10 Things You Didn't Know About Luke Skywalker

If you've only followed Luke Skywalker's Star Wars life in the movies and TV shows

and also haven't really dug into the real-life history behind the character played by the

fantastic Mark Hamill, then you're probably unaware of some pretty fascinating Skywalker facts

So let's take a closer look at arguably the most famous Jedi in history

and the things you likely did not know about him. Because I'm Gareth, this is What Culture Star Wars, and here are 10 things you didn't know about Luke Skywalker

10. Luke Skywalker Had Jeans On Throughout 1977's Star Wars Those who follow Mark Hamill on social media, he's recently left X and has now hopped on over to Blue Sky, in case you didn't know

have been treated to more than a few glorious Luke Skywalker nuggets over the years

And some of the most surprising actually involve the character's clothing. No one will ever be able to forget the iconic farm boy costume that Hamill wore as Luke in 1977's Star Wars

wandering around the desert world of Tatooine in a robe-like shirt, tan trousers, and boots

It turns out that his bottoms were nothing more than a pair of bleached Levi jeans, though, according to Hamill

And speaking of jeans, before he revealed the origins of his A New Hope pants

Hamill also noted that Luke was actually wearing a standard pair of jeans during some iconic moments in that film

Remember the shots of Luke speeding across Tatooine in a land speeder? Well, when the second unit got those moments in the can in Death Valley

Hamill opted simply to wear, you guessed it, a pair of jeans. His bomb half could not be seen, of course, so Hamill just threw on some comfy denims for the shots

Oh, and did you know that C-3PO was actually played by a teenage girl in that same moment

They didn't feel the need to force Anthony Daniels into the suit again for these shots

so the Luke Skywalker actor found himself having to explain the movie to her on set

That was fun. 9. Freddy Krueger had a hand in Mark Hamill's casting, according to Robert Englund

Back when George Lucas was casting his first space opera, eventual Freddy Krueger Robert Englund ended up wandering into the room

after he'd finished his audition for Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. That is quite a day

But after the casting team looked at the actor for five minutes, took a few Polaroids, and didn't actually let him read for the role of Han Solo

Englund did something that may have had a massive influence on the galaxy far, far away

As he'd tell The Guardian, he swiped the audition sites for the character that would become Luke Skywalker and took them home

a home that a certain Mark Hamill was chilling within at the time. Englund swiftly told his pal about Lucasfilm, and Hamill got on the phone to his agent

telling her he simply had to audition for this new space movie

According to Hamill, though, Englund was actually one of a few actors who told him about the movie

and when he did ring his agent, she'd already set up a meeting for the part. At the time of Hamill's comments, it was 2018 when he said that

she apparently still was annoyed that Englund continued to take credit for him eventually getting cast too

Englund himself would add in 2023 when talking to people, now his agent, I believe she already had him up for the role

And that may be true, I don't know, but I know that Mark hadn't heard about it yet

and I did tell him about it and he got on the phone. That's the story. Whichever side you believe, either way, it is clear that England was one of the people

who nudged Hamill towards the Skywalker role that would change his life forever

Number 8, he worked with Palpatine for a bit. Episode 6 Return of the Jedi memorably sees Emperor Palpatine trying his best to turn Luke Skywalker to the dark side Luke refuses to give in or join forces with Palpatine of course A moment that ultimately led to the temporary end of Darth Sidious

You know, before he somehow returned. However, there was actually a time there when Anakin Skywalker's son did in fact work with the Emperor

Long before Palpatine was resurrected in Episode 9, The Rise of Skywalker

he was similarly reborn in Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy's Expanded Universe Dark Empire comic series

And when Luke discovered that the seemingly defeated Emperor was back, he'd created clones to transfer his spirit into

he ultimately agreed to become his apprentice in an attempt to conquer the Emperor from the inside

This was quite a risky plan though, and he was very close to being fully turned to the dark side

But Leia Organa was able to ultimately bring her twin back into the light

Luke would then clash with the Emperor in a duel before working with his sister to destroy Palpatine in a force storm

Well, for a bit anyway. Now this would all become non-canon in the end, of course

but it's still fascinating to learn that the personifications of evil and good that are the Emperor and Luke respectively

were sort of on the same side for a little while. Now I've got a quick question, what is your favourite expanded universe story in Star Wars

Is it the Dark Empire stuff or something else? You let me know in the comments section down below

7. Mark Hamill's Disturbing Backstory for Luke As already noted, Luke Skywalker got up to quite a lot in the time post-Return of the Jedi

The expanded universe saw him teeming with the biggest baddie in the galaxy

and more unbelievable things that we will get to later. In the current canon timeline, Luke set up his own Jedi Academy

trained a new generation, and watched his nephew fall to the dark side

And then you have Mark Hamill's utterly devastating version of Skywalker's pre-sequel trilogy backstory

Oh, brace yourself. As the actor had explained to Entertainment Weekly back before Episode 8, The Last Jedi released

he created a history for the character that helped him make sense of the Luke he found on the page in that Rian Johnson movie

He had a few ideas, explaining that he thought of a scenario involving Skywalker falling, in his words

in love with a woman who was a widow and had this young child. After leaving the Jedi to marry that woman and raise the kid, said child then ended up picking up a lightsaber and accidentally killed himself with it

None of that tragic history is canon, something that Hamill was quick to point out himself

but Johnson was happy for the actor to build whatever story he felt he needed to get to the dark place that Luke was in during the middle sequel

And just like that, you will never be able to watch Mark Hamill's performance as a broken Luke in that film the same way again

6. He Had a Clone As promised, here's another balmy chapter from Luke Skywalker's expanded universe life that needs to be seen to be believed

A few years on from the Battle of Endor, Luke actually ended up coming up against a clone of himself

and said clone went by the incredible name of Luke Skywalker, that is Luke with two U's

Using cells from the hand that was sliced off by Darth Vader in Episode 5, The Empire Strikes Back

Dark Jedi Jorah's Kabalth created this clone, and it would eventually cross lightsabers with the original Luke in Timothy Zahn's The Last Command novel within the Thrawn trilogy

Luke with two U's even used the Skywalker family lightsaber that Luke lost on Cloud City during their fight

You know, his fight with Vader. In the end though this copy was killed by Mara Jade who we will get to soon enough don worry during that showdown with the former Emperor Hand also killing Kabalth Gotta hope that how you say his name If it wasn clear already the expanded universe was a pretty wild place where just about anything was possible

and a pair of Luke swinging laser swords at one another is one of many fascinating Legends moments

that simply is not talked about enough when it comes to this Star Wars icon

If you're having fun learning about the amazing Luke Skywalker, then hit that subscribe button down below

and you're going to get more WhatCultureStarWars videos in your corner of the galaxy

Sounds like a good time to me. 5. What happened to his green lightsaber

Though it certainly wasn't the only lightsaber he wielded during his time in the galaxy far, far away

he famously boasted his father's blue one first, and a yellow weapon after that in the comics

his green blade is the one that often springs to mind when talking of Luke Skywalker

I mean, it's the weapon he uses when clashing with his father one last time on the second Death Star

the lightsaber he carries around with him during the decades that followed Episode 6, Return of the Jedi

and it was the one he infamously ignited when he briefly considered killing his own nephew

But even though we technically see the weapon in that aforementioned flashback in Episode 8, The Last Jedi

Luke doesn't actually wield it in the present day during that film or the sequels in general

It's only really seen in flashbacks. Despite it not being super clear in the movie itself, the movie being Episode 8, The Last Jedi

Luke did indeed take it with him when he went into exile on the world of Act-O

So, what happened to it after his demise in the middle sequel

Well, it was actually locked away in the island repository by the matron of the caretakers found on that little rock

joining Luke's star compass and his other possessions in that safe space

So, have you ever wondered why Rey didn't end up burying her old master's weapon

alongside the rest of the Skywalker laser swords on Tatooine? It's because the caretakers were taking care of it on Act-O

4. A lot of his most powerful moments happened away from the screen

While on the subject of The Last Jedi, that film displayed just how strong with the Force this Jedi Master had become in the years since the end of the original trilogy

with Luke Skywalker using it to project himself across the galaxy to help the Resistance escape Krait

But if you thought that was incredible and have only ever seen this Force wielder in action on the big and small screen

then wait until you hear what he got up to away from the movies and shows. The expanded universe, unsurprisingly, contains a ton of freakishly powerful displays from the masterful Jedi

He once manipulated an entire black hole in the New Jedi Order Darktide I Onslaught novel

absorbed blaster fire from an 80-80 in the Dark Empire series, made himself immovable by rooting himself into the ground via the Force in the Darkness III The Swarm War book

and even used Force Lightning aka Electric Judgment in the New Jedi Order The Unifying Force novel

He was just as strong in the new canon too, healing a red, bled kyber crystal in the Star Wars No. 43 comic book, for example

On-screen Luke was not to be messed with, yes, but the Skywalker found in novels and comics was often even more impressive

Number 3, he was an old general in one Star Wars draft, a girl in another, and he had a different name at one point

A lot can change during the writing process, my friends, and that was very much the case when it came to the central character

in George Lucas' first Star Wars adventure. Long before he'd become the farm boy who yearned for some adventure

and to get off the dusty rock of Tatooine, the character that would become Luke Skywalker

was actually a 60-year-old general in one early version of the story

Lucas considered making the main hero character a girl or a little person at different points too Along with going through quite the physical change the central protagonist of Star Wars also had a different name for quite some time

The change from Luke Starkiller to Luke Skywalker happened so late in the day

they had to reshoot scenes where Mark Hamill referred to himself as the former. Why did Lucas opt to change that name

Because he didn't want people confusing him with someone like Charles Manson in his words

The Manson family murdered Sharon Tate in the late 60s, And with that in mind, Lucas clearly had a change of heart and felt that the idea of a star killer being included in his film wasn't the best choice

Number two, he confronted Vader before episode five, The Empire Strikes Back in canon and legends

No one will ever forget the first time Luke Skywalker ever crossed lightsabers with his father on Cloud City

That gripping duel concluded with Darth Vader revealing to the Jedi in training that he was in fact his daddy, of course

blowing the minds of folks all over our own world. However, this wasn't actually the first time that Father and Son ignited lightsabers in front of each other

with both the new canon and expanded universe containing stories that show Luke coming face-to-face with Vader

before Episode 5, The Empire Strikes Back. The former went down in the first issue of Marvel's 2015 Star Wars comic

When Vader showed up during a rebel mission on Psymoon 1, a naive Luke decided to attack the Sith Lord

Bad move. He was soon disarmed by Vader, who recognised Skywalker's lightsaber as the one that was once his

Before he could kill Luke there and then, though, Han Solo soon crashed into the fight with an 80-80 like the good pal he was

When it comes to the expanded universe first showdown between the two, that technically occurred in Alan Dean Foster's 1978 book Splinter of the Mind's Eye

a novel originally designed to be a potential low-budget follow-up to the first Star Wars if that movie flopped

Imagine. Min Barn was the location of the Vader Skywalker fight here

with Leia and Luke clashing with this Darth on the world after they had been trying to find the Kyberg Crystal

It was spelled a bit differently back then. Luke used that object and a little help from a Force Spirit Obi-Wan Kenobi

to defeat Vader too, even slicing off one of the cyborg's arms

In other words, Legends Luke did a little better than the new canon Luke in their pre-Empire encounter

Number one, he's had a few love interests. Now, attachments may be forbidden for Jedi, but you may be surprised to learn that this did not stop Luke Skywalker from forming a number of them, both in the expanded universe and new canon

Easily, his most notable romance involved the Force-sensitive Mara Jade, who was mentioned earlier

After arriving in Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy, the former Emperor's Hand went from being intent on killing the Jedi to working with him and eventually falling in love with him

Yeah, it happens. The pair would eventually marry too, before bringing a son into the world by the name of Ben Skywalker

How sweet. Jade wasn't Luke's only flame, though. Legend's tales showed Luke having feelings for a number of other characters

not called Mara over the years. Like Mary, who was tragically killed by the Empire

in the 89th issue of the Legends Star Wars comic series, and Jem Ysana, who was tragically killed by a member of the Dark Side Elite

in the Dark Empire series. And the Disney timeline also added a name to his love list, you know

Rebel Nakara Kalin was someone that Luke clearly had feelings for, you know, before she was

also killed in the Heir to the Jedi book. Oh, the poor lad didn't have much luck, did he

Yeah, and the less said about all that weird Leia stuff, the better too. Let's just not go there