Entertainment

Does Luke Skywalker Ever Have A Love Interest?

by Mary Grace Garis

Part of the many reasons fans were eager to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens was a want to find out about newcomer Rey's family. Disappointment followed: truth is, we don't learn definitively about Rey's lineage in The Force Awakens . There's still (somewhat murky) speculation that she could be a Solo, but perhaps more likely, that she could be the daughter of Luke Skywalker. Yet we've never seen Luke with a love interest during the movie series... did he have a wife in the Star Wars Expanded Universe that might shed some light on this? As per usual, spoilers ahead for those of you who haven't see The Force Awakens yet.

Now, before I answer this, let me start by explaining the EU to Star Wars newbies and casual fans. The Star Wars Expanded Universe Timeline encompassed a bunch of novels (and some unpublished works) that further embellished on, well, the Star Wars universe. A lot of it focusing on the aftermath of Return of the Jedi. We following so far? Stellar.

So I want to go on the record as saying I never personally read the books, I always knew what was happening second hand. My level of Star Wars fandom reaches to the point where, yeah, my family had a subscription to Star Wars Insider, but I had to draw the line at novels. What you're getting from me is simplified thumbnail response that you are free to research further. Now, to answer your question.

Yes, Virginia, Luke most definitely had a love interest... a wife, even. Her name is Mara Jade, a flame haired Jedi that previously had a stint as the Emperor's Hand (that is, an agent of the Empire, a Palpatine trainee and a total baddie). In fact, when shows up she's pretty dead set on killing Luke to avenge Palpatine's death. Long story, short, it doesn't happen. She's eventually swayed towards the light side, becomes a Jedi Master, and (surprise!) falls in love with Luke. So cool, does this mean she could show up as Rey's mother?

Mmm, probably not. After Disney acquired Lucasfilms in 2012, the Star Wars Expanded Universe was rebranded as Star Wars Legends and unceremoniously declared as "non-canon." In layman's terms, it's all more or less fanfiction now. However, although the EU is dead, it isn't entirely unlikely Mara Jade won't show up. It just might not be in the official form of, well, Mara Jade.

With a sharp eye, fans will notice that Force Awakens has already gently repurposed elements from the EU. In that particular universe, Han and Leia actually have three children twins: Jacen and Jaina and son Anakin. Jacen falls to the dark side as Darth Caedus, just as Han and Leia's son Ben Solo has become the new villain Kylo Ren. Likewise, Jaina is forced to ultimately confront him, which (regardless of her ultimate parentage) definitely echoes with Rey's conflict with Kylo. If we even want to take this a step further, Luke and Mara's son is named Ben Skywalker, but eh, that might just be lazy writing on someone's part.

My point is, I don't necessarily believe Mara will show up in this new series as Mara. But if Rey is in fact Luke's daughter, it would make a lot of sense if her mother was a Mara-esque character. Think about it: Rey has proven herself to be exponentially strong with the Force considering she had no training at all. I mean, she had only recently found out it wasn't a myth, and all of a sudden she's executing Jedi mind tricks flawlessly. You know what would explain that well? Um, being the child of two Jedi parents.

Who knows, though? I guess it'll be a while (read: two agonizing years) before we find out the truth about Rey and whether there's one... or two... Skywalker women out there.

Images: Disney (1); Giphy (2)