User:Brandon Rhea/Luke

Luke Skywalker was a human male Jedi Master who was instrumental in restoring balance to the Force and destroying the Sith during the Galactic Civil War. He and his twin sister, Leia Organa, were born just after the end of the Clone Wars to the Sith Lord Darth Vader—formerly Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One of Jedi prophecy—and Senator Padmé Amidala of Naboo. They were taken into hiding after their mother's death, and Skywalker was raised on Tatooine under the distant but watchful eye of Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. His aunt and uncle, Beru and Owen Lars, kept the truth of his parentage from him. His life changed forever with the purchase of the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO, the former of whom carried plans to the Galactic Empire's Death Star superweapon. After his aunt and uncle were killed by the Empire, Skywalker journeyed with Kenobi to deliver the plans to the Rebel Alliance. Along the way, he began training as a Jedi, met and became friends with the smugglers Han Solo and Chewbacca, and rescued Organa—now the princess of Alderaan—from the Death Star. After Kenobi's death, which allowed Skywalker and his companions to escape the Death Star, flew as Red Five in the Battle of Yavin and destroyed the Death Star.

The Battle of Yavin made Skywalker a hero of the Rebellion. Afterward, he went on a journey to discover what it meant to be a Jedi and discover information about his father, whose true identity he was unaware of. He fought in numerous battles during the war, including the Battle of Hoth, before being sent by Kenobi's spirit to train with Jedi Master Yoda on Dagobah. Skywalker learned more about the Force from the old Jedi Master before cutting his training short to rescue his friends on Cloud City, but in actuality it was a trap set by Vader to lure Skywalker towards him, as the Dark Lord discovered Skywalker was his son. The two engaged in a lightsaber duel in which Vader revealed that he was the young Jedi's father. Skywalker escaped and continued on the path to becoming a Jedi Knight, culminating in the Battle of Endor in which he surrendered himself to Vader in an attempt to save his father's soul. Vader brought Skywalker before the Emperor, Darth Sidious, on the second Death Star, where Sidious attempted to seduce Skywalker to the dark side of the Force. Skywalker resisted the temptation and, after a final lightsaber duel with Vader, declared himself a Jedi. He successfully appealed to the goodness inside of Vader, who redeemed himself as Anakin Skywalker by destroying the Emperor and saving his son's life—at the cost of his own. Skywalker's redemption of his father led to the destruction of the Sith, thus fulfilling the prophecy of the Chosen One.

In the decades following the Empire's defeat over Endor, Skywalker, the last Jedi, attempted to restore the Jedi Order by training a new generation of Jedi Knights. He took his nephew, Ben, as an apprentice, hoping to help the boy successfully repel the darkness that crept inside of him. Skywalker failed and Ben, who took on the name Kylo Ren and apprenticed himself to Supreme Leader Snoke of the First Order, killed Skywalker's Jedi students. Blaming himself, Skywalker vanished and went off in search of the first Jedi Temple on the planet Ahch-To. He garnered a mythic and legendary reputation until he was discovered by Rey with the help of the Resistance.

Biography

Pre-birth

During the Clone Wars, the conflict in which Luke Skywalker and his twin sister, Leia Organa, were conceived,^[1] Jedi Master Yoda set out on a journey to discover the secrets of retaining consciousness after death.^[8] Yoda was put through a series of tests by five Force Priestesses to determine whether he was worthy to learn the secret; the Force Priestesses who guided the Jedi Master knew that he would one day train Skywalker, and that Skywalker would be an integral part in bringing balance to the the Force.^[9] One of those tests took Yoda to Moraband, the ancient homeworld of the Sith, where he faced visions of the future. At the end of his journey, the Force Priestesses told him that there would be another Skywalker after Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi Knight and the Chosen One destined to bring balance to the Force, and Yoda heard his own voice from the future saying so as well.^[10] These events alluded to the birth and destinies of both Skywalker and Organa.^[5]

Later in the war, after Anakin learned that his wife, Senator Padmé Amidala of Naboo, was pregnant, he began having visions of Amidala dying after giving birth to the twins—though at the time, they were only aware of one child. Anakin sought counsel from Yoda, although his marriage to Amidala was forbidden by the Jedi Code and therefore kept a secret, so Anakin could not tell Yoda who the visions were about. Yoda advised Anakin to let go of his fear of loss, leading Anakin to believe that the Jedi could not help him save his wife. Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith known publicly as Supreme Chancellor Palpatine of the Galactic Republic, lured Anakin to the dark side of the Force on the promise that the dark side could save Amidala. Anakin became Darth Vader, a Dark Lord of the Sith, and helped destroy the Jedi Order while Sidious transformed the Republic into the Galactic Empire.^[1]

Early life

Amidala attempted to reason with Vader after finding him on Mustafar, but Vader believed she had brought Obi-Wan Kenobi, his former master, to Mustafar to kill him. Vader used the Force to choke his wife, rendering her unconscious before engaging in a lightsaber duel with Kenobi. Kenobi left Vader for dead after his former Padawan was engulfed in flames, and the Jedi Master brought the injured Amidala to Polis Massa where she gave birth to and named both Skywalker and Organa. She died shortly thereafter, however, having lost the will to live.^[1]

After Amidala's death, and the destruction of the Jedi Order at the hands of the Sith, Yoda and Kenobi decided they would go into hiding until the time was right to return. They also decided that they would hide Vader's twins, so the Sith—including Vader, who survived the duel on Mustafar and was placed into a cybernetic suit of armor to survive—would not be aware of their existence. Vader himself was told by the Emperor that Amidala had died by Vader's own hands, and Vader was left believing that his child had died before being born. Kenobi agreed to take Skywalker to Tatooine to live with Owen Lars, Vader's step-brother, and Lars' wife, Beru. Bail Organa, the Senator of Alderaan and an ally of the Jedi, agreed to take Leia to Alderaan to be raised by him and his wife, Queen Breha Organa. The Jedi and the Senator departed, and Kenobi delivered Skywalker to his new family on Tatooine.^[1]

Skywalker was raised on the Lars moisture farm for nearly two decades. He became aware of Ben Kenobi, Obi-Wan's assumed name, but did not know about his true parentage or about Kenobi's identity;^[2] Owen was once appreciative of Kenobi's watchful eye over Skywalker, but ultimately came to resent the Jedi Master's presence^[11] and forbid him from training Skywalker as a Jedi. Despite Owen wanting Kenobi to keep away from his nephew, the Jedi Master continued to watch over the Lars farm, including protecting it from henchmen of Jabba the Hutt who attempted to claim "water taxes" on the family during the Great Drought that Tatooine suffered in Skywalker's adolescence. Kenobi considered watching over Skywalker to be his singular purpose in life after the fall of the Jedi Order.^[12]

After one attempt by Jabba's henchmen to collect a tax on the Lars family, an attempt that Kenobi secretly thwarted, the young Skywalker left the moisture farm in the dead of night in the hopes of taking back water that the enforcers had stolen from other citizens. Once he was caught, the henchmen threatened to kill Skywalker, but Kenobi had sensed what the boy was doing from afar and arrived in order to save him. The Jedi Master brought the unconscious boy back to the farm, where his aunt and uncle, who had been frantically searching for him, found him the next morning. Jabba was furious at what Skywalker had done and sent his men to try to find who stood up to the enforcers, but they never found out who it was. Skywalker, likewise, did not know Kenobi saved him, but the boy's actions helped Kenobi believe that the Jedi would one day live on through Skywalker.^[12]

Owen unsuccessfully tried to discourage Skywalker's adventurous tendencies, including by saying that Anakin had been a navigator on a spice freighter during the Clone Wars. Despite Owen's discouragement, Skywalker sought out adventure alongside his close friend, Biggs Darklighter, and grew to display the same piloting skills that his father had. Beru would sometimes read him storybooks, and even once allowed him to use the HoloNet in the settlement of Anchorhead, where she showed him images of forests, rivers, and oceans. By the time he was thirteen, Skywalker would occasionally bulls-eye Womp rats or race through the dangerous Beggar's Canyon in his T-16 Skyhopper.^[13] He also spent time in Tosche Station and, along with Darklighter, became friends Laze "Fixer" Loneozner, Camie Marstrap^[14], Windy, and Deak.^[13] Some of his friends took to calling him "Wormie."^[15]

As Skywalker grew older, he expressed a desire to leave Tatooine and find adventure elsewhere in the galaxy. He hoped to join the Imperial Academy, just as Darklighter had done, but Owen would not allow him to leave. Instead, Owen would continue to say he needed Skywalker to work on the farm, particularly during harvest seasons, but in truth Owen feared that Skywalker would follow in his father's footsteps. This left Skywalker frustrated, as he was unaware of his uncle's true motives.^[2]

Joining the Rebellion

Leaving Tatooine

Early in the Galactic Civil War, Skywalker witnessed a battle that took place in orbit of Tatooine between the Galactic Empire and the Alliance to Restore the Republic; unknown to him at the time, the battle led to Leia Organa's capture, as she had become a high-ranking member of the Rebel Alliance. Skywalker rushed to Tosche Station to tell his friends, where he found Darklighter as well, as his old friend had returned to Tatooine after graduating from the Imperial Academy. Darklighter looked through Skywalker's macrobinoculars and did not see a battle; rather, he saw two ships which he believed were simply sitting in orbit, although those ships were an Imperial Star Destroyer and a Rebel cruiser. Darklighter soon told Skywalker that he would be leaving Tatooine again, and that he would be defecting from the Empire to join the Rebellion, once again leaving Skywalker behind on Tatooine.^[16]

Skywalker returned home shortly thereafter, where he and Owen soon met with a group of Jawas who had arrived at the farm to potentially sell them machinery, including droids. After inspecting the merchandise, they purchased the astromech droid R2-D2 and protocol droid C-3PO; Skywalker was unaware that the two droids had once belonged to both of his parents. While cleaning the droids, Skywalker learned that they were part of the Rebel Alliance, as they had escaped from the battle Skywalker witnessed overheard. He discovered a message from Organa within R2-D2, begging for Obi-Wan Kenobi to help the Rebel Alliance, but the droid refused to play the entire message for anyone except for the Jedi Master.^[2]

He told his aunt and uncle, over dinner, what he had found and that the droid claimed to be the property of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Owen, uncomfortable with the connection to the Jedi Master, told his nephew to ignore it and said that Kenobi died around the same time as Anakin. This piqued Skywalker's curiosity even more, as he knew there was a connection to his presumed-dead father, but Owen shut down the conversation and it instead turned into another argument over Skywalker's desire to leave the farm. Owen insisted that he only needed his nephew for one more year, but the farmboy had heard that excuse many times before and left the table frustrated. He soon returned to the garage, where he found that Artoo had left the farm in search of Kenobi.^[2]

Skywalker waited until morning to go after the lost droid, as the nights on Tatooine were too dangerous with Tusken Raiders roaming the desert. He and Threepio set off early to find Artoo, and eventually found him in a canyon. It was there that they were attacked by Tusken Raiders and Skywalker was knocked unconscious. He was soon saved by Kenobi, who mimicked the call of a krayt dragon to scare the Tusken Raiders away. Skywalker came to and told Kenobi—whose name he believed to be Ben Kenobi—about the droid, asking if Obi-Wan had any relation to him. The Jedi Master revealed that he and Obi-Wan were one in the same, and he took the boy and the droids to his home beyond the Dune Sea to talk further. Once there, Kenobi explained that he was once a Jedi, and that Anakin had been one as well. Together, Kenobi said, they fought during the Clone Wars, before the rise of the Empire. Skywalker asked how Anakin died, and Kenobi obscured the truth by telling him that Anakin was betrayed murdered by Darth Vader. The Jedi Master then presented Skywalker with Anakin's lightsaber, something that Owen had refused to allow Skywalker to have earlier. Kenobi also discovered the message that the princess had left for him, with Organa pleading for him to bring Artoo to Alderaan and assist the Rebel Alliance—as Artoo was carrying the plans to the Death Star, an Imperial armored battle station with enough firepower to destroy entire planets. The Jedi Master asked Skywalker to join him, but Skywalker felt he could not leave his family on Tatooine.^[2]

Though Skywalker was reluctant to travel to Alderaan, he agreed to take Kenobi to Anchorhead, where the Jedi Master could find passage to the Mos Eisley spaceport and charter a vessel to Alderaan. While en route, the group discovered that the Jawas who had sold the Lars family the droids had been murdered by the Empire. Skywalker knew that this meant only one thing: his family was in danger. The boy rushed back to the Lars farm, where he found the charred corpses of his aunt and uncle amongst the smouldering rubble of their home. He returned to the Jawa sandcrawler and resolved to travel to Alderaan, telling Kenobi that he wanted to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi like Anakin. After burning the bodies of the Jawas, the group set off for Mos Eisley where they could find a transport to Alderaan.^[2]

The group arrived in Mos Eisley, where they were confronted by stormtroopers at an Imperial checkpoint. The troopers asked questions about the droids and asked to see Skywalker's identification, and Kenobi used a Jedi mind trick to manipulate the minds of the troopers and convince them to allow Skywalker to drive his speeder through the checkpoint. The group ventured into the Mos Eisley Cantina, though the droids were forced to wait outside, where they evaded Imperial troops, due to a "no droids" policy in the establishment. While Kenobi searched for a star pilot who could ferry them to Alderaan, Skywalker ordered a drink from the bar and was accosted by Ponda Baba,^[2] an Aqualish^[17] thug who took a disliking towards the young farmboy. The criminal Doctor Cornelius Evazan, Baba's companion, told the boy as much, though they both attacked when Kenobi attempted to defuse the situation. As a result of the violence, Kenobi ignited his own lightsaber and severed Baba's arm. With the situation resolved, the Jedi Master told Skywalker that he had met a Wookiee named Chewbacca who was co-pilot on a ship that could suit them. Chewbacca introduced them to Captain Han Solo of the Millennium Falcon, and Solo boasted about his ship's accomplishments. He was willing to take the two, as well as their droids, to Alderaan for a steep price; Kenobi offered two thousand credits upfront, plus fifteen thousand more once they reached Alderaan. Solo, who owed a significant amount of money to Jabba the Hutt, agreed and told them to meet him at the Millennium Falcon in Docking Bay 94.^[2]

Skywalker sold his landspeeder in order to cover the upfront cost for the voyage aboard the Millennium Falcon. Once their credits were secured, the group headed for Docking Bay 94.^[2] They were followed by an informant named Garindan,^[11] who tipped the Empire off as to where the group was headed. Skywalker and his companions arrived in the docking bay and were quickly attacked by stormtroopers. They fled into the ship as Solo held the troops off, before the Falcon blasted its way out of Mos Eisley and into space. Once in orbit, they were confronted by a pair of Imperial Star Destroyers. The ship took damage while Solo calculated the coordinates for the jump into hyperspace, but they soon escaped and were en route to Alderaan.^[2]

During the voyage, Kenobi began instructing the young Jedi helpful in the ways of the Force. Skywalker used his lightsaber to deflect blaster bolts shot by a training remote. In an effort to teach the boy that eyes could be tools of deception and that he had to rely on his instincts, Kenobi gave Skywaker a helmet with the blast shield down and instructed him to stretch out with his feelings so he could see the remote with his mind. After a few failed attempts, he was able to deflect the blasts without actually seeing them with his eyes. Solo called it luck, as he did not believe in the Force, but Skywalker was steadfast in his belief that the Force was real and that he actually saw the remote with his mind.^[2]

Infiltrating the Death Star

The Millennium Falcon's arrival in the Alderaan system was met only with debris—the planet had been destroyed by the Death Star. As the group debated what might have happened, a lone TIE/LN starfighter was spotted and appeared to be headed towards a small moon. As the Falcon moved closer, however, with its sights set on destroying the TIE fighter before it could alert the Empire of their arrival, Kenobi realized that it was not a moon: it was the Death Star itself. The Falcon was caught in a tractor beam emanating from the battle station and was unable to break free, and it was pulled into one of the station's hangar bays. The Empire recognized it as the ship that blasted its way out of Mos Eisley and many stormtroopers were sent to guard and inspect it. The group avoided the initial Imperial detection by hiding in the ship's smuggling compartments, but they ambushed the next scanning crew. Solo tricked stormtroopers guarding the entrance ramp into boarding the ship, at which point the troopers were assaulted.^[2]

Skywalker and Solo stole the guard's' uniforms to disguise themselves before making their way to the hangar control room, where they killed several officers and troopers. Artoo plugged into the Imperial network and located the power supply for the tractor beam. Kenobi told the group to stay behind while he shut off the tractor beam, and he left after telling Skywalker that they had different destinies and that the Force would always be with him. Though Solo was content to follow Kenobi's instructions and wait in the control room, Artoo soon learned that the princess was being held prisoner on the Death Star and Skywalker was intent to save her. Solo's reluctance to mount a rescue turned into a sense of opportunity once Skywalker suggested that Organa's family would offer them a generous reward if the princess was rescued, so Skywalker hatched a plan to break into the detention area. He intended to disguise Chewbacca as a prisoner, so he attempted to place handcuffs on the Wookiee, which Chewbacca angrily rebuffed. Solo knew what Skywalker was suggesting and cuffed Chewbacca himself, though he had doubts that Skywalker's plan would work.^[2]

Skywalker, Solo, and Chewbacca left the droids in the control room as they made their way to Detention Block AA-23. Skywalker attempted to deceive the detention officer,^[2] Lieutenant Childsen,^[11] into believing that Chewbacca was being transferred from "Cell Block 1138," but Childsen became suspicious and the two disguised infiltrators were forced to kill the guards and destroy the security cameras. Solo found the princess' cell and, while the smuggler attempted to hold off Imperial reinforcements, Skywalker made his way into the cell block and found Organa's cell. She initially mistook him for a stormtrooper, but he revealed he was there to rescue her and had arrived with Ben Kenobi. Organa quickly left her cell and stormtroopers blasted their way into the cell block. Skywalker and Solo attempted to hold them off, but they were soon overwhelmed by the Imperial forces and fell back towards the princess' cell. Skywalker contacted Threepio and asked if there was another way out, but the droid said that the main entrance that was covered in troopers was the only way out. With Skywalker and Solo unable to come up with an alternate solution, Organa took charge, grabbed Skywalker's blaster, and blasted an opening that allowed the group to dive out of the detention area and into garbage masher 3263827.^[2]

With the group stuck in the garbage masher, Skywalker attempted to blast the door open, but the door was magnetically sealed and the blast ricocheted throughout the garbage masher. When Solo, who escaped last, arrived, he also tried to blast through the door, sending another blaster bolt throughout the masher. Skywalker thought he heard something in the masher and felt something swim by his leg, and he was abruptly pulled under the garbage water by a dianoga creature that lived in the masher. Skywalker nearly drowned, but the creature fled once it detected that a garbage compacting cycle was about to begin—meaning anything in the garbage masher would be crushed. The cycle soon began and the group tried to prevent the walls from closing in by bracing them with garbage, but they were unsuccessful. Skywalker desperately contacted Threepio and asked for assistance, and Artoo was able to stop the compaction cycle only moments before the group would have been crushed to death. At Skywalker's request, Artoo was able to open the magnetic door, allowing the group to escape and ditch their stormtrooper armor.^[2]

The group made their way back towards the Millennium Falcon, but they encountered another group of stormtroopers while en route. Despite Skywalker's protests, Solo and Chewbacca charged after them, leaving the farmboy and the princess to head back to the ship on their own. The two encountered another stormtrooper patrol and were forced to hide behind a blast door, and Skywalker shot the controls to slow the stormtroopers down. This also prevented the duo from extending the bridge that would allow them to make their way to the other side of a deep chasm. Knowing that the stormtroopers would soon break through, Skywalker found a grappling hook on the stormtrooper utility belt that he had kept and was able to swing himself and the princess across the chasm before the stormtroopers could reach them.^[2]

They soon met back up with Solo and Chewbacca above the hangar bay, where they discussed how to proceed to the Millennium Falcon without being noticed by the stormtroopers who were stationed at the ship. At the entrance to the hangar, they noticed that the stormtroopers guarding the ships left their post. Recognizing their chance, the group ran towards the Falcon, at which point Skywalker saw why the stormtroopers had abandoned their posts: Kenobi was engaged in a lightsaber duel with Darth Vader. When Kenobi realized that the group was at the ship, he allowed himself to be struck down so they could escape, and his body vanished as he became one with the Force. Skywalker cried out in shock and began firing at Vader and the stormtroopers, but he soon fled once he heard Kenobi's voice telling him to run. The ship successfully fled the Death Star, with Kenobi having completed his mission to deactivate the tractor beam. As the ship escaped, the princess conforted Skywalker as he mourned his fallen mentor, but Solo told him that they were not done yet: four TIE fighters were approaching the ship. Skywalker and Solo manned the ship's gun turrets and were able to destroy the TIE fighters, allowing them to set a course for the Rebel base on Yavin 4—where Organa knew that the Death Star would track them to.^[2]

Hero of Yavin

The group arrived on Yavin 4 and were met by Commander Willard,^[2] to whom the princess introduced Skywalker so that the boy could join the Rebel Alliance as a pilot. As the princess and the Rebel leaders began working to analyze the Death Star plans, Skywalker was given a flight simulation test that was overseen by fellow pilot Wedge Antilles. His first attempt lasted thirty seconds and ended when Skywalker's simulated X-wing slammed into a TIE fighter, ending the scenario. Antilles advised Skywalker to listen to his instructions and to not give up if it became difficult. In his second attempt, Skywalker used what he learned from the Rebel pilot and surpassed the highest scores—that of Antilles—and Willard accepted Skywalker into the Alliance without question.^[13] As a result, Skywalker joined Red Squadron with the designation of Red Five.^[2]

Skywalker later attended a briefing where General Jan Dodonna outlined the plan that the Rebel leaders had formulated to destroy the Death Star: multiple starfighter squadrons would attack the Death Star, as the station was not equipped to handle a small fighter attack, and a pilot would fire a proton torpedo into a two-meter exhaust port, triggering a chain reaction that would destroy the station. Antilles exclaimed that targeting something that small was impossible, but Skywalker disagreed and spoke about how he used to shoot at womp rats no bigger than two meters on Tatooine. With the plan in place, Dodonna sent the pilots to man their ships and expressed his hopes that the Force would be with them.^[2]

While preparing to depart in the hangar, Skywalker found Solo loading the reward money he had been given for his part in the Rescue of Princess Leia, which he intended to use to pay off his debts to Jabba the Hutt. Skywalker was disappointed that his new friend was choosing to leave, but Solo thought that staying to take on the Death Star was a foolish and suicidal decision. The smuggler asked Skywalker if he wanted to leave Yavin 4 and join the Millennium Falcon, but Skywalker was unwilling to turn his back on the Rebellion. Despite his previous reluctance to believe in the Force, Solo told Skywalker that he hoped the Force would be with him. Skywalker headed for his fighter and ran into the princess, to whom he expressed his disappointment over Solo's decision to leave. Organa told him that Solo had to choose his own path, and then wished the young pilot luck in the impending battle.^[2]

Skywalker arrived at his X-wing fighter when, unexpectedly, Darklighter ran up behind him. The two old friends and fellow Red Squadron members reunited, and Darklighter promised he would hear all of Skywalker's stories once they got back from the battle.^[2] They were soon approached by Garven Dreis,^[11] the commander of Red Squadron,who asked Skywalker if he was ready to fly an X-wing. Darklighter endorsed his friend, telling Red Leader that Skywalker was the best bush pilot in the Outer Rim Territories. Before Skywalker finally left, a Rebel technician asked if Skywalker wanted a new astromech droid, as Artoo had suffered some damage, but Skywalker refused to trade his droid companion.^[2]

With the Death Star in range, Red Squadron and Gold Squadron departed the Rebel base and approached the battle station, where the squadrons checked in to ensure that their members were present. Red Leader ordered his squadron to prepare for their run as the fighters passed through the station’s magnetic field. The group accelerated to attack speeds and dove towards the surface of the Death Star, intending to use the squadron as a distraction while Gold Squadron made a run towards the reactor shaft. Skywalker and the rest of Red Squadron took heavy fire, but the fighters were small enough that they were able to evade the Death Star's turbolaser fire. Skywalker dove towards the station's surface, firing on on part of its outer shell and managed to evade the resulting explosion. As the battle progressed, Skywalker heard Kenobi's voice call out to him once again, urging the young pilot to trust his feelings.^[2]

On Darth Vader's orders, a squadron of TIE fighters entered the fray to destroy the Rebel fighters ship to ship. The Rebel base picked the signal up and informed the pilots of the incoming, but Skywalker said that his instruments did not read any fighters. Visual scanning, however, revealed the Imperial approach, and a number of X-wings were destroyed in the initial counterattack. One of the fighters tailed Darklighter, who was unable to shake the enemy fighter off, so Skywalker came to his assistance and destroyed the Imperial ship. Skywalker himself was then tailed and his fighter took damage, but he too was saved by Antilles, who destroyed the enemy craft. Gold Squadron then informed Red Leader that they were beginning their attack run, but their attack failed when Darth Vader, flying a TIE Advanced x1 flanked by two TIE fighters, destroyed them.^[2]

The loss of Gold Squadron led to Red Leader beginning the next run on the exhaust port, while Skywalker, Darklighter, and Antilles were ordered to hang back. As with Gold Squadron, Red Leader's attack was stopped by Darth Vader, and the squadron commander was killed in the assault. Skywalker and the other two pilots began an attack run, and they too were pursued by Vader and his fellow TIE pilots. Antilles was hit and withdrew from the fight, and Darklighter was killed by Vader, leaving Skywalker alone and to mourn the loss of his childhood friend. Despite having no reinforcements, Skywalker continued towards the tower, at one pointing taking damage that disabled Artoo. He initially used his targeting computer in an attempt to get a lock on the exhaust port, but Kenobi called out to him from the beyond and urged him to use the Force and trust in his teachings. To the confusion of the Rebel commanders, Skywalker turned off his targeting computer so he could allow the Force to guide the torpedoes into the exhaust port. The Death Star moved into range of Yavin 4 as Skywalker continued his approach and, in the final moments, Skywalker received reinforcements from the timely arrival of the Millennium Falcon—Han Solo had returned to help. Solo fired on the TIE fighters and Vader's craft spun out of control, giving Skywalker a clear shot at the exhaust port. With the Force as his guide, he fired on the port and the torpedoes went in, setting off a chain reaction that triggered the station's destruction. Skywalker, Antilles, and Solo set a course for the Rebel base, as Skywalker heard Kenobi's voice once again saying that the Force would always be with him.^[2]

The triumphant Rebels landed in the base, where Skywalker reunited with Organa and Solo in a joyous celebration of their victory. The moment was somewhat somber, however, as they saw the extent of Artoo's damage, but the maintenance crews were able to repair the droid. Skywalker, Solo, and Chewbacca were honored for their service during a Royal Award Ceremony, where Skywalker and Solo were given medals of valor in front of a large gathering of Rebel personnel.^[2] Chewbacca was also given a medal after the public ceremony.^[18]

The princess' mission

During the ceremony, the gathered Rebels took a moment to honor those who were lost, including Organa's adoptive parents and the other Alderaanians who perished when the Death Star destroyed their world. The mourning was brief, however, as General Dodonna ordered an evacuation of the Rebel base. Though the Death Star was destroyed, the Empire remained ever-powerful and knew where they were located, so the Alliance Fleet—under the command of Admiral Gial Ackbar—was en route to assist in the evacuation. As the gathering disbanded, the princess asked Skywalker if he planned to stay with the Alliance, and he said that he had no plans to leave. He expressed concern over Organa's well-being, however, and suggested that she allow herself time to grieve over the loss of her family and her homeworld.^[19]

Organa's grief over the loss of her homeworld led her to undertake a mission to unite the Alderaanians who were off-world when the Disaster struck; she had learned from Rebel pilot Evaan Verlaine, a fellow Alderaanian, that the Empire was hunting down the survivors of the Disaster. In violation of General Dodonna's direct orders, Organa left the base with Verlaine and Artoo aboard a shuttle. Once Dodonna realized what was happening, Skywalker and Antilles were tasked with pursuing the shuttle and preventing it from leaving the system. The two pilots attempted a herding maneuver that blocked the shuttle's path towards hyperspace, but Verlaine outsmarted them by ditching a non-vital piece of hardware from the ship and making Skywalker and Antilles believe that they were disabled. Once the two pilots were tricked, Verlaine jumped the shuttle into hyperspace. Although his mission had failed, Skywalker was nonetheless proud of Organa for getting the better of him.^[19]

Skywalker remained on Yavin 4 during the evacuation, along with Solo, Chewbacca, and the droids, and reunited with Organa upon her return from her successful mission to unite the wayward survivors of Alderaan.^[20] At some point after Organa returned, Skywalker was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and was regularly assigned solo missions on behalf of the Alliance.^[21]

Journey into the past

Finding the Force

In an errand for Admiral Ackbar, Skywalker was dispatched to the planet Rodia in order to open a secret weapon supply line for the Alliance. He was accompanied by Artoo and a pilot named Nakari Kelen, and they flew her ship, the Desert Jewel. During their mission together, they helped a Kupohan ship—which, unknown to them at the time, carried vital intelligence on a Givin cryptographer named Drusil Bephorin—near Llanic. They then continued their journey to Rodia. Skywalker was greeted by Laneet Chekko, who guided him to Toopil. During business with Taneetch Soonta, the Rodian told Skywalker about the Jedi, including a story about Anakin during the Clone Wars. From her, Skywalker received her uncle's lightsaber.^[22]

After killing a ghest and getting some treatment for his wounds, Skywalker focused on analyzing Huulik's lightsaber and trying to learn telekinesis, but a planetwide alert for the Desert Jewel forced him to leave Rodia immediately and meet up with Ackbar and Organa on the Promise. The two assigned him to a mission to rescue Bephorin on Denon, but the need for upgrades for the Jewel prompted him to go on another mission to Fex with Kelen before that. Warned by Organa not to blindly trust Kelen, Skywalker set off for Pasher with Kelen and Artoo to receive intel from her father about their destination and the necessary equipment to survive its atmosphere. The two then headed towards Fex. Once they successfully retrieved the Harvester and were rewarded for it, Skywalker and Kelen traveled to Rodia to fix the Desert Jewel.^[22]

Following the ship's modifications, the two Rebels returned to the Promise to receive more intel on the Denon mission from Organa and Ackbar, only to depart for the planet as soon as possible, meet with their contact Sakhet, and prepare Bephorin's liberation. Once in motion, their plan allowed them to escape from Imperial Security Bureau agents, and Denon altogether, with the Givin cryptographer onboard the Jewel. Despite several hiccups along the way, including an extended stop on Kupoh, they reached Omereth. There, however, the Jewel was intercepted by bounty hunters and a confrontation ensued between the Rebels and their pursuers. Despite the formers' victory, Kelen was killed by one of the bounty hunters—saddening Skywalker, who had come to develop feelings for her. After allowing himself some time to grieve for those he had lost during the war, Skywalker completed his mission by reuniting Bephorin with her family and meeting with Major Bren Derlin. Afterwards, Skywalker returned Kelen's body to her father, after reflecting on the fact that he had learned how to move objects with the Force thanks to her support.^[22]

The temple on Devaron

After numerous missions alongside Antilles, during which they earned each other's complete trust, Skywalker assisted on a mission for Red Squadron above Giju. In this mission, he helped protect a transport carrying underground Rebel leaders being evacuated from the planet, along with Antilles and Commander Narra. Once the leaders were clear, they followed the scatter protocol, and Skywalker and Artoo set course to Devaron when he had a vision about future events on that same planet. He soon met with Antilles and Narra, who sent him, Threepio, and Artoo on a mission for Mon Mothma, the chancellor of the Rebel Alliance.^[23]

After refueling their ship, the trio departed for Whiforla 11 and jumped out of hyperspace in the Tertiary Usaita system, but an Imperial attack forced them to return to Devaron and repair the Y 4, this time letting the Force guide him into the Temple of Eedit. Landing in Tikaroo, Skywalker left the ship for repairs with Kivas and his daughter, Farnay, using the alias "Korl Marcus," and went onto the depot where he was told the Temple was off-limits. After resting and receiving a vision of the past, he left the depot and met with Farnay, to whom he revealed his true identity. He acquired the services of Sarco Plank, who agreed to be his guide and brought Skywalker and the two droids close to Eedit, where Skywalker found a secret entrance to the temple and entered alone with the droids.^[23]

During his stay in the temple, Skywalker heard Kenobi's voice, from whom he received further instructions. He managed to enter a secret chamber where he and the droids found three training remotes. Using what Kenobi had taught him on the Falcon, Skywalker gradually managed to pass the exercises after a few days, only to find himself surrounded by Imperials with orders to apprehend him and his fugitive starfighter, using Farnay as a hostage. However, Plank unexpectedly appeared and helped Skywalker fight the stormtroopers with his electrostaff, and observed that Skywalker was merely a Padawan.^[23]

Planning to ransack the Temple to pay his debts, Plank then challenged Skywalker to a duel, during which he used a grenade to blind him, seeing that Skywalker would not be defeated so easily. Prepared to administer the finishing blow, Farnay interrupted Plank, for which Plank put binders on her; however, it gave Skywalker time to stand up and slash Plank's control box, casting him and his electrostaff into a pit leading to the temple's underlevels. Skywalker then passed out and Farnay tended his wounds. He swore to Farnay that he would become a Jedi, rebuild the Jedi Order, and return to Eedit one day. With the droids, they left the temple as Imperial reinforcements arrived.^[23]

Back in Tikaroo, Skywalker reclaimed his repaired starfighter from Kivas. Before departing Devaron, he dropped several bombs at the base of the spire to cut off the paths into the jungle, meaning to stop the pikhron hunt.^[23]

Encountering Darth Vader

The destruction of the Death Star allowed the Rebel Alliance to press their advantage against the Empire, which was reeling from its first major military disaster.^[24] Numerous assaults were carried out by the Alliance, establishing the Rebellion as a credible force in the Galactic Civil War.^[25] One such assault was planned for Cymoon 1, a moon in the Corellian Industrial Cluster where the Alliance intended to destroy Weapons Factory Alpha. The factory was the Empire's largest, and it was a critical component of the Imperial war machine in the wake of the Battle of Yavin. The Alliance learned of impending talks between the Empire and Jabba the Hutt, with the Empire wanting Jabba to provide raw materials that they could use to create weapons and starships. Skywalker was assigned on the assault mission along with Solo, Organa, Chewbacca, Artoo, and Threepio, and the group intercepted and stole an Imperial shuttle from Tatooine that carried an emissary of the Hutt crime lord. Upon their arrival, Solo posed as an emissary for Jabba due to his previous connection to the crime lord, while Skywalker and Organa posed as his bodyguards. Chewbacca and Threepio, meanwhile, made their way to Cymoon 1 aboard the Millennium Falcon as the group's escape route, while Artoo remained by Solo's side.^[24]

The Rebels were greeted by Overseer Aggadeen and, when Solo's Hutt connection was verified, they were escorted into the base, but not before handing over their weapons to Imperial forces. The group was led through a TIE fighter production facility while the Overseer explained how the factory worked, before telling them that there would be no negotiations—the Imperial negotiator, who, unknown to the Rebels, was Darth Vader—would present terms that he expected Jabba to accept. Outside a conference room where Aggadeen planned to have the group wait, the Rebels began their attack as Artoo sprayed a liquid onto the floor and electrocuted it, shocking the stormtroopers who were standing in its path. Skywalker and Organa attacked the stormtroopers who were still standing, while Solo forced Aggadeen a blaster-point to reveal the location of the factory's power core. Once the group arrived in the core, they began working on overloading it.^[24]

Skywalker stood guard while Solo and Organa worked to overload the core, looking out for more stormtroopers as he did so. He attempted to use the Force to detect any nearby enemies, but the Force instead led him towards a cage filled with slaves of the Empire. A guard spotted Skywalker and demanded to know who he was, and, after failing to use a mind trick to manipulate the guard into leaving, the Jedi hopeful ignited his lightsaber and cut off the guard's hand, giving the boy time to break the slaves out of their cage and lead them back to the other Rebels. He returned to the group just as they set the power core to overload, giving themselves ten minutes to escape to the Millennium Falcon. As they did so, they learned that Vader arrived at the facility and placed the factory into high alert. The group lost contact Chewbacca, who had been scouting Vader's arrival, and learned that scavengers were looting the Falcon, putting their escape plan into jeopardy. They were soon confronted by stormtroopers, forcing them to fight their way back through the facility, and they retreated into a hangar where Solo and Organa boarded an All Terrain Armored Transport to blast their way out of the factory.^[24]

Skywalker, however, remained behind and began searching for Vader, hoping to have his revenge against the man who killed Kenobi and who Skywalker believed killed his father. As he approached the Dark Lord, he heard Kenobi called out to him from beyond and warn him to run away.^[24] Despite the warning, the young Jedi briefly engaged the Sith Lord in lightsaber combat, before he was quickly and easily bested by the far superior Sith opponent. Vader, who mocked Skywalker for believing that he could be a Jedi, used the Force to disarm the boy, and he recognized that the lightsaber had once belonged to Anakin Skywalker before he fell to the dark side. A moment of chaos ensued as Solo brought the leg of the AT-AT crashing down into the middle of the confrontation, allowing Skywalker to escape from the Dark Lord.^[26]

The slaves that Skywalker freed rebelled against the Imperial forces and began fighting against Vader, who killed many of them. Skywalker momentarily hid from danger, doubting his ability to protect the slaves and questioning whether a farmboy from Tatooine could actually become a Jedi, but he spotted a speeder bike that he knew he could pilot and sped towards Vader and his forces, taking out the stormtroopers in the process. Vader dropped Skywalker's lightsaber after Solo attempted to kill the Dark Lord with the AT-AT, and Skywalker was able to retrieve it while flying by and the speeder.^[26]

As the AT-AT made its way out of the facility, it began taking heavy fire from Imperial artillery. Skywalker destroyed a number of the enemy forces and artillery that were standing in their way, but the AT-AT was still severely damaged, bringing it crashing down and forcing the Rebels inside of it to flee. Skywalker used the speeder to protect his friends and the freed slaves, giving them cover to escape from Vader, before heading back into the facility and firing on the power core. The attack destroyed Weapons Factory Alpha, giving the Rebellion another victory over the Empire. Skywalker and the other Rebels made it back to the Millennium Falcon and were able to escape, though Skywalker was left doubting his own abilities as a Jedi—while Vader began having suspicions as to who the boy really was.^[27]

In search of answers

Skywalker and his friends returned to the Alliance Fleet, where they recovered from their near-death experience on Cymoon 1. While Solo and Chewbacca worked to repair the Falcon and Organa consulted with Alliance High Command, Skywalker threw himself into Jedi training, continuing to fight against a training remote. During a session, the remote bested him and he was hit with multiple blasts, knocking him to the ground just as Organa entered the training room. He rebuked her entrance, saying he was not interested in whatever mission she was thinking of sending him on, as he still felt the group was lucky to have escaped Cymoon 1 alive. The princess tried to comfort him, saying that she had seen him do amazing feats that only a Jedi could accomplish, but he snapped at her, saying he was no Jedi. He told her he was a danger to the others and that he should leave until he became better than what he already was. He chose to leave the Alliance Fleet, asking the princess to not attempt to stop him. Though she thought him leaving was a bad idea, she chose not to order him to stay. Solo, however, thought his plan to leave was crazy and told him that the entire Empire was looking for the pilot who destroyed the Death Star, but Skywalker was confident that the Empire did not know who he was. Ignoring the concerns of his friends, Skywalker ordered Artoo, who accompanied him, to set their X-wing fighter on a course for Tatooine.^[25]

Once they arrived on Tatooine, Skywalker set the X-wing down in the Dune Sea and began a long trek towards Kenobi's old hut, where Skywalker hoped to find guidance about what it meant to be a Jedi and what he was supposed to do next. He and Artoo arrived near nightfall to find Tusken Raiders in the area, and they quickly attacked the two travelers. Skywalker ignited his lightsaber and fought back, and he quickly realized that they were after Kenobi's home. He fought them off and the remaining Tuskens fled, allowing Skywalker and Artoo to enter into the hut. Skywalker hoped to find answers in the Jedi Master's old dwelling, but that hope diminished once he saw that it had been ransacked. As he and Artoo searched the hut, Skywalker was blinded by flash grenades thrown by the bounty hunter Boba Fett^[15]—who had been hired by Vader to track Skywalker down and learn his identity.^[28] Fett followed the boy's trail to Kenobi's hut and had learned that his name was Skywalker.^[15]

Skywalker was left temporarily blind, while Artoo was powered down, and Fett used it as an opportunity to point his blaster rifle at the blinded Jedi's face. Skywalker tried to feign ignorance over his identity when Fett said the boy's name, but Fett was not interested in playing games and intended to take Skywalker back to his ship. Refusing to be taken hostage, Skywalker ignited his lightsaber and slashed it towards Fett. Though Skywalker could not see, he could hear Fett's armor, and his other senses helped as well—as Skywalker, remembering his training, said that a Jedi did not need eyes to see. The young Jedi kept swinging, while the bounty hunter slashed at him with sharp blades protruding out of his Mandalorian armor. Fett soon used his blaster to fire at the boy and Skywalker deflected the blast with his lightsaber, but Fett used it as an opportunity to fly towards the boy with his jetpack and tackle him. Skywalker reached for his saber, which was knocked out of his hand, as Fett drew closer, and he was soon saved by Artoo, who threw a box at the bounty hunter and knocked him unconscious. Skywalker grabbed the box,^[29] which said "For Luke" on its cover,^[27] and fled the scene, heading back to the X-wing under the cover of darkness. Though the young Jedi escaped with his life,^[29] Fett told Vader that the boy's name was Skywalker, leading Vader to conclude that the Emperor had lied to him and that Amidala had given birth to their child before she died.^[30]

Skywalker and Artoo arrived at the X-wing by morning. Once inside the fighter, Artoo prepared the craft for takeoff while Skywalker found that the box contained the Journals of Ben Kenobi, a record of the Jedi Master's life on Tatooine.^[29] While piloting his X-wing, Skywalker read one of the stories from the journal, one detailing Kenobi's struggle with hiding on Tatooine without being able to defend others as a Jedi as meant to. It also detailed the time when Kenobi saved Skywalker from Jabba's henchmen many years earlier, when the young boy had tried to prevent them from stealing water from the people of Tatooine. Though Kenobi had felt hopeless during parts of his exile, he stated in his journal that Skywalker's courage assured him that the fall of the Jedi Order was not the end of the Jedi.^[12]

Showdown on the Smuggler's Moon

Though Kenobi's journals contained a number of stories, Skywalker became frustrated as he continued to read them as he did not understand what lessons were to be learned about using a lightsaber or wielding the Force. Though Artoo suggested returning to the fleet, Skywalker had no intention of returning until he found the answers he was seeking. Artoo's suggestion did, however, give the young Jedi an idea: to venture into the Jedi Temple Jedi Temple on Coruscant, the former home of the Jedi Order. Before he could travel to Coruscant, however, Skywalker set a course to Nar Shaddaa, a world of pirates and outlaws known as the "Smuggler's Moon." Upon landing, Skywalker set off looking for someone who could help him get to the Jedi Temple. He entered a cantina, where he was immediately attacked by criminals looking to rob and kill him. Skywalker brandished his lightsaber and demanded that they cease their attack, while the bartender asked where he acquired a Jedi's lightsaber. He did not answer, instead saying that he was simply on Nar Shaddaa to conduct business and had already stated his purpose for entering the establishment. The bartender guessed that Skywalker was seeking entry into the Jedi Temple, meaning he would need to hire someone who could sneak him onto the capital world of the Empire. The bartender told him that he could do that for the boy, but the price would be the lightsaber—a price that Skywalker rejected, so the bartender resorted to his previous plan of killing and robbing the boy.^[31]

Before the others could kill him, however, a thief stole the lightsaber and fled the bar. Skywalker gave chase,^[31] pursuing the thief through the streets and over rooftops. The thief jumped onto a ship that was passing by and hung onto the bottom of it, and Skywalker used the Force to make the now-even longer jump towards them and grab the thief's leg. The thief lost his holding and both men fell towards the streets of Hutta Town below, where Skywalker retrieved his lightsaber once both he and the thief landed. The young Jedi was then confronted by Grakkus the Hutt, a Nara Shaddaa crime lord who employed the thief that stole the lightsaber. Skywalker fought the Hutt's MagnaGuard, while at the same time overhearing the thief telling Grakkus that Skywalker said his father was a Jedi and that he was seeking access to the Jedi Temple. Having his own plans for the boy, Grakkus knocked Skywalker out with a punch to the face.^[32]

Skywalker later awoke to find himself in Grakkus' palace, which contained untold numbers of relics from the Jedi Order. Grakkus held out a Jedi holocron, though Skywalker did not know what it was. Grakkus, who explained that he was a collector of Jedi artifacts in addition to being a crime lord, told him that the item was a holocron and that only an individual who was strong with the Force could open it. Though Skywalker had no experience with holocrons, the Hutt gave him five seconds to open the holocron or be killed. Under threat of death, the boy reached out with the Force and was able to open the holocron, as well as the many others that were in the collection. They revealed themselves as containing historical records about the Jedi and the Sith, including the revelation that there was a Jedi Temple on Vrogas Vas. With Skywalker having proved himself, Grakkus believed he would make a fine addition to his collection as the last living Jedi.^[32] Grakkus planned to put Skywalker into an arena fight that he would bill as the death of the last Jedi, so the Hutt ordered him taken to the arena's gamemaster to be prepared. Artoo, knowing that Skywalker had been captured, send a distress call to the Alliance Fleet, where it was intercepted by the High Command. Though Chancellor Mothma was unwilling to send a team of Rebels on a suicide mission despite Skywalker's importance to the Rebellion, Chewbacca and Threepio—who remained with the fleet while Solo and Organa were on their own mission—volunteered to rescue their captured friend.^[32]

The gamemaster—secretly an Imperial stormtrooper named Sergeant Kreel^[33]—introduced himself to Skywalker once the Jedi was led to the arena, and he stated that it was his job to make sure Skywalker was prepared to put on a good show before ultimately dying in the arena. Though Skywalker initially refused to fight, Kreel knew he would ultimately do so because he wanted to learn to hone his skills as a Jedi. The Kreel also told him that the Jedi Temple no longer existed, as it had been converted into the Imperial Palace—so whatever Skywalker was hoping to find was gone, as were the other Jedi temples in the galaxy. He then threw the lightsaber to Skywalker and removed the binds that the boy's hands were in. While surrounded by MagnaGuards, the Kreel used a lightsaber of his own and engaged in a duel to begin preparing him for the arena match. Though the Kreel was not a Jedi, he was a more-skilled swordsman and quickly bested Skywalker. Skywalker then engaged multiple MagnaGuards in combat.^[34]

The big event soon arrived, and crime lords and other criminal types flocked to watch the death of the last Jedi. Skywalker spoke to Grakkus, who reminded him that no one wanted to watch him win and that everyone had paid to see him die, though the young Jedi believed he could succeed nonetheless. Grakkus also revealed that scavengers had found Skywalker's X-wing and the Journal of Ben Kenobi, which Grakkus intended to add to his collection. The event began once Grakkus left, and Skywalker entered into the arena and was introduced as the last of the Jedi. The announcer claimed that he was a veteran of battles across the galaxy and that he had fought Hutts and bounty hunters alike, hyping up the untrained Jedi hopeful. The announcer then introduced the Jedi's opponent: Kongo the Disemboweler, a large and fearsome creature from the dolovite mines of Mustafar. Skywalker ignited the green-bladed lightsaber that was given to him for the show and the fight began. The young Jedi slashed his blade at the creature, but the opponent's armor was resistant to a lightsaber blade and made it difficult for Skywalker to combat the creature. He remained confident, however, reminding himself that he blew up the Death Star, fought Boba Fett, and was trained by Obi-Wan Kenobi. He closed his eyes in an attempt to use the Force as his ally, but Kongo used the opportunity to throw Skywalker across the arena and knocking him onto the ground.^[35]

The beast grabbed Skywalker as the audience cheered for Kongo to make the kill, and Skywalker tried calling out to Kenobi to ask for miracle. Just as he did so, the beast's shock collar was activated by Kreel, who revealed himself to Grakkus as an Imperial and announced he was taking Skywalker into custody. Stormtroopers poured into the arena and surrounded Skywalker, arresting both him and the Hutt. Grakkus had one trick up his sleeve, though, and triggered an electromagnetic pulse that disabled the Imperials' blasters. Grakkus, skilled at combat in his own right, began fighting the weaponless stormtroopers, while other troops grabbed Skywalker. Just then, the young Jedi saw that Artoo, who had infiltrated the palace, recovered his lightsaber and threw it into the arena, so Skywalker grabbed it and cut the soldiers down. Kongo chased the spectators out of the arena, and Skywalker while Kreel confronted Skywalker, knocking him to the ground and revealing his true identity as a stormtrooper of the 501st Legion tasked with arresting him. Skywalker was saved by the timely arrival of Grakkus, who Kreel attacked as Skywalker got away.^[33]

Skywalker regrouped with Solo, Organa, Chewbacca, and the droids, all of whom ultimately traveled to Nar Shaddaa to rescue their captive friend. Solo, Organa, and Chewbacca each wielded lightsabers that Artoo stole from the palace so they were not defenseless in the wake of the EMP blast, leading Skywalker to quip that Solo looked good with a lightsaber. Artoo recovered Kenobi's journal and Skywalker wanted to go back to the palace to recover more artifacts, but the arena was flooded with blaster-wielding stormtroopers so Chewbacca grabbed the resistant Skywalker and brought him out of the arena. The Rebels returned to the Millennium Falcon and escaped from Nar Shaddaa.^[33]

Battle on Vrogas Vas

Though he was unable to acquire the relics in Grakkus' palace, the holocrons he activated gave Skywalker one important piece of information: the existence of a Jedi Temple on Vrogas Vas. Skywalker returned to the Alliance but still sought answers, so he traveled to Vrogas Vas and was stationed in orbit with Red Squadron, along with Blue Squadron and Yellow Squadron. While in orbit and preparing for training exercises, Darth Vader^[36]—who had learned of Skywalker's location from one of his associates, a rogue archaeologist named Aphra^[37]—dropped out of hyperspace in his TIE Advanced x1 starfighter. Vader made quick work of Blue Squadron and Yellow Squadron, destroying them both as Red Squadron looked on. Skywalker sensed that Vader was the pilot of the enemy starfighter, made a run towards him, and crashed his X-wing fighter into the Sith Lord's TIE Advanced. The collision damaged both vessels and send them hurtling towards the surface of Vrogas Vas.^[36]

Skywalker and Vader both survived the crashes of their starfighters, though they impacted on the surface in different places. The young Jedi crashed outside of the ruins of the Jedi Temple, from which he witnessed the destruction of Gray Squadron forces sent to attack Vader—part of a major Rebel operation to capture the lone Sith Lord. He put off his search for answers and began to make his way towards the Rebel forces, determined to help his friends.^[36] As he passed through the ruins of the Jedi Temple, he could see yet another Rebel pilot being killed by the Dark Lord. Unknown to Skywalker was that, at the same time, he was being tracked by Vader's companions—Aphra and the assassin droids BT-1 and 0-0-0. While the Sith Lord's followers prepared a plan to capture the boy, Skywalker found writings in the ruins that were written with a lightsaber, letting him deduce that the ruins were from the Jedi. A cold feeling passed over him and he could sense the presence of what he thought was Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. He tried to concentrate, but he was interrupted by what he thought was Threepio's arrival. In reality, it was Triple-Zero, painted in gold by Aphra, who placed his metal hand on Skywalker and sent an electrical charge through the boy's body, knocking him unconscious.^[38]

Trials of a Jedi

Project Hidden Eye

At some point during the war, Skywalker was given the rank of commander.^[6] After being promoted, Skywalker was sent to the desert world of Er'Kit, where the locals were being oppressed by a group of mercenaries known as the Malachor Company. Upon arriving on the desert world, Skywalker sensed through the Force that there was something more at play beyond the actions of a few mercenaries. He requested the assistance of an agent who had a reputation for desert warfare and, together, the two defeated the mercenary outposts. The two also discovered from Imperial operatives in the sector that Imperial supplies were being ferried from Nar Shaddaa to Er'Kit, suggesting a large-scale operation was under way. Eventually, Skywalker and the agent arrested the mercenary leader and tracked down the last members of Malachor Company, who had holed up in an empty village.^[39]

Among the mercenaries' possessions, Skywalker and the agent discovered a document proving that Malachor Company was preparing to ship supplies somewhere, and its coordinates led Skywalker and the agent to an Imperial base on the planet. They subsequently attacked several Imperial bases until they found intelligence pertaining to the Empire's operation on the planet. Once they located the base from which the Imperials deployed most of their forces on the planet, Skywalker assaulted it with the assistance of Princess Organa. The Rebels razed the base, dealing an important blow to the Empire's operations on Er'Kit, but they still lacked vital information on what the Empire's true purpose was on the planet. Skywalker gradually discovered Imperial logs detailing how Malachor Company had been hired by the Imperial Security Bureau and were tasked with forcibly relocating natives to make room for Project Hidden Eye. This ISB operation was intended to create cybernetic sleeper agents who could be deployed throughout the galaxy and spy on galactic citizens on behalf of the ISB. Upon its discovery, Project Hidden Eye was nearly ready to deploy its first wave of spies.^[39]

To prevent the operation from being carried out, Skywalker and the agent led their troops to the base that housed Project Hidden Eye. They fought through its staging area and ultimately took out the installation, ending the Imperial project for good. Skywalker thanked the agent for their service and then remained on Er'Kit for a short time, helping the Rebel Alliance execute additional missions on the desert world.^[39]

Vision in the snow

The Empire continued to pursue the Rebel Alliance across the galaxy. The Rebellion finally settled on the ice planet Hoth, where they established Echo Base as their new base of operations. Skywalker, under the callsign Echo Three, participated in a patrol of the frozen wasteland with Solo, who operated under the callsign Echo Seven. They both rode tauntauns across the snowy plains in search of lifeforms, but neither Rebel found anything of note. As they ended their patrol, Skywalker saw what he thought was a meteorite crashing near his location, but in reality it was an Imperial probe droid searching the planet for signs of Rebel activity. Before Skywalker could reach the crash site, his tauntaun was killed and he was knocked unconscious and dragged away by a ferocious wampa.^[6]

The injured Skywalker awoke to find himself trapped in the wampa's cave, hanging upside down with his feet frozen into the ceiling of the cave. He spotted his lightsaber in the snow and attempted to reach it, but he was too far away. Using his Jedi training, he reached out through the Force and called the lightsaber into his hand, giving him a chance to cut himself out of the ice. The wampa approached to attack him, but Skywalker slashed his blade and severed the creature's arm, giving the young Jedi a chance to escape and flee back into a windy snowstorm. He began to traverse the frozen wastes, making his way back towards Echo Base. After a walk through the snowstorm, he collapsed and saw a vision of Ben Kenobi, who told him to travel the Dagobah system to receive training from Master Yoda^[6]—just as the Force Priestesses had foreseen during the Clone Wars.^[9]

Kenobi's spectral form disappeared just as Solo approached on a tauntaun, after having left Echo Base to find his lost friend when Skywalker failed to report back. Solo's tauntaun died from exposure to the cold weather, so the smuggler took the Jedi's lightsaber and cut the tauntaun open. He placed Skywalker inside of the corpse for warmth and then built a shelter, where the two were able to safely spend the night. The next morning, snowspeeder patrols flew out to find the two lost Rebels, and they were finally located^[6] by Zev Senesca,^[17] a member of Rogue Squadron, and returned to Echo Base. Once they returned, Skywalker spent time in a bacta tank to heal his wounds. He recovered from his injuries and was welcomed back to the base by his friends.^[6]

The Battle of Hoth

The probe droid that crashed near where Skywalker was attacked by the wampa was able to successfully transmit the location of Echo Base to the Empire, leading Darth Vader's armada^[6]—Death Squadron^[40]—to Hoth. The Empire was in search of the Rebel base, while Vader was continuing his search for his son. The Alliance prepared for their evacuation and sent their personnel offworld aboard transport ships, each escorted by two X-wing fighters while the base's ion cannon fired on Star Destroyers in orbit. As the transports began their evacuation, Skywalker prepared to lead Rogue Squadron in a defense of Echo Base. He board a snowspeeder and was accompanied by his gunner, Dak Ralter. The two took off from Echo Base, while five AT-ATs approached the base to destroy its shield generator so Vader's troops could land.^[6]

Rogue Squadron approached the walkers as they began firing on Echo Base personnel, and Skywalker piloted his snowspeeder around the walkers so Ralter could fire upon them. Despite taking heavy fire, the AT-AT armor was too strong for the blasters aboard the speeders so Skywalker ordered his fighters to use harpoons and tow cables to latch onto the walkers and bring them crashing down into the snow. As Skywalker gave the order, Ralter told him that there was a malfunction in the speeder's fire control system and that he would have to enable its auxiliary power. Before Ralter could fire a tow cable on Skywalker's orders, a shot from an AT-AT hit the gunner's seat, killing Ralter. Left without a gunner, Skywalker told Antilles to take the shot at the AT-AT while Skywalker covered for him. Antilles and his gunner, Wes Janson, fired their tow cable and wrapped it around the AT-AT's legs, bringing the walker down and giving Rogue Squadron an opportunity to fire on its neck^[6]—AT-AT armor was weakest at the neck^[41]—and destroy it.^[6]

The remaining walkers continued their approach towards Echo Base. Skywalker covered Senesca as they made for a pass at another walker, but Senesca was shot down before they could reach their target. Skywalker's own speeder was shot down and he crashed into the snow in the path of an approaching AT-AT. He escaped just before the foot of the AT-AT came crashing down onto the speeder. As it passed, he shot a grappler onto its underside and pulled himself up, cutting open a hatch with his lightsaber so he could throw an explosive into the walkers. The device detonated, bringing the walker down. However, despite Rogue Squadron's efforts, the walkers destroyed the shield generator and Imperial forces landed at Echo Base. Artoo soon arrived with an X-wing fighter, and Skywalker approached it in time to see the Millennium Falcon—carrying Solo, Organa, Chewbacca, and Threepio—escape from Echo Base. Once in space, Skywalker told Artoo that they were not going to be rendezvousing with the Alliance and would instead set a course for the Dagobah system.^[6]

Training with Yoda

The X-wing arrived in orbit of Dagobah, and scans showed that there were no signs of any cities or technology, though the planet was teeming with life. As the fighter passed through the atmosphere, Skywalker lost control of the ship and crashed it into the swamps, with no obvious way of removing it from the water. He and Artoo got out of the ship and the droid fell into the water, where it was attacked by a swamp creature. After a few moments, however, the create spit Artoo onto land, and Skywalker started to wonder if going to Dagobah was a good idea. Despite his reservations, the young Jedi began sensing something familiar about the murky world, as if it was something he had once seen in a dream. He soon grabbed supplies from the downed fighter and set up a small camp in the forest. In the camp, he sensed that he was being watched and quickly discovered that a small creature was in fact watching. The eccentric being was, in fact, Yoda, but Skywalker did not yet know this, not expecting a "great warrior" to be so small in stature. Yoda, who told him that wars did not make a person great, proceeded to make a mess of Skywalker's camp to test his patience but soon told the young Jedi that he could help him find Yoda. Skywalker jumped at the chance for the assistance, but, first, Yoda brought Skywalker to his home for food.^[6]

Yoda's purpose in bringing the young Jedi to his hut was less about eating, and more about testing the boy; the Jedi Master wanted to see who Skywalker was as a person.^[42] Yoda asked the young Rebel why he wanted to become a Jedi, and Skywalker told him it was because of his father. Yoda, showing some of his hand, said that Anakin was a powerful Jedi, which set Skywalker off into further impatience and anger as he knew that such a seemingly-strange creature could not have known his father. Yoda, disappointed in the reaction, spoke to Kenobi's spirit, saying he could not teach someone with such little patience. Kenobi, speaking as a disembodied voice, assured Yoda that the boy would learn patience, but Yoda remained unconvinced and felt the same anger in him that was once inside of Anakin. It was at this point that Skywalker realized the creature was Yoda, and he exclaimed that he was ready to be a Jedi. Yoda spoke of how he had trained Jedi for eight centuries and that it would be he, not Skywalker, who would decide whether the boy was ready. Yoda revealed that he had watched Skywalker for many years,^[6] as he watched other Jedi during his time in exile,^[43] and saw him as someone who was too focused on the future rather than the present. Despite Yoda's reservations, however, and at Kenobi's urging, the Jedi Master agreed to teach the boy. Skywalker promised he would not fail his new master and that he was unafraid, but Yoda issued a stark warning: he soon would be afraid.^[6]

Skywalker's training began in the swamps of Dagobah. He engaged in physical trials by running through the swampy wilderness, including swinging across vines and jumping through thick brush. He did so carrying the tiny Jedi Master on his back, and Yoda offered words of advice and instruction, including warnings about the dangers of giving into anger, aggression, and darker emotions. He warned that starting down a dark path could consume Skywalker's destiny, just as it did Darth Vader. The young Jedi questioned whether the dark side was stronger, to which Yoda told him that it was not stronger but it was easier and more seductive. They soon ended their lesson for the day, with Yoda encouraging the boy to clear his mind of all the questions he still had about the ways of the Jedi. When the instruction was over, Skywalker felt the presence of a powerful dark side cave, which Yoda told him was a domain of evil.^[6] Yoda, who once confronted visions of his own fear in the cave,^[8] instructed Skywalker to enter. Despite Yoda's warning to leave his weapons behind, Skywalker entered the cave armed with a blaster and his lightsaber. Once inside, a fully-realized vision of Darth Vader appeared before him, wielding a lightsaber as he stalked towards the young Jedi. Skywalker engaged the visage of the Sith Lord in a lightsaber duel and emerged triumphant, or so he thought—the boy decapitated the Dark Lord, but a look beneath Vader's helmet revealed Skywalker's own face.^[6]

During a later training session, Skywalker balanced himself on one hand, using the other to levitate rocks while Yoda stood atop him. He became distracted when he sensed his X-wing sink further into the swamps, causing him to lose concentration, fall, and send the Jedi Master tumbling down with him. Skywalker declared that he would never be able to get the ship back out, and Yoda lamented Skywalker's inability to understand the powers of the Force. There was no difference, Yoda said, between moving stones and moving a starfighter. Skywalker attempted to lift the X-wing out of the water but his efforts failed. Despite Skywalker thinking that the feat was impossible, the Jedi Master called upon the Force and lifted the X-wing out of the swamp. The young Jedi was astonished, telling his teacher that he did not believe what he saw, which was why, as Yoda told him, he had failed.^[6]

His failure in the swamp did not mean his training was over, however. Skywalker continued with his lessons, including further levitating stones and equipment with the Force. As he tried to concentrate, however, he saw a vision of Organa and Solo suffering in pain on Cloud City, a tibanna gas mining colony on the planet Bespin. Yoda told him it was a vision of the future, but that the future was always in motion. The Jedi Master further warned that, if Skywalker left Dagobah, he could indeed help his friends, but that he would also destroy everything they had fought for. Despite Yoda's warnings, Skywalker decided to leave Dagobah and temporarily leave his training behind so he could save his friends^[6]—a decision not unlike Anakin's choice to try to save Padmé from death.^[1] As the young Jedi prepared his fighter to fly away, Yoda and Kenobi both urged him to reconsider, but Skywalker was resolute in his choice. They both cautioned him that Vader was powerful and that Skywalker would need to remember his training, lest he fall prey to the dark side. As he departed, Skywalker promised that he would one day return to complete his training with Yoda.^[6]

The Skywalker secret

By the time Skywalker arrived on Cloud City, his friends had always been captured. Unknown to him at the time was that it was a trap set by Darth Vader, hoping to lure the boy to him so he could be captured and brought before the Emperor—or so Skywalker could join his father and rule the galaxy together. The young Jedi made his way through the corridors of Cloud City and became separated from Artoo, but he did spot the captive Organa and Chewbacca, along with the frozen Solo; the captain had been frozen in carbonite as a test to ensure that the procedure would work on Skywalker. The princess exclaimed that it was a trap, but Skywalker continued onward anyway, ultimately finding himself in the carbon freezing facility. It was there that he found the Dark Lord waiting for him, and the two engaged in a lightsaber duel throughout the facility. Skywalker was little match for the Sith Lord, but he still was able to evade the Dark Lord's attempts to force him into freezing chamber, a feat that impressed Vader.^[6]

The duel moved to the bowels of the city, where Vader began to unleash more of his power on his opponent. He sent heavy equipment flying towards the young Jedi, and though Skywalker desperately tried to strike it with his lightsaber, he was outmatched and sent flying out a window onto a platform above a deep chasm within the city. Vader pursued him there and the fight grew fiercer. Skywalker managed to land a blow on the Dark Lord, but Vader quickly ended the duel by cutting off the boy's hand, sending the limb and Skywalker's lightsaber into the pit. Vader told him not to resist and soon revealed the truth about Skywalker's heritage: Vader was his father, and Obi-Wan had lied to him. The Dark Lord goaded Skywalker to join him, saying they could rule the galaxy together, but the boy, seeing no alternative, let go of the platform's railing and let himself fall into the chasm below. He was sucked into an air vent, saving his life, but it led him to fall out of the city and hanging onto an antenna within the clouds.^[6]

While hanging beneath the city, Skywalker called out to Organa through the Force. Organa, who was aboard the fleeing Millennium Falcon with Chewbacca, the droids, and Lando Calrissian—the Baron Administrator of Cloud City, who turned them over to the Empire out of desperation before helping them escape—sensed Skywalker's turmoil and ordered Chewbacca to return for their friend. Chewie positioned the ship under Skywalker and the boy fell into an open hatch, where he was caught by Calrissian before being placed into the princess' care. The Falcon resumed its escape and evaded several TIE fighters that were sent after them, while Vader, aboard the Star Destroyer Executor, telepathically reached out to his son to tell the boy to join him. Skywalker did not respond, devastated that Kenobi had not told him the truth, and the Falcon escaped into hyperspace. They returned to the Rebel fleet. The young Jedi learned what happened to Solo and received a cybernetic hand. Together, Skywalker and Organa watched as Calrissian and Chewbacca piloted the Millennium Falcon away from the fleet in order to find Solo on Tatooine.^[6]

Rescue of Han Solo

Some time after escaping Cloud City, Skywalker's command of Red Squadron was transferred to Antilles. Skywalker declined to rejoin the squadron and soon traveled to Zastiga, where he and the droids greeted Organa upon her arrival on the planet for an emergency meeting of the Alliance High Command. Before she left for the meeting, Skywalker told her that he had a new intelligence from General Cracken regarding Solo. Rebel agents sighted Slave I over Tatooine, suggesting Solo had been delivered and the bounty had been claimed, though it was unclear whether Solo was still alive so Calrissian was working to gain entry into Jabba's Palace to learn more. Organa bristled at the mention of the former Cloud City administrator, but Skywalker assured her that Calrissian was trying to make amends. The princess soon left for her meeting, where she learned that the Empire was building a second Death Star in orbit of the Forest Moon of Endor. He met with her again after the meeting and the two discussed Skywalker's future plans, with the young Jedi telling his friend that he would do whatever the Alliance asked of him and eventually return to Dagobah to complete his training with Yoda—a promise he had not yet fulfilled, as he kept waiting for news of Solo's whereabouts.^[44]

In order to distract the Empire while the Alliance Fleet assembled for an assault against the new Death Star, Organa commanded a Rebel team during Operation Yellow Moon and led the Empire on a chase for her across the galaxy. Skywalker saw her off on her mission, and he later contacted her, from via hologram from Kothlis after she successfully completed her mission. The young Jedi said that he and Chancellor Mothma had been worried about her, so she assured him that she was fine. His message also brought with it news on the intelligence front: Solo was still encased in carbonite in Jabba's Palace, and Skywalker had put together a plan to free him. Organa also had an idea for how they could rescue their friend, and the two discussed their plans once Organa arrived on Kothlis.^[44] The plan involved Calrissian, Organa, and Chewbacca infiltrating Jabba's Palace, while Skywalker would arrive later—prepared for a fight against Jabba and his forces.^[5]

The Rebels put their plan into action and made their way to Tatooine to rescue their friend. When Skywalker arrived, he journeyed back to Kenobi's hut and found the parts he needed to construct a new lightsaber. Though he knew little in the way of building a Jedi's weapon, he had been able to use the Force to guide him to what he needed, including parts he needed to purchase and acquire. After finding what he needed in the Jedi Master's old home, Skywalker found solitude in a desert cave. It took both physical tools and the powers of the Force to construct the lightsaber and bring the kyber crystal inside of it to life, but he successfully did so and a green blade emanated from the completed hilt^[45]—successfully completing the ancient Jedi ritual of building one's own lightsaber.^[46] After the weapon was finished, Skywalker gave the lightsaber to Artoo to keep within the droid's metal frame, and he sent Artoo and Threepio on their way as an initial offering in his plan to free Captain Solo.^[5]

When the droids arrived at Jabba's Palace, they were taken before the Hutt gangster and Artoo played a pre-recorded message from Skywalker, who said he wished to bargain for Solo's life and offered the two droids as a gift. Organa arrived soon after in disguise as the bounty hunter Boushh, bringing with her Chewbacca and stating that she wished to claim the bounty on the Wookiee's head. Once the Hutt's court went to sleep, Organa freed Solo from carbonite but they were both taken captive when the court discovered what had happened. Skywalker arrived soon thereafter, using the Force to choke his way past two Gamorreans guarding the entrance. He was discovered by Jabba's majordomo, Bib Fortuna, and successfully performed a mind trick on the Twi'lek entrance so he could be taken before Jabba himself. Jabba awoke to find Skywalker in his court, and the young Jedi attempted to use a mind trick on the gangster, only to find that the strong-minded Hutt was immune to suck tricks. Skywalker demanded that the Hutt hand over Solo and the others, but Jabba refused to bargain. The Jedi used the Force to call a blaster into his hand, but it was too late—Jabba activated a trap door that caused Skywalker, as well as a Gamorrean guard, to fall into a pit below the court that contained a deadly rancor. The Gamorrean was eaten by the beast, and Skywalker frantically searched for a way out. He finally found his escape route once the rancor walked under a massive door. Skywalker threw a rock at the door's control, fatally slamming it onto the rancor.^[5]

Jabba sentenced Skywalker, Solo, and Chewbacca to death as a result of the rancor's death, and Skywalker and Solo were reunited before being taken onto a desert skiff that would fly them to the Great Pit of Carkoon. The pit was home to a creature known as the sarlacc, into which Jabba planned to send the three prisoners so they would be slowly digested over the course of one thousand years. Jabba followed the skiff on his sail barge, which also carried Organa and the droids. As Skywalker was led to the edge of the desert skiff to be thrown into the sarlacc, he offered Jabba once last chance to free them or suffer the consequences. Jabba refused and Skywalker was pushed in, but the Jedi grabbed the plank and jumped back up, grabbing his lightsaber in the air after Artoo shot it towards him. Solo and Chewbacca were freed from their restraints, while Calrissian, who posed as a guard, also began taking on the other guards. In the ensuing fight, Skywalker, who had been fighting Jabba's henchmen, was attacked by Boba Fett and caught in wire shot from the bounty hunter's armor. He was saved, however, when Solo accidentally damaged Fett's jetpack, sending him over the edge of the skiff and into the sarlacc below. Skywalker made his way to the sail barge, where Organa killed Jabba and Skywalker continued fighting his enforcers. The fight was not without damage, though, as his cybernetic hand was shot and had its circuits exposed. The operation was ultimately successful, however, as they destroyed the sail barge and were able to escape the Great Pit of Carkoon with Captain Solo.^[5]

One last trial

The others returned to the Alliance Fleet, which had assembled for the impending assault on the second Death Star, but Skywalker returned to Dagobah to fulfill his promise to Yoda. When he arrived, he found that his Jedi Master had grown sick and was near-death. The fledgling Jedi told Yoda that he had returned to complete his training, but the dying master said that there was nothing more that Skywalker had to learn from him. Only by confronting Darth Vader again would he become a Jedi Knight. Still not knowing whether Vader had told him the truth, Skywalker asked if Vader was his father. Yoda tried to avoid answering but Skywalker insisted, and the Jedi Master told him that it was true. Yoda felt it was unfortunate that the boy had learned the truth, as Skywalker's training had been incomplete when he left Dagobah and that he was not yet ready for the burden. Yoda left Skywalker with a final warning to not underestimate the powers of the Emperor, lest he suffer the same fate as Anakin Skywalker. He reminded the boy that he would soon be the last of the Jedi and that it was his duty to pass on what he had learned. With his dying words, Yoda told him that there was another Skywalker before peacefully slipping into death and becoming one with the Force.^[5]

Skywalker returned to his X-wing, which he had landed in the swamps, and told Artoo that he did not think he could move forward alone. Kenobi then appeared, assuring him that Yoda would always be with him. Skywalker confronted his old mentor over how he lied about Anakin's true fate, but Kenobi said that there was a certain truth to what he had originally claimed, as Anakin's embrace of the dark side destroyed him and left nothing but Darth Vader. Kenobi reiterated what Yoda said, saying that it was Skywalker's destiny to confront Vader once more. Skywalker could not bring himself to kill his own father, which concerned Kenobi as he felt that the boy's reluctance meant that the Emperor had won. Skywalker asked who Yoda was referring to when he said there was another Skywalker, and Kenobi revealed that he had a twin sister—who Skywalker immediately deduced was Organa. The Jedi Master revealed that they were separated and hidden away after their birth to protect them, and he warned Skywalker to bury his familial feelings for her—as they could be exploited by the Emperor.^[5] Skywalker also asked about the identity and fate of his mother, but Kenobi asked him to let that truth stay hidden for a little while longer, as he knew the young Jedi carried enough burdens already. Skywalker wanted to argue, but he could see pain on the Jedi Master's face and chose to honor his mentor's wish.^[45]

The return of the Jedi

Infiltration on Endor

Skywalker returned to the Alliance Fleet during a briefing about the assault on the Death Star, where Chancellor Mothma, Admiral Ackbar, and General Crix Madine outlined how a special forces strike team^[5] known as the Pathfinders^[47] would destroy the generator powering the battle station, after which a team of starfighters would enter the Death Star's exposed superstructure and destroy its reactor core. Skywalker volunteered to join the Pathfinder team, which was led by now-General Solo and also included Organa, Chewbacca, and the droids. Calrissian, meanwhile, was also promoted to general and was chosen to lead the fighter assault. After the briefing, the Pathfinder team boarded an Imperial shuttle, Tydirium,^[5] that the princess had stolen during Operation Yellow Moon^[44] and set a course for the Forest Moon of Endor.^[5]

The shuttle dropped out of hyperspace and the team transmitted their stolen clearance codes. Solo claimed that the shuttle was delivering parts to the moon and requested that the deflector shield be lowered to allow them to pass. Vader sensed Skywalker's presence aboard Tydirium and Skywalker could feel that the Dark Lord knew, making the young Jedi fear that his presence would ultimately endanger the mission. Vader allowed the shuttle to land, knowing that Skywalker was aboard, and Tydirium landed in the forests of Endor.

Before the Emperor

Anakin's redemption

With the Emperor dead, Skywalker brought his father's battered body to the hangar bay, where he intended for them to both board a shuttle and escape the imminent destruction of the Death Star. Anakin stopped him, however, and asked that Skywalker remove the mask of Darth Vader so Anakin could look upon his son with his own eyes. Skywalker removed the mask and finally looked upon the face of the father he never knew. Although Skywalker wanted to bring Anakin with him to Endor, Anakin knew that he was about to die. He nonetheless felt saved by his son, and, in his final words, told Skywalker to tell his sister that he was right: there was good left in Anakin Skywalker.^[5] Anakin's body disappeared as his spirit passed into the Force,^[11] and Skywalker escaped the Death Star aboard an Imperial shuttle.^[5] As he fled the hangar, the stolen shuttle was targeted by Lieutenant Shara Bey of Green Squadron, who initially believed Skywalker was an Imperial trying to flee from the impending destruction. Skywalker contacted her and confirmed his identity, and Bey broke off her attempted attack just before the Death Star exploded in orbit of Endor.^[47]

On Endor, Skywalker lit a funeral pyre to burn the armor of Darth Vader. He soon returned to Bright Tree Village, where the Rebels and Ewoks were celebrating the death of the Emperor and the defeat of the Empire. It was there that he saw the spirits of Kenobi, Yoda, and Anakin, the latter of whom appeared as he did before he fell to the dark side. Skywalker bid the spirits farewell and joined his friends in celebration.^[5] Although Skywalker had completed his journey towards becoming a Jedi Knight, a new task laid before him: rebuilding the Jedi Order and, along with his friends, the Republic.^[11]

A relic of the Jedi

In the battle's aftermath, Skywalker reported to the Rebel Alliance that the Emperor and Darth Vader were dead. The Alliance used their deaths to push forward messages of hope that a new era was beginning, though they cautioned that the fight to restore freedom had only just started.^[48] In the days ahead, the Rebel Alliance began the formation of the New Republic, a successor state to the Galactic Republic. The Empire, meanwhile, reeled from its defeat and its leadership was in chaos, and the Imperial government claimed that the reports of the Emperor's demise were treasonous propaganda.^[49]

Three months after the Battle of Endor, Skywalker planned a mission to an Imperial research base on the planet Vetine in order to retrieve the last remaining fragment of a Force-sensitive tree. The tree, which once dwelled in the heart of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, was stolen by the Emperor after he came to power and converted the Jedi Temple into the Imperial Palace. Skywalker recruited Shara Bey to fly as his co-pilot on the mission, and, along with Artoo, they flew a stolen Imperial shuttle, Antarra, to Vetine. While en route, Skywalker told Bey about the plan, including how she would pose as ISB Agent Alecia Beck, using codes obtained by Solo and the Pathfinders during a raid on an ISB base at the Wretch of Tayron. Upon their arrival, Bey claimed she was Agent Beck and that she had arrived to perform an unannounced inspection. The base's commander, Commandant Hurron, showed them into the facility and led them to the research lab containing the tree, at which point he revealed that he knew that Bey was not Beck. Hurron questioned why two Rebels would break into the facility, and Skywalker explained the importance of the tree—which he found had two remaining fragments. Skywalker and Bey fought their way out of the base, making their way through numerous stormtroopers who attempted to stop their escape. Once back at Antarra, Hurron ordered his forces to throw thermal detonators at the escaping Rebels, but Skywalker used the Force to deflect them back, killing Hurron and several of his stormtroopers in an explosion.^[50]

The Rebel trio made their way back towards the Alliance Fleet. During the trip back, Skywalker and Bey discussed the latter's future plans for service in the Rebellion, as Skywalker knew that Bey was considering leaving the Alliance to reunite with her husband, Pathfinder Sergeant Kes Dameron, and their son Poe. Bey was unsure as to whether she wanted to leave the Rebels behind, but Skywalker's guidance helped Bey decide to leave the Alliance. The Jedi Knight gifted one of the tree fragments to her, as he had only expected to find one, believing that the important relic would be kept safe with Bey and her family. She and Dameron planted it outside of their new home on Yavin 4.^[50]

The last Jedi

The next generation

The Galactic Civil War came to a close with the signing of the Galactic Concordance, a peaty treaty between the Republic and the Empire that forced the Empire to remain within pre-established borders, though the remnants of the once-powerful military force disappeared into the Unknown Regions.^[51] Skywalker continued to seek out Jedi lore, hoping to find information that the Empire had erased. He was aided by Lor San Tekka, an explorer and member of the Church of the Force.^[52] San Tekka was old enough to remember the Jedi Knights before the Clone Wars, and he did not believe the Emperor's lies about how the Jedi betrayed the Old Republic.^[51] San Tekka, who believed that the return of the Jedi Order was essential to bring balance to the Force,^[7] became a valuable ally for both Skywalker and Organa.^[51]

Fulfilling the dying wish of Master Yoda,^[5] Skywalker set out to begin training a new generation of Jedi, passing on everything that he had learned in his own training. He taught a number of Jedi disciples, and took on his nephew Ben, the son of Organa and Solo, as one of his apprentices. Ben's parents could tell that he felt the pull of the dark side of the Force and feared he was much like his grandfather, so they sent him to be trained by Skywalker in the hopes that it would help him. Instead, Ben became corrupted by a being called Snoke, a dark Force user who led the First Order as its Supreme Leader—and believed that a new generation of Jedi would destroy the resurgent Imperial war machine. Ben took on the name Kylo Ren and destroyed the new Jedi, destroying everything Skywalker had tried to build. Feeling responsible for what happened, Skywalker vanished into exile. No one knew for sure where he went, but those closest to him believed he went off in search of the First Jedi Temple. The only clue to his whereabouts was a star map to the aquatic planet where he made his exile; Artoo, who went into low power mode after Skywalker disappeared, had one part of the map. The other fragment was in the care of San Tekka, who had retired on the desert world of Jakku.^[7]

Into exile

Absent though he may have been from galactic affairs, Skywalker's story was nonetheless a thing of myth and legend in certain corners of the galaxy. His exploits in the Galactic Civil War were known to the Resistance, a band of freedom fighters led by now-General Organa to combat the rise of the First Order. Resistance fighter pilot Jessika Pava learned that Threepio, who also served in the Resistance, knew Skywalker and asked the droid to tell her a story about his former master. Threepio regaled her with the tale of Skywalker's encounter with Sarco Plank on Devaron, and how Skywalker kept his promise to Farnay and indeed returned to Devaron.^[23] Members of the First Order, however, had a less-than-ideal view of the Jedi Master; the First Order taught their followers, including stormtroopers like FN-2187, that Skywalker was an enemy who helped destroy the Empire. Despite knowing about Skywalker, the mystical elements of his life, as well as the Jedi in general, were seen as mythic rather than historic.^[53]

Thirty years after the Battle of Endor, Organa sent Resistance fighter Poe Dameron,^[7] the son of Shara Bay and Kes Dameron,^[51] to Jakku to find San Tekka and recover the map to Skywalker's alleged location, as she hoped her brother would return and help in the fight against the dark side. The First Order also learned of the map and sought it so they could destroy the one remaining Jedi. San Tekka gave the map to Dameron, who in turn gave it to his astromech droid BB-8, before Kylo Ren and the First Order arrived. Ren killed San Tekka and took Dameron into custody in the hopes of finding the map, while BB-8 came into the possession of a Jakku scavenger named Rey. Rey believed that Skywalker was only a myth, but she too possessed a latent Force ability that she had not yet discovered.^[7]

Rey teamed with FN-2187, who took the name Finn after defecting from the First Order, and, with the help of Han Solo and Chewbacca, sought to return to the map fragment to the Resistance. After Rey discovered the lightsaber that once belonged to both Anakin and Luke in the pirate castle belonging to Maz Kanata, a one thousand year old being who had knowledge of the Force, she began to unlock her own Force abilities. BB-8's map fragment was soon combined with Artoo's, and together they provided a complete map to Skywalker's location. Rey took the lightsaber with her and found the old Jedi Master on an island^[7] on the planet Ahch-To, presenting him with his father's old weapon as a symbol of the only hope that the galaxy had left.^[54]

Personality and traits

Powers and abilities

Behind the scenes

Creation and and casting

Development through the saga

Role in Star Wars Legends

For decades,^[55] Skywalker was a staple of the Expanded Universe of books, comics, and games, which have since become non-canon and rebranded as Star Wars Legends.^[56] These stories focused on his time during the Galactic Civil War and, most prominently, after the events of Return of the Jedi. In Timothy Zahn's The Thrawn Trilogy, comprised of the novels Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command, Skywalker and the Rebels fought and defeated the Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn and the crazed Jedi clone Joruus C'baoth. During the course of the trilogy, Skywalker met Mara Jade, one of the Emperor's Hands, whose last command from the Emperor was to kill the young Jedi.^[57] The two fell in love and, in the comic mini-series Star Wars: Union, were married.^[58]

The events of the Dark Empire comic series saw the return of Emperor Palpatine in clone form, with the Emperor having created several bodies so his spirit could live on after death. Skywalker briefly turned to the dark side of the Force and became the Emperor's apprentice but was redeemed by his friends.^[59] After several years, he founded the New Jedi Order and began training a new generation of Jedi.^[60] During The New Jedi Order book series, Skywalker fought in the first major galactic war after the end of the Galactic Civil War when an extra-galactic species known as the Yuuzhan Vong invaded the galaxy,^[61] leading to the years-long Yuuzhan Vong War. During the war, he and Mara Jade welcomed a son, Ben Skywalker.^[62] After the Vong were defeated,^[63] the outbreak of the Second Galactic Civil War saw his nephew, Jacen Solo, fall to the dark side and become the Sith Lord Darth Caedus in the novel series Star Wars: Legacy of the Force. Skywalker was left grief-stricken when Caedus killed Jade,^[64] and the Jedi Master later helped his niece, Jaina Solo, defeat her brother and end the war.^[65]

During the Fate of the Jedi series, the end of the Second Galactic Civil War saw anti-Jedi sentiment rise once again. Natasi Daala, Chief of State of the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances—the successor state to the New Republic—arrested Skywalker. In exchange for being freed, he accepted exile and was forbidden from being involved in the affairs of the New Jedi Order.^[66] With the help of his son and fellow Jedi, Skywalker returned to the Jedi Order and once again assumed leadership of the Order he helped to create. They defeated the Lost Tribe of the Sith and a dark side entity called Abeloth, once again saving the galaxy from peril.^[67] Skywalker died many years later but, in the comic series Star Wars: Legacy, he returned as a spirit to give spectral guidance to his descendant, Cade Skywalker.^[68]

Appearances

Non-canon appearances

• Disney Infinity 3.0
• Epic Yarns: A New Hope
• Epic Yarns: The Empire Strikes Back
• Epic Yarns: Return of the Jedi
• Lego Star Wars: Droid Tales
  • Exit from Endor
  • Mission to Mos Eisley

Sources

Notes and references

---

Other stuff: