Luke Skywalker/Legends

Luke Skywalker (born 19 BBY), is a Jedi Master, the son of Anakin Skywalkerand Padmé Amidala. He is legendary for destroying the Death Star I and (in a manner of speaking) defeating the Emperor and Darth Vader. After the fall of the Empire, he began the creation of the New Jedi Order.

Biography
He is the son of Padmé Amidala and Anakin Skywalker, and the older twin brother of Princess Leia Organa. As an orphan, he was raised on the planet Tatooine for the first twenty or so years of his life, where his uncle Owen Lars and aunt Beru Lars tried unsuccessfully to beat out all tendencies towards the Jedi Order from him. He was told by his uncle that his father had been "a navigator on a spice freighter." Despite this lie, he was still an adventure-seeking youth. Luke possessed talents in droid repair, piloting, and the Force&mdash; he was very much his father's son. Obi-Wan Kenobi told Luke that his father had been killed by Darth Vader, a rogue Jedi Knight.

Yoda had hidden his sister Leia on Alderaan where she was safe from her true father. But when Darth Vader intercepts her spaceship carrying plans for the superweapon/battlestation, the Death Star, she sends droids R2-D2 and C-3P0 to meet Kenobi. However, on their journey they end up enslaved to Luke himself, who follows the droids to meet the Jedi.

Joining with Kenobi, they departed from Tatooine on Han Solo's ship, the Millennium Falcon. They travel towards Alderaan, only to find that the planet has been replaced by mere rock, debris, and a huge, weaponized battle station. Taken in by tractor beams, they barely escape the Imperials after saving Princess Leia from being terminated by her captors. Obi-Wan Kenobi is apparently killed by Darth Vader, but in fact vanishes, having ascended to a higher plane of existence and becoming one with the Force. (His cloak, as it falls to the floor, is unsinged by Vader's lightsaber.)

They travel back to the Rebel base at Yavin 4, but they are tracked by an Imperial tracking beacon. The Death Star follows and the Empire prepares to destroy the moon with its superweapon. The Alliance uses the stolen plans to the station to lead a final attack on the Death Star. Luke himself pilots an X-wing, and under the guidance of Obi-Wan's spiritual voice, uses the Force to send a proton torpedo into the reactor shaft, destroying the Death Star.

After the destruction of the Death Star, the young Luke 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, Luke'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 Obi-Wan Kenobi.

While on a scouting mission, Luke's vessel was caught up in the hyperwash of a transdimensional cometary body, depositing him onto a barren ice world Hoth. Luke 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 Obi-Wan, Luke 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 Luke, whom he recently learned was his own son, Vader sends probe droids to thousands of planets across the galaxy in search of the Jedi hopeful. When a droid discovers the new base on Hoth, the Vader brings the hammer of the Empire down on the planet. Luke plays a key role in the defense, including downing an AT-AT singlehandedly, and escapes in his X-wing.

Following advice from the spirit of Obi-Wan 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. However, Luke eventually 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. (Ironically, Vader had lost his right arm when he was younger.) Faced with this horrifying claim and the even more fearsome temptation to join Vader, Luke 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 had scattered the Alliance, and Luke was stationed at temporary bases on Golrath and Arbra. Ascending to the command of Rogue Squadron, Luke fell in love with one of his squadron-mates, the talented and enigmatic Shira Brie. During a heated battle with Imperial forces, Luke'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, Luke was stripped of command and put on trial. As a result, Luke's confidence in the Force was shaken. He investigated the matter and discovered that Shira was actually an Imperial agent. Luke cleared his name and was reinstated as a Rebel commander. As the years passed, Luke grew more powerful in the Force, and his exploits in the Alliance gained a higher profile. Luke 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 Centre, location of Black Sun's headquarters where he battled Prince Xizor's powerful human replica droid Guri.

Later, Luke Skywalker helps Lando Calrissian, Chewbacca, Leia and the droids rescue Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt. Not long later, Luke receives confirmation from the dying Yoda and the spirit form of Ben Kenobi that Vader is indeed his father, Anakin, a former Jedi Knight who turned to the Dark Side of the Force. Furthermore, Luke realizes that Leia is his sister and in terrible peril from their father should he find out as well. On Endor, Luke 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 second Death Star.

Once there, the Emperor and Vader attempt to corrupt Luke with promises to save his friends from their trap if he joined the Dark Side. As a backup idea, the Emperor goaded Luke to strike him down to save the Rebels who were being defeated in the Battle of Endor. Luke, 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, Luke manages to keep emotional control, much to the frustration of his enemies. However, that control is lost when Vader senses telepathically the existence of Luke's sister and threatens to concentrate on corrupting her instead. Luke 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, Luke declares himself a Jedi as his father before him, and throws his lightsaber away.

In defiance, the Emperor unleashes Force-lightning against Luke 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 once and for all. On the deteriorating Death Star, at the foot of Vader's shuttle, Luke 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. Luke and his father's body escapes the Death Star's destruction. Back on Endor, Luke cremates his father in the manner of a Jedi's funeral, and joins in the celebration of the apparent defeat of the Empire, thus Luke 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, Luke and Wedge Antilles discovered a message droid requesting for help from the beleaguered outpost world Bakura. Luke commanded an Alliance mission to the Bakura system which was being besieged 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 Luke's conviction for finding others like him in the galaxy. Palpatine and Vader's scourge was not absolute. Surely there were Force-users that had escaped the dark times.

For the following years Luke 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 Luke's search intensified, he was once again visited by the spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Five years after the Battle of Endor, Obi-Wan Kenobi said his final farewell to Luke. 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.

It was at this time that rumors surfaced of a Jedi Master hidden on the remote world of Wayland. Luke investigated and discovered the insane Dark Jedi clone, Joruus C'baoth. Luke 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 Luke'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 Luke. Luke Skywalker eventually defeated C'baoth and the clone.

During this crisis, which explained while the Republic was attacked by the Grand Admiral Thrawn, Luke 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, Mara Jade did not kill Luke, 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, Luke 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 Luke, and deposited him far away on the Deep Core world of Byss. There, in an ornate citadel, Luke 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 Luke 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 himself 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, Luke Skywalker was able to turn against his master and together, they eventually defeated Palpatine once and for all.

Given the growing dangers in the galaxy, Luke felt that the New Republic needed a New Jedi Order serving and protecting the population. He proposed to the government that a new Jedi academy be started with himself as its head instructor. The Republic agreed, and Luke began searching in earnest for Jedi candidates to train in the Great Massassi Temple on Yavin 4. There, Skywalker returned the Jedi order to the Star Wars galaxy, and began to reverse the damage done by Palpatine and his father 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.

Luke's friendship with Mara Jade grew into admiration, then affection&mdash;emotions that were reciprocated. About a decade after their initial hostile encounter, Luke and Mara 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 Jedi Academy on Yavin 4 was destroyed by the Yuuzhan Vong. It was as if the dark times of Palpatine's Empire had returned. Luke 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 Luke to the heart of the Yuuzhan Vong-held Coruscant. In the depths of the altered city planet, Luke faced off against Lord Nyax, the deranged mutated Dark Jedi that once was Irek Ismeren. Surviving a massive Force battle at the site of the old Jedi Temple, Luke 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, Luke 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, Han 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. In the final New Jedi Order novel, The Unifying Force, which saw the defeat of the Yuuzhan Vong, he battled with Supreme Overlord Shimrra, defeating him and his minion Onimi. In the first Dark Nest Trilogy novel, The Joiner King, Skywalker, along with Han and Leia Solo journey to the edge of Chiss space where they discover a new threat. Three years on, in the Legacy era, Luke has unified the Jedi Knights, but is plagued by visions of a coming darkness....

Luke Skywalker was portrayed by actor Mark Hamill in:
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope original title was Star Wars; the first Star Wars movie to be released (May 25, 1977)
 * The Star Wars Holiday Special (November 17, 1978)
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (May 21, 1980)
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (May 25, 1983)