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Luke Skywalker

Species: Human (Cyborg)

Homeworld: Polis Massa (born), Tatooine (adopted)

Portrayed by: Mark Hamill, Aidan Barton^note (Revenge of the Sith), Lukaz Leong^note (The Rise of Skywalker), Max Lloyd-Jones^note (The Mandalorian), Graham Hamilton^note (The Book of Boba Fett), Grant Feely (Obi-Wan Kenobi)

Voiced by: Mark Hamill (Forces of Destiny, The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett), Matthew Mercer (Battlefront II)^{Foreign VAs}

Commander Luke Skywalker

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/luke_the_hero_small.png

"I am a Jedi, like my father before me."

"I'm Luke Skywalker, I'm here to rescue you!"

Luke Skywalker is a farm boy from the backwater world of Tatooine who famously destroys the Death Star and becomes the Rebel Alliance's greatest hero. Under the guidance of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, Luke learns about his family as the son of fallen Jedi Anakin Skywalker, and learns the ways of the Force, becoming a Jedi himself.

Tropes From The Original Trilogy Era

#-D

'70s Hair: Luke has a long seventies hairstyle typical of the era in which A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back were made.
The Ace: By "Return of the Jedi", Luke is definitely this. It's to be expected from the Chosen One's heir.
Ace Pilot: Luke has a Death Star to his credit.
Affectionate Nickname: Han tends to call him "kid".
Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When Palpatine tortured him near-death with Force lightning, Luke plead with his father to help. Anakin's paternal instincts kick in and he stops Palpatine to save him.
All-Loving Hero: Luke is very compassionate and caring towards others; he immediately wants to rescue Leia from the Empire upon learning she's on the Death Star with them and will drop everything to help his friends in need. He even believes that Darth Vader, the right-hand man to Emperor, can be redeemed, even though Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Vader himself has denied this. And he's proved right. He is more than willing to sacrifice himself to save the galaxy and manages to indirectly defeat the Emperor himself with The Power of Love.
Always Save the Girl: Deconstructed to an extent in The Empire Strikes Back. Against the advice of Yoda and Obi-Wan, Luke cuts his Jedi training short to rescue his friends when he sees a vision of them in danger. He ends up walking straight into Darth Vader's trap and is curb-stomped by the Sith Lord, and actually has to be rescued himself by Leia and co, who had gotten free with Lando's help.
Ambadassador: At the beginning of Return of the Jedi, where he at first tries to negotiate with Jabba to get Han Solo, Chewbacca and Leia released, warning him he'll take them back by force if Jabba doesn't comply. When Jabba refuses, Luke follows through with Plan B.
Ambiguously Absent Parent: Initially, it is unknown what happened to Luke's mother. His father Anakin is mentioned several times and supposedly died when he was a baby, leaving him to be raised by his aunt and uncle. However, no mention is made of his mother and why she couldn't care for him. This is finally subverted in Return of the Jedi, where it's revealed that Luke and Leia have the same mother and that she died when they were very young, although Luke has no memory of her and it's unclear how much Owen and Beru told him about her. The Prequel Trilogy further establishes that Padmé died shortly after giving birth to Luke and Leia.
Ancestral Weapon: His father's lightsaber. After losing it in his duel with Vader on Bespin, he builds his own and makes a point of telling this to Vader to show that he won't let his heritage define who he is.
The Apprentice: During Luke's Jedi training, he was first taught by Obi-Wan Kenobi before the former's murder by Vader and then received his final teachings by Yoda.
Archetype: Luke is a textbook hero, designed right out of the book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. So much so that his picture is featured in actual textbooks.
An Arm and a Leg: Vader takes Luke's right hand and much of the forearm in the lightsaber duel on Cloud City. He gets a cybernetic prosthesis replacement from the Rebels' medical corps, which later becomes a plot point when he faces Vader again.
Armor-Piercing Response: As he tries to persuade Darth Vader to turn away from the Dark Side, Vader insists it's "too late" for him and that both he and Luke must serve the Emperor. Luke simply says "Then my father is truly dead." Vader says nothing but is clearly shaken by this.
Artificial Limbs: Replaces the hand he lost fighting Vader with an artificial one in The Empire Strikes Back.
Audience Surrogate: In A New Hope, mostly to the young children and teenagers of the audience who related to Luke's yearning for adventure and Wish-Fulfillment and were the main readers of science-fiction, fantasy, and comic books, whereas adult audiences and slightly older teenagers related to Han Solo's cynicism and skepticism towards the same genre.
Author Avatar: Many of Luke's character traits were directly based on Star Wars creator George Lucas (Luke S. = Lucas). Both had to deal with a Fantasy-Forbidding Father (or father-figure, in Luke's case), had an admiration for racing and fast-moving vehicles, and quickly took interest in the concept of spirituality after crucial life-changing events happened to them.
Badass Adorable: A sweet-tempered and kind-hearted boy who sincerely cares about everyone in a dark and uncaring universe and is an unstoppable sentinel of justice against the forces of cruelty and darkness.
Badass in Distress: He is rescued by someone at least once in all three movies.
Badass Longcoat: Luke's "Jedi cloak" in his entrance to Jabba's palace may count.
Bash Brothers: With Han. They have a brotherly relationship and always watch each other's backs. Plus, they become Best Friends-in-Law after Han marries Leia.
The Beautiful Elite: While not as pronounced as his twin sister, who ended up becoming a Princess through adoption, Luke is technically this. He inherited Anakin's unrivaled strength in the Force and Padme's temperment, with some handsome physical features as well. Notably, Luke quickly rises through the ranks of the Rebel Alliance, becoming one of its elite members and foremost pilots, and eventually the strongest living Force user in the Galaxy by the end of Return of the Jedi. That's even without mentioning his blood ties to Naboo's Nobility due to Padmé.
Beauty Is Never Tarnished:
- Averted after his first fight with Vader. He's bruised and bloodied, with a nasty black eye and clothes that are torn to shreds. Not to mention he lost a hand.
- Also averted after the Wampa attack. He's got yet another black eye, with blood dripping from both his nose and mouth. This is partially due to Real Life Writes the Plot as Mark Hamill was seriously injured in an accident around the same time the movie was being filmed.
Be Careful What You Wish For: Two examples.
- Luke longs to leave Tatooine to become a pilot and have adventures, being frustrated that his Fantasy-Forbidding Uncle Owen wants him to stay home to help out on their farm. Luke does indeed get his wish - he decides to leave with Obi-Wan as "there's nothing left for [him]" on Tatooine after Stormtroopers brutally murder both his uncle and aunt and torch their farm.
- In an even more literal example, Luke tells Obi-Wan "I wish I'd known him" in regards to his father. Don't worry, Luke, you'll be meeting your dad soon enough.
Best Friends-in-Law: He became this with Han after he married Luke's sister Leia.
Beware the Nice Ones:
- Luke has one of the highest kill counts in the series when you factor in his single-handed destruction of the Death Star.
- In Return of the Jedi, Luke tries to fight Vader calmly and peacefully. Until Vader threatens to corrupt Leia. Luke promptly bellows, charges, beats Vader down, and lops off his hand.
Big Brother Instinct: He's only the big brother by a couple of minutes, but Luke definitely qualifies. He's all redeeming and peaceful and unflappable in the face of evil despite a million reasons not to be, but all bets are off when the Big Bad makes an impotent, hinted threat towards his sister. Suffice to say, he doesn't react well. Luke is slightly unusual among literal examples because the circumstances of his birth left him unaware that he is the older sibling.
Big Damn Heroes:
- Hitting the target that destroys the first Death Star in the nick of time definitely qualifies him for this (though this wouldn't have been possible if Han Solo hadn't been the same trope for him!)
Big "NO!":
- When Obi-Wan is killed in A New Hope.
- A classic one occurs in The Empire Strikes Back when Luke discovers that Darth Vader is his father.
- This is used in the style of a Big "NEVER!" in Return of the Jedi, in the final duel, when Vader suggests he'll turn Leia to the Dark Side.
Blue Is Heroic: He uses a blue-bladed lightsaber originally owned by his father when he starts his journey to become a Jedi and Rebel hero until he loses it at the end of The Empire Strikes Back.
Born After the End: He was born a few days after the Great Jedi Purge which wiped out the majority of the Jedi Order.
Break the Badass: When Vader reveals that he is his father, Luke has a pretty severe breakdown, though he still has the mental/emotional capacity to escape. He's come to terms with it by Return of the Jedi.
Broken Pedestal: Subverted in regards to learning that his father became Darth Vader. While not happy with the truth and undergoing a Heroic BSoD, Luke comes to terms with it over time, partly from sensing Anakin's inner conflict. Once Anakin finally overcomes the Dark Side, Luke loses all hostility towards him, reconciling as father and son.
Bromantic Foil: With Han. Luke is an idealistic farm boy and Han is a cynical mercenary.
Brother–Sister Team: With Leia, his twin sister.
The Call Knows Where You Live: Luke is obliged to become a Jedi when his home is burned down with his aunt and uncle left as charred remains outside. However, he wanted to help fight the Empire in the first place, but his uncle and aunt wouldn't allow it. So it was more their refusal than his.
The Cameo: He can be seen running home in the distance at the end of the Rebels episode "Twin Suns".
Celibate Hero: As of Return of the Jedi, thanks to the reveal that Leia was his sister.
Character Development: Over the original trilogy, he goes from a naïve Farm Boy who can be somewhat whiny and impulsive to an experienced and composed Jedi Knight who tells the Emperor to shove it and brings his father back to the good side.
Character Title: Depending on one's interpretation of the movie titles, Return of the Jedi and The Last Jedi may both refer to Luke (the latter of which was explicitly stated by Rian Johnson). A New Hope explicitly refers to him as the Mentor's New Hope and the Rebel Alliance's great hero against the Empire.
Child of Forbidden Love: He and his sister were the result of Anakin's and Padmé's union since Anakin and Padmé were in a Secret Relationship due to Republic-era Jedi being forbidden to marry.
Commanding Coolness: By The Empire Strikes Back, he's been promoted to the rank of Commander in the Rebel Alliance.
Conveniently an Orphan: Luke was orphaned twice. Luke probably wouldn't have joined Obi-Wan Kenobi in rescuing the princess if the Imperial Stormtroopers hadn't killed his uncle and aunt.
Cool Space Ship: The Incom T-65 X-wing starfighter.
Cool Sword: Luke's green lightsaber is unique within the original trilogy, signifying his development as a Jedi Knight. See also Ancestral Weapon.
Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Defied in his case. After resisting its pull for the entire movie, Luke comes dangerously close to falling to the dark side in Return of the Jedi when he flies into a rage and nearly kills Vader. He stops when he sees Vader's severed hand is prosthetic like his own and realizes he is becoming just like his nemesis.
Cyborg: He uses a prosthetic right hand to replace his organic one after Vader cleaved it off during their lightsaber duel in Cloud City.
Cynicism Catalyst: Losing his hand and finding out Vader was his father.
Curb-Stomp Battle:
- He's on the receiving end of one at Bespin in The Empire Strikes Back, Vader wipes the floor with him physically and emotionally, resulting in Luke losing his right hand. He does A LOT better than Han did, though.
- After he Took a Level in Badass, he delivers one to Vader in Return of the Jedi after he threatens his sister, driving him back and chopping off Vader's (robotic) hand.
Dark and Troubled Past: A downplayed version. Hours before his and Leia's birth, their father turned to the Dark Side and force-choked their mother. And moments after being born, their mother died. He was then separated from Leia to keep them safe from the Empire. Luke was taken to Tatooine and was happily raised by his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru.
Darker and Edgier: Luke's Character Development in Return of the Jedi. Luke's entrance sees him Force-choking two guards to get them out of his way, just to emphasize how much he has changed since his first appearance in the saga.
Dark Is Not Evil: Luke wears black throughout Return of the Jedi (as opposed to brighter colors) to represent his turmoil and struggle over a possible Face–Heel Turn. When he overcomes the Emperor's temptations and causes the destruction of the Sith, his black coat falls open to reveal it had a white lining, meaning that he was always wearing white the whole time. It's mentioned in some making-of specials that the outfit is very similar to what Luke wore in A New Hope, but the all-black color scheme makes it more "Jedi-like".
David Versus Goliath: Luke vs. Vader. Not only is Vader taller and bigger, he's also much more skilled and experienced with the Force. It's almost a Foregone Conclusion that Luke will lose the first duel.
Deadpan Snarker: Luke has his witty and sarcastic moments.
Death Faked for You: Alongside Leia, their births were kept secret after Padmé died in childbirth, also making Padmé's corpse appear as if she died before she gave birth.
Deceptive Legacy: Twofold. Luke's aunt and uncle told him that his father was a navigator on a spice freighter (it's unknown what they told him about his mother). He then learns from Obi-Wan that this is a load of baloney; he was actually a Jedi Knight and veteran of the Clone Wars, who was betrayed and murdered by Darth Vader. Though it turns out this is only Metaphorically True...from a certain point of view. Owen and Beru had to lie to protect Luke from the Empire, while Owen also feared that Luke might end up like Anakin. Obi-Wan had similar reasons for not telling Luke that Anakin and Vader are the same person (he also considered Anakin to have 'died' when he turned to the Dark Side).
Decoy Protagonist: Luke could actually be seen as this trope of the saga as a whole: he's clearly set up as the hero of the Original Trilogy, but when viewed alongside the Prequel Trilogy, it becomes clear that the series is actually about his father Anakin's rise, fall, and eventual redemption, something Word of God confirms.
Defiant Captive: Luke to Palpatine. Unfortunately for Luke, Palpatine is much better at manipulating people and shoots Luke's positions down effortlessly.
Luke: Your overconfidence is your weakness.
Palpatine: Your faith in your friends is yours.
Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: In A New Hope, Luke wants to be off Tatooine, at first by going to the Imperial Academy, especially since all of his other friends have left Tatooine. Unfortunately, Yoda uses this to give Luke his "The Reason You Suck" Speech in The Empire Strikes Back.
The Determinator: One of Luke's most consistent traits is that he doesn't yield to despair. It's also a big reason why Star Wars fans see him as an inspiration. Even losing an arm and learning that Darth Vader was his father didn't stop Luke, nor did getting mercilessly zapped by Palpatine's Force Lightning.
Did Not Get the Girl: Considering the girl (Leia) is later revealed to be his sister, this is a good thing.
Don't Think, Feel: A major part of his Jedi training.
Dork Knight: Starts off like this. Over time — maybe because of The Reveal in The Empire Strikes Back — he becomes more composed and somber.
The Dreaded:
- Though Luke is not fully trained as a Jedi, Emperor Palpatine fears that he will become this to the Sith and for good reason. Word of God states that Luke Skywalker's Force potential is the same as his father if he had not been horribly injured on Mustafar. Such fear is quickly replaced by opportunity when both Sith Lords realize the implication.
  Darth Sidious: He could destroy us.
  Darth Vader: He's just a boy. Obi-Wan could no longer help him.
  Darth Sidious: The Force is strong with him. The son of Skywalker must not become a Jedi.
  Darth Vader: If he could be turned, he would become a powerful ally.
  Darth Sidious: ...Yes. He would be a great... asset. Can it be done?
  Darth Vader: He will join us or die, Master.
- In The Mandalorian second season finale, as soon as Moff Gideon sees Luke on his light cruiser security feed mowing down his Dark Troopers, his attitude quickly shifts from smug to terrified to the point where he considers shooting himself before Luke arrives on the Bridge.
The Dulcinea Effect: For Leia, especially in A New Hope. Though the fact that he's Force-sensitive may mean that he subconsciously sensed his relationship with her.
Dumb Blonde: Averted like his father Anakin. Even at age 19, Luke proved a skilled pilot and gunman, as well as quickly learning the basics of lightsaber combat.

E-K

Easy Evangelism: Luke accepts everything Obi-Wan tells him about his father, the Jedi, and the Force without question, even though he barely knows Obi-Wan except as his neighbor the crazy hermit. He doesn't see a Jedi Mind Trick or lightsaber in action until hours later. Luke doesn't express any doubt about the Force until Yoda pushes him during his training, and he learns too late that he should have doubted Obi-Wan's perspective on Anakin.
Emerald Power: He Took a Level in Badass between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and during that time, he constructs a new lightsaber for himself with a green blade.
Et Tu, Brute?: His reaction when he learns that Darth Vader is his father and had fallen to The Dark Side.
Excellent Judge of Character: He correctly deduces Palpatine is a Smug Snake because of his overconfidence in attempting to defeat the Rebellion on Endor and trying to turn him to the Dark Side. Considering the Emperor got too high on his personal successes, such as forming the Empire after manipulating various people, including politicians like his biological mother and the Jedi, it's saying something and true to form, he died that day.
Face Death with Dignity: Throughout the last stage of the Battle of Endor, Luke goes out of the way to say that he'll die along with everyone else on the Death Star II, and has calmly accepted the fact. He ends up dropping the "dignity" part of this when he refuses to kill his father and is subsequently tortured by the Emperor, as he begs for Darth Vader to save his life. It works, and it allows Anakin to Face Death with Dignity. In the end, Luke lives after all.
Failure Hero: In The Empire Strikes Back. Absolutely nothing goes his way throughout the film. He gets mauled by a wampa and narrowly escapes, gets shot down during the Battle of Hoth (though he does at least take down a Humongous Mecha afterward), disappoints Yoda during his Jedi training with his negative attitude and defeatism, gets pummeled in a duel with Darth Vader and loses his hand, and his attempt to save his friends at Cloud City ironically ends with them having to save him.
Farm Boy: Luke was raised as a "moisture farmer" by his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru before answering the Call to Adventure.
Fatal Flaw:
- His tendency to worry about the future rather than the present. As Yoda points out, Luke spent much of his life on Tatooine wishing he were somewhere else and thus struggles with impatience and impulsiveness. This severely bites him in the ass on a few occasions; in The Empire Strikes Back, he puts his training on hold to run off and save his friends after having a vision of them in trouble, leading him straight into Darth Vader’s trap. In Return of the Jedi, Vader merely mentioning trying to turn Leia to the dark side sends him into an Unstoppable Rage, bringing him dangerously close to the dark side. Thankfully, Luke's experience and Jedi training ultimately tempered said rage.
The Fettered: Despite other characters doubting or even mocking him for it, Luke's hope, compassion, and refusal to compromise his values and beliefs prove to be some of his greatest strengths. The Emperor in particular was ultimately unable to corrupt Luke because of this and it also inspires a Heel–Face Turn in Anakin.
Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Downplayed with Leia. Luke isn't recklessly stupid but is comparatively more rash than his more world-weary sister, Leia. He slowly grows out of this as he matures.
Generation Xerox: To Anakin, his father. A kind young boy whisked away from Tatooine by a Jedi Master. He befriends several people and ultimately saves the day, by blowing up the enemy space station with a starfighter. He later receives training in the Force against Yoda's protests, leading him to overconfidently attack Palpatine's Dragon, losing an appendage for it. Now, are we talking about Luke or Anakin? Interestingly, both Luke and his father lost their loved ones to violence at the age of nineteen, with different effects to them. Although Luke was saddened to lose his aunt and uncle, their deaths started his journey as a hero. In contrast, the death of Anakin's mother strongly contributed to Darth Vader's creation.
Genius Bruiser: Luke is very intelligent and can use the Force to amplify his strength. A great example is the rescue of Princess Leia from the Death Star in A New Hope, where Luke CARRIES the entire group in one scene. By "Return of the Jedi", he can even outmuscle Darth Vader's cybernetic enhancements.
The Gentleman or the Scoundrel: Until they were revealed to be twins, Luke was set up as a possible Love Interest for Leia along with Han. Luke is the Gentleman, he being a courageous Nice Guy who always strives to do the right thing, while Leia calls Lovable Rogue and smuggler Han a Scoundrel. By Return of the Jedi, it's made pretty clear she prefers Han, although he had also Took a Level in Kindness and Idealism to become a Jerk with a Heart of Gold. It's just as well, considering in the same film Leia learns Luke is her brother.
The Gift: Luke's connection to the Force is equal to his father. Without proper training and only a few tips from Obi-Wan, he was able to let the force guide his hand when blowing up the Death Star. Later, he was able to (with effort) force pull his lightsaber from ice while trapped in a cave on Hoth. By his mid twenties, Luke's Force abilities far exceed a typical Jedi Master.
Good Counterpart: To Darth Vader.
Good Is Not Soft: Especially in Return of the Jedi. For a film that showed the heroes as more Incorruptible Pure Pureness, some viewers were surprised to see Luke using powers generally associated with the Sith like the Force-choke. In this instance, it was used to demonstrate he was sliding towards The Dark Side.
Grew a Spine: When he leaves Yoda's training to rescue Han and Leia on Bespin.
Guile Hero: Shown in his multi-layered plan to rescue Han during the beginning of Return of the Jedi.
Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: He's blond and a very Nice Guy.
Handicapped Badass: Played with in A New Hope when he trains with a blindfold and then refuses to use his targeting computer when shooting the Death Star. Played straight in Return of the Jedi after he's lost his hand and gained a cybernetic one in The Empire Strikes Back.
Happily Adopted: While Luke's relationship with his Uncle Owen may have been strained at times, he still had a happy and normal childhood with him and Aunt Beru.
Hates Their Parent: Luke is horrified when he learns that his father is in fact the murderous and ruthless Darth Vader, declaring that it wasn't possible. While he does rethink things over time, Luke also nearly kills Vader in their final duel, caused by fear and burning hatred. In the end though, Luke and Anakin fully reconcile.
The Heart: Luke is the centerpiece that holds everyone together in the Original Trilogy.
Heroes Prefer Swords: Luke receives a sword when he is about to leave his life on Tatooine to become a hero. However, he actually never uses it in combat in A New Hope, using a blaster instead. Until the second half of the movie, he still favours a blaster in The Empire Strikes Back, but by Return of the Jedi, he primarily uses a lightsaber as his weapon.
Heroic BSoD:
- After Luke escapes from Vader and is rescued by Lando and the others in the Falcon, Luke has a major one. In the Falcon's cockpit as the heroes try to escape from Bespin, he's clearly filled with despair, whispering, "Ben, why didn't you tell me?" It doesn't help that he's just lost his hand, and Vader was using the Force to more or less "torture" Luke with the previous reveal of Vader being Luke's father.
- In the canonical comic book, he goes into one after just barely surviving his first duel against Vader. He comes to think of himself as a liability to the Rebellion, and temporarily abandons his friends in order to find a way to continue his Jedi training so that he'll be more useful in the future.
Heroic Lineage: Luke's father, Anakin, was a Jedi before him. Luke later followed in his father's footsteps and became a Jedi himself. His mother was also seen as a hero on her homeworld of Naboo and a champion of peace and democracy in the old Republic.
Heroic Willpower: You would need this to be in Luke's shoes, especially in "The Empire Strikes Back". In "Return of the Jedi", this not only allowed Luke to overcome Palpatine's mastery of the Dark Side, but it also inspired Anakin to do the same.
Hidden Backup Prince: Alongside Leia. Unlike Leia, he was not raised by royalty.
Historical Villain Upgrade: In the eyes of Imperial sympathizers in the New Republic and the First Order itself, he’s seen as the man who turned Darth Vader from the Empire’s Number 1 guy into the one who murdered Palpatine in cold blood, while helping the Rebel Alliance found the illegitimate and illegal New Republic and trying to revive the Jedi, a group of people Palpatine himself worked so hard to destroy.
Honor Before Reason: Luke's unconditional love and faith towards his father Darth Vader was seen as naive by Yoda and Obi-Wan. Not that you can really blame them for feeling this way.
- In fairness, at least part of this stems from a strong spiritual connection between one another, something shown best in "Return of the Jedi".
Hope Bringer:
- Both he and Leia's birth at the end of Revenge of the Sith represent the new hope in the shambles of the Republic that the new Empire was built upon for Yoda, Obi-Wan, and the small militant senators, like Bail Organa, who would form the Rebel Alliance.
- While the title of A New Hope can also represent the Rebellion as a means of bringing the Empire's tyranny to an end, and even to Leia to a lesser extent, it most obviously applies to Luke himself. Luke ends up embodying Anakin's subconscious desire to be redeemed, and he himself expresses strong hopes of turning Anakin back to the light side, which he ultimately accomplishes. Coincidentally, his new lightsaber in Return of the Jedi emits a green blade, this being the first green-bladed lightsaber ever seen before the production of the Prequel Trilogy and its spinoffs (although actually the green color used for this new lightsaber was chosen in real life for different reasons, and not specifically to represent this theme of hope).
Humble Hero: In The Weapon of a Jedi, he dislikes the special treatment he receives due to destroying the first Death Star. Within the films, he also never brags about his accomplishments.
I Just Want to Be Special: A New Hope begins with Luke saying that he wants to leave home so that he can apply to the Imperial Academy and become a pilot. He never becomes an Imperial cadet, but he does become both a Jedi and an Ace Pilot.
"I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: His last fight with Vader in Return Of The Jedi. Vader initially disagreed with Luke and actually took him to the Emperor, but in the end, it worked.
Iconic Outfit: Luke has a few:
- His initial kimono-esque tunic and boots in A New Hope.
- Luke's grey-green jacket and pants that he wore on Dagobah and Cloud City in The Empire Strikes Back (and The Muppet Show).
- Luke's all-black Jedi Knight shirt and pants, and brown cloak in Return of the Jedi.
Icy Blue Eyes: Most prominently in Return of the Jedi when he is dealing with Jabba the Hutt, giving a piercing, unflinching stare as he bargains for Han's life and warns him not to underestimate his power.
Ideal Hero: Easily one of the biggest in film history. Luke even serves as an intentional contrast to Han Solo and his father. Consider that upon discovering his father is a Sith Lord and one of the galaxy's most ruthless dictators, he ultimately decides — against the advice of everyone — that his dad can be saved from the Dark Side. He turns out to be right.
The Idealist: Has an idealistic view of the galaxy, and of his father.
If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: In Return of the Jedi, Luke refuses to kill Vader, partly because he realizes that doing so would lead to the Dark Side.
In a Single Bound: In The Empire Strikes Back, as Luke's Jedi training progresses, he learns to use new powers like the Force jump, which comes in handy during his fight with Vader.
Incest Subtext: With Leia in A New Hope. At the time that the movie released, their status as siblings was not established. Luke's crush on Leia in the movie is pretty blatant and Han even has fun teasing Luke with it.
Incompletely Trained: His Jedi training is by necessity rushed and kind of spotty, since his first mentor dies, and he doesn't meet his second until three years later. To a great extent, he's self-taught.
Incorruptible Pure Pureness: The closest he comes to The Dark Side is when Vader (who happens to be his father) threatens to go after Leia, sending Luke into a brief bout of Unstoppable Rage, but even that doesn't do it; in fact, Luke ends up saving Vader from his own evil and restore him back into Anakin Skywalker.
Informed Attribute: Luke is often referred to as short, most famously of course, by Leia while in Stormtrooper gear. His official height however, is somewhere between 5'7 (170cm) to 5'8 (173cm), which while not tall isn't noticeably short. This probably isn't helped by the fact that most other men he interacts with are about 6 foot or more though.
Innocent Blue Eyes: Luke has his father's blue eyes and is an All-Loving Hero Nice Guy.
Instant Expert: While he presumably did some training on his own in the three years between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, his Jedi skills improve dramatically after only a short time under Yoda's instruction. (Granted, Yoda is an excellent teacher and he has a lot of raw potential to begin with.) Notably, his lightsaber skills improve to the point where he can duel a non-serious Vader and hold his own for a while, at least until Vader finally stops holding back and disarms Luke (in both senses of the word).
In the Hood: This is how he makes his entrance to Jabba's palace in Return of the Jedi. He does the same in The Mandalorian, battling the Dark Troopers this way. Also in The Force Awakens, when Rey meets him at his hiding place.
It's Personal: Luke was never a big fan of the Empire, but after his aunt and uncle are murdered by stormtroopers, he resolves to join Obi-Wan and help the Rebellion.
It's Personal with the Dragon: All his issues are focused on Vader. Palpatine is practically an afterthought for him.
Jumped at the Call: He wanted to get off Tatooine as soon as he could, even if it wasn't the way he expected.
Kill the Ones You Love: One of the most famous defiances of this trope in film. Obi-Wan and Yoda are both convinced he will have no choice but to kill Darth Vader, but Luke believes the latter can be redeemed. During his second duel with Vader, Luke initially refuses to fight back...until Vader threatens his sister. After defeating him, however, Luke ultimately refuses to kill Vader. It pays off, as Vader ultimately becomes Anakin once more, saving Luke's life and fulfilling his destiny as The Chosen One.
The Kirk: Luke becomes this in Return of the Jedi, having gained better control over his emotions. For example, Obi-Wan tells him that he has to kill his father in order to bring peace, but Luke argues against it, logically pointing out Vader's act of mercy in their first duel. His leadership skills have also improved over the last two movies.
Kung-Fu Jesus: Since he's a Messianic Archetype who's also a Jedi.

L-R

Laser Sword: Uses his father's blue lightsaber, until he loses it against said father. He uses a yellow one (which is a damaged lightsaber pike) he found for a time before he makes himself a green one afterwards, which is based on his master Obi-Wan's.
Last of His Kind: He is said to be the last Jedi Knight to be alive (after Yoda's death) and serves as the foundation for a new Jedi Order.
Yoda: Luke, when gone am I... the last of the Jedi will you be. Pass on what you have learned.
The Leader: Luke is a combo of Type II and Type IV. Although the role of leader can vary between him and Leia depending on the situation.
Leeroy Jenkins: In The Empire Strikes Back, and to a lesser extent in A New Hope.
Leitmotif: Luke has two: the first one is the all-time famous Force Theme.
Light Is Good: In the first two films, he often wears white or otherwise light-colored clothing.
Like Parent, Like Child: In abilities, thirst for adventure, struggles, career choice, and attitude as a fully-trained Jedi, Luke resembles his father. But in temperament, Luke arguably becomes more like Padmé — Both of them are humble all loving heroes that have almost identical lines at times (usually about Anakin/Vader).
Limb-Sensation Fascination: Luke gets a new hand at the end of The Empire Strikes Back. After being pricked with a needle to check pain sensation, he flexes his fingers a bit and clenches a fist while examining his bionic hand.
Lineage Comes from the Father: Played straight with the ever-present concern that Luke would end up like his father before him. But looking at the Prequel Trilogy, it can be argued that in terms of outlook and temperment, he's more like his mother, Padmé. Both continued to believe in the goodness of Anakin/Vader, and though they can certainly get dangerous and reckless when there's a call for that, the two try diplomacy first. By Return of the Jedi, he's become passive and reactionary instead of proactive. How much of this can be attributed to genetics versus his upbringing is debatable, but he's more like his mother than he initially seems.
Little "No": Luke says this before it turns into a Big "NO!" after Vader reveals that he is his father.
Living Legend: The guy blew up the Death Star on his first official day of joining the Rebellion. Top that.
The Load: In The Empire Strikes Back, although it actually makes him more likable. Over the course of the film, Luke is actually the cause of the invasion of Hoth (Vader sensed him and immediately determined it was a Rebel stronghold); the ambush on Cloud City and subsequent torture of Han; and the crew of the Millennium Falcon had to go back to rescue Luke. Han also had to risk his own life to rescue Luke from a blizzard on Hoth after Luke went to investigate the Imperial Probe Droid (and was nearly eaten by a wampa for his trouble).
Long Lost Sibling: To Leia. Luke is her twin brother.
Luke Nounverber: The Trope Codifier and trope name inspiration. His surname is apparently a reference to piloting skill, which he appropriately displays, along with his father Anakin Skywalker. Luke's last name was originally going to be Starkiller.
Luke, You Are My Father: In Return of the Jedi, Leia on some level had apparently always known that she and Luke were siblings. Luke telling her validated that lingering notion.
Mad Dictator's Handsome Son: Especially if counting Anakin's disfigurement as Darth Vader.
Mage Born of Muggles: Downplayed. Luke (and Leia) have a Force-sensitive father which is where he gets his powerful Force-like abilities from, but he remained unaware of this until age 19. And Luke was raised by his paternal step-uncle and step-aunt, who were both not Force-sensitive.
Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Downplayed, since Luke does share a number of his father's masculine traits. However, compared to Leia's aggressive, Hot-Blooded Masculine Girl, he can be seen as the gentle, All-Loving Hero Boy.
A Master Makes Their Own Tools: Vader deems him a fully trained Jedi when he sees that Luke has built his own lightsaber to replace the one he lost, which is indeed a rite of passage for Jedi (each is expected to make their own weapon as part of their training).
Master Swordsman: He is definitely one in Return of the Jedi and afterwards. Since Word of God states that he possesses the same potential as his father, Luke can even grow stronger than Master Yoda and Emperor Palpatine combined.
The McCoy: Luke starts off as more the naïve farm boy (The McCoy) and Han the more sensible, pragmatic one (The Kirk, since he says Kirk-like things such as "Never Tell Me the Odds!") but there isn't really a The Spock-equivalent. Obi-Wan is less cynical than Han, and Leia puts her duties to the Rebel Alliance on hold just to save Han in Return of the Jedi.
Meaningful Name: Lampshaded in the novelization of A New Hope: With a name like Skywalker, it was inevitable that he would be a skilled pilot. His first name is also a variation of Lucas, meaning "light" in Latin.
Meaningful Rename: A downplayed and justified example. Given the status of his parents' marriage, his full name was "Luke Amidala-Skywalker". However, to protect him (and Leia) from the Emperor, Luke was sent to Tatooine with his step-uncle and step-aunt, with the "Amidala" part of his name being removed to better hide him.
Mentor's New Hope: In A New Hope, Luke is being taught by Obi-Wan, who also taught Darth Vader before Vader went to The Dark Side.
Messianic Archetype: Although his father is The Chosen One, Luke's character has the closest resemblance to Christ. He gains a group of devoted individuals ( Han, Leia, Chewie, C-3P0, and R2-D2), gallivants about spreading good, and ends up performing miracles like blowing up the Death Star. At the end of the sixth movie, he refuses the temptation of the Dark Side, then is zapped by the Emperor's lightning (his "death" scene). This act of selflessness would restore faith and bring forth a new golden age for his people.
Military Mage: Commander Skywalker's nascent Force reflexes make him a natural Ace Pilot and are directly responsible for the destruction of the first Death Star in the Battle of Yavin. The power of having a Force-user on the field is demonstrated again in the Battle of Hoth, where he is able to take down a powerful AT-AT walker on foot using only a lightsaber and a thermal detonator.
Mirror Character: His father, Anakin. Both grew up on the same desolate desert planet before being taken away to train as Jedi Knights under Obi-Wan Kenobi. Both are tempted by the Dark Side to protect their loved ones, but Luke's horror at the realization he is becoming like this father, down to their mechanical right hands, narrowly saves him from falling as Anakin did. Luke's faith in his father manages to save Anakin as well.
Morality Pet:
- Invoked. After the revelation that Darth Vader is his father, Luke becomes this for the Sith Lord. Ultimately, Darth Vader's love for Luke allows him to overcome the Dark Side and become Anakin Skywalker again, fulfilling his destiny as TheChosenOne.
- He's also this to Han, as Han not only goes back to help him during the Battle of Yavin, but Han temporarily puts off his departure from Hoth to search for Luke in a blizzard. And years later, it's Luke's safety that motivates Han to step back into action when the First Order is searching for him.
Mr. Fanservice: He’s quite attractive, and as the training scenes on Dagobah show, he has toned, muscular arms.
The Musketeer: It's not as obvious as other examples of this trope but Luke carries his blaster and lightsaber into battle together (mostly evident in the climax of The Empire Strikes Back where he goes from shooting Stormtroopers to dueling with Vader). It's the only movie in which he does this as well as the only time in the original trilogy we see someone doing it. Obi-Wan would briefly wield a blaster to kill General Grievous, while both Finn and Rey use both blasters and lightsabers in The Force Awakens.
My God, What Have I Done?: Luke just happens to wound Vader in the same way Vader wounded him, thus making Luke realize what he had almost become. The Emperor really wasn't helping his own cause, either.
Nephewism: Luke was raised by his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru Lars before they were killed by the Empire. When Darth Vader is your father, maybe it's for the better.
Never Accepted in His Hometown: In a deleted scene in A New Hope, he's just "Wormie", the social outcast whose only friend is Biggs. To the rest of the galaxy, he's the legendary Jedi who brought down Palpatine and his enforcer Vader (which is technically true).
Nice Guy: Easily one of the nicest in the Star Wars saga. It allows him to have faith in Anakin Skywalker, even when Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi have long since given up hope on "Darth Vader".
Nice Mean And In Between: The "nice" to Han's "mean" and Leia's "in-between".
Noble Male, Roguish Male: The Noble to Han's Roguish.
Not So Stoic: He spends most of Return of the Jedi with a better grasp over his emotions than in The Empire Strikes Back but when Vader threatens to turn Leia to the Dark Side, he loses it and gives Vader a rage-fueled beatdown which would have killed Vader had Luke not come to his senses.
One-Man Army: An incredibly powerful soldier and Jedi. If one Imperial account is to be trusted, Luke once brought down an airborne Star Destroyer by jumping from the surface of Jakku and slashing it with the Force. He cuts down Jabba’s numerous goons like butter in Return Of The Jedi without breaking a sweat.
The Only One:
- Luke is the Last Starfighter at the end of A New Hope, with all his fellow pilots killed or too damaged to keep fighting, in a race against time to destroy the Death Star before Vader kills him — until Han shows up.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Throughout most of Return of the Jedi, Luke is adamant that there's still good in his father and refuses to kill him. However, when Darth Vader finds out that Leia is Luke's twin sister, he subtly threatens to corrupt his sister to the Dark Side. Cue Luke going into big brother mode and viciously attacking his father.
Orphan's Ordeal: In both A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. This is a dual orphan plot in that Luke is raised by "relatives", and tries to avenge the man who "killed his father" as well as seek his own identity. He wishes he wasn't an orphan but after he finds out that Big Bad is his father in the Luke, I Am Your Father scene then he wishes he WERE an orphan.
Parental Abandonment: Luke persistently loses parental figures throughout A New Hope: his actual parents are already dead (to his knowledge), his aunt and uncle are killed by Stormtroopers, Obi-Wan dies on the Death Star, and Han packs up and leaves before the final battle. Han does return, though.
People Jars: His healing in The Empire Strikes Back.
Pinball Protagonist: In the finale of Return of the Jedi. While the movie did have a great deal of Character Development for him, and he is responsible for saving his friends from Jabba and the Works, he contributes little to the Rebellion's last ditch-effort to destroy the second Death Star and the Emperor onboard. To be fair, his presence did keep Darth Vader and Palpatine from joining said battle, which itself is a major contribution.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Luke is only 5'8", yet becomes the most powerful living person in the galaxy and a walking weapon of mass destruction.
Plug 'n' Play Prosthetics: In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke unexpectedly loses a hand and quickly gets it replaced with a robotic prosthetic that has all the functionality of the original limb.
Polar Opposite Twins: With Leia, especially at the start of "A New Hope". Luke is blond, blue-eyed, mild-mannered, naïve, mystical, and enthusiastic Jedi trainee. Leia is a brunette, brown-eyed, quick-tempered, sharp-tongued, world-wise, shrewd, and a practical politician.
Pretty Boy: Not as much as his father, Anakin, but Luke has slender features that contribute to his good looks.
Protectorate: For Obi-Wan. After his mother's death and father's fall to the dark side, Obi-Wan delivers Luke to his aunt and uncle and then watches over him for nearly two decades. Threatening Luke in any way is one of the few things that will prompt Obi-Wan to draw his lightsaber after all this time and he later willingly sacrifices himself to help him escape. Even death doesn't stop him from popping up to help Luke out on occasion, though he cannot directly intervene.
Psychic Link:
- Has a strong one with Darth Vader after he finds out he's his father in The Empire Strikes Back. He can hear Vader calling to him; in Return of the Jedi, he can sense Vader's presence on the Star Destroyer and on Endor, and was able to sense Vader's inner conflict. Likewise, Vader was able to read Luke's mind at one point, to the extent of figuring out Leia's presence.
- Luke has a connection to his twin sister Leia, beginning in The Empire Strikes Back; after narrowly escaping Vader's clutches, he instinctively reaches out to her using the Force, enabling Leia to find and rescue him.
Psychic Powers: Luke has significantly improved them by the start of Return of the Jedi.
Rage Against the Mentor: In Return of the Jedi, Luke firmly calls Obi-Wan out for lying that Vader killed his father, but Obi-Wan calmly rationalizes that what he told Luke was Metaphorically True.
Rage Breaking Point: Luke had already been through enough by the time the climactic battle in Return of the Jedi rolls around. But he knew that getting furious now would lead to The Dark Side. Vader and the Emperor taunt him, but he stays calm. However, once Vader threatens to do something terrible to the last family he has, Luke lets out a Big "NEVER!" and wails on him, coming very close to committing patricide.
Rank Up:
- He's one of two surviving members of Red Squadron at the Battle of Yavin. Between films, he's promoted to Commander and becomes the leader of Rogue Squadron.
- He also 'officially' becomes a full Jedi Knight at the end of the trilogy, after he helps redeem Anakin and take down the Emperor.
Reckless Gun Usage: Watch very closely as Luke Skywalker first ignites his lightsaber in A New Hope — he doesn't know how long the beam is and yet is pointing it at Obi-Wan.
Refusal of the Call: In A New Hope, Luke expresses a wish to get off Tatooine but refuses the call due to his current situation ("Alderaan? I'm not going to Alderaan. I've got to go home. It's late, I'm in for it as it is!"). He's later forced into it when his uncle and aunt are killed, because "There's nothing here for me now."
Luke: I can't get involved, I've got work to do! It's not that I like the Empire, I hate them, but there's nothing I can do about it right now!
Obi-Wan: That's your uncle talking.
Reluctant Warrior: By Return of the Jedi, Luke becomes this, resorting to diplomacy and reasoning with both Jabba the Hutt and Darth Vader before resorting to violence, and while fighting Vader, he takes steps to try and end the fight without violence.
Retroactive Idiot Ball: Luke is completely defenseless against Palpatine's Force lightning in Return of the Jedi. The prequel trilogy established that lightsabers can block Force lightning, and Yoda was aware of Force lightning as one of Palpatine's abilities due to their duel. If Yoda had told Luke this vital information, Luke probably wouldn't have thrown his lightsaber on the floor, which left him defenseless against the Emperor's lightning, and if Yoda did tell Luke, then Luke should've known that tossing away the biggest defense he had against the Sith Lord's lightning was a reckless idea.
- Legends explains that Luke did somewhat deflect Palpatine's Force lightning, but that it eventually became too powerful for his skillset to overcome.
Rookie Red Ranger: Luke doesn't join the Rebellion until the final battle in A New Hope. Bonus points for having the call sign "Red Five."

S-Y

Self-Made Man: To a degree. While he did have some formal training with Obi-Wan and Yoda, as well as the guidance of their spirits, he did pretty much all the other training needed to become a Jedi Knight by himself.
Separated at Birth: Luke was separated from his twin sister Leia at birth in order to be protected from Emperor Palpatine.
Sibling Yin-Yang: With Leia. While Luke is more calm, cool, and collected, Leia is more passionate, stubborn, and hot-headed. See Polar Opposite Twins.
Sneaky Departure: After the Battle Of Hoth, Luke forsakes going to the rendezvous point in order to look for Yoda on Dagobah.
Spin-Offspring: Zigzagged. The audience already knows that Luke (with Leia) would become a major protagonist in the Original Trilogy after his parents, Fallen Hero Anakin Skywalker and All-Loving Hero Padmé Amidala, but Revenge of the Sith chronicles how it happened.
The Stoic: In Return of the Jedi, he acts this way in front of his enemies. A major Not So Stoic moment happens when Jabba, Palpatine, and Darth Vader each try to threaten his loved ones.
Supporting Protagonist: Luke is this to the series as a whole when the Prequel Trilogy is taken into account. Although he is The Hero of the Original Trilogy, Luke's main role was to lead his father Anakin down the path of redemption as The Chosen One.
Suicidal Overconfidence: Facing Vader in Empire, despite only being an initiate at best. Ignoring the fact that he had barely had time to train, Vader is a nigh-unstoppable mass murderer capable of killing Jedi masters with decades of more experience without even putting in effort. Safe to say, if Luke wasn't Vader's son, the duel would've ended before it had even began, and the Rebellion screwed.
Strong and Skilled:
- Luke has improved a lot by "Return of the Jedi", using the Jedi Mind Trick and Force Choke. More impressively, Luke held his own against Vader, ultimately defeating him once pushed. Granted, Vader has been in emotional turmoil up to this point, is a Dark Lord on Life Support, was greatly holding back, and he pushed Luke's buttons about his sister joining the Empire.
Sword and Gun: He uses both his blaster and lightsaber in The Empire Strikes Back before only using his lightsaber in Return Of The Jedi, except for the time he tries to pull a blaster on Jabba.
Sword over Head: In Return of the Jedi's climax, Luke defeats Darth Vader and is about to kill him until he is encouraged by Palpatine and realizes what he is becoming. This convinces Luke to toss his lightsaber aside and show mercy, which ultimately causes Vader to return to the Light Side of the Force.
Sympathy for the Devil: Towards Vader in Return of the Jedi; he can tell that Vader is utterly miserable with the way his life turned out and is little more than a glorified slave to the Emperor, urging him to let go of his hate and return to the Light Side.
Take a Third Option: In Return of the Jedi, Luke has the option of joining either the Emperor or Vader and killing the third wheel — either of which will mean a fall to the Dark Side and the extinction of the Rebellion. What does he do? He chooses to Face Death with Dignity, which ultimately encourages his father to overcome the Dark Side and stop the Emperor.
Tell Me About My Father:
- He asks Obi-Wan about his father, Anakin. Obi-Wan tells him... some of the truth but famously leaves out some key details.
- Later, Luke asks Leia about their mother, but Leia only remembers a few very vague warm feelings from her Force-sensitivity. The Prequel Trilogy reveals she actually gets a brief look at her mother before she dies while Luke does not.
Theme Twin Naming: With Leia. Their names only have four letters and start with "L".
Token Super: Luke becomes this for the Millennium Falcon crew and the Rebel Alliance in general, as after Obi-Wan was killed, Luke was the only active Force user working for the Rebel Alliance.
Too Dumb to Live: Facing Vader on Bespin after only a short while of training with Yoda. Had he been anybody other than Vader's son, which he didn't know at the time, he would've been slaughtered in seconds, and even with Vader holding back throughout the duel, Luke still ends up bloodied, traumatized and having lost his hand, his lightsaber, and the illusion of what he was told his father was.
Took a Level in Badass: In Return of the Jedi. When we see him for the first time in his Dark Is Not Evil getup, having mastered Force-choking and the Jedi Mind Trick, then coolly demanding "You will bring Captain Solo and the Wookiee to me", we know right away this is not the same green and reckless Luke from Empire. Also, in his first duel with Vader in Empire, Luke was clearly outmatched, even if Vader was not having things his own way. In their second duel in the Emperor's throne room, he holds his own a lot better. Both Luke's reluctance and Vader's inner conflict were dragging each of them down, however.
Tragic Keepsake: His first lightsaber that previously belonged to his father serves as this.
Trauma Conga Line: Over the course of The Empire Strikes Back, Luke is mauled and captured by a savage Wampa to be eaten, only to almost die in the cold after escaping. When he finally finds peace training with Yoda, he senses his friends' pain, only to be ambushed by Darth Vader when he goes to rescue them. Vader proceeds to cut his hand off and reveals to Luke that he, a mass-murdering Sith Lord, is his father. When he escapes from that situation, he is left clinging for life on a metal structure above the toxic atmosphere of a gas giant, only to be telepathically tortured by Vader after being rescued by Leia, together with the news that his friend has been tortured, frozen, and shipped to a crime lord on Tatooine.
Training from Hell: With Yoda, having to run through a swamp, swinging from vines and doing backflips while carrying Yoda on his back, try to levitate objects while doing a handstand one-handed and entering a creeptastic cave drenched in the Dark Side. It paid off in the end, though.
True Companions: With Obi-Wan, R2-D2, C-3PO, Han, and Leia throughout the Original Trilogy.
Turn Out Like His Father:
- The efforts to keep Luke from being like his father (who, as we all know, went evil) occupy three separate characters: Owen^note, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Yoda.
- In Return of the Jedi, Luke realizes that he's dangerously close to invoking this trope after he cuts off Vader's cybernetic right hand and looks down at his own cybernetic right hand. This prompts him to deactivate and discard his lightsaber so that he won't be tempted any further.
Twin Telepathy: With Leia to an extent, beginning in The Empire Strikes Back. She hears him calling out to her through the Force and is able to locate him in Cloud City. In Return of the Jedi, she is able to sense that Luke wasn't on the Death Star when it blew up.
Two Roads Before You: Luke has to choose between staying on Dagobah and completing his training with Yoda, or going to rescue his friends on Cloud City.
The Unchosen One: In a sense, compared to his father. Anakin was revealed as the Chosen One from age 9 and experienced firsthand both the positives and negatives of the Jedi Order. Darth Sidious (Palpatine) targeted Anakin for exactly this reason, amplifying the negatives and downplaying the positives until the Jedi's own Chosen One became the Sith's greatest weapon. Luke, on the other hand, experienced the exact opposite and became a hero because of it. Seeing Luke tortured led Vader to Heel–Face Turn and kill the Emperor, helping bring peace to the galaxy. Thus, fulfilling the prophecy of the "one who will bring balance to the Force", all thanks to Luke.
Unpleasant Parent Reveal: He's utterly devastated to learn that not only was Anakin not killed by Darth Vader like Obi-Wan said, he is Darth Vader. However, this stunning revelation changes his opinion of the man from being an irredeemable monster to a broken man who still has good in him. He spends most of Return of the Jedi trying to redeem Anakin and eventually succeeds.
Unskilled, but Strong: After his Jedi training with Yoda, Luke is this, gaining abilities and strength in only a few months what takes most Jedi years. By the time he leaves for Bespin, he is connected to the Force, can feel it unconsciously, and manipulate it freely. That said, he had yet to learn fine control and had no real experience using the force in a combat situation.
Unstoppable Rage: During his final duel in Return of the Jedi...until he realizes he's following in his father's footsteps and calms himself.
Unto Us a Son and Daughter Are Born: The son in Revenge of the Sith. Naturally, Leia is the daughter.
Upbringing Makes the Hero: Luke goes from cleaning up droids to destroying the Death Star. While it helps that the Force was strong with him, his Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen gave him the kind of stable family life that helped him resist The Dark Side.
Villainous Lineage:
- Luke's final temptation to join The Dark Side hinges on him being his father's son and an heir to evil. Ultimately though, Luke spurns this destructive legacy altogether, even restoring Anakin back into his heroic self.
- It was also implied, in A New Hope, as being his aunt and uncle's reason for never discussing his father with him... or at the very least telling Blatant Lies. (Spice freighter navigator, my ass!) They feared that Luke would become a Jedi, like his father before him, and go gallivanting across the galaxy to turn evil. That, or just get killed — it's never stated just how much Obi-Wan told them about Anakin. The two always told Luke he'd died off-world.
Vocal Evolution: In Return of the Jedi, his manner of speaking is far more formal and refined in comparison to the previous two films, tying nicely into his Character Development and taking a level in badass.
Warrior Prince: He's Leia's biological brother, and, thus, son of Queen Padmé Amidala of Naboo.
Watching Troy Burn: In A New Hope, Luke can only watch helplessly as the homestead where he grew up burns and also sees the corpses of his murdered aunt and uncle.
What the Hell, Hero?: After the first of Han's Leeroy Jenkins moments on the Death Star, Luke calls him out on his recklessness.
Wide-Eyed Idealist: In contrast to Han's cynicism. Luke firmly believes in the concept of duty, honor, and sacrifice, even encouraging others to fight against despair.
You Are in Command Now: During the Battle of Yavin, Red Leader Garven Dreis prepares to start a run and orders Luke to wait up for his own chance, placing him in command of Biggs and Wedge. After failing to hit the exhaust vent, and with Vader hot on his tail, Dreis orders Luke to ignore him and set up his attack run. After seeing him go down, there's a huge musical cue indicating that Luke now commands the mission (or rather, what's left of it).
You Killed My Father: Believed that Vader killed his father. Played With in that Vader is his father, but Anakin Skywalker was "killed" by Darth Vader.

Tropes that apply to him post Return of the Jedi

Aesop Amnesia: He came to deem emotional attachments as detrimental, despite how much it saved him and others throughout the original trilogy, up to allowing Anakin's redemption as The Chosen One.
Bad Powers, Good People: The Mandalorian showcases his mastery of The Force by Force Crushing a Dark Trooper to pieces as if he's Force Choking it despite it being a forbidden Force power.
Big Damn Heroes:
- The Mandalorian Season 2 ends with Luke rescuing Din and co. from the Dark Troopers, having heard Grogu's call from Tython.
Curb-Stomp Battle:
- At the climax of Season 2 of The Mandalorian, he shows up at Moff Gideon's light cruiser as a platoon of Dark Troopers, one of which dealt one of these to Din Djarin, are advancing on the trapped heroes. Luke proceeds to carve through them all without breaking a sweat.
Deus ex Machina: The Mandalorian Season 2 ends with Luke rescuing Din and co. from the Dark Troopers, having heard Grogu's call from Tython, even though he had no role in the story before that moment.
Fantastic Recruitment Drive: Luke presumably spends the time between the Original Trilogy and the Sequel Trilogy looking for new Jedi to train.
Hypocrite: In The Book of Boba Fett. He attempts to have Grogu to let go of his attachment to his adoptive father to become a true Jedi, and yet Luke absolutely refused to let go of his father even when everyone else told him he was a lost cause. Ultimately Luke concedes that Grogu must choose his own path and allows him the choice of returning to Din Djarin… at the cost of forsaking the way of the Jedi.
Leitmotif: A Friend, when Luke saves Mando and his friends and takes Grogu as a Padawan.
One-Man Army: It's shown explicitly in The Mandalorian when he rescues Din and his group from Moff Gideon and his Dark Troopers. The Dark Troopers are heavy-duty infantry droids with durable armor and powerful manual strength with a single one being a difficult fight for the Mandalorian bounty hunter Din. Luke disposes of an entire platoon of dark troopers on his own without any visible effort at all.
The Only One:
- He will spend much of the next years of his life as the only one able to reforge the Jedi Order and expand it to serve the New Republic.
Strong and Skilled:
- He's definitely this by the time Din Djarin starts looking after Grogu and decimates an entire platoon of Dark Troopers all on his own without making any visible effort. His decimation of the dark troopers parallels his father's decimation of the rebel soldiers in Rogue One.
You Remind Me of X: He tells Grogu he reminds him of his master Yoda, having the same small stature, but a big heart.

Master Luke Skywalker

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lukeskywalker_2.png

"The rebellion is reborn today. The war is just beginning. And I will not be the last Jedi."

"Impressive. Every word in that sentence was wrong."

Thirty years after the destruction of the second Death Star, Luke shied away from his life as a soldier to lead a new generation of Jedi. However, when the student who would become Kylo Ren destroyed what Luke had built, he went into exile, searching for the first Jedi temple in order to find answers. In order to combat the growing power of the First Order, Leia has made locating Luke the primary goal of the Resistance, and the Force-sensitive Rey has come to him to seek teachings... and it didn't exactly go the way she expected.

Tropes from the Sequel Trilogy Era

A-H

Accentuate the Negative: His attitude towards the Jedi and himself is initially this; he constantly broods over their hubris and failures, as well his own, while overlooking all the good he and the Jedi did over the years. He eventually gets out of this way of thinking.
Luke: It was a Jedi who was responsible for the training and creation of Darth Vader.
Rey: And a Jedi who saved him.
Achilles in His Tent: After Kylo Ren killed all his students, Luke traveled off to parts unknown, leaving Snoke and the First Order to their own devices.
Adaptational Jerkass: Pretty much the whole point of The Last Jedi, considering his brief impulse to kill Ben Solo. Notably, unlike his Legends counterpart, this version of Luke became extremely jaded in personality, acting grumpy towards Rey. Thankfully, this is somewhat reversed after speaking to Yoda.
Adaptational Wimp: Compared to his Legends self. While he's obviously still an extremely powerful Jedi Master, he isn't quite at the god-like level of power Legends Luke had by this age. Likewise, he outright succumbed to despair from his failures, whereas "Legends" Luke became a much wiser Jedi; even guiding his descendant Cade Skywalker against similar trials.
- Similarly, in their younger years, Leia actually overpowered Luke in a sparring match before renouncing her Jedi training. Needless to say, Legends Luke was never this vulnerable when mentoring someone, including Leia herself.
Adaptational Heroism: As far as we're aware, Luke never turned to the Dark Side, not even as a Fake Defector, unlike in Legends. ^note
Aesop Amnesia: It's safe to say that years of grief caused him to forget a good chunk of what he learnt from the original Trilogy, such as the importance of camaradarie, determination, discipline, and heroism. He even told Rey that victims of the Dark Side cannot be redeemed, despite previously saving Anakin from Palpatine's corruption.
- One can even argue that this happened prior to Kylo Ren's fall to the Dark Side, considering how he attempted to rebuild the Jedi Order to be "exactly" the same as its predecessor. The same can be said for his fear of the future, worrying too much about the potential evil Kylo Ren (and later on, Rey) could cause.
All for Nothing: A big factor in why he lost his resolve to restore the Jedi Order by the time of The Last Jedi. Luke spent over two decades after the Battle of Endor to try and train a new generation of Jedi, only for it to all go to waste when the Jedi Temple was destroyed as a result of Luke's own moment of weakness, and Ben Solo became Kylo Ren. Luke's philosophy shifts into thinking that the Jedi ultimately create their own problems and that the galaxy suffers for it, leading to his retirement. That being said, by the time of The Rise of Skywalker, he's come to terms with his prior failures and encourages Rey, who is his and his sister's last apprentice and was on the verge of making his same mistake, to restore the Jedi going forward.
The Aloner: Subverted. While he became a hermit on Ahch-To — the location of the first Jedi temple in the galaxy's history — in apparent isolation, it turns out that the island that he lives on is actually fairly populated by a handful of species.
Anti-Hero: He's become a cross between a Classical Anti-Hero and a Knight in Sour Armour by the Sequel Trilogy. Much of his story arc in The Last Jedi involves him overcoming his sense of despair and pessimism to do the right thing and find hope again.
Artificial Limbs: His cybernetic hand has lost all of its synthetic flesh, leaving the metal exposed. If you look carefully, you can even see the blaster damage from Return of the Jedi.
Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence: After using Astral Projection to save the Resistance, Luke smiles up at a beautiful twin sunrise before his body vanishes, becoming one with the Force.
Astral Projection: Projected his image halfway across the galaxy, convincing everyone that he's actually there, and has a duel with Kylo Ren all to give the Resistance a chance to escape. Only revealing that he's not really there when Ren lands what would have been the killing blow. Unfortunately, the effort still kills him.
Audience Surrogate: Luke in The Last Jedi is largely reflective of audiences who had grown disillusioned with the series. His complaints voicing criticism about the Jedi voiced some of the observations made about the Jedi Order in the prequels and their Head-in-the-Sand Management.
- He can also be considered this to Lucas's own disillusionment with the franchise before he ultimately decided to hand it to new creators.
Badass Pacifist: Luke had shades of this in his youth, always trying to defuse situations with diplomacy and sheathing his sword against even Darth Vader, but his older and wiser self is pretty fully into this territory. Not only does he tell Rey that the Force is not merely something she can use as a weapon, he ends up not committing a single act of violence in the whole movie (bar quickly disarming Rey in one scene). Instead, his intervention in the climax comes from projecting an illusion to fool and dodge around Ren and his troops. He lets his enemies be blinded by their hate, distracted them long enough for the Resistance to escape, inspired the latter into action, and made it so the First Order lost the chance to truly win, all without doing anything but standing before them, providing that spark that the rebels kept talking about.
Beard of Sorrow: He had a beard prior to the betrayal of his apprentice and the destruction of his new Jedi Order, but he grew it out and it grayed significantly after he chose to go into exile for many years.
Big Brother Instinct: Leia remains this for him. Specifically when Artoo plays the message of his sister's famous plea to Obi-Wan being her "only hope" he begrudgingly agrees to train Rey, whom Leia had sent specifically to him.
Luke: [snidely to R2-D2] That was a cheap move!
Big Good: What the Resistance is riding on him becoming and what the First Order fears he already is. Although he doesn't actively participate in the events of The Force Awakens, his presence holds significant gravity over the story arcs of many of the characters, and much of what happens is a result of his actions in prior years, making him a Greater-Scope Paragon for the time period. Ultimately, due to expending all of his energy saving the Resistance at Crait, he can no longer be an active member on the field so to speak, but his presence in the Force and that same sacrifice re-ignites people's hope and faith in the Resistance itself.
Book Ends: When Luke is first introduced in A New Hope he is watching a binary sunset in solitude at his home in a remote desert. His last scene in The Last Jedi has him watching a binary sunrise in solitude on a remote island. His final scene with the Force Ghost of Yoda refers to their first meeting, and also hangs a lampshade on his fixation with the horizon:
Yoda: All his life has he looked away, to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was, what he was doing.
Yoda: Skywalker... Still looking to the horizon. Never here, huh? The need under your nose.
Broken Hero: Luke is not in a good place as of The Last Jedi, as he makes it clear to Rey that he doesn't want any part in the Resistance because he feels as though he's already failed.
Broken Pedestal: The Jedi are this to him, given his own failures. He makes several points to Rey about how the Force doesn't belong to the Jedi, so there is no real reason why they, in particular, are needed to come back, and that at the height of their power they led to the creation of Darth Vader. Ultimately, through Yoda's advice, he realizes that even if the Jedi don't need to exist as they used to, they can evolve into something better.
Call to Agriculture: By the time of The Last Jedi, Luke has spent the last few years of his life living off of the land of Ahch-To. He makes it clear to Rey that he intends to die there. And he makes good on this promise.
Cassandra Truth: Luke tries to dissuade Rey from her plan to go to Kylo on the Supremacy in the hopes of turning him, stating "This is not going to go the way you think". Rey doesn't listen...and initially finds herself in over her head.
Celibate Hero: Never had a family of his own in the time between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens.
Chekhov M.I.A.: By the events of The Force Awakens Luke hasn't been seen by any of his old friends in six years. As such, many people are uncertain of who the man was — Rey, for instance, thought that his accomplishments with the Force were fabricated legends, and she was surprised to learn that they really happened.
Conspicuous Gloves: In The Last Jedi, Luke starts wearing a brown leather glove over his prosthetic hand.
Cool Old Guy: Not exactly in personality, but during the climax of The Last Jedi, Luke (who would be around 53/54 years old) creates a Force projection so convincing, it fools the First Order, helping save what's left of the Resistance while not even being on the same planet. Given that Kylo earlier stated that the effort to create such a projection would probably kill a person, it's a testament to Luke's power and skill in the Force that he is able to maintain it for as long as he did.
Cradle To Grave Character: Although the installments depicting his life story aren't released in chronological order, we ultimately follow Luke from his birth in Revenge of the Sith to his death in The Last Jedi (and his afterlife as well in The Rise of Skywalker).
Crazy-Prepared: Luke kept Leia's lightsaber for decades after she gave up Jedi training, even taking it with him to Ahch-To just in case. He ends up directing Rey to it so she has a backup weapon before her showdown with Palpatine, which comes in handy.
Crisis of Faith: Over the years, Luke had become disillusioned with the Jedi Order, seeing their failures and hypocrisies as what led to the rise of the Sith, Empire, and First Order. In reality, however, he's using his disillusionment with the Jedi as a mask for his self-loathing over his greatest failure.
Cynical Mentor: He believes that the Jedi Order has to come to an end as he feels it's a tradition whose hubris and hypocrisy in both his father's and his generation directly contributed to the rise of mass murderers and despots. This doesn't stop him from training Rey to use the Force, even though Rey's natural abilities with the Force remind him a lot of Kylo Ren.
Cynicism Catalyst: Kylo Ren's betrayal and the destruction of his growing Jedi Order led to his disillusionment with the Jedi.
Dark Is Not Evil: In The Last Jedi, he swaps out his white robes for brown — and later, black — robes, but he still hasn't turned to the dark side.
Deadpan Snarker: In his older age and his depression, Luke's sarcasm has gone up several levels.
Death by Adaptation: While he did eventually die in the Legends continuity, as he appeared as a Force ghost in the Star Wars: Legacy comics (over a century after any of the films), when and how he died was never made clear. Here we see him die on-screen. He also dies much earlier; in Legends he was still alive and kicking by 45 ABY, while in the New Canon he dies eleven years earlier and appears as a Force ghost a year later.
Death Seeker: His reason for being at Ahch-To: He wanted to die in the same place where the Jedi was first established.
Decoy Protagonist: Subverted in the Sequel Trilogy, where he, his sister, and his brother-in-law are the central characters to the story even if Rey is (perhaps superficially) the protagonist herself.
Demoted to Extra: Although a huge chunk of The Force Awakens focuses on finding his location (and he is mentioned several times throughout the film), he only appears in two brief scenes: Rey's Force-induced vision and the final scene.
Dope Slap: During Rey's training with Luke, he instructs her to close her eyes and reach out to the Force, and she reaches out with one arm. After looking annoyed for a moment, Luke messes with Rey by tickling her with a blade of grass, and when she continues to assume she can feel the Force, Luke swats her hand with it.
Dramatically Missing the Point: After his new Jedi Order met the same fate as the old one (a Skywalker falling to the dark side and slaughtering all of the younglings) he comes to the conclusion that the Jedi shouldn't exist and it can only end one way. Yoda made Luke realize that his error wasn't trying to rebuild the Jedi Order, it was trying to rebuild it exactly the way it was before, rather than learning from the mistakes of those who came before and finding a better way.
The Dreaded: A heroic example. Luke is so revered that the First Order lives in fear of the potential of his return, especially Snoke, who outright admits that Luke is powerful enough to defeat them and tells Kylo that he believes he could've conquered the galaxy much earlier if he'd had Luke on his side. Snoke orders Kylo Ren and Hux to obtain the map if they can, but is fine with the map being destroyed if necessary if it can keep Luke lost forever.
Dying Alone: Once his astral projection to Crait ends, his real self passes away on Ahch-To, uniting with the Force. He doesn't seem to mind — Rey notes that his passing was one of peace and purpose.
Dying Curse: In his final exchange with Kylo, he gives him one:
Luke Skywalker: Strike me down in anger and I'll always be with you, just like your father.
Dying Moment of Awesome: Everything he did on Crait. In one fell swoop, he helped save the Resistance, boosted their morale in their darkest hour, made fools of the First Order, forgave his nephew for his own failure in an effort to push him away from his dark path, and inspired future generations of heroes... all without having to compromise a single element of the Jedi Code to do so, unlike many of his more pragmatic predecessors. And with that, he is now more powerful than the First Order could possibly imagine.
Easily Forgiven: Luke is instantly forgiven by Leia for his years' long absence when he meets with her on Crait. She gently accepts his apology and says she's just glad he's here now. Luke indicates she didn't blame him for what happened to Ben either, insisting Snoke is the one who corrupted her son.
Establishing Character Moment: More like a Re-establishing Character Moment. The very first thing he does in The Last Jedi is throw away the lightsaber Rey just gave him over his shoulder, showing just how disillusioned with the Jedi he's become. Likewise, the scene where he milks the thala siren and drinks the disgusting-looking milk as it splashes on his beard, establishes how eccentric and off-the-grid his lifestyle has become.
Evil Uncle: Subverted. Ben Solo perceives him as one due to his belief he was trying to kill him. While Luke did contemplate killing Ben after foreseeing the destruction he'd bring, he ultimately decided against it. He also never stopped regretting that Moment of Weakness.
The Exile: The double blow of losing Ben to the dark side (which Luke feels he's directly responsible for, as his momentary instinct to just murder Ben in his sleep became a major trauma for Ben that drove his actions from then on) and his utter failure in the attempt to restore a new Jedi Order cause him to become a hermit for six years, disappearing almost completely from everything. Han implies that there is also another, unknown reason he disappeared — "People who knew him best think he went looking for the first Jedi temple."
Face Death with Dignity: He likely knows that projecting himself to Crait will kill him, but he's extremely calm and composed throughout his battle with Kylo Ren and his actual death.
Failure Hero: He derides both the Jedi Order and himself as this, calling out the old Order's numerous failures and hypocrisies, as well as his own, and believing that it is time for it to end. He grows out of this by the end of The Last Jedi.
Fatal Flaw:
- His tendency to fear the future has worsened significantly over time. This resulted in his biggest mistake: out of fear that his troubled nephew would become the next Darth Vader, he briefly considered killing him in his sleep. He quickly came to his senses, but Kylo only saw Luke standing over him with an ignited lightsaber and so turned on him, and so he became the next Darth Vader.
- His childishness counts as well. Despite knowing how his predecessors' detached attitude caused their own downfall, Luke adopted their outdated viewpoints as a Jedi master. Worse, instead of acknowledging his mistakes with Kylo Ren and attempting to make up for it, he easily fell into a spiral of despair, outright quitting his duties as a Jedi.
Foil: Ends up being this to Obi-Wan. In the original, Obi-Wan wanted to train Luke but couldn't (due to his uncle forbidding it) so he just kept watch over him. Luke, on the other hand, doesn't really know/care about Rey and has no intention of training any more Jedi, and his response when she suggests it is "Go away." Also, Obi-Wan is a Cool Old Guy, whereas Luke became a Grumpy Old Man.
Friendly Ghost: As a Force Ghost, he continues to be a pillar of support for Rey. He gives her Leia's lightsaber and his old X-Wing so she can travel to Exegol and face Darth Sidious, is among the many Jedi who encouraged Rey and gave her the strength to defeat Sidious, and smiles in encouragement as Rey adopts his family name.
Generation Xerox:
- Like his master before him, he warns the villain that he will regret cutting him down before fading away, leaving only his robes.
- Like his mother before him, he really doesn't take it well when a loved one turns evil and they both die still believing said loved one can be redeemed.
- Also, like his father, he becomes disillusioned with the Jedi, though their reasons for this and reactions to their disillusionment differ. However, by the end of his life, his faith in the Jedi is restored, partly due to a young and idealistic aspiring Jedi, just like Anakin. He also has a vision of dreadful events that in taking action to try preventing it, actually causes it to come to pass.
Go Out with a Smile: After sacrificing himself to save the Resistance, Luke watches as the twin suns of Ahch-To set with a smile on his face before disappearing into thin air, resigned to the fact that he won't be able to right the wrong this time around and can only hope he has paved the way for Rey to bring hope to the galaxy and restore the Jedi Order.
Grumpy Old Man: Luke's in his early fifties, so he's not actually that old, but he sure has the "grumpy" part down pat, with his bluntness and grumbling contrasting him to Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was always a well-spoken gentleman.
Heartbroken Badass: The loss of his nephew and other apprentices have sent him into a Heroic BSoD, though he slowly starts crawling out of it over the course of The Last Jedi.
Hermit Guru: Even before becoming an exile, Luke spent much of his later years in life away from war in order to try and rebuild the Jedi Order. After his students were killed, he retreated into complete isolation.
The Hero Dies: The first hero of the Star Wars saga, he peacefully passes on at the end of The Last Jedi, becoming one with the Force after using the last of his energy to project himself at Crait and distract the First Order. He died as he lived, buying time for those who need it most. Later, he showed up to tell Rey to pull herself together and give her the advice that she needed.
Heroic BSoD: He undergoes a huge one (nearly crossing the Despair Event Horizon) in the backstory of The Force Awakens when one of his apprentices (Kylo Ren) turns to The Dark Side and exterminates the fellow Jedi-in-training, leaving Luke as Last of His Kind again and forcing him into hiding. To twist the knife further, Kylo Ren was his nephew, being Leia and Han's son, Ben Solo. However, The Last Jedi has him slowly crossing back over again, with Yoda's pep talk being what snaps him out of his funk and help the Resistance via Force projection.
Heroic Sacrifice: Double Subverted. It seems that he willingly lets Kylo Ren kill him in order to let the Resistance escape... but then it's revealed that it was an Astral Projection on Crait... which drains up all his energy and causes him to die slowly.
Heroic Self-Deprecation: Following Ben Solo's fall to the dark side and the destruction of his Jedi Temple, Luke blames himself for everything that had happened to the point he wanted to die at the birthplace of the Jedi Order.
Hero on Hiatus: It takes until the end of the second movie of the Sequel Trilogy for him to come back into action, but his fight with Kylo Ren ends up being the most significant victory for the Resistance in The Last Jedi.
He's Back!: Subverted in The Last Jedi, where, in spite of taking the lightsaber from Rey, he initially has no intention of getting involved in another war. Double subverted by the end of the movie, where he gives what's left of the Resistance time to escape.
His Own Worst Enemy: He became really self-destructive in his later years. He let his fears blind him in how to deal with Ben Solo's issues, and when faced with the consequences, he reacted to it in the worst possible way and then shut himself up and became a shell of the man he once was.
Historical Hero Upgrade: Despite his failure in tutoring Ben Solo and causing the rise of the First Order in the first place, Luke ends the film as a legend and Icon of Rebellion for the Rebels, with his astral projection last stand against the First Order providing propaganda for young Force-sensitive children at Canto Bight.
Hope Bringer: Luke's basic purpose is to provide hope that evil will not prevail. Ultimately, it works when he saves the remnants of the Resistance in The Last Jedi at the cost of using all of his physical life. His final action to save Leia's Resistance leaves enough of an impression to keep his legend alive and with it the hope that drives more people to join the fight with them.
Hope Spot: In the third act of The Last Jedi, he starts to believe in himself and the Jedi again; he reconnects with the Force and reaches out to Leia, then runs off to find Rey, with it being implied - and confirmed in the novelization - that he intends to leave Ahch-To with her as she begged him and help the Resistance. However, when he sees Rey with Kylo Ren (via Force-bond), he panics and brings the hut down, before ordering her to leave out of fear she will be corrupted by the Dark Side too. When Rey tries to persuade him to leave with her, he doesn't respond and thinks he's failed again when she flies off to meet with Kylo. Then Yoda shows up to give him a pep talk and he is resolved to help the Resistance, showing up at just the right moment in the film's climax.
Hourglass Plot: He and Han Solo ultimately exchange places by the end of their lives. Han was originally cynical, Not in This for Your Revolution, and made fun of the Jedi and the Force, while young Luke was the idealistic eager cadet. In the end, Han becomes more idealistic, committed, and a believer in the force, while Luke is cynical, ornery, eccentric and undergoes a Crisis of Faith before, much like Han in A New Hope, changing his mind and pulling a Big Damn Heroes for the Resistance.
Hypocrite: He tried non-stop to redeem his own father despite almost no one believing he was redeemable, and yet instinctually considered killing his own nephew when he sensed darkness in him, if only for a moment. Luke is apparently well aware of this hypocrisy and despises himself for it. It's even more jarring considering that he quickly gave up on Kylo Ren's redemption and came to decree all Dark Side victims as "iredeemable".
Hypocritical Humor: "A Jedi's weapon deserves more respect!", he says to Rey after she tried tossing his father's lightsaber into a fire. This happening about a year after her first impression of him involved him dismissively tossing the same lightsaber behind himself. Luke is aware of the irony and is making a joke at his own expense.

I-Y

Iconic Outfit: His white Jedi robes and the brown-grey cloak from the end of The Force Awakens is starting to become this.
Informed Ability: Downplayed, but present, especially when considering his status as a wise Jedi master. At least part of this can be explained by his cynical attitude.
- When trying to dissuade Rey from becoming a Jedi, Luke doesn't really offer any alternative solutions to the problems at hand, simply trying to make her leave. This only reinforced Rey's determination, as well as fed her growing distrust towards him.
- During his brief scuffle with Rey, he acted quite careless from start to finish. Despite Rey's obvious emotional distress, Luke simply told her to leave him, thus getting struck down from behind. This leads to a fight, which he ultimately loses once Rey uses his lightsaber. Had Rey not calmed herself down, Luke would have definitely been dead then.
Irony: The Jedi who grew up as a desert farmboy and tried everything he could to get off his old life ends up being a hermit who lives off of the land on an oceanic planet, cutting himself off from anything tying himself to the happenings of the galaxy.
Jaded Washout: His Glory Days are obviously long gone, with it caused by him nearly killing his nephew Ben from a moment of weakness. Luke himself is well aware of what his actions brought forth, which led to him becoming a cynical, depressed exile that awaits for death.
Jerkass Has a Point:
- While letting the Jedi die for good is too extreme, many fans who watched the prequels and The Clone Wars can't exactly blame Luke for his distaste with the Order's mistakes. He's also correct that the Force doesn't belong to the Jedi. Regardless of training or tradition, Force-sensitives can use their powers without another's approval.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Although he can be a rude and pessimistic grouch, especially compared to his younger self, he is still a caring and compassionate man beneath it all. The reason he acts like such a jerk sometimes is that he feels so terrible about hurting and/or failing the people he loves and swore to protect. He is also ultimately convinced to come out of 'retirement' to help save the galaxy. He doesn't resent or hold anger towards Kylo Ren despite everything he's done; Luke actually apologizes to Kylo for failing him, warns him that continuing down this path won't end well for him, and expresses a hope he could still redeem himself.
Kill the Ones You Love: Ultimately defied. After learning just how deeply Snoke had gotten his hooks into him, Luke very briefly considered killing his nephew Ben out of fear that he would turn to the dark side and destroy everything he loved, but the instant he ignited his lightsaber, he realised he couldn't go through with it and was filled with shame at having even contemplated it. Unfortunately, Ben didn't quite see it this way...
Knight in Sour Armour: He more or less develops into this over the course of The Last Jedi, also taking a level in idealism by the end.
Last of His Kind: He is explicitly described as being the last Jedi, both in the opening credits of The Force Awakens and in the context of the movie by Snoke. He tried to correct this by restarting the Jedi Order, but Kylo Ren killed all of his other students. Defied at the end, where Luke boasts that he will not be the last Jedi, and that Rey would restart the new Jedi Order. He is without a question the last of the Skywalker family, or at least the last to bear the surname...until Rey adopts the surname at the end of The Rise of Skywalker.
Legendary in the Sequel: He's become a mythical figure in the fringes of society, and a lost icon to more centrally civilized populaces. And at the end of The Last Jedi, he becomes a hero for orphans at Canto Bight, who see him as the great hero who stood up to the First Order.
A Lesson Learned Too Well: The DVD commentary for The Last Jedi reveals this is why he went into hiding. After his rushing off to save his friends in The Empire Strikes Back failed to achieve anything and put them in further danger, Luke believed similarly confronting Kylo Ren and the First Order would have only made things worse. Arguably falls under Insane Troll Logic, considering he is now a Jedi Master that has decades of experience, with the entire Resistance literally begging Luke to fight alongside them.
Let the Past Burn: Near the end of The Last Jedi, he decides to burn down the tree containing the original Jedi texts, but can't quite bring himself to do it. Yoda finishes the job for him, while slyly hinting that Rey already took the books (which Luke never fully finished reading), and also trolling Luke for being half-hearted and impulsive rather than paying attention to what he really felt (i.e. his inability to really cut himself from the Jedi).
Life's Work Ruined: A particularly nasty example. After the events of the original trilogy, Luke spent over two decades gathering all the information and lore on the Jedi and the Force he could find, before building a new temple and taking on some apprentices in the hopes of restoring the Jedi Order, including his gifted but troubled nephew Ben. Due to a combination of tragic events, Ben turned on Luke, destroyed the temple, either killed or turned the other apprentices, and then joined up with the First Order. Luke understandably suffered a complete breakdown and went into exile on Ahch-To, blaming himself for what happened. Eventually, though, he tentatively finds new hope the Jedi can rise again via Rey (and with some encouragement from Yoda too).
Living MacGuffin: The search for Luke Skywalker drives the story of The Force Awakens without much input from the man himself.
Mentor in Sour Armor: To Rey.
Mentor's New Hope: After the tragedy that occurred with his first thirteen students, number fourteen is the one he's proud of. He sounds happy when he states that Rey will be the Last Jedi after him.
Mentor Occupational Hazard: Like Obi-Wan, Yoda and Han before him, he trains a younger generation before becoming a casualty in the war. Though Rey never fully learns from him, and finally steals the Jedi texts from him, and she doesn't see him die rather sensing it through the Force.
Merlin and Nimue: The Merlin to Rey's Nimue, he being her much older male mentor. Although they have disagreements and she ignores his warnings and steals the Jedi texts from him, she never truly betrays him and he proudly proclaims her his successor (there's also no romance between them whatsoever; they're closer to father-and-daughter than anything else).
Messianic Archetype: Luke serves as a source of hope for the galaxy. Even during his period of absence, he is regarded as a legend to the point some people like Rey initially thought he is simply a myth. His mere appearance rekindles Leia's hope that the Resistance still has a chance when mere moments ago she had given up. Ultimately, Luke passes away but his legend continues to spread to other parts of the Galaxy where they will rise up and fight.
Metaphorically True: His first account of Ben Solo's fall is this. Luke doesn't tell Rey that he had briefly contemplated killing Ben in his sleep after foreseeing what he would become, to the point of drawing his lightsaber, merely saying he went to confront him about his dark side leanings and he attacked him, making it seem to Rey that Kylo turned on him with no provocation, which is very different to what actually occurred (especially from Kylo's perspective). However, Luke later makes it very clear that it was a momentary lapse of judgement spurred by fear and that he quickly came to his senses; technically, Luke never attacked Ben, only stimulating the latter's understandable confusion and fear.
A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: When Luke looked into Ben's mind, he was horrified when he saw how the Dark Side had twisted his psyche and seemingly foresaw that he would someday bring death and suffering to millions of people. It was seeing this that caused Luke to instinctively ignite his lightsaber with the thought of preventing this; although he swiftly came to his senses, Ben woke up at this point and the damage was done.
Moment of Weakness: He sensed the darkness within Ben Solo, and believed that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't wash it away, to the point of contemplating murder for an instant. When Ben awoke and found dear old Uncle Luke holding an ignited lightsaber, he reacted rather predictably.
My God, What Have I Done?: It's clear from his expression when he realizes he was contemplating killing his nephew that he was thinking exactly this.
My Greatest Failure: How he views Kylo Ren's fall to the Dark Side, which is a failure not only to himself, but to his nephew, his sister, his brother-in-law, and the Jedi Order itself. The Last Jedi reveals that Luke had sensed the extent of the darkness within Ben Solo's heart, and was so horrified that he activated his lightsaber with the briefest flicker of intent to kill, before realizing what he was contemplating and stopping. Unfortunately, Ben saw him with the saber, sensing his intent and panicked before lashing out as a result, believing that Luke wished to kill him. Luke was crestfallen by his horrible lapse and all the suffering that it caused, and it's not until the end of the film that he's able to forgive his nephew and himself.
My Greatest Second Chance: Helping Rey realize her destiny as a Jedi and saving the Resistance. Further emphasized about a year later when Rey is about to make the mistake that he did, as he tells her that she's worthy of carrying the Jedi legacy forward despite her own fears and insecurities.
Nephewism: He basically raised his nephew Ben since he was nine years old.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He is directly responsible for Ben Solo's final transformation into Kylo Ren. Sensing the darkness within him, he contemplated murdering him in a moment of weakness to the point of igniting his lightsaber. When Ben woke from his nap and saw his uncle standing menacingly above him with a drawn weapon, he was not amused.
- Similarly, by not telling anyone about his plan to die in exile, Luke ended up indirectly contributing to Han's death, as well as wasting precious time and resources for the Resistance itself.
Nigh-Invulnerable: Luke gets shot at by every gun in the First Order's assault force on Crait, repeatedly for several seconds. They do absolutely nothing, which he emphasizes by brushing off his right shoulder. Though actually...he just wasn't there.
No Body Left Behind: Like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda before him, his body vanishes as he dies and becomes one with the Force.
Obi-Wan Moment: Fittingly, he passes on completely at peace with himself and uses this state in a quote that is strikingly similar to Obi-Wan's own "Strike me down and I will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine," combined with a hint of Strike Me Down with All of Your Hatred!. Ironically, this quote is said to Ben Solo.
Nostalgia Filter: His reverence for the Jedi made him blind to their faults. When he tried to rebuild the order he revived the practice of beginning training in early childhood even though he himself, his sister, and Ezra Bridger all serve as proof that this is not necessary. He also brought back the requirement of cutting off more-or-less all connections, despite knowing that it strongly contributed to Anakin's fall as Darth Vader. After his New Jedi Order fell, he admitted that he was romanticizing the old Jedi Knights.
Old Master: Obi-Wan's last student is now the last master, and looks less like a youthful Everyman than an otherworldly elder with flowing robes and a rugged beard.
The One That Got Away: He dreams about his old girlfriend Camie, back on Tatooine, according to the novelization of The Last Jedi.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Luke casting his lightsaber aside in a callous fashion tells Rey that something is very wrong with the man she'd heard about in myths to make him act that way. It's not without good reason.
Parental Obliviousness: In regards to his nephew. It's implied in the films and confirmed in The Rise of Kylo Ren that Snoke had been communing with and manipulating Ben for years, but Luke didn't notice until Ben was twenty-three.
Parental Substitute:
- It's implied that he may have been one for his nephew Ben, as he had quite a distant relationship with his own father and Luke was his primary guardian during his teenage years. Unfortunately, this likely made it worse when Ben believed he was trying to kill him, and he now has such hatred for Luke, the mere sight of him sends Kylo into a near-psychotic rage.
- A zig-zagged one to Rey. Kylo accuses Rey of looking for her missing parents in Luke and she does grow quite attached to him rather quickly, but not to the same extent as Han. Luke, for his part, doesn't seem to reciprocate...at first. By the end though, Rey has grown on him and at the very least, he comes to care for her and believes she has what it takes to be a good Jedi. He's the one who coaxes her out of her Heroic BSoD in The Rise of Skywalker and he also seems to approve of her adopting his surname.
Passing the Torch: He eventually passes on the "spark of hope" to what remains of the Resistance, and the next generation of heroes that will rise, like he once did, to stand up to tyranny, such as Rey, who he tells Kylo Ren will carry on the Jedi even once he's gone.
Luke: The rebellion is reborn today. The war is just beginning. And I will not be the last Jedi.
Peaceful in Death: Rey and Leia sense that Luke felt somewhat peaceful during his final moments.
A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: He trained Kylo Ren, but failed to notice his potential and inclination for evil until it was too late. And spending a moment to consider murdering him sped him along...
Present Absence: In The Force Awakens. The plot of the movie revolves around both factions of a war trying to find out where he's gone, but aside from a brief flashback, he doesn't actually appear until the last minute of the film. That doesn't stop it from feeling like he has a huge impact on the setting, however.
Propaganda Hero: At the end of The Last Jedi he becomes this for the Rebellion. Small children at Canto Bight, a world oppressed by rich arms dealers, play-act Luke's astral-projected defiance of the army of the First Order, casting him as the legendary hero "Luke Skywalker Jedi Master" who single-handedly humiliated a bunch of Empire cosplayers.
Protagonist Title: He is the eponymous Last Jedi following his failed attempt to rebuild the order. At the end of the movie, he insists that he will not be the last Jedi, paving the way for the future built by Rey.
The Quest: He has spent several years of his life looking for the First Jedi Temple — something that continues even after his self-imposed exile, and is ultimately successful in doing once he finds Ahch-To.
Raised Hand of Survival: In the flashback to the massacre of his Jedi temple at the hands of Kylo Ren in The Last Jedi, he was buried in the ruins of the building — then his robotic hand bursts through the rubble to show that not only did he survive, but he was apparently right there when it happened.
Refusal of the Second Call: He spends the first third of The Last Jedi either ignoring Rey or outright refusing to help her or the Resistance. Ironically enough, what ends up helping get him out of this line of thinking is the same thing that convinced him to leave Tatooine — a message from Leia.
Retired Badass: A self-inflicted case. Luke has largely stopped using the Force and lives a simple life.
Sadistic Choice: Faced this in regards to his nephew. Upon seeing how much the dark side had corrupted Ben and what he would become, Luke was faced with a horrifying dilemma – kill his own nephew to prevent him from becoming Kylo Ren, or spare him and unleash Kylo Ren on the galaxy. Luke contemplated the former for only a moment before realizing he couldn't go through with it, but upon seeing his uncle with a drawn weapon, Ben snapped and turned to the dark side, just as Luke feared.
"I'd sensed it building in him. I'd seen it in moments during his training. But then I looked inside and it was beyond what I ever imagined. Snoke had already turned his heart. He would bring destruction and pain and death and the end of everything I love because of what he will become. And for the briefest moment of pure instinct, I thought I could stop it. It passed like a fleeting shadow. And I was left with shame...and with consequence. And the last thing I saw were the eyes of a frightened boy whose Master had failed him."
Silence Is Golden: He doesn't say a word when he reveals himself in The Force Awakens.
Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: Luke barely appears in the teasers for The Force Awakens — and for good reason, as he only appears in a Force vision and in the last minute of the film.
The Snark Knight: Luke has dialed his Deadpan Snarker tendencies right up. No one, including himself, is exempt from his world-weary sarcasm. It's very possible he's a Stepford Snarker, to an extent, considering what he's been through.
Rey: [after accidentally destroying the caretakers' wheelbarrow] I don't think they like me very much.
Luke: Can't imagine why.
So Proud of You: He and Leia's force ghost appears together, smiling proudly at Rey at the end of Rise of the Skywalkers.
Spirit Advisor: According to the trailer for The Rise of Skywalker, he's taught Rey more about the Force from beyond... And he may not have been alone.
Strike Me Down with All of Your Hatred!: He seems to have learned a thing or two from his encounter with the Evil Emperor, as he, of all people, deploys this tactic against Kylo Ren, along with a failsafe to ensure that he dies on his own terms.
Supporting Protagonist: Just like his father in the Prequel Trilogy. There are a lot of plot threads in The Last Jedi, and Luke is not the main character of any of them, but his arc is the most important one in the film. He arrives to save the Resistance in the climax of the film after his Character Development, and the film ends not long after his sacrifice.
The Thing That Would Not Leave:
- However long he's spent on Ahch-To, he's become this to his island's caretakers, who begrudgingly tolerate his presence on the island. (In the novelization, they tolerate him because he does his own chores and doesn't give them any trouble — which is more than can be said for Rey.)
- He initially regards Rey as this, as he simply wants to be left alone at first, but he eventually comes around.
Took a Level in Dumbass: At least in terms of emotional maturity. Unlike with the Original Trilogy, he pretty quickly succumbed to despair and fear, outright giving up altogether.
Took a Level in Cynic: It's really not hard to blame him, after what became of his nephew, the galaxy, and the New Jedi Order, and how he not only allowed it to happen but instigated it.
Took a Level in Idealism: After spending much of The Last Jedi wallowing in self-loathing and depression, Luke Skywalker's faith is restored by the end.
Took a Level in Kindness: In The Rise of Skywalker, after becoming one with the Force, the kindness he had in the original trilogy returns to him once again. When Rey admits her fear of herself because of her being Palpatine's granddaughter, he is nothing but comforting and encouraging because he knows that although she is related to Palpatine by blood, she has two things that he lacks; a spirit and a heart.
Took a Level in Jerkass: Between the events of Return of the Jedi and the sequel trilogy, he's become a lot more cynical, snarky, and pessimistic. It's not hard to see why, given how the years haven't been kind to him. However, he’s still ultimately a good guy and he becomes a hero again in the end to save the Resistance. The "Jerkass" part is ultimately downplayed after becoming one with the Force and becoming a Spirit Advisor.
Tragic Mistake: Upon realizing just how deeply Ben Solo was corrupted by the dark side and the destruction they would bring, Luke panicked and was about to kill him. While Luke immediately stopped and regretted it, Ben seeing his uncle attempt to kill him fully pushed him to the Dark Side and bring the state of affairs in the Sequel Trilogy.
Turn Out Like His Father:
- Ironically, given Luke's jaded, bitter outlook on the Jedi Order in The Last Jedi, not to mention him becoming a farmer again; one could say that Luke turned out more like the man who raised him, Owen, than his own biological father.
Unreliable Expositor: Towards Rey when he first tells her what happened the night Ben Solo became Kylo Ren. He technically doesn't lie to her when he says he went to confront Ben and he turned on him...but due to his own feelings of shame, he leaves out that teeny detail where he actually ignited his lightsaber over Ben with the briefest intention of killing him. He later fully explains what happened when Rey gets Kylo's side of the story and confronts Luke about it.
The War Has Just Begun: He says this to Kylo Ren on Crait, after Kylo claims that the war is over. Indeed, because of Luke's actions the remainder of the Resistance are able to escape and are determined to keep fighting.
Warts and All: Luke is one of the greatest Jedi that ever lived, both feared and revered across the galaxy for his feats and believed to be the key to stopping the First Order. When Rey meets him face-to-face to seek his help and guidance, she's clearly awestruck...only to soon discover Luke is a snarky, asocial hermit who initially has no interest in training her or helping the Resistance, because he thinks he'll just make it worse. As we know, he was indeed once an Ideal Hero, but his experiences have cause him to become embittered and hopeless. By the end of The Last Jedi, though, his faith is restored and he's a hero again.
Watching Troy Burn: In Rey's vision and in a flashback, we see Luke falling to his knees before his Jedi Temple as it burns, clinging to R2-D2 for support.
What You Are in the Dark: He very briefly contemplated murdering Ben Solo in his sleep, after seeing how twisted by the dark side he was becoming, even igniting his lightsaber. He couldn't go through with it.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Luke genuinely believes that by letting the Jedi go extinct with his own death, no more harm will come to the Galaxy from them.
Willfully Weak: His failure with Ben Solo led him to cut himself off from the Force so severely that not only is he, unlike Leia, unable to sense the death of Han Solo, but when Rey feels out at the entirety of the island on Ahch-To, she deliberately notices that the Force, despite flowing through everything else, does not flow through him.
Wizard Classic: With his white robes and beard, he looks very much like his old master. Like him, Luke is the last scholar of a dying order of knights that mastered the energy which binds all creatures together.
Worf Had the Flu: His cynicism and reluctance to use the Force counts as this. When Luke and Rey have a duel (with sticks) on Ahch-To, Luke handily overpowers her despite his advancing age. Rey bringing a lightsaber to a stick fight is the only reason she won. When Luke (via Astral Projection, channeled from across the Galaxy) fights Kylo Ren at the end of the film, we see a glimpse of what he was like in his prime (namely, he effortlessly dodges Kylo's attacks and makes him look like a complete idiot, only letting Kylo get in a 'lethal' strike once the Resistance are clear and departs with a parting one-liner) and it quickly becomes clear why the writers keep Luke from directly engaging the First Order.
You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Rey spends a lot of The Last Jedi telling him more or less this, even when she learns of his Tragic Mistake. Luke would later return the favor in The Rise of Skywalker; he comforts and encourages a fearful Rey after her discovery of her lineage as a Palpatine by reminding her that her kind heart and heroic spirit are much stronger than her own blood ties to the Emperor.
Luke: What are you most afraid of?
Rey: ...Myself.
Luke: Because you're a Palpatine? Leia knew it too.
Rey: She didn't tell me. And she still trained me.
Luke: Because she saw your spirit. Your heart. Rey, some things are stronger than blood.
You Remind Me of X: After seeing Rey's natural strength with the Force, he tells her "I've seen this raw strength only once before. In Ben Solo."
You Shall Not Pass!: Pulls one on the First Order and his nephew in order to make sure that what little is left of the Resistance can live to fight another day.
Younger Than They Look: He was 53 in the sequels, but looked and sounded at least a decade older.

"See you around, kid."

Characters / Star Wars – Luke Skywalker

All spoilers regarding the Skywalker Saga and The Clone Wars are unmarked. Examples relating to Disney's EU can be spoiler-tagged if deemed necessary.

Species: Human (Cyborg)

Homeworld: Polis Massa (born), Tatooine (adopted)

Commander Luke Skywalker

Tropes From The Original Trilogy Era

Master Luke Skywalker

Tropes from the Sequel Trilogy Era

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Characters / Star Wars – Luke Skywalker

Edit Locked

All spoilers regarding the Skywalker Saga and The Clone Wars are unmarked. Examples relating to Disney's EU can be spoiler-tagged if deemed necessary.

Species: Human (Cyborg)

Homeworld: Polis Massa (born), Tatooine (adopted)

Commander Luke Skywalker

Tropes From The Original Trilogy Era

Master Luke Skywalker

Tropes from the Sequel Trilogy Era

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Index

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