10 Things You Didn't Know About Luke Skywalker & His Jedi Order

Luke Skywalker is one of the most iconic characters in Star Wars, but there are several fun facts about him and his Jedi Order you may not know. While Star Wars is known for its sense of adventure and incredible special effects, Luke's story held the Star Wars original trilogy together, paving the way for the franchise's success. His growth into a Jedi Knight has become the most well-known example of the Hero's Journey in modern fiction.

However, Luke went on many more adventures between the Star Wars movies, and real-world behind-the-scenes events shaped certain aspects of the story. The Star Wars sequel trilogy also skipped over Luke creating a new Jedi Order, a period that has been explored in books and comics. This has led to several bits of information about Luke and his Jedi Order that not all fans may be aware of.

10 Luke Skywalker Gave Supreme Leader Snoke His Scars

Possibly in a lightsaber duel

There was a lot of mystery surrounding Supreme Leader Snoke in the sequels, including the scar that appeared to be from a lightsaber cut. Unfortunately, Snoke was killed off before anything was revealed about his backstory, though Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker confirmed he was created by Palpatine. Thankfully, a partial answer was given in the four-issue limited comic series Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren by Charles Soule and Will Sliney.

Set shortly after the destruction of Luke's Jedi Temple, Ben Solo meets with Snoke and is shocked by what Luke did to his face, though Snoke doesn't elaborate on what happened. This aligns with Snoke actor Andy Serkis' comments about Snoke's deformities being the result of old injuries. It's currently unclear when Luke did this to Snoke and why, but a future Star Wars story is likely to show what happened between them.

9 Luke Never Fully Repaired His Cyborg Hand After Return Of The Jedi

The blaster burn can still be seen on the hand

Despite receiving a cybernetic hand with synthetic flesh in The Empire Strikes Back, the metal of Luke's hand is exposed in the sequels. This is likely because the hand was shot during the battle on Jabba's sail barge in Return of the Jedi, either leading to more damage or making Luke decide to remove the fake skin altogether. Curiously, Luke doesn't seem to have had his hand fully repaired either, which can be seen in closeup shots.

There are a few possible explanations for why Luke chose not to have the hand fixed. Having the metal exposed, as well as the damage from the blaster shot, would serve as a reminder of his failure. Seeing his father's cybernetic hand snapped him out of his anger on the second Death Star, so maybe Luke wanted to have a similar effect by leaving the hand as is from that point on.

8 Luke Once Used A Yellow Lightsaber

Between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi

Luke is well known for wielding his father's blue lightsaber before building a green one, but he also wielded a yellow lightsaber for a time. After losing his blue lightsaber on Cloud City, Luke has a vision of another Jedi who he believed was meant to train him. This led him to an ancient Jedi Temple guarded by the spirit of the Grand Inquisitor, and Luke managed to escape with an antique yellow blade.

Luke went on to wield the yellow lightsaber for many months, and wielding a new blade gave hope to the other rebels in the darkest hour. The blade was eventually destroyed in a battle with Killdroids, leaving Luke without a lightsaber for a time. He eventually found a new kyber crystal and used it to construct the green lightsaber he would wield going forward.

7 How Luke Found Ahch-To, Site Of The First Jedi Temple

Star Wars: Battlefront II (2017) story campaign

The whole plot of Star Wars: The Force Awakens revolved around the characters trying to find Luke and the first Jedi Temple, but the movies never explained how he found it. Luke was able to find Ahch-To using an ancient artifact called a Jedi star compass, which was similar to a Sith wayfinder. This compass can actually be seen among the various items in Luke's hut in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Star Wars: Battlefront II, released exactly one month before The Last Jedi hit theaters, reveals how Luke found the Jedi star compass. Following the Battle of Endor, Luke traveled to one of Emperor Palpatine's observatories on Pillio, hoping to find Jedi artifacts. He survived the planet's dangers by teaming up with an Imperial named Del Meeko, who shortly thereafter defected from the Empire to join the New Republic.

6 Luke's Last Jedi Force Power Wasn't A Jedi Technique

It was developed by another Force order

Luke's final and most impressive feat was projecting his image across the galaxy through the Force, but this was not a technique he learned from the Jedi. The Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Visual Dictionary confirms that it was developed by the Fallanassi, another religious Force order. This carries over from the Star Wars Legends timeline, which introduced the Fallanassi in the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy of books.

5 George Lucas Planned For Luke To Die In Episode IX

Unlike his earlier death in The Last Jedi

Like the official sequel trilogy, George Lucas had planned on killing off Luke in his original treatment for the sequels. The biggest difference is that Luke would have met his end in the final film, rather than dying in the second as with The Last Jedi. Luke may still have appeared as a Force Ghost, but it would likely happen closer to the end of the film, similar to Obi-Wan Kenobi in A New Hope.

Having Luke's death in Episode IX highlights another significant difference in Lucas' version of the sequel trilogy. While Luke's role in the final films was limited, he would have gotten more attention in Lucas' sequels, which would focus on Luke rebuilding the Jedi Order. Having Luke die upon completing this goal would have been a fittingly bittersweet end to the Star Wars saga as the torch is passed to the next generation.

4 Luke Met Darth Vader Face-To-Face Shortly After A New Hope

And nearly learned of his parentage much sooner

Luke and Darth Vader only met a handful of times on screen, but they had many more encounters in the books and comics. Their first canon meeting after A New Hope came in Star Wars (2015) #2, where Vader nearly revealed that Luke's lightsaber once belonged to him. However, their meeting was cut short before either Skywalker could discover that they were related.

3 Luke Took Ben Solo As His Padawan When His Nephew Was Ten Years Old

Like grandfather, like grandson

George Lucas always noted how Star Wars should rhyme like poetry, a sentiment reflected by Luke taking Ben Solo as his Padawan. Ben began training with his uncle when he was ten years old, the same age Anakin Skywalker was taken in by Qui-Gon Jinn. Sadly, it seemed that beginning at this age inevitably led to Ben following in his grandfather's footsteps as the villainous Kylo Ren.

2 Mark Hamill's Car Accident Led To The Wampa Attack

It was created to explain Hamill's injuries

Once filming had wrapped on A New Hope, Mark Hamill ended up in a terrible car accident in 1977. Hamill's face was badly injured, and he worried that his acting career may be over, so Lucas wrote in Luke being attacked by a Wampa to explain why his face looked different. Thankfully, Hamill ended up healing nicely from his injuries, though the Wampa attack stayed in to add danger and excitement to the beginning of the movie.

1 The Force Awakens' Script Set Up The Last Jedi Better Than You Think

Its description of Luke matches The Last Jedi

The Last Jedi is often criticized for going against what was set up in the previous film, but The Force Awakens's script suggests otherwise. It describes Luke with "A kindness in his eyes, but there’s something tortured, too. He doesn’t need to ask her who she is, or what she is doing here. His look says it all." The implication is that the sense of torture he was going through in The Last Jedi was already set in place.

Of course, there are always multiple ways to interpret a line of text, but it seems that this aspect of Luke's character was always intended. Luke throwing the lightsaber away and walking away without a word is in line with the text from The Force Awakens script, and it takes him a full day to finally ask who Rey is. This is the kind of detail not every Star Wars fan is likely to know about Luke Skywalker.