Windy Starkiller

"Windy's nothing but a follower&hellip;"

- Biggs Darklighter

Windy Starkiller otherwise known as Windom Marstrap was a Human male and a childhood friend of Luke Skywalker when he lived on Tatooine. He often spent time with Luke at Tosche Station.

Biography
Windy was usually seen in the company of his friend Deak, who continually followed him around Anchorhead. Another Tatooine acquaintance, Biggs Darklighter, once characterized Windy as "a follower" and called Deak "a follower of a follower".

Windy's parents would sometimes visit Luke's aunt and uncle at the Lars homestead. When the boys were thirteen, Luke and Windy became lost in the desert and found themselves face to face with a Krayt dragon. They were rescued by Obi-Wan Kenobi, who the boys only knew as hermit Ben Kenobi. When Windy and Luke were brought back safely to the Lars' homestead by the Jedi, Owen angrily chased Kenobi away.

Windy and Deak were present when Luke was challenged to a speeder race by a local braggart, Gorm Maldorf, in The Cage. The boys warned Luke that Maldorf was dangerous, but he accepted the challenge. On the morning of the race, Gorm was found dead, strangled, in The Cage. After Windy and Deak helped him make his escape, Luke investigated the death and deduced that Gorm had been accidentally killed while trying to sabotage the race the night before.

By their late teens, the friends were part of a group of youths that included Biggs Darklighter, Janek "Tank" Sunber, Laze "Fixer" Loneozner, and his girlfriend Camie. The teens spent time hanging around at Tosche Station in Anchorhead, and raced their skyhoppers for fun.

When Biggs was accepted into the Imperial Academy, the friends and other locals threw him a party that was broken up by attacking Sand people.

Windy would often serve as the rational opposition to Luke's similar dreams of leaving Tatooine to join the Academy. Once, when Windy found Luke replaying a Space Academy Recruitment tape for a countless time, he told his friend that he should grow up and be content with the life of a moisture farmer.

Some time later, just before the Tantive IV was captured by Darth Vader above Tatooine, Luke challenged Fixer to a dangerous skyhopper race through Beggar's Canyon and through the eye of the Stone Needle. Windy flew along with Luke during the race, squealing with fear the whole time. He was frightened by Skywalker's reckless flying and called him "crazy."

Windy last saw Luke on the morning Biggs confided in Luke about his plans to join the Rebel Alliance. Windy, along with the rest of his friends, told Luke that they did not believe he had actually seen a firefight in the skies above Tatooine.

Following the destruction of the first Death Star in 0 BBY, Windy could still be found in Anchorhead. While here, he asked a spacer to find a wanted murderer named Blix Lanister, who had fled town.

Windy saw Luke again when he returned briefly to Tatooine when he was trying to hide from X-7.

The spacer agreed to carry out the task, and found Blix shortly thereafter. Blix was brought back to Windy, who paid the spacer 30 credits in thanks. He even said the spacer should consider a career as a security officer. Yet the situation with Blix did not end there. Windy also wanted the spacer to find one of Blix's gang members, a Rodian named Gleezwuq. Gleezwuq was the only member of Blix's gang that Windy did not know the location of. He was sure that Gleezwuq would have evidence which would implicate Blix in his murder of Alita Sweetwater. The spacer managed to find the Rodian gang member, and killed him. On Gleezwuq's person was the same blaster that Blix used in his murder of Alita. The spacer brought the blaster back to an impressed Windy, who was now certain that Blix could be brought to justice. The spacer was once again awarded another 30 credits. Unfortunately, shortly after the evidence was brought to Windy, Blix's cohorts broke into town and helped Blix escape Anchorhead. Windy tasked the spacer with one final task, which was to find Blix and his cronies. Windy did not believe that Blix would let himself be brought back alive again. He told the spacer to do what he had to do. Ultimately, the spacer found Blix, and killed him and the other thugs. Following the successful operation, Windy awarded the spacer 100 credits. Sometime following this event, Windy left Anchorhead.

Behind the scenes


Windy is barely glimpsed in the background of the Tosche Station scene cut from A New Hope. The scene is included the Blu-Ray release. His character is expanded upon in the Star Wars radio drama, where he gets several lines of dialogue.

Windy appears briefly in a training level of the video game Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike, voiced by Andrew Chaikin.

In the original version of Luke Skywalker's Walkabout, Windy is both referred to as Windom Starkiller and Windy Marstrap. One can assume that Windy is short for Windom. Leland Chee has stated that his last name is Marstrap in the Holocron continuity database. However, in the colored reprint for Luke Skywalker, Last Hope for the Galaxy, Windy's last name has been corrected, and he is named Starkiller both times. Confusing things further, an action figure released by Hasbro in 2010 gave Windy's friend Camie the last name "Marstrap."

Adventure in Beggar's Canyon and Luke Skywalker's Walkabout were both suggested by a single line of dialogue from Luke in the Star Wars radio drama. The two stories are variations on the same premise.

In Luke Skywalker: Detective the artist makes Windy and Deak virtually identical, and it's never identified which character is which.

In the MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies, Windy was named Windom Starkiller, and could be found as a Non-Player Character (NPC) in a tent in Anchorhead. Players who performed a series of quests for Windy had to escort Blix Lanister to Anchorhead, kill Gleezwuq outside of town, and then kill Lanister when he escaped from Anchorhead. The series of quests involved implicating Blix Lanister in the murder of Alita Sweetwater. During the second quest, Windom Starkiller would ask the player to call him "Windy." In the game, Windy had blond hair with brown eyes. For unknown reasons, Windy was removed from Star Wars Galaxies less than a year after its release, during Publish 6 on February 11, 2004. Although the player could choose not to do Windy's quests, this article assumes 100% game completion.

In the children's book Luke's Fate by Jim Thomas, Windy is depicted as a young girl.

"Windy" was the name of a character in early versions of the Star Wars script. The first iteration of Windy was actually as "Mace Windy", a Jedi, in the Journal of the Whills, Part I. Windy becomes the son of King Kayos in the rough draft, and brother of Biggs and Leia. In the second draft, Windy, with Biggs, his twin, is a younger brother of Luke Starkiller. He is definitively excised from Luke's family tree in the third draft, where he first becomes one of Luke's friends at the power station.

Appearances



 * Luke Skywalker's Walkabout
 * Adventure in Beggar's Canyon
 * Luke's Fate
 * Star Wars: Empire 8: Darklighter, Part 1
 * Star Wars radio drama
 * Star Wars Journal: The Fight for Justice
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope novel
 * Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
 * Rebel Force: Renegade
 * Star Wars 17: Crucible
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
 * The Life and Legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi
 * A New Hope: The Life of Luke Skywalker
 * The Life and Legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi
 * A New Hope: The Life of Luke Skywalker