Skywalker family

The Skywalker family, also known as the Skywalker clan or the Skywalker dynasty, was a legendary human family that played a prominent role in galactic history, with several generations achieving fame as generals, senators, and Jedi from the fall of the Republicand the rise of the Empire, to the conflictbetween the First Order and the Resistance. The family's origins dated back to Shmi Skywalker, who, as a young girl, was captured by pirates and forced into slavery. In 41 BBY she conceived a son, Anakin Skywalker, who was born without a father. Anakin was the Chosen One destined to bring balance to the Force by destroying the Sith. Posessing the highest concentration of midi-chlorians in his blood, Anakin had the potential to become the most powerful Force-sensitive being in the galaxy. The Force was strong in Anakin's bloodline, passing down to his progeny, the twin siblings Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa, as well as their children, Ben Solo, Breha Solo, and Sam Skywalker.

The Skywalkers were living on the desert planetTatooine as slaves of the Toydarian junk dealerWatto when they encountered Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn in 32 BBY. Intrigued by Anakin's origins and raw connection to the Force, Jinn sought to have him trained in the Jedi arts. After gaining his freedom, Anakin left his homeworld in the Outer Rim Territories to begin his new life at the Jedi Temple on the Core World Coruscant, the capital of the Galactic Republic. As a Jedi Knight, he gained the reputation of a war hero while fighting in the Clone Wars. Although he became one of the strongest members of the Jedi Order, his fear of loss left him susceptible to the dark side of the Force. After his mother's death in 22 BBY, he vowed to not lose another loved one. In 19 BBY, Anakin foresaw that his secret wife, Senator Padmé Amidala, would die in childbirth. Determined to learn the power of immortality, Anakin pledged his life to the teachings of the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. The newly christened Darth Vader spearheaded the Great Jedi Purge. While most Jedi were executed under Order 66, Vader was defeated by Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi who left his former Padawan for dead on Mustafar. Sidious had his Sith apprenticereconstructed as a cyborg, but Amidala died of a broken heart caused by her husband's deeds. The New Order rose to power across the galaxy, and Vader embraced his role as a Sith Lordduring his Sith Master's reign as Emperor of the Galactic Empire.

Unknown to Vader, his children survived their mother's death. They were hidden from their father and his master, with Luke sent to live with his relatives on Tatooine while Leia was adopted by the House of Organa and the House of Antilles, making her a princess of Alderaan. During the Galactic Civil War, the Skywalker twins emerged as members of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Vader attempted to turn Luke to the dark side by revealing the secret of his parentage to him. Luke, however, believed that his father could be turned back to the light side of the Force. During the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, Vader sacrificed his life in order to save his son from Sidious. His death as the last Dark Lord of the Sith ended the thousand year Sith tradition that began with Darth Bane. Having fulfilled his destiny to restore balance, the Chosen One returned to the Force as Anakin Skywalker.

As the last Jedi, Luke sought to restore the Jedi Order by training a new generation in the arts of the Force. Though he hoped to train his sister as his first student, Leia, who had now taken the name Leia Skywalker-Organa, ended her Jedi training and returned to politics as a member of the New Republic Senate. She also married Han Solo and, eventually gave birth to two children: a son, Ben Solo, and a daughter, Breha Solo. Following the Thrawn campaign, Luke married former Emperor's Hand Mara Jade, and together they had a son named Sam Skywalker.

Luke eventually succeeded in creating the New Jedi Order.

The Skywalkers continued serving both the New Republic and the New Jedi Order in the following decades, participating in many events, such as the Grysk War, until tragedy struck in 38 ABY when Ben, much like his grandfather, turned to the dark side of the Force. Luke became disillusioned with the Jedi and went into exile, while Leia created the Resistsnce, anc Han returned to the life of smuggling. Adopting the persona of Kylo Ren, Ben killed his cousin Sam under the orders of his new master, Supreme Leader Snoke. Following the start of the Second Galactic Civil War, Ben murdered his father on Starkiller Base, an event that scarred him for the rest of his life.Though disillusioned with the Jedi, Luke passed on their teachings to a final student, the scavenger Rey, before sacrificing his life for the Resistance in 44 ABY. As Ren stood poised to rule the galaxy as Supreme Leader of the First Order, following the death of Snoke, Leia sacrificed herself while calling her son back to the light. The persona of Kylo Ren was destroyed, and Ben Solo stood with Rey against her grandfather, the resurrected Darth Sidious, during the Battle of Exegol. The Emperor was destroyed again, but Solo also died in order to save Rey with whom he shared a unique Force-bond, making them a dyad in the Force. Following the battle, Rey adopted the Skywalker family name, as they had been the only ones to truly treat her as family.

The Skywalker family achieved notoriety through their involvement in many historic events, including the fall of the Jedi Order, the return of the Sith, and the rise and fall of the Empire. The actions of Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala, Luke Skywalker, Leia Skywalker-Organa, Mara Jade, Han Solo, Sam Skywalker, Ben Solo, and Breha Solo defined their legacy as a family, and the name of Skywalker became a byword for greatness.

## History

### Origins

The Skywalker family that played a prominent role in galactic history originated from Shmi Skywalker, a human female who lived during the last years of the Republic Era. As a child, she and her parents were captured by pirates who had no interest in the Skywalker family except for their value on the slave market. Removed from her homeworld,Shmi was sold in a marketplace similar to the Zygerrian slave market. From there, she was moved from one star system to the next, serving several masters before ending up on the barren planet of Tatooine. By then, Shmi's parents were no longer part of her life. She was alone by the time she was sold to the Hutt gangster Gardulla Besadii the Elder. Shmi never disclosed the fate of her parents to anyone, although it was also suspected that she herself was unaware of what happened to them.

Although slavery was outlawed by the Galactic Republic, Shmi observed that the Republic's laws were unenforceable in the Outer Rim Territories where people had to survive on their own. Nevertheless, Shmi possessed certain qualities such as kindness and compassion, and she believed that much of the galaxy's problems stemmed from too much self-interest at the expense of empathy. Industrious and diligent, her hard work was rewarded with a repulsor-powered generator from her owner Watto.

### The Chosen One

#### By the will of the Force

The Force was a mystical energy field created by all living things throughout the universe. The Jedi Order was a religious order of Force-sensitive protectors who followed the light side of the Force, unlike the Sith who harnessed the dark side of the Force. The Jedi and the Sith warred against each other for centuries, culminating in the fall of the Old Republic and the near extinction of the ancient Sith. An ancient Jedi mystic foresaw that the Sith would be destroyed by the Chosen One, a being born of no father, whose destiny was to bring ultimate balance to the Force.

Shmi's son, Anakin Skywalker, was the prophesied Chosen One, and as such he was a vergence in the Force. Born on Tatooine in 41 BBY, Anakin's cells contained over twenty-thousand midi-chlorians. As a result, he possessed a higher midi-chlorian count than any other life form in the galaxy, including Grand Master Yoda which, combined with his "inexplicable birth," led Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn to consider the possibility that Anakin was conceived by the microscopic organisms.

Shmi and Anakin were originally the property of Gardulla until the Hutt crime lord wagered them against Watto. As Gardula's slaves, they shared close communal quarters with other slaves and families that Anakin regarded with compassion, treating strangers like family due to his upbringing by Shmi. By Shmi's estimation, the Skywalker family's living conditions improved significantly when Watto became their new owner. As the Skywalkers were his only slaves, the Toydarian junk dealer allowed Shmi and Anakin to live in Slave Quarters Row, a section of Mos Espa located on the city's outskirts. After enduring Gardula's communal quarters while raising a son in slavery, the Skywalker home felt like a "palace" to Shmi when it was, in fact, a "meager hovel."

Despite the impoverished conditions that came with living in a densely packed district, Shmi strived to create a good environment for her son whom she raised to be kind-hearted and helpful to others in need. One such person that he sought to help was his mother; to that end, Anakin secretly built a protocol droid, C-3PO, using scrap parts that he collected from a junkyard. The droid's purpose was to lighten Shmi's burden by performing the household chores.

Anakin was bereft of greed during his childhood due to his mother's influence, and he readily gave assistance without even considering a reward for his efforts. These qualities made Shmi proud of her son,although she worried about his fascination with podracing, which was known as a fast and dangerous sport. In addition to being a gifted engineer, Anakin's raw strength with the Force allowed him to "see things before they happened," granting him heightened reflexes despite his lack of Jedi training. As a result, he was the only human on Tatooine who was capable of competing in a podrace in which the other contestants were aliens. Recognizing Anakin's skills as a pilot, Watto would sponsor his slave in the racing contests despite Shmi's objections. However, he never gambled on Anakin due to the winning streak of the Dug racer Sebulba.

Anakin learned about the greater galaxy through stories that he overheard while working in Watto's junkshop. He once recalled hearing about the "angels" from the moons of Iego, and how they were said to be "the most beautiful creatures in the universe." He was curious about the stars, many of which he saw at night, which caused him to wonder if they each had a system of planets and if anyone had explored all of them. Despite his inability to leave Tatooine due to his status as a slave, Anakin once declared that he would be the first person to see every star system in the galaxy. Longing for freedom, he dreamed about becoming a Jedi and liberating the slaves of his homeworld. Anakin possessed very limited information about the Jedi during his early childhood, and what little he knew about them came from bedtime stories told by his mother. Her "fantastical" depiction of the Order led Anakin to believe that the lightsaber-wielding Jedi Knightswere invincible, and therefore unable to be killed.