Zandor Rocker

The Zandor Rockers were a species of sentient beings who looked like rocks with legs and faces. By hiding on the ground, legs retracted, eyes and mouth closed, they could pass for mundane stones. The Rockers could run quickly on their legs or burrow rapidly through the ground.
Zandor Rockers lived on the Forest Moon of Endor in the land for which they were named. At one point, an Ogre named Gantu began raiding their territory for sunnydew flowers. Without the plants' nectar to sustain them, Zandor's flora died out and left the region barren. When two Ewoks ventured into Zandor in 3 ABY searching for the Ogre, the Rockers aided them in finding and fighting the raider. Their efforts helped chase off Gantu and restore the land to fertility.
==Biology and appearance==
Zandor Rockers were a species of small sentient beings who looked like stones. Although their shape varied from one individual to the next, most had a wide, flat base that rounded out to a dome-like top. They stood less than a meter tall. Two short, thin legs with narrow feet jutted out from under the body's base and permitted the Rocker to run as quickly as an Ewok. Rockers could also spin their bodies so rapidly that their momentum carried them into the ground like a drill and created a tunnel large enough for an Ewok to crawl through, but much too narrow for an Ogre to follow. However, that left them dizzy and disoriented.
A Rocker's body and head formed one unit, although members of the species referred to this portion of their anatomy as a "head." The face—two small eyes, a wide brow, and a gaping mouth—was plastic enough to express a wide range of emotions. They could speak even with their mouths closed. The entire body was gray, down to the eyes and inside of the mouth. Some Rockers had a white coating atop the head that resembled hair.
Rockers felt pain like other sentient beings. They could use their entire body as a weapon against larger creatures, even Ogres. Simply jumping on their enemy with their full weight could be quite painful to the target.
==Society and culture==
Several Rockers lived in the Zandor region of the Forest Moon of Endor. There, they huddled in groups and lay about on the ground with their eyes and mouths closed and legs held underneath the body, camouflaged as mundane stones. Despite their mineral appearance, the Zandor Rockers took offense to being treated like ordinary stones; throwing them or sitting on them were particularly objectionable. They also refrained from throwing pebbles, as the confusion between Rockers and rocks could prove dangerous.
Despite these hang-ups, the Zandor Rockers were friendly to outsiders, and even spoke Ewokese. They assumed strangers were amicable unless they proved themselves a threat. They held a grudge against the Ogre Gantu, for example, for his role in the despoliation of their territory.
==History==
The Zandor Rockers established their home in the Zandor region of the Forest Moon of Endor. There, they lived in harmony with the region's sunnydew flowers, plants that created glowing nectar and sustained the growth of the rest of Zandor's plant life. However, an Ogre named Gantu discovered the nectar. He began raiding Rocker territory for the flowers, eventually removing all but one blossom from the area and using the nectar to light his cave. Without the nectar to sustain them, Zandor's plants died, and the land became a desert.
In 3 ABY, dates the events of the Ewoks comic-book series, which include the appearance of Zandor Rockers in Ewoks 1, to three years after the events of , which equates to 3 ABY per The New Essential Chronology. a pair of Ewoks, Teebo and Wicket W. Warrick, entered Zandor Rocker territory and took a rest among a camouflaged group of the beings. After some initial faux pas and ruffled feathers, both parties realized that they were mutual enemies of the Ogre Gantu, who had raided the Ewoks' village in the past. The Ewoks asked to be taken to Gantu's cave, and a Rocker led the way.
Shortly after they arrived, Gantu returned, and a fight broke out over the nectar and the bridge crystal, an item that, when held to the sun, created the Rainbow Bridge by which the Ewoks and Gantu could travel to one another's territory. In the commotion, Gantu spilled the nectar on himself, causing his body to glow. He ran off in joy, and new sunnydew flowers sprouted from some nectar that had spilled to the ground.
The Rockers urged the Ewoks to return home before the Ogre returned. The bridge crystal had been destroyed in the confrontation with the Ogre, making the Rainbow Bridge impossible, so the Rockers burrowed under the gorge to create a tunnel through which the Ewoks could pass instead. Vowing to visit again, the Ewoks departed. With the return of the sunnydew flowers, Zandor returned to its previous fecundity.
==Behind the scenes==
The Zandor Rockers were created by writer David Manak and artist Warren Kremer for Ewoks 1, a comic-book published by Marvel Comics on January 29, 1985.
==Appearances==
*Ewoks (1985) 1 
==Notes and references==
Category:Mineral-based sentient species
Category:Sentient species of Endor