Luke Skywalker was destined to be special. As the son of Anakin and Padm� Skywalker, Luke had already inherited the power of the Force from this father. And though he never knew her, from his mother, Luke gained the compassion that would ultimately save himself and his father.

Luke was born in a time of crisis. The Empire had risen, and the Jedi were being hunted down. Anakin Skywalker had turned to the dark side, and was now the Emperor's servant. His old master, Ben Kenobi, knew Luke and his sister would be in danger if the Empire found them, and entrusted Luke into the care of Owen Lars, Anakin's step brother. Ben hoped Anakin would not return to Tatooine, the place where his mother had died, and where he had been held as a slave for many years. Ben became a hermit, living out in the Jundland Wastes, waiting until Luke could follow in his father's footsteps and become a Jedi.

Owen wanted nothing more to do with the Jedi, and so Luke grew up as a simple moisture farmer, unaware of his powers. Yet a sense of adventure still resided within Luke, and he often raced skyhoppers through Beggar's Canyon with his friends, or gazed into space, hoping for a glimpse of a starship. One day, while he was tending to a moisture vaporator out in the desert, Luke saw not one starship, but two - firing on each other. Though his friends didn't believe him, Luke knew what he had seen. He wished he could be up there too, part of the Imperial Academy, flying across the galaxy.

Luke would soon get his wish, in a fashion. Two droids escaped the battle, crash-landed on Tatooine and wound up being sold to Owen Lars by a group of Jawas. While cleaning the droids up, Luke found they were not only part of the Rebellion, but the astromech, R2-D2, was searching for Obi-Wan - Ben - Kenobi. The droid escaped to find Kenobi, and eventually led Luke to the old hermit as well. Artoo played a message for Ben, in which Princess Leia implored the Jedi to deliver Artoo to Alderaan. Ben intended to bring Luke along, and teach him the ways of the Force, but Luke knew his uncle wouldn't allow it. However, upon his return to the homestead, Luke found his aunt and uncle dead - killed by stormtroopers searching for the wayward droids. Luke resolved to follow in his father's footsteps and become a Jedi Knight.

Luke traveled with Ben to Mos Eisley, where they hired a pilot named Han Solo to take them to Alderaan. However, upon their arrival in the Alderaan system, the crew and passengers of Solo's Millennium Falcon were greeted with a recently-formed meteor shower - the remains of Alderaan. The Death Star had destroyed the planet, and captured the Falcon, holding it in a tractor beam. The capture turned out to be a stroke of luck, as Luke found the Empire was also holding Princess Leia in the Death Star. After a daring escape with the Princess through the detention block, a trash compactor, and a thrilling chase with Imperial stormtroopers, the rescuers returned to the Falcon. Ben had embarked on a mission to disable the tractor beam, which he had evidently accomplished, but his adventure was not over. Luke witnessed his mentor dueling with the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader, who cut Ben in two as Luke stared in horror. Ben's sacrifice allowed Luke and the others to flee for the safety of the Rebel base on Yavin IV.

Upon their arrival, a battle plan was formed to destroy the Death Star. Though the hasty attack by the Rebels was out of sheer desperation, Luke decided to help out. His skills with a T-16 skyhopper made him feel at ease with the similar T-65 X-wing used by the Alliance. Soon, he and the rest of the Rebel starfighter squadrons were on their way to face the Death Star. The small starfighters were nimble enough to evade the Death Star's turbolasers, but were less fortunate when they came up against TIE fighter squadrons. Attack groups broke off from the Rebel squadrons to start their 'trench run' - where they were required to fly down the Death Star's equilateral trench and fire proton torpedoes at an exhaust port leading to the main reactor. However, the attacks failed, and all too quickly Luke found himself, Wedge Antilles and his childhood friend from Tatooine, Biggs Darklighter, racing down the trench...with Darth Vader in hot pursuit. Vader and his wingmen sent Wedge out of the fight, and obliterated Bigg's X-wing. Just as it seemed Luke's time was up, the Millennium Falcon blasted the TIE fighters off his tail, allowing Luke to fire at the exhaust port. The Death Star was destroyed, and Luke was made a hero.

However, Luke's adventure was far from over. His new status in the Rebellion earned resentment from a fellow pilot, who blurted out Luke's name in a drunken stupor as Darth Vader listened. Vader realised the boy who destroyed the Death Star was his son, and set out to ensnare him. Vader and Skywalker met on Mimban, while both sought the legendary Kaiburr crystal. Father and son dueled, though surprisingly considering his lack of training, Luke managed to disable Vader and flee the planet. The Empire took revenge on the Rebels, and launched an attack against their Yavin base. The Rebels fled to an ice planet Luke had stumbled upon on one of his adventures.

Hoth's safe haven did not protect the Rebels for long. After a run-in with a wampa ice creature during a routine patrol, Luke learned that the Empire had found Echo Base. A ground assault was launched, with Rogue Squadron - the fighter squad formed by Luke and Wedge after the Battle of Yavin - leading the Rebel's defence. Luke developed a brilliant tactic on the battlefield - using his snowspeeder's tow-cable to tie up the legs of the advancing AT-AT walkers - but it was not enough. Echo Base was overrun, and the Rebels were forced to flee.

While the Alliance regrouped at a secret location, Luke headed off on another adventure. Back on Hoth, he had received a vision of Ben, who had instructed him to seek out Jedi Master Yoda on Dagobah. Trusting his instincts, Luke flew to Dagobah, but was unprepared for what he found. His X-wing crashed into a swamp, and Luke was pestered by an irritating green creature. Little did Luke know, this was Yoda himself, testing Luke's worth to be a Jedi. Though Yoda had misgivings, Luke was adamant he would not fail. Luke went through rigorous training on Dagobah, but Yoda admonished him often that he was trying instead of doing. However, Luke's training was cut short when he received another vision, this one showing Han and Leia on a city in the clouds - and in pain. Despite Yoda's warnings, Luke raced to save his friends.

Luke traveled to Bespin, and began to seek out his friends. He encountered Boba Fett and a host of Imperial stormtroopers, but he could not rescue Leia or Han. Instead, he soon found himself face-to-mask with Darth Vader once more. They engaged in an epic duel, with Vader goading Luke into unleashing his hatred - and the dark side. Luke refused, and was beaten back by the Dark Lord's powers. Finally, hanging over a seemingly bottomless shaft, Luke lost his right hand to Vader's blade. Then came the most painful part of the encounter: Luke learned his father was Vader himself. In anguish, Luke fell into the shaft, and barely managed to cling onto a weather vane below Cloud City. He called into the Force for help, to Ben or Yoda, but it was Leia who answered his cry. The Falcon rescued the battered young Jedi, and leapt into hyperspace just ahead of Vader's Super Star Destroyer. Luke was given a prosthetic replacement hand, and looked to the future with Leia and the rest of the Rebel Alliance.

Han Solo had been captured on Bespin and was to be delivered by Boba Fett to Jabba the Hutt. Luke attempted to rescue his friend on Gall, where Rogue Squadron engaged the local TIE fighters while the Millennium Falcon tracked down Fett. The plan failed, however, as Boba Fett fled to Tatooine. Luke traveled to Tatooine also, to finish building a new lightsabre, to replace the one lost with his hand on Bespin. The lightsabre worked as well as his last, as Luke found when battling through the assassins and bounty hunters sent by Prince Xizor to kill him. Luke eventually met the Dark Prince in his palace on Coruscant, and played a part in the palace's destruction, and later the battle that ended with the death of Xizor. Now considering himself a Jedi Knight, Luke returned to Tatooine to plan a rescue of Han from Jabba's palace.

Luke sent spies into the palace, in the form of Lando Calrissian and Leia, but soon had to face Jabba the Hutt himself. Leia had freed Han from his carbonite prison, but the Rebels were still trapped in the palace. Luke realised he could not bargain with Jabba, and thus had to fight his way to freedom. Jabba ordered the Rebels to be fed to the Sarlacc, but Luke had other plans. Signaling R2-D2 to launch his lightsabre to him, Luke began to fight his way from the prisoner's skiff to Jabba's sail barge. After going toe-to-toe with Boba Fett and dozens of Jabba's guards, Luke reached the barge just as Leia emerged. She had killed Jabba herself, and destroyed the barge with its own deck gun. Luke and Leia raced back to the skiff where their friends were waiting. The Rebels left Tatooine to rendezvous with the Rebel fleet, though Luke had another destination to reach first.

He returned to Dagobah, after promising Yoda he would return at the end of his last visit. However, Luke found the aged Jedi Master dying. Luke asked the question that had been haunting him for a year; was Darth Vader his father? The answer was yes, but Yoda also told Luke that he had to kill Vader to complete his training. Luke was adamant he would not, but whatever the outcome, Yoda reminded him he was the last of the Jedi, and needed to pass on what he had learned. Finally, Yoda died, his body disappearing into the Force. Outside Yoda's hut, Luke met Obi-Wan's spirit, who revealed some startling news. Luke had a twin sister, who had been separated from Luke and taken to Alderaan as a baby. With this revelation whirling through his mind, Luke left to rejoin the Rebel fleet.

Leia, Han and the others were already being briefed about the plan to attack the second Death Star when Luke arrived. He volunteered to be part of Han's strike team - to land on the moon of Endor and destroy the shield generator protecting the incomplete battle station - but soon realised his presence was endangering the mission. Vader could sense his son, and Luke knew he had to face him. After befriending a tribe of Ewoks, the Rebels settled into tree houses to plan their strategy. Luke decided to hand himself over to Vader, but not before saying goodbye to Leia. He revealed to her that Vader was his father...and then that Vader was their father, when he told her she was his sister. Luke left her with the news, and surrendered to the Imperials.

Luke was soon brought before Vader, and finally the Emperor himself, aboard the second Death Star. The Emperor tried to turn Luke to the dark side, just as Luke had attempted to turn his father away from it. Neither were successful, but the Emperor was angering Luke. Skywalker attacked the Emperor, and found his lightsabre parried by Vader. He had been forced into a fight with his father. Luke would still not kill Vader, until the Dark Lord probed Luke's mind and learned he had a sister. Vader mused that she could be turned to the dark side instead of Luke. The threat sent Luke over the edge, and he attacked Vader with murderous intent. Vader defended himself as best he could, but it was not enough. Luke severed his father's right hand, and was just about to deliver the killing blow when he realised what he had done. Staring at his own mechanical right hand, Luke knew just how close he had come to falling down the same path as his father. Discarding his weapon, Luke turned defiantly to the Emperor, as a Jedi Knight, like Anakin Skywalker before him.

In response, the Emperor unleashed the power of the dark side against Skywalker. Luke was struck by deadly Force lightning, and fell to the floor in agony. He pleaded with his father to help him, but the Emperor's merciless attack did not relent. As Luke prepared for death, the lightning stopped. Looking up, he saw Darth Vader pick the Emperor up, and fling him down into a reactor shaft. Palpatine's dark energy exploded from his body as Luke's father lay gasping for breath. The lightning had damaged his life-support, and he knew he was dying. Luke took off Vader's mask so he could look upon his son with his own eyes. Luke looked back into the eyes of Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight, and his father. Anakin died, after telling Luke he had been right all along; the light had never faded from Anakin Skywalker. Luke brought Vader's armour to the Endor moon, where he lit a funeral pyre for his father. Then, as the galaxy celebrated the destruction of the second Death Star, and the death of the Emperor, Luke joined his friends in a joyous party of freedom and peace.

Despite Luke's victory, his battle was far from over. The day after his ordeal on the second Death Star, Luke and the other Rebels received a distress call from Bakura. There, Luke found a Force-sensitive named Dev Sibwarra, who was being manipulated by the Ssi-Ruuk invaders. Though Luke was unable to save the boy during the Ssi-Ruuk attacks, he had begun a search for potential Jedi Knights for a new Jedi order. During his search, Luke found more trouble. The Dark Jedi Joruus C'baoth called to Luke and began teaching him the ways of the Jedi - though he was actually teaching him about the dark side in an attempt to bring Luke, Leia and her unborn children to his side. Luke learned of C'baoth's plan, and with the help of Mara Jade, defeated C'baoth on Wayland. His partnership with Mara endured, although they spent little time together when Luke established a Jedi academy on Yavin IV. There, Luke began to teach Jedi candidates himself, but soon found he was little qualified for the job when Kyp Durron fell to the dark side and almost killed Luke in a Force duel atop the Massassi temple. Luke had to face a more dangerous foe, in the form of the cloned Emperor Palpatine, who finally managed to sway Luke to the dark side. Only with the help of his sister was Luke able to return from the brink and defeat Palpatine.

Overcoming the setbacks, Luke continued with his work to reestablish the Jedi Order, and began to recruit more and more new Jedi. During the Caamas Incident, Luke and Mara grew closer as they worked together on Niriuan against the Chiss. At the end of the ordeal, Luke proposed to Mara, who said yes. They were married in a private Jedi ceremony some time later, and again in a public wedding on Coruscant. What was supposed to be a happy time for the two of them soon turned into another battle for their lives when the Yuuzhan Vong invaded the galaxy. Luke and his New Jedi Order were unprepared for the attack, and initially fared badly against the aliens. To add to Luke's troubles, Mara had contracted a fatal disease, and only when Luke joined with her through the Force were they able to purge it from her body. It was lucky they had, for soon after, Mara gave birth to their first son, whom they named Ben. Luke was overjoyed, but saw little of the child thanks to the ongoing war. The New Republic had died when Coruscant fell to the Yuuzhan Vong, and in its place rose the much more competent Galactic Alliance. Likewise, the New Jedi Order grew stronger, and played a large part in the final stages of the war.

Luke set off in search of the legendary planet Zonama Sekot, which he believed was the key to winning the war. After a year of searching, the Jedi found the living planet, and Luke learned his father had visited the same planet decades prior. Sekot agreed to fight for the Jedi, and attacked the enemy-held Coruscant during the war's epic final battle. With the Yuuzhan Vong preoccupied with Sekot and the Alliance forces, Luke led a team of Jedi down to the surface of Coruscant. He and his nephews, Jacen and Jaina, entered the Citadel where Supreme Overlord Shimrra watched the battle. Luke had always restrained his power with the Force, but he displayed his awesome ability when he took on Shimrra's elite warriors in the Citadel. He defeated Shimrra's Slayers, and beheaded Shimrra himself, though he was stabbed by the Supreme Overlord's poisonous amphistaff. Drawing on the Force, Luke was able to survive, and was healed on the Millennium Falcon. He learned Jacen had killed Onimi, who had secretly been manipulating Shimrra for his own ends, and that the war was over. Finally, Luke's battles with the forces of evil, and the dark side of the Force, were over.

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Page created: 02 April 2004