Luke Skywalker

Luke Skywalker is one of the main protagonists from the Star Wars franchise.

Luke was a Force-sensitive Human male who helped defeat the Galactic Empire in the Galactic Civil War and helped found the New Republic, as well as the New Jedi Order.

Born in 19 BBY as the son of the fallen Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalkerand the Queen and Senator of Naboo, Padmé Amidala, Luke was raised on Tatooine and hidden from Emperor Palpatine and his father, who had recently become Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith. In 0 BBY, Skywalker's life changed forever. A chance purchase of two droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO, led to him to receive training in the ways of the Force from Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and to meet Han Solo, and Princess Leia Organa, who was, unbeknownst to him, his twinsister. Skywalker then destroyed the first Death Star and joined the Rebel Alliance.

Over the next few years, he fought in many of the most important battles of the Galactic Civil War, helping to found Rogue Squadron and fighting Imperial forces across the galaxy. In 3 ABY, Skywalker received Jedi training from Yoda, and learned from Vader that the Sith Lord was his father. One year later, he fought in the Battle of Endor, and succeeded in turning his father back to the light. Thanks to Skywalker, Palpatine was killed, and the Empire was dealt a crippling blow. One year later, the New Republic was formed.

Throughout the succeeding decades, Skywalker helped keep peace throughout the galaxy as the New Republic slowly defeated small remnants of the Empire. When Palpatine returned in the form of several clone bodies, Luke temporarily fell to the dark side and became the resurrected Emperor's apprentice. He was later redeemed with the help of his friends, and continued with his goal of reviving the Jedi Order. In 11 ABY, he founded the New Jedi Order, and began teaching Force-sensitives about the ways of the Force at the Jedi Praxeum, fulfilling his destiny as the first of the new Jedi. In the midst of this rebirth came numerous challenges for Skywalker and his apprentices, including the Black Fleet Crisis, the Almanian Uprising, and the lure of Waru, but Skywalker, aided by fellow Jedi and his friends, was able to overcome each trial. Meanwhile, after a long series of failed relationships, Luke married fellow Jedi and former Emperor's Hand Mara Jade in 19 ABY.

Several years after the conclusion of the Galactic Civil War, Skywalker found himself, yet again, on the front lines. Skywalker served as the leader of the New Jedi Order, during the Yuuzhan Vong War, an invasion by the extra-galactic Yuuzhan Vong species. During the war, Skywalker's wife gave birth to a son, who they named Ben, in memory of his first mentor of the force: Ben Kenobi. Skywalker endured countless battles as the New Republic was first pushed back, including the fall of his home on Coruscant. However, the newly reformed government, labeling itself the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, regrouped and helped push back the alien invaders. In the final stages of the war, Skywalker sought out the living world of Zonama Sekot, convincing the planet to join the Galactic Alliance in a final battle on Coruscant, in which Skywalker personally led the assault on Supreme Overlord Shimrra Jamaane's citadel and slew Jamaane. Combined with the fact that his nephew, Jacen Solo, would soon after kill Jamaane's puppet master, Onimi, the Yuuzhan Vong were defeated and the war was ended.

After the Yuuzhan Vong War, Skywalker maintained a prominent role among the Jedi into the Dark Nest Crisis, which saw him call a Jedi convocation to deal with strife within the Order. Faced with disunity, Skywalker assumed the title of Grand Master and direct control over the reestablished Jedi Council. Despite the successful handling of the Dark Nest Crisis and the Swarm War, lasting peace was yet to be achieved, as the Second Galactic Civil War broke out a few yearslater. Skywalker was plunged into a dark time as his nephew, Jacen Solo, became a Sith apprentice under his old adversary Lumiya and slew his beloved Mara. His grief was further compounded by his son's treading near the dark side as well, but he continued to lead the Jedi, forming the Jedi Coalition to oppose the rule of the Alliance by his nephew, now a Sith Lord by the name of Darth Caedus. With Skywalker's aid, Caedus was killed by his twin sister Jaina, ending the war and restoring peace to the galaxy.

In the aftermath of the war, Natasi Daala ascended to the position of Chief of State and fostered a wide spread anti-Jedi sentiment resulting in tensions between the Jedi Order and her government. Daala ultimately had Skywalker arrested for dereliction of duty, and in exchange for his freedom, he was exiled and forbidden from involving himself in the affairs of the Jedi Order. Skywalker and his son embarked on an odyssey across the galaxy in order to discover the causes of Jacen Solo's fall to the dark side. During their journey, the Skywalkers encountered the Lost Tribe of Sith, as well as a malevolent dark side entity known as Abeloth. With the help of his son and the rest of the Jedi, Skywalker returned to his position as Grand Master. Skywalker and his allies then repelled the Sith threat, and with the help of an unlikely Sith ally, defeated Abeloth, preventing another disaster that could endanger the galaxy. Eventually, Luke passed away, and became one with the Force.

Personality
In his youth, Luke was often impatient, looking ahead to the future with little regard for his present surroundings. Like his father, he was impulsive, reckless, and often had little regard for his own personal safety. According to Han Solo, his first impression of Skywalker was a naïve kid who needed to be taught a thing or two.

However, as his skills in the Force progressed and after losing a hand to Darth Vader, Luke became more patient and seasoned, and was often seen as having wisdom beyond his years. However, he still retained his idealistic worldview of his youth, believing that Vader was redeemable. This belief would stay with him for his entire life, as he would go so far as to spare the Sith Lumiya because he believed she could be redeemed, despite the fact there was much evidence to the contrary and a pressing need to have her eliminated. Some called Skywalker naïve for this, although it was actually his kindness and ability to see the good in others that forced him to view others this way. This somewhat soft stance on discipline and errant behavior at the Jedi Praxeum indirectly led to the attacks by the spirit of Exar Kun on his students.

Luke, especially after serving the reborn Palpatine as the Sith Lord's apprentice, was often conflicted about his role in the Force and had his judgment clouded, until Mara Jade and Corran Horn helped free him of the dark side's influence. This type of inner conflict would reemerge in the Yuuzhan Vong War, where Luke struggled with how the Jedi should approach the war.

Luke was known for being empathetic to his friends and would go to great lengths to help them, whenever he could. At some times, he could be almost passive, serene—a result of his mastery of the Force that allowed him to remain calm and in control even in the heat of battle. His loyalty and devotion to his comrades was virtually unshakable, Emperor Palpatine tried to sever his connection to his friends during their confrontation on board the second Death Star, but ultimately failed. Luke's love for his friends and his determination foiled the plans of the evil Sith Lord.

After the death of his wife Mara Jade Skywalker, Luke felt that his world had ended. The weight of his grief would burden him even as the Jedi Order looked to him for leadership and his son Ben fell perilously close to the dark side of the Force. However, Luke would eventually accept that his duty was to lead the Jedi and he returned to the forefront of the order, leading a series of missions against the Sith Lord Darth Caedus.

Lightsaber Abilities
Though Luke received little training, he became an exceptionally skilled Jedi in combat, making him one of the most skilled Jedi to ever live. Without a master, it was his natural and unparalleled aptitude that contributed in the impossible advancement of his skills. On Bespin, Luke revealed that he was an extraordinarily gifted duelist after only one brief session with Obi-Wan Kenobi, and later, Yoda, able to pose a challenge to his much more experienced father, visibly impressing Vader. By the time he boarded the second Death Star, Luke had improved his abilities to stand on equal footing with Vader despite not fighting to kill. Upon being angered by Vader's threat of corrupting Leia, Luke mirrored Darth Vader's own Form V technique and responded with his own furious demonstration of Form V's raw power. Luke Skywalker's use of Form V is probably as much instinctive as trained, leaving observing swordsmen, such as Darth Sidious, astonished at such instantaneous learning in a lightsaber duel. This ferocious display of blade work allowed Luke to quickly drive back and defeat Vader fairly quickly. However, Luke's particular form of lightsaber combat may in the end be something entirely new, with traces of Form III, Form IV and Form V mixed together with his own techniques. After the fateful duel, however, Luke also studied some lightsaber techniques from Kenobi's journal and greatly advanced his abilities.

As Grand Master, Luke particularly took the time to write in the margins noting how compassion was a key element to mastering Form V, indicating he had some degree of knowledge of the finer points in the Form as of at least that point. He also mastered the strong style, a form of lightsaber combat that resembles Djem So that is used in the New Jedi Order. Luke also revealed having knowledge and skill in the use of Ataru. Skywalker learned the form from Yoda and passed it on to his students, teaching them to embrace it not as a weapon of first use, but to use both their weapon and their body in practicing Ataru. Luke Skywalker was known to possess some skill in Soresu, using it to deflect blaster bolts.

In the fight against Darth Sidious, during Operation Shadow Hand, he rebelled against the reborn Emperor. Luke fought Sidious two times; the first duel ended with Luke being defeated, although it must be noted he could still battle against Sidious despite the latter's overwhelming ferocity and versatility as well as immense dueling prowess and far greater experience for a fair share of time, but in their final duel, boosted by Leia's Force Harmony, Luke stalemated and eventually triumphed over Sidious in a duel so intense that Leia could hardly see the movements of Luke as he engaged the Emperor, but she sensed titanic waves of power generating from them—dark from the Emperor, and light from Luke, slicing off the Emperor's hand with cho mai, defeating Sidious, whose skills in lightsaber combat and ferocity previously made only Yoda to ever defeat him in fair combat, with even Mace Windu only winning via utilizing Anakin's fear.

Luke also had developed amazing dueling skills with dual blades. During the Yuuzhan Vong War, when his nephew, Jacen Solo, was captured by the Yuuzhan Vong, Luke wielded his own blade, as well as Jacen's, and easily defeated three Yuuzhan Vong Warriors, before freeing Jacen. He also applied dual-blade combat to great effect when against Lumiya, who wielded a Lightwhip. In their rematch, Skywalker used his newly fabricated shoto to back up his full-length lightsaber, entangling the energy beams of her whip with one blade while cutting apart the physical strands. Skywalker managed to disarm Lumiya by shorting out the energy beam of her whip with a power attack, though he lost his lightsaber in the process, before he attacked her with the shoto.

Later in the Yuuzhan Vong War, Luke participated in the Battle of Artorias and defeated over a dozen Yuuzhan Vong Warriors. Luke's abilities with a lightsaber allowed him to fight his way through countless Yuuzhan Vong warriors in the Sacred Precinct. After defeating numerous Yuuzhan Vong warriors in Shimrra's Citadel, Luke defeated more than five Slayers; while Kyp Durron, one of the most powerful Jedi of his time, could not best the Slayers who were exposed to Alpha Red. Afterward, Luke slew Supreme Overlord Shimrra Jamaane, who was stated to be the best warrior of the Yuuzhan Vong, despite being injured by the poison of the Scepter of Power.

Later into the war, Luke led the Jedi against Jacen and faked his death to infiltrate the Anakin Solo. Luke saw Jacen, who was unknown to Luke at this point the Sith Lord Darth Caedus, torturing his son Ben. Luke leaped and began a prolonged duel with Jacen, at which although he too sustained severe injuries, he inflicted more on his nephew and slowly gained the upper hand before ultimately besting him with aid from his son, after which Caedus acknowledged Luke was the superior duelist.

During the Battle of Tenupe, Luke dueled Raynar Thul, who at the time could draw on the Force energy of every single nest member and Joiner, and was able to defeat him by cutting off his dominant hand. Before he could get Raynar to surrender he was attacked by the Queen of the Dark Nest, Lomi Plo. Although Lomi Plo wielded two lightsabers, Luke was still able to block her attacks and kill her by slicing her into four pieces, thus destroying the Dark Nest and ending the Swarm War.

During Luke's exile, the Lost Tribe of Sith sent out a strike team to kill the Jedi Grand Master. Despite being outnumbered, Luke along side Ben, fought his way through approximately fifteen Sith until only the Sith Lady, Olaris Rhea, and her apprentice, Vestara Khai, remained. Luke dueled the both of them and killed Olaris, only allowing Vestara to escape so he could track her with a Blood Trail.

While looking for the Sith on Dromund Kaas Luke, Ben, Vestara, and Jaina Solo were attacked by 10 Sith sabers led by Gavar Khai. Despite being outnumbered and the Sith powered by Dromund Kaas' dark side nexus, the Jedi and Vestara fought them. Luke and Jaina fought back to back, bonded by the Force, in perfect harmony and defeated six attacking Sith. This fight, among other things, displayed that Luke had great skill in working in unison with other combatants.

Force Powers
Luke Skywalker inherited immense levels of strength in the Force from his father, enough so as to actually rival Anakin, giving him the Force potential to become what his father was supposed to become—the Force potential of the Chosen One. Luke's first conscious use of the Force was to locate a lost screwdriver under a couch, when he was only 6 years old. Ever since then, Luke greatly advanced his skills and powers in the Force, becoming incredibly skilled in a great number of Force powers and was considered to be the most powerful Force Sensitive in history by some.

During the Battle of Yavin, Luke managed to destroy the first Death Star by letting the Force tell him when to fire his proton torpedoes, while traveling at very high speeds, not knowing the distance to the port, and having no previous knowledge of proton torpedoes and their capabilities. Astonishingly, Luke only had little training with the Force at the time.

Only a short time after being given a lightsaber by Obi-Wan, Luke was able to instinctively block several blaster bolts fired in rapid succession by a remote, despite his lack of prolonged formal training. Without any guidance except a handbook left by Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker successfully built his first lightsaber, merely three years after he was first introduced to the Force, and undergoing formal training for less than a year. Further testament to this was shown when Luke was able to successfully Mind trick a stormtrooper into disregarding his concealed lightsaber, roughly two months after he had first seen Ben Kenobi perform it.

The Grand Master was also frighteningly proficient in the more personal applications of the Force. After being fatally wounded in the battle between the Singing Mountain Clan and the Nightsisters, Luke was able to instinctively heal himself in the span of mere hours. Luke's proficiency in Force speed allowed him to increase the speed of his lightsaber strikes, as seen during his duels with Yuuzhan Vong Supreme Overlord Shimrra Jamaane and UnuThul. With guidance from the voice of Ben Kenobi, Luke gave in to the Force and found that time seemed to slow down considerably, allowing him fight with dramatically enhanced reflexes. Luke describes the feeling as if he didn't feel in control of the power and instead felt that it was the Force guiding his actions. Luke was also skilled in the use of Force Jump, using it to avoid being frozen in carbonite during his duel with Darth Vader. Likewise, Luke safely landed himself and Isolder from a free fall drop from orbit with the Force.

Luke's skill with telekinesis was as remarkable as it was overwhelming. In the middle of a massive midday meal food fight at the Jedi Praxeum's mess hall, Luke instantly froze every morsel, drop and item, solid and liquid in midair as if trapped in time, only falling after Luke had consciously released everything within the room. Luke was able to knock down an AT-AT by pressing against it with the Force; he also absorbed the initial cannon blasts from the AT-AT, before deflecting the rest with his lightsaber. In combat, Luke was able to destroy a group of hot-wired battle droids just by waving his hand, subtly displacing their master servos and causing the self-destruction of the group of droids. This Force power was first manifested by Jedi Master Arca Jeth during the Great Droid Revolution. Even then, with proper instruction, it was a difficult power to master. However, this power apparently came naturally to Luke. Similarly, during the Black Fleet Crisis, Luke used the Force to rebuild Darth Vader's old fortress on Coruscant. Luke would later use the Force to crush the rebuilt fortress of Darth Vader to rubble, shattering the building piece by piece and throwing it into the oceans of Coruscant. During the Battle of Dantooine during the Yuuzhan Vong War, Luke managed to telekinetically sustain a black hole while simultaneously flinging the dovin basals into it.

In arguably the greatest fight of his life, Luke Skywalker walked Beyond shadows and had a final duel with Abeloth. Using his bare hands and offensive Force exertisons, Luke was able to temporarily destroy the dark side entity, with help from Darth Krayt, who also attacked Luke as well halfway through, and attempted to drain him.

Among other Force powers Luke had under his disposal, he was particularly skilled in mental manipulation. During the Eye of Palpatine incident, Luke subconsciously used his Force powers to overcome a particularly vicious form of brainwashing, able to easily siphon all the information he was seeking. While searching for the kidnapped Solo children, Luke used the Force to create an illusion over his face in order to disguise his identity. After the Black Fleet Crisis, with new found knowledge from the White Current, Luke removed the Teljkon Vagabond from view using the Force. During the Death Seed Plague, Luke used the Force to communicate with the sentient crystals Tsils; despite the fact that the more dissimilar the type of mind, the more difficult it is to communicate with via the Force. Toward the end of the Swarm War, Luke used the Force to call all the Jedi across the galaxy to Ossus to make the announcement of him taking on the role as Grand Master of the Jedi Order and to issue his views about the role of the Order to his Jedi.

Befitting his title as Grand Master, Luke also mastered a plethora of rare and difficult Force powers. While he was re-creating the Jedi Order and was searching for potential candidates, he walked on lava while still throbbing with the Force after defeating a Fireworm living in the lava just moments before. Luke's performance impressed Gantoris so much that he decided to become Luke's apprentice. During the Battle of the Jedi Praxeum Luke used the Force to bolster his students engaged in battle. During the Kueller crisis, Luke prepared himself for death in such a way that he would become a Force ghost, showing that he could utilize such a rare and potent skill. In the years before the Yuuzhan Vong War, Luke also trained to overcome the Force-Blindness caused by Ysalamiri. During the early days of the Dark Nest Crisis, Luke used the Force to generate a physical copy of the Jade Shadow to fool the attacking dartships. This usage of the Force was so extreme, Luke burnt out and his face was temporarily sunken and shriveled like Palpatine's. A year later. Luke applied the same trick on the DR919a, but by then Luke already mastered the technique and would no longer burn out.

While battling UnuThul, Luke was able to resist the combined Force power of the Colony and triumph. When UnuThul attempted to Force Push the Grand Master, Luke rooted himself with the Force so strongly that it was said that he had become the very essence of the immovable object, and that not even the black hole at the center of the galaxy could move him.

During the Battle of Kashyyyk, Luke displayed amazing skills force stealth, as shown by how he shut his presence down after being fired upon by Jaina to make it seem like he died. Later, while Ben was in the Embrace of Pain, Jacen gave Ben back his ability to sense the Force temporarily and Ben felt the life force of his father and realized Luke was shutting himself down to everyone except Ben, something no other Jedi had been able to do. Right before the Battle of Fondor, Luke made Caedus "see" a fleet of ships, causing him to panic in front of his navy. Luke directed it right at Caedus in general, to show him what he could do and also to scare Caedus. Luke revealed to Jaina Solo that he was capable of perceiving Shatterpoints, a very rare Force ability, and taught this ability to Jaina.

During the Battle of Yuuzhan'tar, Luke had shown himself capable of consciously reaching a state of Oneness. He was described as a maelstrom of luminous Force energy, against which there was no shelter. So calm and focused was he that his actions were not interrupted by any thought. Luke merged with the Force to such a degree that the Jedi Master did not seem to be there, physically or as an individual personality. Luke's control over his lightsaber blade was so great that he was said to might as well have been wielding ten, or twenty lightsabers against the Vong. The Solo twins were astounded seeing their uncle in such a state. Luke used a powerful and unique ability of the Force related to his signature green Electric Judgment in the chamber of Shimrra Jamaane. This technique had been described to look like "green sparks," which instantly killed the Slayers.

In 43.5 ABY, Skywalker learned the "lightning-rod" technique Ayna-seff, which he use to safely travel through the Kathol Rift. After spending time with the Aing-Tii, Luke was taught the Fold space ability which allowed him to teleport objects vast distances. During the battle in the Fallanassi village, when Abeloth had Luke in a deadly embrace, Luke opened himself to the Force as much as possible, drawing on his love for his son Ben, his lost wife Mara, and the entire Jedi Order. The Light Side rushed into him, his cells began to burst with power and his skin gave off a golden glow. Luke's power apparently harmed Abeloth and Luke seized the moment by using the Force to bring down a ceiling beam onto Abeloth, then seemingly killed her with his lightsaber. While looking for Abeloth on Nam Chorios, Luke also mastered mnemotherapy.

By 45 ABY, Luke had great resilience in Force duels, able to break a powerful Force grip on his neck, and take a full blast of Force lightning to the torso.

During his duel with the Columi Qresh brothers, Luke dispensed powerful blasts of Force energy that manifested itself as golden flame. He also experienced an epiphany, in which he came to a conclusion that the light side is just as important to the Force as the dark, and as a whole their is only the Force, with everything else just a necessary push and pull, circle of life.

Upon death, Luke was able to retain his consciousness in the Netherworld of the Force, and could henceforth manifest himself in spirit form.

Other Abilities
Luke applied the very opposite of Dun Möch on board the second Death Star by infusing love into Darth Vader's heart through spoken words. The young Jedi was successful—Anakin Skywalker ultimately redeemed himself and brought balance to the Force.

Like his father, Luke was an expert pilot, being the person who was responsible for destroying the first Death Star and managing to evade Darth Vader himself (albeit with help from Han Solo). He also landed a crashing Imperial Star Destroyer, with almost no loss of life, on Coruscant by allowing the Force to guide him at the Liberator 's controls, mirroring a similar achievement by his father at the end of the Clone Wars. Skywalker continued to pilot an immense variety of starships throughout his life, from a Mandalorian Bes'uliik fighter to his wife's ship, the Jade Shadow.

Luke was proficient in unarmed combat. He was able to defeat Guri, who was an expert in unarmed combat. He often used physical attacks when he was in lightsaber combat to defeat enemies like Jabba's thugs to even kicking Darth Vader down a stair case in their final duel. In the duel at the lake of apparitions, Luke killed the entity Abeloth by pushing his elbow through Abeloth's head. He also overpowered Darth Krayt when the Dark Lord tried to Force drain him by bashing him and throwing him to the surface of the lake.

Luke was able to speak a variety of languages such as Galactic Basic, Huttese, Jawa Trade language, Shyriiwook, and Yuzz, and he claimed to know twelve other common languages.

Lightsabers
Luke Skywalker's first lightsaber was his father's former weapon, retrieved and given to him by Obi-Wan Kenobi. During the first three years of his adventures, Luke upgraded the lightsaber by placing a shard of Kaiburr crystal in the focusing crystal hold and adding other parts such as an activator board. He wielded it until it fell into the depths of Cloud City after being defeated by Darth Vader. Years later after recovering it from a clone of himself, Luke gave the weapon to Mara Jade.

After losing his father's lightsaber on Bespin, Luke wielded another lightsaber of unknown origin until, half a standard year after the duel, he used designs in Kenobi's home on Tatooine to build a new weapon similar to the late Jedi Master's saber, a practical weapon with a green Synth-crystal blade. Inadvertently Kenobi and Skywalker kept the tradition of the apprentice modeling their lightsaber on their master's. Luke used it during the rescue of his friends from Jabba the Hutt, his final duel with Vader, and kept using it up to and during the Second Galactic Civil War.

During his time under the cloned Palpatine Luke used a red-bladed lightsaber of unknown origin. Soon after he discarded it and resumed use of his green one.

During the Nagai-Tof War, after losing an initial duel to Lumiya and her lightwhip, Luke constructed a red-bladed shoto to counter her unique weapon. Years later, he would use it again in a duel against the Dark Lady of the Sith.

Luke practiced and specialized in Form V, his father's lightsaber combat style even though he was known to use an Form IV opening stance. He was also known to utilize two lightsabers in the Jar'Kai style.

Trivia

 * In the French original trilogy, Luke is called "Luc".