to the forest moon. However, a problem immediately presented itself. The old Ewok shaman Logray was waiting for the Stranger with his staff prepared for battle. Unfortunately for the ancient Ewok, the power of the Sunstar easily overpowered him, and the Stranger quickly trapped the meddling shaman in a force field and placed him above one of the many stone columns making up the Stone Circle. As Logray looked on, the Stranger taunted the Ewok, claiming that the Wizards and the Ewoks fates would soon be reversed. After showing Logray the devastated world the Wizards had been banished to, he placed the Sunstar on the stone table and spun it counter-clockwise, which created a purple column of energy unlike the gold column used against the wizards many years ago.

The powerful beam from the Sunstar was able to move two of the moons of Endor into alignment once again, creating the deep tear in space. As the beam held the moons in place, the Stranger's people flooded through, ready to reenter the world and claim it as their own once again. As the Stranger witnessed the arrival of his kin, he had failed to notice the young Ewoks, whom he had left to die, stealthily approaching. The children had braved the fire and were ready to rescue Master Logray. With the Stranger distracted, Wicket and his sweetheart Kneesaa a Jari Kintaka jumped the Stranger, knocking off his cloak in the process. The Stranger was rattled but not hurt, and ordered his people to attack the young Ewoks.

Battle
With Logray fearfully looking on, the Stranger led his people in trying to round up the Ewok children. Unfortunately, due to the amateur abilities shown by the young sorcerer Teebo, several of the Wizards found themselves changed by magical potions and objects, shrinking in size and taking on the forms of rocks. To make matters worse for the Wizards, the warriors of Bright Tree Village had discovered the whereabouts of Logray and had come to the rescue. The Stranger ordered his forces to destroy the Ewoks, and the Wizards were soon diving and attacking the advancing Ewok warriors. As the Stranger looked on, he soon witnessed the young Ewoks Wicket and Kneesaa clinging to a flying Wizard with a rope. As the Ewoks rapidly approached the Stranger, they jumped from the rope and onto the unaware Stranger, who could not get out of the way in time. The group soon toppled to the ground in front of the stone table, which was still displaying the Sunstar doing its job of holding the rift open.

As the Stranger shrugged the two Ewoks off him, he heard Logray yelling to Wicket and Kneesaa to spin the sunstar in the opposite direction. As Kneesaa tried to run forward and do this, the Stranger made one last attempt to keep the Sunstar in his possession. However, before he could do anything, Wicket quickly jumped onto the Stranger's back, pinning him to the ground. When the Stranger was finally able to shake the troublesome Ewok from his back, Kneesaa had used her grappling hook to spin the Sunstar in the clockwise direction, changing the force of the beam.

The Stranger cried out to his brothers, knowing that this was the exact thing which had helped banish them so many years ago. As the Ewok warriors grabbed onto the ground and trees around them, the flying Wizards were sucked up into the air by the power of the Sunstar and forced back through the rift. The Stranger made one last attempt to stop the Ewoks, grabbing onto Wicket and preparing to bring at least one Ewok with him, especially the one who had spelled his doom.

Unfortunately for the Stranger, Princess Kneesaa was once again to the rescue, throwing Wicket's Belt of Honor around the Stranger's outstretched hands. The strong leather belt soon had the Stranger's hands tied, and he released Wicket from his grasp. In a last attempt of desperation, the Stranger held tight to the stone table holding the Sunstar. However, the power was too great, and the Sunstar forced the Stranger off the Forest moon, carrying the stone table with him as the Sunstar tumbled to the forest floor.

Aftermath
As the Wizards were forced back into banishment, they had carried an integral part of the Stone Circle with them, leaving the possibility of recreating the ceremony that the Stranger had performed unlikely. Additionally, with the Stranger's ship destroyed, it was unknown if he would be able to speed through another portal should the moons align once again and reopen the rift.

For the Ewoks of Bright Tree Village, it proved a sobering event, and further proof of the dangers of the Night Spirit's influence. The Belt of Honor that Kneesaa had used to save Wicket from being carried away meant that Wicket had to start filling up his belt all over again, even though he had already placed several items on his old one. The young Ewok children who had helped confront the Stranger and defeat the Wizards of the Night Spirit were all awarded Beads of Bravery.