Ben Solo and mentors the scavenger Rey. Luke is the twin brother of Leia Organa. The character is portrayed by Mark Hamill
in six films and two television series. Luke also appears in animated series, novels, comics, and video games.
Creation and development
Star Wars (1977)
George Lucas considered various characterizations for the protagonist of the original Star Wars film.[d] The possibilities included a 60-year-old grizzled war hero, a Jedi Master, a dwarf, and a woman.[3][4] Luke's original surname was "Starkiller", and it remained in the script until a few months into filming. It was dropped due to what Lucas called "unpleasant connotations" with Charles Manson, who became a "star killer" in 1969 when he murdered the well-known actress Sharon Tate.[5][6] Lucas replaced the problematic name "Starkiller" with "Skywalker".[7]
Return of the Jedi (1983)
An alternate ending to the film reportedly featured Luke disappearing into the wilderness "like
The Force Awakens was due to concerns by screenwriter Michael Arndt that his presence would distract from Rey, leading to an agreement that he be removed from the screen and instead become a plot device.[9][10] Hamill attended meetings for script readings, and helped conceal Luke's role in the film; instead of dialogue, he read stage directions. According to director and co-writer J. J. Abrams, this allowed Hamill to remain involved and his reading helped make a "better experience for everyone."[11]
Hamill was injured in a car accident in January 1977, fracturing his nose and cheekbone.[14] Lucas justified the slight change to Hamill's likeness this would impose upon the sequel film, The Empire Strikes Back (1980), by asserting that in the interim between the two films, Luke had been fighting for the Rebel Alliance. It was speculated that the Wampa attack at the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back was written in to explain his facial injuries, but Lucas specifically disputed this in the DVD commentary of the film.[15]
Hamill voices the character in
Return of the Jedi radio drama. Luke also appears in video games, in which he is voiced by a variety of different actors.[a]
Luke first appears in Star Wars (1977). He lives on a moisture farm on the desert planet Tatooine with his uncle
Tusken Raiders by Obi-Wan Kenobi, an old hermit. R2-D2 plays the message from Leia, in which she asks Obi-Wan to help her defeat the Galactic Empire. Obi-Wan says that he and Luke's father were once Jedi Knights, and that Luke's father was murdered by a traitorous Jedi named Darth Vader. Obi-Wan presents Luke with his father's lightsaber and offers to take him to Alderaan and train him in the ways of the Force
. Luke declines his offer, feeling obligated to his family's farm.
. He and other Rebels attempt to destroy the Death Star by launching torpedoes into an exhaust port. As he approaches the port, Luke hears Obi-Wan's voice, telling him to "trust his feelings". He switches off his ship's missile guidance system, instead using the Force to guide the missiles. After destroying the Death Star, Luke receives a medal of honor from Leia.
The Empire Strikes Back
Luke's second film appearance is in The Empire Strikes Back (1980). Three years after the destruction of the Death Star, Luke is now a commander in the Rebel Alliance. While on a mission on the ice planet
AT-ATs
, but he is forced to retreat when his wingmen are overwhelmed. Escaping in his X-wing, he travels to Dagobah and meets Yoda. He undergoes rigorous Jedi training, quickly increasing his power in the Force.
During his training, Luke sees a vision of his friends in danger. Against both Obi-Wan and Yoda's advice to stay and complete his training, he travels to
Sith Lord easily overpowers Luke and severs his right hand. Vader then reveals that he is Luke's father, and offers him the chance to turn to the dark side of the Force and rule the galaxy at his side. Resolving that he would rather die than become an agent of evil, Luke throws himself into a deep reactor chasm. He survives, but is pulled into a garbage chute to the underside of Cloud City, and left hanging perilously onto a vane rod. Leia, flying away from Cloud City in the Millennium Falcon, senses Luke's call out to her with the Force, and turns the ship around to save him. Aboard the ship, he hears Vader telepathically telling him that it is his destiny to join the dark side. Luke's severed hand is replaced with a bio-mechanical
one.
Return of the Jedi (1983)
A year later, Luke is a Jedi Knight
rancor. When Luke kills the rancor, he, Han, and Chewbacca are sentenced to death in the Sarlacc pit
. Luke escapes with R2-D2's help, saving his friends and destroying Jabba's sail barge.
Luke returns to Dagobah, and learns from a dying Yoda that Vader is indeed his father. Luke then learns from Obi-Wan's spirit that he has a twin sister, whom he immediately realizes is Princess Leia. Both Jedi Masters tell Luke that he must face Vader again to finish his training and save the galaxy, but he is disturbed by the idea of killing his own father.
Arriving on Endor as part of a Rebel commando squad, Luke surrenders to Vader in an attempt to bring his father back from the dark side of the Force. Vader brings Luke to the second Death Star orbiting around Endor, where his master, Emperor Palpatine, tries to tempt Luke to the dark side, revealing his plan to destroy the Rebel fleet. Luke lashes out at the Emperor with his lightsaber, but Vader blocks his strike, and father and son once again duel with each other. Luke regains control of his emotions until Vader senses that Luke has a sister, and threatens to turn her to the dark side if Luke will not submit. Luke snaps and overpowers Vader, severing his father's mechanical right hand. The Emperor orders Luke to kill Vader and take his place. Luke looks at his own bionic hand and realizes that he is on the verge of suffering his father's fate. He casts his lightsaber aside, declaring himself a Jedi.
Furious, the Emperor tortures Luke with
funeral pyre
, giving him a proper Jedi funeral. During the Rebels' victory celebrations on Endor, Luke sees his father's spirit appear alongside those of Obi-Wan and Yoda.
, wife of Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, becomes pregnant with Luke and Leia. Anakin has a prophetic vision of Padmé dying in childbirth, and allows Chancellor Palpatine – secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious – to corrupt him to the dark side as Darth Vader.
After Vader uses the dark side to choke her, Padmé is taken to
Bail Organa of Alderaan. The infant Luke is portrayed by Aidan Barton, the son of Roger Barton, an editor of the film.[18]
Sequel trilogy
Main article:
Ahch-To
by the young scavenger, Rey, who presents him with the lightsaber previously wielded by both Luke and his father.
In The Last Jedi (2017), Luke throws the lightsaber away after Rey gives it to him. He then seals himself in his home, refusing to talk to Rey. However, when he sees Chewbacca without Han and that Rey came on the Millennium Falcon, he inquires about what has gone on with his family. Rey informs Luke about Solo's death at the hands of Kylo Ren and that the First Order has risen to rule the galaxy. Rey asks Luke to train her in the ways of the Force. Luke is initially reluctant to train Rey, telling her that it is time for the Jedi Order to end.
After some persuasion from R2-D2, however, Luke starts training Rey, but grows increasingly afraid of her power. Luke then tells Rey the history of the Jedi Order, how Darth Sidious rose to power and how the Jedi were partly responsible for his father's fall to the dark side. Luke also initially tells Rey that Ben was corrupted by Snoke, and destroyed the Jedi Temple he confronted his treasonous nephew. Ultimately, however, Luke tells Rey the truth: He had briefly considered killing the sleeping Ben after seeing a vision of the destruction he could cause, but immediately relented; Ben woke to see Luke with his lightsaber drawn and turned to the dark side because he felt betrayed. Upon learning this, Rey urges Luke to help her redeem Ben, but he refuses to participate in this nor help the Resistance. When Rey leaves, an embittered Luke tries to burn the Jedi temple, but fails. He is then visited by the spirit of Yoda, who assures Luke that he still has a purpose.
Luke appears on the planet
Crait
, as the Resistance are staging a standoff against the First Order, and he apologizes to Leia for allowing Ben to fall to the dark side. Luke steps in front of the First Order walkers, and unexpectedly survives an onslaught of blaster fire ordered by Ren. Ren charges at Luke in hand-to-hand combat, seemingly bisecting him with his lightsaber, but Luke remains unscathed; still on Ahch-To, Luke has sent a projection of himself to Crait, using the Force. This distraction allows the Resistance to escape the planet. Luke tells Kylo that he will not be the last Jedi before his projection disappears. On Ahch-To, Luke collapses then looks off in the horizon to see the planet's two suns setting before he becomes one with the Force and vanishes.
Luke appears briefly in the final film of the trilogy, The Rise of Skywalker (2019). After Rey defeats Kylo in a lightsaber duel, she flies his TIE fighter to Ahch-To, then burns the ship. When she throws Luke's lightsaber into the flames, Luke appears as a Force spirit and catches the weapon. He reprimands Rey for treating the lightsaber with disrespect. Luke then admits that he was wrong not to participate in the Resistance, and thanks Rey for helping him rediscover himself. Luke convinces Rey to not view herself as a Palpatine, but as the good person Leia saw her as when training her, and not to give up on her battle against the Sith. Luke gives Rey Leia's lightsaber and his X-wing for her journey to Exegol. After Rey vanquishes Palpatine, she visits the moisture farm on Tatooine where Luke was raised. As she is burying Luke and Leia's lightsabers in the sand, a local woman arrives and asks Rey who she is. As the spirits of Luke and Leia look on, Rey replies "Rey Skywalker."
Din Djarin, as well as their companions. Luke then takes Grogu with him to train him as a Jedi, with Djarin's permission.[21]
Luke appears in the sixth episode, "Chapter 6: From the Desert Comes a Stranger", of the spin-off series
Great Jedi Purge. Djarin comes to visit Grogu, but decides against it after speaking with Ahsoka Tano, not wanting to hinder his training; however, he gives Ahsoka a gift to deliver to Grogu: beskar chain mail forged by the Armorer. Ahsoka gives the chain mail to Luke, who confesses that he is unsure whether Grogu is fully committed to the Jedi path and that he does not know how to handle the matter. Following Ahsoka's advice to listen to his instincts, Luke decides to let Grogu choose his own destiny by asking him to choose between the chain mail and the lightsaber of his old master, Yoda.[22] In the seventh episode, "Chapter 7: In The Name of Honour", it is revealed that Grogu chose the chain mail, leading Luke to send him back to Djarin. He places him in his X-wing starfighter, which is then flown to Tatooine by R2-D2, where Grogu and Djarin are eventually reunited.[23]
Literature
Luke is the main character of the novel Heir to the Jedi and the junior novel The Legends of Luke Skywalker (the latter of which was adapted as a manga).[24] He is also a main character of the 2015 comic Star Wars, which takes place between the films of the original trilogy.[25]
Star Wars: Heir to the Jedi was announced as one of the first four canon novels to be released in 2014 and 2015.
first-person perspective of Luke, and is only the second Star Wars novel to attempt this type of narrative voice.[f][27]
Star Wars: Shadow of the Sith is a novel set between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. The book follows Luke and Lando Calrissian on a mission to locate Exegol.[28]
Appearances in Star Wars Legends
See also:
Star Wars expanded to other media
In 2014, most of the licensed Star Wars novels and comics produced since 1977 were rebranded by Lucasfilm as Star Wars Legends and declared non-canon to the franchise. The Legends works comprise a separate narrative universe.[29][30][31][32]
Novels
In the novel
Ssi-Ruuk. Luke commands a task force, turning back the enemy army. He also meets Dev Sibwarra, a Force-sensitive human who had been captured by the Ssi-Ruuk, who is killed in the battle after turning against his captors.[33]
In the novel
Jedi Academy, something he has been trying to do for six months before the start of the novel by finding old Jedi records and archives.[34]
In the
Joruus C'baoth. Eventually, he and Jade fight against Luke's clone, Luuke Skywalker, C'baoth's creation. During the fight, Mara Jade destroys the clone and, with Leia's help, destroys C'baoth. This entire time, C'baoth has been obsessed with "molding" Luke and Mara to serve him, perhaps due to the fact that the Spaarti cloning cylinders he was made from have a reputation of turning people insane later in life. Nonetheless, C'baoth is defeated by Mara along with Luuke, and Mara's acts silences her curse and completes her reconciliation with the Jedi, whom she later joins.[35]
, a decision some anti-Jedi politicians use against him. Luke becomes the New Jedi Order's leader. His students in the ways of the Force include; Gantoris, Kam Solusar, Tionne, Streen, Cilghal, Kirana Ti and others. He is forced to contend with the spirit of ancient Sith Lord Exar Kun, who lures one of his most powerful students, Kyp Durron, to the dark side.
In the
Ben
, after Obi-Wan Kenobi's pseudonym.
In the
Lomi Plo
, who became their Unseen Queen with her ability to become invisible by exploiting the doubts of inferiors.
One of the Myrkr mission survivors, Alema Rar, attempts to plant seeds of doubt in Luke's mind by suggesting that his wife, Mara, may be somehow responsible for the death of his mother, Padmé Amidala, which he almost believes because of Mara's previous role as the Emperor's Hand. This allows Lomi to escape from Luke, who discovers recordings of his father Force-choking his mother on
Mustafar
, his own birth, and his mother's death hidden inside R2-D2's memory drive. Because of this, he is able to overcome his doubts about Mara and defeat Lomi Plo in the final battle of the Swarm War, cutting her into four pieces.
Luke creates a New Jedi Council, and becomes the Grand Master of the New Jedi Order. He tells the Jedi to either follow his leadership, make the order their priority, or leave. Luke is also forced to exile the Padawans Tahiri,
Lowbacca
, and Tesar Sebatayne to Dagobah for divulging secret information to people outside the order.
In the Legacy of the Force series, Luke begins having visions of a figure cloaked in darkness destroying the galaxy and the Jedi. Luke is troubled that he has been unable to discern the identity of this figure, who seems to be much like Darth Vader. Complicating matters even more is the recent schism that has developed between Luke and his nephew, Jacen Solo. Already a tremendously powerful Jedi Knight, Jacen has begun adopting radical interpretations of the Force, causing a dramatic change in his personality. Luke fears that Jacen is pursuing the same path that ultimately led to Anakin Skywalker's fall to the dark side.
In
Invincible
, when Jaina kills Jacen in a final lightsaber duel.
In Fate of the Jedi novels, set about 40 years after the first film, Luke Skywalker, now in his early sixties, is deposed by the government from his position as Grand Master, and exiled from Coruscant. However, if he finds the reason of why Jacen Solo fell to the dark side, he can be allowed to return. Ben insists on coming with him. Together, father and son explore dangerous and little-known portions of the galaxy. Luke and Ben learn much about each other, about the Force, and about the great dangers threatening the Jedi. The great love the two surviving Skywalkers have for each other grows even greater as they repeatedly save each other's lives and explore the limits and powers and mysteries of the Force.
The 2008 Matthew Stover novel Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor takes place shortly after Return of the Jedi and the novel
Prophets of the Dark Side. Luke and the Rebel Alliance are attempting to stop Lord Shadowspawn and his "shadow stormtroopers", a struggle which culminates in the Battle of Mindor.[36] Stover said Shadows of Mindor was meant to evoke Brian Daley's Han Solo novels, which are Stover's favorite Star Wars books.[37]
Comics
Luke Skywalker appears in the
Darth Krayt
and his burgeoning Sith Empire.
Reception
In regards to Luke's portrayal in The Last Jedi, many fans expressed disappointment in how he was depicted "as a grumpy old man whose failures had driven him into hiding" and the actions the character takes in contributing to Kylo Ren's backstory, a stark departure in how Luke was characterized in the original trilogy.[38] Hamill originally stated that he fundamentally disagreed with "every choice [The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson] made for this character," but that he had the utmost respect for Johnson and was willing to do his part to realize Johnson's vision.[39]
Cohen, Michael Howard (2009). "Fraud, Ego, and Abuse of Spiritual Power". Future Medicine: Ethical Dilemmas, Regulatory Challenges, and Therapeutic Pathways to Health Care and Healing in Human Transformation. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press.
Miller, Martin (Summer 1981). "The Appeal of Star Wars: A psychoanalytic view". American Imago. 38 (2). Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press: 203–220.