Luke Skywalker/Legends

"That boy is our last hope." - Obi-Wan Kenobi

Luke Skywalker (19 BBY&mdash;) was a Jedi Master and hero of the Galactic Civil War. A celebrated pilot and leader, Skywalker was most famous for destroying the first Death Star and prompting Darth Vader to kill Emperor Palpatine, which led to the eventual downfall of the Galactic Empire.

He was a key member of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, and later became an influential, widely known member of the New Republic and a prominent Jedi Master. Skywalker turned away from the life of a soldier to establish the Jedi Praxeum to train a new Jedi Order to serve as guardians and peacekeepers in the Republic.

Early life, 19 BBY–1 BBY
The son of Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala, Skywalker was born on the asteroid colony of Polis Massa shortly after the start of the Great Jedi Purge and the foundation of the Galactic Empire. Seconds after his sister Leia, the younger of the twins, was born, Amidala died. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, decided to protect the twins, who they knew would be strong in the the Force, from the clutches of Darth Vader and the Galactic Empire by separating them. The pair sent Skywalker to live with Anakin's stepbrother, Owen Lars, and his wife Beru on Tatooine. While Bail Organa offered to protect his sister, Kenobi chose to go into hiding as a hermit on Tatooine in order to watch over Skywalker.

As an orphan, Skywalker lived on Tatooine for the first nineteen years of his life, where his uncle tried unsuccessfully to discourage all of Skywalker's tendencies towards becoming a Jedi like his father. When prompted with inquiries about his father’s involvement in the Clone Wars, Lars told him that his father had been "a navigator on a spice freighter”. Despite this lie, he was still an adventure-seeking youth, whether he was piloting his Incom T-16 Skyhopper through Beggar's Canyon, racing his landspeeder, looking after droids, or fixing the moisture vaporators. Skywalker possessed talents in droid repair, piloting, and the force&mdash;he was very much his father's son.

He gained a large group of friends while living on Tatooine, including Tank, Camie and Fixer, who mostly had the same dreams of joining the Imperial Academy and becoming pilots that Skywalker himself did. Skywalker's perhaps best friend was Biggs Darklighter whom he looked up to as almost a father figure. Biggs left for the Academy in 1 BBY, much to Skywalker's dismay. As more of Skywalker's friends left the planet to follow their dreams, he became increasingly frustrated that his uncle would not allow him to leave the planet, claiming that he still needed help with the farm.

Revelations
When a Jawa sandcrawler arrived at the Lars homestead selling droids, Skywalker and Lars sifted through a number of droids that were needed on the farm. They purchased a golden protocol droid C-3PO and a red R5-D4 astromech droid. However, before they left the sandcrawler, the R5 unit blew its motivator. C-3P0 suggested R2-D2 to Skywalker and his uncle agreed to purchase the older droid.

While cleaning up the droids, Skywalker discovered a message inside R2-D2. The holographic message contained a plea from a beautiful princess intended a man named Obi-Wan Kenobi, Skywalker wondered if the message was meant for Ben Kenobi, a man who rescued Skywalker after he crashed in Beggar's Canyon and whom his uncle strongly disliked.

Waking up the next morning to find R2-D2 missing, Skywalker ventured into the Jundland Wastes on his X-34 landspeeder with C-3PO in search of the droid. While observing Sandpeople through his electrobinoculars, Skywalker was attacked by a sole Tusken Raider and saved only by Ben Kenobi mimicking the noise of a Krayt dragon to scare him off. Kenobi guided Luke and the droids back to the safety of his home.

Inside the house, Kenobi revealed to Luke that he was once a Jedi Knight that fought in the Clone Wars. He also mentioned Luke's father, and his death at the hands of Darth Vader. This memory prompted Ben to give Luke his father's lightsaber.

R2-D2 displayed Princess Leia's recording for Ben to see. After hearing the Princess's desperate plea, Kenobi asked Skywalker to accompany him to Alderaan. Skywalker refused, acknowledging his responsibilities on the farm.

On journey to Anchorhead, Luke and Ben discovered a disabled Jawa Sandcrawler, and tracks from what Skywalker thought were left by Sandpeople, but Ben corrected that the tracks could only have been left by Imperial stormtroopers. Skywalker realized they had ransacked the Sandcrawler in search of R2 and 3PO, and that they must have searched his home.

Shocked at the thought, Skywalker hastily returned home in his landspeeder, only to find it destroyed. Sadly, he saw the dead bodies of his aunt and uncle. Skywalker returned to the site of the sandcrawler, and declared his intention to Kenobi that he wanted to become a Jedi.

Leaving Tatooine&mdash;rescuing the princess
Skywalker, Kenobi and the droids ventured to Mos Eisley to secure passage to Alderaan. In the Mos Eisley Cantina, Kenobi was introduced by BoShek to Han Solo, a rogue smuggler, and his Wookiee co-pilot and partner, Chewbacca. After coming to an agreement on the price, they departed from Tatooine on Solo's ship, the Millennium Falcon. During the journey, Skywalker practiced some more Jedi training with Kenobi, successfully trusting in the Force and using it to see rather than his eyes. When the Falcon arrived at Alderaan, the group discovered that the planet had been reduced to mere rock and debris by a huge, weaponized battle station. Taken in by the Death Star's tractor beam, they hid in the smuggling compartments of the Falcon until it was safe to search for the Princess. Finding a free room, Skywalker got Artoo to find the location of the Princess and was left alone to tackle the rescue mission with Kenobi going to shut off the tractor beam. Skywalker and Han, disguised as stormtroopers, managed to bypass the security for the detention cell area and Skywalker entered the cell to get the Princess. However, extra troops arrived to prevent her escape and the three humans along with Chewbacca wound up in a garbage chute. Eventually escaping, with the help of Skywalker's comlink and after Skywalker had a wrestle with a creature floating with the garbage, the four had an encounter with stormtroopers. Splitting, Skywalker and Leia found themselves trying to cross a bridgeless chasm, which they managed through the use of Skywalker's grappling hook as a harness of sorts. Eventually meeting up, the group returned to the Falcon, where Skywalker caught Kenobi being killed by Darth Vader and his scream alerted the troopers which they barely escaped from. The Falcon was able to take off thanks to Kenobi's disabling of the tractor beam.

The Battle of Yavin
The group traveled back to the Rebel base at Yavin 4, but was tracked by an Imperial tracking beacon. Following the beacon, the Death Star arrived in the Yavin system and began preparations to destroy the moon with its superlaser. Using the stolen station plans, Jan Dodonna devised a suicide attack on the Death Star. Skywalker himself piloted an X-wing, using the call sign Red 5. When all the other bombing runs failed to hit the exhaust port, Skywalker and his two remaining wingmen, Wedge Antilles and Biggs Darklighter, attempted a final run down the trench. Skywalker was closing in on the vent with his targeting computer, when the voice of Kenobi echoed in his mind. "Use the force Skywalker," urged Kenobi, with that he turned of his targeting computer. Due to some timely intervention from Solo, Skywalker fired his proton torpedoes at the vent, and using the Force guided them down the exhaust shaft, setting of a chain reaction that destroyed the Death Star.

Adventures in the Rebellion
After the destruction of the Death Star, the young Skywalker spearheaded a number of missions for the Rebel Alliance, including seeking out a new world for the Rebels' hidden base. As he was eager to serve the Rebel Alliance, Skywalker's early years were filled with adventures including fighting pirates and bandits though in one mission, he almost duped by an Imperial plot that employed an actor posing as his dead mentor Kenobi Kenobi.

While on a scouting mission, Skywalker's vessel was caught in the hyperwash of a transdimensional cometary body, depositing him onto a barren ice world Hoth. Skywalker had discovered what was to be the site of the Rebels' new base and after returning to the Alliance, he informed his superiors of this isolated world. Not long later, the Rebel Alliance evacuated their outposts on Yavin 4 and Thila to set up a base on Hoth. He later accompanied Princess Leia on a diplomatic mission to the Circarpous system where he first came to face with Darth Vader. The two were in pursuit of a powerful Force relic, the Kaiburr crystal, and had a duel in the ancient Temple of Pomojema. Guided by the spirit of Kenobi, Skywalker held Vader off, and even managed to sever the Dark Lord's mechanical arm. Shocked, Vader tumbled down a deep pit, and their duel was interrupted.

Desperate to find Skywalker, whom he recently learned was his own son, Vader sent thousands of probe droids across the galaxy in search of the Jedi hopeful and the new Alliance headquarters. When a droid discovered the new base on Hoth, the Vader brought the hammer of the Empire down on the planet. Skywalker played a key role in the defense, including downing an AT-AT single-handedly, and escaped in his X-wing.

Learning the ways of the Jedi
Following advice from the spirit of Kenobi, he travels to Dagobah to learn the Jedi arts under Jedi Master Yoda. The old Jedi Master has little confidence in the young man's potential, but is persuaded to train him by the spirit of Kenobi. However, Skywalker has a vision of his friends being captured by Vader, and against the warnings of Kenobi and Yoda about confronting the Sith Lord prematurely, he travels to Bespin to save them, only to be trapped by Vader. On Bespin he learns that Vader is his father, and loses his right hand in combat with the Dark Lord of the Sith, mirroring the loss of Vader 's right arm almost twenty five years earlier. Faced with this horrifying claim and the even more fearsome temptation to join Vader, Skywalker finds the moral courage to choose death instead by throwing himself down a long shaft. However, fate allows him to survive, and he escapes on the Millennium Falcon.

The aftermath of the Battle of Hoth scattered the Alliance, and Skywalker was stationed at temporary bases on Golrath and Arbra. Ascending to the command of Rogue Squadron, Skywalker fell in love with one of his squadron mates, the talented and enigmatic Shira Brie. During a heated battle with Imperial forces, Skywalker's targeting computer was knocked out of commission, and he instead relied on the Force to pick his targets. Inexplicably, the Force told him to fire on a friendly vessel, and he shot Shira Brie out of the sky. For this, Skywalker was stripped of command and put on trial. As a result, Skywalker's confidence in the Force was shaken. He investigated the matter and discovered that Shira was actually an Imperial agent. Skywalker cleared his name and was reinstated as a Rebel commander. As the years passed, Skywalker grew more powerful in the Force, and his exploits in the Alliance gained a higher profile. Skywalker also thwarted several assassination attempts made by Prince Xizor, the head of the Black Sun criminal organization. He was also involved in an Alliance mission to Imperial Center, location of Black Sun's headquarters where he battled Xizor's powerful human replica droid Guri.

The return of the Jedi
Skywalker was the mastermind of the plan of rescuing Solo from Jabba the Hutt. He was accompanied in this task by Lando Calrissian, Chewbacca, Leia and the droids. Not long later, Skywalker receives confirmation from the dying Yoda and the spirit form of Obi-Wan Kenobi that Vader is indeed his father, Anakin, a former Jedi Knight who turned to the Dark Side of the Force. Furthermore, Skywalker realizes that Leia is his sister and in would be in peril if their father should he find out as well. On Endor, Skywalker surrenders to Vader in an attempt to bring the Dark Lord back to the Light Side, but he ultimately becomes a prisoner of the Emperor on the half-completed Death Star II.

Once there, the Emperor and Vader attempt to corrupt Skywalker with promises to save his friends from their trap if he joined the Dark Side. As a backup idea, the Emperor goaded Skywalker to strike him down to save the Rebels who were being defeated in the Battle of Endor. Skywalker, in a moment of weakness, momentarily lashes out but, Vader stops his strike and father and son duel one another one final time. Despite the clash, Skywalker manages to keep emotional control, much to the frustration of his enemies. However, that control is lost when Vader senses telepathically the existence of Skywalker's sister and threatens to concentrate on corrupting her instead. Skywalker attacks Vader with the power of rage, and just manages to regain control before killing him. At the realization that he is able to control himself in the face of the most profound provocation, Skywalker declares himself a Jedi as his father before him, and throws his lightsaber away.

In defiance, the Emperor unleashes Force-lightning against Skywalker in an attempt to kill the young Jedi. Seeing his son dying, and perhaps remembering the mercy shown him, compassion finally breaks Vader's stony heart. In an act of self-sacrifice, Anakin Skywalker re-emerges to destroy the Emperor. On the deteriorating Death Star, at the foot of Vader's shuttle, Skywalker removes the former Vader's mask and looks upon his father's eyes for the first and only time before Anakin becomes one with the Force. Skywalker and his father's body escape the Death Star's destruction. Back on Endor, Skywalker cremates his father in the manner of a Jedi's funeral, and joins in the celebration of the apparent defeat of the Empire, thus Skywalker comes full circle both as a Jedi and as a person. The day after his duel with Darth Vader at the Battle of Endor, while still recovering from the wounds inflicted by Palpatine's Force-lightning, Skywalker and Wedge Antilles discovered a message droid requesting for help from the beleaguered outpost world Bakura. Skywalker commanded an Alliance mission to the Bakura system, which was under siege by a strange alien race, the Ssi-Ruuk, which used the life force of their captives to power their technology. There Skywalker and Organa negotiated a temporary truce between the Rebel and Imperial forces to help fight off the invasion. The discovery of a Force-sensitive named Dev Sibwarra during the Battle of Bakura fueled Skywalker's conviction for finding others like him in the galaxy. Palpatine and Vader's scourge was not absolute. Surely, he believed, there were Force-users that had escaped the dark times.

The New Republic era, 5 ABY–24 ABY
In the years following, Skywalker tried vainly to locate lost and hidden Force-sensitives. This led him to Dathomir, a world of mysterious and powerful Force-wielding witches. On this planet, he discovered the ruins of the Chu'unthor, an ancient Jedi training vessel.

As Skywalker's search intensified, the spirit of Kenobi Kenobi once again visited him. Five years after the Battle of Endor, Kenobi said his final farewell to Skywalker. His spirit would no longer remain with him. Skywalker, feeling alone, realized he was not the last of the old Jedi, but rather, the first of the new.

As the Thrawn campaign began, rumors surfaced of a Jedi Master hidden on the remote world of Wayland. Skywalker investigated and discovered the insane Dark Jedi clone, Joruus C'baoth. Skywalker tried to persuade Joruus C'baoth to renounce the Dark Side. C'baoth's insanity and evil was too deeply rooted to undo, and in his bid to mold Skywalker into his new dark side pupil, C'baoth did the unthinkable. Using Skywalker's severed hand, recovered from Bespin by Imperial agents, C'baoth grew a clone of the young Jedi&mdash;Luuke Skywalker&mdash;and sent the mindless drone to kill Skywalker. Skywalker eventually defeated C'baoth and the clone.

During this crisis, Skywalker also met Mara Jade. A fiercely determined and highly skilled Force-sensitive warrior, Mara was once a deadly agent of Palpatine. She was one of the "Emperor's Hands," a deadly group of Dark Jedi who could hear the Emperor's call from across the galaxy. Jade held Skywalker responsible for the destruction of her career and purpose, and desired to kill him. Despite repeated opportunities, Jade did not kill Skywalker, and the two worked together to defeat Grand Admiral Thrawn and C'baoth's plans. Putting aside her hatred for him, Mara developed a begrudging respect for the Jedi and his skills. Although Grand Admiral Thrawn was defeated, his string of victories rallied the Imperial Remnant to stage a spectacular attack on the New Republic-held capital Coruscant. Whereas Thrawn wanted to capture the capital intact, these Imperials attacked without restraint and ravaged the once gleaming metropolis-covered planet. The Republic retreated and Skywalker commanded a number of missions into the Imperial-held world.

Stranded on Coruscant, Skywalker began to discover strange clues in newly opened secret chambers throughout the former Imperial Palace, clues to the Emperor's power. Before he could piece together their significance, a raging Force storm appeared in the sky. The swirling vortex of dimension-altering energy consumed Skywalker, and deposited him far away on the Deep Core world of Byss. There, in an ornate citadel, Skywalker faced an enemy he had not ever expected to see again: the reborn Emperor Palpatine.

Palpatine's spirit had been staving away death by using arcane Sith knowledge and cloning technology. Palpatine would grow clone duplicates of his own body to serve as tools for his evil life-force should his body die. With this technique, Palpatine had escaped death several times. He called for Skywalker to kneel before him and become his apprentice. Skywalker, realizing that the Emperor was almost invincible, knelt before him, and agreed to join the Dark Side. Like a few others in recorded history, he believed he could defeat the Dark Side from within by learning its secrets. He had neglected one of Yoda's key teachings&mdash;never underestimate the power of the Dark Side. Skywalker, consumed by the darkness, found he was unable to break away from its snare. Though he succeeded in covertly sabotaging several of Palpatine's plans including a World Devastator attack on Mon Calamari, he could not bring himself back to the Light Side. However, with the help of his sister Leia, Skywalker was able to turn against his master, and together, they eventually defeated Palpatine finally.

Establishing a new Jedi order, 25 ABY–30 ABY
Given the growing dangers in the galaxy, Skywalker felt that the New Republic needed a New Jedi Order to serve and protect the galaxy. He proposed to the government that a new Jedi Academy needed to be started, with himself as its head instructor. The New Republic agreed, and Skywalker began searching in earnest for Jedi candidates to train in the Great Massassi Temple on Yavin 4 where he established his Jedi Praxeum. There, Skywalker returned the Jedi order to the Galaxy, and began to reverse the damage done by Palpatine and Vader decades ago. His students in turn became Masters, and a new generation of Jedi Knights arose. He resigned his commission in the New Republic's starfighter corps to pursue his Jedi studies and rebuild the Jedi Order, a decision some anti-Jedi politicians would use against him.

Skywalker's friendship with Jade grew into admiration, then affection&mdash;emotions that were reciprocated. About a decade after their initial hostile encounter, Skywalker and Jade were married on Coruscant. Now, the New Jedi Order faced its greatest challenge. Without the governance of a Jedi Council, the new Jedi Knights lacked unity and focus. Many were accused of reckless vigilantism, and the Republic citizenry began to grow suspicious of their protectors. Worse came the Yuuzhan Vong, extragalactic alien invaders bent on conquest. The Jedi became the first line of defense for the Republic, but their failure to repulse the brutal aliens was widely reported. Strangely, the Yuuzhan Vong did not exist in the Force, thus the Jedi were robbed of their most powerful abilities against this new enemy.

The Yuuzhan Vong took specific interest in the Jedi, proclaiming them the worst of a galaxy full of infidels. Many in the New Republic began to turn against the Jedi in an effort to appease the Yuuzhan Vong and blunt their destructive invasion. Organizations such as the Peace Brigade betrayed the order, and began rounding up Jedi captives for the invaders. The Yuuzhan Vong destroyed the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4. It was as if the dark times of Palpatine's Empire had returned. Skywalker knew that fear, too aggressive a path, would lead his Jedi to the Dark Side. Skywalker engineered an underground fugitive network, dubbed the Great River, and a secret haven called Eclipse, to protect the beleaguered Jedi Knights.

With his beloved wife affected by a Yuuzhan Vong-engineered disease, and his closest friends forever affected by the violence, Skywalker found that not even a Jedi Master could keep galactic events from striking close to his heart.

During these war-ravaged years, Mara became pregnant and gave birth to their son, Ben Skywalker. Keeping his newborn child safe became an important concern. A chilling vision of the Dark Side brought Skywalker to the heart of the Yuuzhan Vong-held Coruscant. In the depths of the altered city planet, Skywalker faced off against Lord Nyax, the deranged mutated Dark Jedi that once was Irek Ismaren. Surviving a massive Force battle at the site of the old Jedi Temple, Skywalker concentrated his efforts on recreating the legendary Jedi Council. To do so, he had to enter the nebulous world of politics. Backing a pro-Jedi candidate, Skywalker saw Cal Omas elected Chief of State of the newly formed Galactic Federation of Free Alliances. Together, they resurrected the Jedi Council, which now included both Jedi representatives and members of the New Republic government.

Armed with important information from Vergere, an Old Republic Jedi who had spent decades among the Yuuzhan Vong, Skywalker journeyed to the depths of the Unknown Regions, seeking to find the key to victory against the alien invaders. He, together with Leia, Solo, the droids and several other Jedi, journeyed to the living world Zonama Sekot, where he persuaded the living intelligence of the planet, Sekot, to help defeat the Yuuzhan Vong. At the climax of the conflict, Skywalker slew the puppet Supreme Overlord Shimrra and his nephew Jacen defeated the true Overlord, Onimi. Gathering all the Jedi that had survived the war, Skywalker explained to them a new path for the Order, that their role was to embrace the Force completely and serve its will wherever that will guided them. In this way, Skywalker and the Jedi grew in strength and power, their skills nearly on par with those of the old Order.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
 * Marvel Star Wars
 * Star Wars: Empire
 * Thrawn Trilogy
 * The New Jedi Order
 * Dark Nest Trilogy


 * See List of Luke Skywalker appearances for a more detailed list.

Origins of Luke
Just as George Lucas took the name "Anakin" from his friend and fellow film director, Ken Annakin, the name "Luke" is likely derived from Lucas' own name. Luke is sometimes criticized as being a "Mary Sue" character based on Lucas.

In early drafts of the A New Hope screenplay, the main character who became Luke was a girl. In other drafts, Luke was an experienced general rather than a naive youth. Just before the final script was written, his surname was Starkiller.

Casting
Luke Skywalker was portrayed by Mark Hamill in the Original trilogy, as well as by Aiden Barton (editor Roger Barton's son) as an infant in Revenge of the Sith. Hamill returned to provide the voice of Luke in the radio dramatizations of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. Hamill also played Luke in a number of comedy skits on TV. In 1977, he briefly played Luke on The Donnie and Marie Show Star Wars Tribute, and again on an episode of The Muppet Show in 1980.

Although Hamill continued on a career of voicing, Luke was portrayed by Bob Bergen in video and computer games. Hamill reprised his role as a serious Luke for a speaking role in a commercial for Vector Prime in 2000.