Luke Skywalker

Luke Skywalker (born 19 BBY), is a fictional character of the Star Wars universe, a Jedi Knight, who plays a major role in the series of films.

He is the son of Padmé Amidala and Anakin Skywalker, and brother of Princess Leia Organa, and Yoda's final Jedi Padawan learner.

In Revenge of the Sith, when a force-choked Padme Amidala Skywalker gave birth to the twins at Polis Massa before she died, where she was comforted by Obi-Wan. Yoda had hidden his sister Leia on Alderaan and Obi-wan had hidden Luke at the Lars Homestead on Tatooine so that they would both be safe from their biological father.

As an orphan, he was raised on the planet Tatooine for the first nineteen years of his life, where his uncle Owen Lars and aunt Beru Lars tried unsuccessfully to discourage 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— 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.

In the seminal Star Wars movie (A New Hope), when Darth Vader intercepted Leia's spaceship carrying plans for the superweapon/battlestation, the Death Star, she sent droids R2-D2 and C-3PO to meet Kenobi. However, on their journey they ended up in the service of Luke himself, who followed the droids to meet Obi-Wan. Joining with Kenobi, they departed from Tatooine on Han Solo's ship, the Millenium Falcon. They traveled towards Alderaan, only to find that the planet had been replaced by mere rock, debris, and a huge, weaponized battle station. Taken in by tractor beams, they barely escaped the Imperials after saving Princess Leia from being terminated by her captors. Obi-Wan Kenobi was apparently killed by Darth Vader, but in fact vanished, having ascended to a higher plane of existence and becoming one with the Force. (His cloak, as it fell to the floor, was unsinged by Vader's lightsaber.) They traveled back to the Rebel base at Yavin 4, but were tracked by an Imperial tracking beacon. The Death Star followed and the Empire prepared to destroy the moon with its superweapon. The Alliance used the stolen plans of the station to lead a final attack on the Death Star. Luke himself piloted an X-wing starfighter, and under the guidance of Obi-Wan's spiritual voice, used the Force to send a proton torpedo into the narrow reactor shaft, destroying the Death Star.

Following the Rebel victory at Yavin, Luke was promoted to the rank of Commander and cofounded the elite Rogue Squadron starfighter unit with Wedge Antilles, another young Rebel pilot.

Desperate to find Luke, whom he recently learned was his own son, Darth Vader sent probe droids to thousands of planets across the galaxy in search of the Jedi hopeful. When a droid discovered the Rebels' new base on Hoth, Vader brought the hammer of the Empire down on the planet. Luke played a key role in the defense, leading Rogue Squadron in battle using Snowspeeders and downing an AT-AT singlehandely before escaping in his X-wing.

Following advice from the spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi, he traveled to Dagobah to learn the Jedi arts under Jedi Master Yoda. The old Jedi Master had little confidence in the young man's potential, but was persuaded to train him. However, Luke eventually had a vision of his friends being captured by Vader, and against the warnings of Kenobi and Yoda about confronting the Sith Lord prematurely, he traveled to Bespin to save them, only to be trapped by Vader. In a tense lightsaber duel that followed, Luke learned that Vader was his father, and lost 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 found the moral courage to choose death instead by throwing himself down a long shaft. However, fate allowed him to survive, and he escaped aboard the Millennium Falcon. Thus, Luke himself ended up being rescued by the friends he had intended to save.

Sometime later, Luke confirmed from the dying Yoda and the spirit form of Ben Kenobi that Vader was indeed his father, Anakin, a former Jedi Knight who turned to the Dark Side of the Force. Furthermore, Luke realized that Leia was his twin sister and in terrible peril from their father should he find out as well. Arriving on Endor as part of a Rebel commando squad, Luke surrendered to Vader in an attempt to bring the Dark Lord back to the Light Side of the Force, but he ultimately became a prisoner of the Emperor on the half-completed second Death Star in orbit around Endor.

Once there, the Emperor and Vader attempted 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 losing the Battle of Endor. Luke, in a moment of weakness, momementarily lashed out but Vader stopped his strike, and father and son dueled each other one final time. Despite the clash, Luke managed to keep emotional control, much to the frustration of his enemies. However, that control was lost when Vader telepathically sensed the existence of Luke's sister and threatend to concentrate on corrupting her instead. Enraged at this threat, Luke attacked Vader with full fury, and just managed to regain control while at the verge of slaying Vader outright. At the realization that he was able to control himself in the face of the most profound provocation, Luke declared himself a Jedi as his father before him, and threw his lightsaber away.

In retaliation, the Emperor unleashed 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 broke Vader's stony heart. In an act of self-sacrifice, Anakin Skywalker re-emerged to destroy the Emperor once and for all. On the deteriorating Death Star, at the foot of Vader's shuttle, Luke removed the former Vader's mask and looked upon his father's eyes for the first and only time before Anakin became one with the Force, after which Luke escaped the Death Star's destruction with his father's body. Back on Endor, in the manner of a Jedi's funeral, Luke burned the last vestiges of the father that had been Darth Vader, and joined in the celebration of the apparent defeat of the Empire, thus Luke came full circle both as a Jedi and as a person.

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)

After the Battle of Endor

In the Star Wars books "the Expanded Universe" Luke met Mara Jade. He fell in love with her, and eventually they were married. They had a son whom they named Ben Skywalker (after Obi-Wan Kenobi, who used the pseudonym Ben).

He resigned his commission in the New Republic's starfighter corps to pursue his Jedi studies and rebuild the Jedi Order in the Massassi Temple on Yavin 4, a decision some anti-Jedi politicians would use against him.

He later spearheaded the mission into the Unknown Regions during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion to find the mysterious planet of Zonama Sekot, a planet that created living starships. After the invasion was defeated with the help of the new Mandalore Warriors, a Sekotian fleet and a Galactic Alliance fleet, Luke now leads the New Jedi Order on Denon.