Luke Skywalker

Luke Skywalker is the central figure of the first Star Wars trilogy and is known as one of the most famous and popular science fiction characters of all time. Played primarily by actor Mark Hamill, Luke was introduced in the 1977 film Star Wars (later identified by its full title Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope). Hamill reprised the role of Skywalker for the film's sequels, Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. An infant version of Luke was briefly seen at the end of the 2005 prequel film Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Beyond the films, Luke has proven to be a staple of the Star Wars mythos making appearances in related media including novels, comic books, video games and audio dramatizations.

Early years
Luke Skywalker and his twin sister Leia were the children of fallen Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and his young wife Padmé Naberrie Amidala Skywalker. Just prior to their birth, Anakin, once a noble Jedi Knight, had fallen victim to the Dark Side of the Force and was dubbed Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith. Padmé, grief-stricken over her husband's betrayal lost the will to live and fell gravely ill. She was taken to a medical station on Polis Massa where she gave birth to first Luke, then Leia. She was able to gaze upon each of her children only once, saying their names aloud, before tragically passing away.

When Vader heard the news of his wife's passing, he was overcome with grief and anger. However, due to the machinations of his master, Emperor Palpatine, Vader was unaware that Padmé had given birth before she died. Jedi masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda knew that if the Emperor were to learn of Vader's offspring, he might view them as a threat and try to have them destroyed. To protect the twins, they were separated at birth and given to different families to grow up on different worlds. Leia was given to Bail Organa and raised on the planet Alderaan, while Luke was given to his father's stepbrother, Owen Lars of Tatooine and his young wife Beru Whitesun. At this time, Obi-Wan Kenobi, forced into exile due to Vader's Jedi Purge, elected to stay on Tatooine so he could keep an eye on Luke, watching him grow into a young man. This upset Owen greatly, who felt a deep-seated resentment of the dying Jedi Order and wanted nothing to do with Obi-Wan.

Growing up in the arid, sandy wastelands of Tatooine was difficult for Luke. His uncle inherited the moisture farm left behind by his own father and Luke spent a great deal of time working on and repairing mositure vaporators. In his free time, teenage Luke enjoyed bulls-eying Womp rats in his T-16 Skyhopper and riding out to Anchorhead to hang out with his friend, Biggs Darklighter, Camie Loneozner, Laze "Fixer" Loneozner and Janke "Tank" Sunber. Being the smaller, and less refined member of the group, Luke earned himself the unflattering nickname "Wormie".

Luke looked up to Biggs and Tank who were older than he and grew jealous of them when they both made the decision to leave Tatooine and join the Imperial Acadmey. This stirred something deep within Luke and he knew that he was meant for something greater than the simple and unrewarding life of a moisture farmer.

At the onset of the Galactic Civil War, Luke caught a glimpse of the future that awaited him. One day, while peering at the skies through a pair of macrobinoculars, he caught a glimpse of a battle taking place above Tatooine. Luke could not determine the specifics of the battle, but he could see the criss-crossing beams of laser fire and knew that the struggle between the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance had come to the Outer rim. Racing back to his friends, he told them what he had seen. It was at this time that Luke was reunited with Biggs Darklighter, who had only just returned to Tatooine after graduating from the Academy. Biggs confessed that his time out in space made him re-evaluate his loyalties and that he was going to abandon the Imperial Navy in favor of joining the Rebel Alliance. Luke wasn't sure what to make of his friend, but more than ever, he knew he wanted to leave the world of his birth.

Soon after, Luke came upon two droids whose very existence would change Luke's life forever. Artoo-Deetoo and See-Threepio had been captured by a band of Jawas and sold to Owen Lars. What Luke didn't realize at the time, was that the droids had only recently escaped from an Imperial boarding party and were secretly carrying a set of stolen blueprints to the Empire's new super-weapon, the space station known as the Death Star. While cleaning the droids, Luke accidentally activated a holoprojector on R2-D2 and saw the image of a young woman addressing someone named Obi-Wan Kenobi. It would be years before Luke would realize that this woman was in fact his sister Leia. Luke didn't know anyone named Obi-Wan Kenobi, but he did know of a "strange old hermit" going by the name of Ben Kenobi who lived out beyond the Dune Sea. Luke brought these concerns to his uncle, who immediately dismissed them declaring, "That wizard's just a crazy old man".