10 Innocent Movie Characters Who Got Totally Unnecessary Deaths
5. Nanta - Star Wars: Episode VI - Return Of The Jedi
The Star Wars franchise only makes innocent character deaths worse because the wider universe has inevitably given a name and a backstory to even the most hilariously minor of characters.
This includes Nanta, the Ewok who is gunned down by an AT-ST during Return of the Jedi's climactic Battle of Endor.
Director Richard Marquand ultimately traumatised an entire generation of children by not only showing Nanta get shot to death while fleeing, but also lingering on his comrade, Romba, checking on his body and weeping over his corpse.
The irony of adding the Ewoks to make Star Wars even more appealing to children, only to show the young'uns something this disturbing is... certainly a choice.
You can argue that Nanta's death wasn't entirely unnecessary given that it assured everyone the Battle of Endor was serious business, but at the same time it strikes a strange note given what the Ewoks' primary function is throughout the movie.