After the Battle of Endor, Imperial propaganda agents claiming that the destruction of the second Death Star over Endor in 4 ABY caused a disaster on the moon and that caused its inhabitants to be devastated by falling debris. However, the moon and its primary sentient species, the Ewoks, were both still in good health long after the Death Star's destruction, and the Alliance of Free Planets established a base on the moon. Much of the debris of the superweapon was sent through a hyperspace wormhole that briefly opened up when the Death Star's hyperdrive regulator was destroyed. This matter was scattered across the galaxy, while the Alliance to Restore the Republic put much effort into stopping the remaining debris from colliding with the moon.
A veteran stormtrooper of the Battle of Endor spoke of the supposed destruction of the forest moon, telling many that billions of tons of metal rained down on the moon and wiped out the Ewoks. His claims were countered by others, though, who claimed that it was simply myth. According to the man's fellow cantina patrons, most of the Death Star's mass was obliterated in the explosion, while the Rebel Alliance used tractor beams to ensure the rest did not damage the world.
At least one Imperial Star Destroyer did crash onto the moon's surface, though, and some debris was reported to have caused minor damage to Ewok habitats.
The explosion could be seen from the moon's surface. Note that some debris can clearly be seen shooting out of the explosion towards the moon.
The theory that such a disaster occurred was first proposed by Curtis Saxton on his Star Wars Technical Commentaries fan site. Saxton, who referred to the event as the "Endor Holocaust," claimed that the disaster is scientifically inevitable, although it has never been reported in any canon source. Some sources, such as X-Wing: Wedge's Gamble and the comic book "Apocalypse Endor," refer to the event as being either propaganda or myth.
In Star Wars Insider 76, a question and answer column written by Pablo Hidalgo states that the Ewoks were not all killed after the Battle of Endor. He refers to events described in the juvenile novel The Glove of Darth Vader, where debris from the second Death Star's destruction, including Darth Vader's glove, is sucked through a wormhole and taken through hyperspace to the other end of the galaxy (and, therefore, avoids landing on the forest moon). Hidalgo also acknowledges the environmental consequences expected from the destruction of a planetoid-sized battle station so close to a habitable moon, but claims that the laws of physics can be "thrown out the window" for the sake of a story which George Lucas intended to have a "happy ending".
The extended version of the Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II special features a skit which humorously depicts the event.
Several years after Disney's 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm Ltd., the official Star Wars Twitter account made a post giving the canon explanation that the Rebels set up shields and tractor beams to protect the moon from debris from the second Death Star. The 2019 film Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker depicts that the remains of the second Death Star fell on the ocean moon of Kef Bir, located in the Endor system. The accompanying reference book Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary, written by Hidalgo, furthermore specifies that the Moddell sector is rife with hyperspace anomalies which dumped the Death Star debris on Kef Bir, catastrophically displacing the moon's wildlife with the pollution in the oceans where the battlestation's reactor sunk into.
- Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II
- "Endor and the Moddell Sector" — Star Wars Gamer 9
- Star Wars Insider 76
- Inside the Worlds of Star Wars Trilogy
- Star Wars: Complete Locations