Luke Skywalker is one of the most mysterious people in the galaxy.
While The Last Jedi gave us a bit more information on how he went from being an intergalactic hero to an isolated hermit, the details of what exactly went down between the events of Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens are still a bit unclear.
The most significant thing to happen to Luke during this time was obviously his role in training his nephew, Ben Solo, leading to Solo’s transformation into the villainous Kylo Ren.
However, true Star Wars fans know that Luke’s story has a lot more twists and turns than the casual observer might predict.
The years between Episodes 6 and 7 were full of unrest. The Empire suffered a serious blow with the destruction of the Death Star, but many Imperial factions remained.
Additionally, the rebels came face to face with the challenges of governing, and the evil First Order began to rise up.
Luke was present for all of this. From fighting to destroy the last remaining vestiges of the Empire, to training new Jedi, to learning the deepest hidden secrets of the Force, to his eventual exile on Ahch-To, Luke was a busy man.
Without further ado, here are the 20 Things Luke Did Between Episodes 6 And 7 That Only True Fans Know About.
He Tried To Reestablish The Jedi Order
The connection that Luke felt with his former master Yoda is no secret, so it’s no surprise that Luke was dedicated to fulfilling Yoda’s last wish of restoring the Jedi to their former glory.
Luke traveled the galaxy collecting Jedi artifacts, but he was also committed to recruiting Force-sensitive youngsters to train at a new Jedi academy.
All told, Luke found about a dozen potential new Jedi to train at his school.
Unfortunately, Luke’s efforts end in tragedy. His nephew, Ben Solo, falls to the dark side and takes down many of Luke’s apprentices.
The rest turn to the dark side and follow the newly-born Kylo Ren. Luke turns away from the Force and decides not to train any new Jedi until Rey comes along to change his mind.
He Tried To Convince Leia To Become A Jedi
After the surprising reveal at the end of Return of the Jedi that Luke and Leia were siblings, it makes sense that Luke would have wanted Leia to be by his side in his quest to restore the Jedi Order
Leia, being a Skywalker, was Force-sensitive, and had a background and temperament that would have made her an excellent Jedi.
However, she turned down Luke’s request to train her.
While Leia did learn some things about using the Force from Luke (as is clearly shown in The Last Jedi when she uses the Force to fly back to safety after being cast into space after an explosion on her ship), she eventually decides not to devote herself to the Jedi Order.
Instead, Leia focuses on her new diplomatic and military responsibilities with the new Galactic Republic, and eventually the Resistance.
He Dressed Up As A Droid To Rescue R2… And Started A Revolution
During his adventures throughout the galaxy, R2-D2 was once captured by a group of slavers who had been kidnapping droids and forcing them to work mining precious gems on a planet called The Deep.
There, they were fitted with restraining bolts and override chips and forced to labor until they break down.
Things weren’t looking good for R2 and the other droid captives, but help came just in time.
One day, a bulky, odd-looking droid arrived at the mine. It turns out that this droid had Luke Skywalker hidden inside.
Luke then freed the droids from their restraining bolts, and he and R2-D2 lead them in a revolt.
The droids overthrew their masters and returned to their homes, while Luke and R2 left to continue their adventures.
He Uncovered Jocasta Nu’s Sealed Jedi Archives On Coruscant
During the Clone Wars, Jocasta Nu was an important protector of sensitive and important information — someone trusted implicitly by the Jedi Order.
During the Jedi purge, she started secretly collecting and storing much of the most important information that was present in her library in a sealed vault.
Sadly, Nu met her end at the hands of Darth Vader, who wanted to get his hands on the information that she had.
Though Vader did manage to take a list of Force-sensitive children from Nu — something that she had wanted to protect — she still kept much of her knowledge secret.
Years later, Luke Skywalker found Jocasta Nu’s vault, and usesd the Force to unseal it and gain access to the secrets kept inside.
He used much of this information in his quest to restore the Jedi Order and bring balance to the Force.
He Raided Emperor Palpatine’s Secret Observatory
After the Battle of Endor, Luke began to feel the Force pulling him to the distant planet of Pillio.
While investigating, he ran across several squads of Imperial troops that had been sent to Pillio to destroy an observatory of Emperor Palpatine’s in order to stop the relics contained within from falling into rebel hands.
Luke, after forming an unlikely alliance with an Imperial soldier named Del Miko, reached the observatory. After breaking in using his Force powers and getting a little help from Miko, Luke found the observatory mostly empty.
However, there was one relic that caught Luke’s interest — a mysterious compass.
Luke took the compass, which would later show up in an unlikely place…
He Searched For The First Jedi Temple
It’s well-known that Ahch-To is where Luke went into self-imposed exile, but why did he choose this specific planet?
As it turns out, Luke chose the spot very intentionally.
Ahch-To is a very sacred place where the Jedi Order was founded. It took Luke Skywalker a very long time to locate the island, and when he did, he decided that it was the perfect place to go into exile.
However, Luke’s choice of location does beg the question: if he truly wanted to cut himself off from the Force, why did he travel to the birthplace of the Jedi? Was there a part of Luke that wanted to be found? Did he ever truly reject the Force?
Star Wars fans will have to come to their own conclusions.
He Teamed Up With Poe Dameron’s Mother
Legendary Resistance fighter Poe Dameron wasn’t the first hotshot pilot in his family. His mother, Shara Bey, was an important member of the Rebel Alliance.
Several months after the Battle of Endor, Bey helped Luke with an important mission to recover the last remaining fragments of the Force-sensitive tree that grew at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.
They planned to enter the Imperial lab on Ventine where the trees were being kept undercover, but after being discovered, they were forced to fight their way out.
After finding two young trees instead of one, like Luke expected, he gave the extra tree to Bey, which she planted outside of the new home that she and her husband Kes Dameron were building on Yavin 4.
He Worked To Uncover The History Of The Jedi
Star Wars fans will remember Lor San Tekka as the man who passed away at the beginning of The Force Awakens while protecting the location of the final piece of the map to Luke’s location.
However, long before his noble sacrifice, he actually worked closely with Luke to uncover the lost secrets of the Jedi.
During its rise, the Empire did its best to erase the history of the Jedi in order to convince the galaxy that the Jedi had been defeated — or had never existed in the first place.
After Emperor Palpatine’s passing, Luke knew that in order for the Jedi Order to be reborn, he would have to track down the lost Jedi lore.
He Gave Ben Solo His Mysterious Compass
Remember the compass Luke took from Palpatine’s observatory?
Sometime after the compass comes into Luke’s possession, he gives it to his new apprentice, Ben Solo.
In The Last Jedi, when Luke almost takes down Ben, completing Solo’s fall to the dark side, the compass can be clearly seen on Ben’s bedside table.
The exact powers of the compass are unclear, but the stone at its center can attune to hyperspace vectors.
We may never know why Luke gave the compass to Ben, or where the artifact is now, but perhaps it will play more of a role in future Star Wars movies.
Luke wouldn’t have taken the compass if he hadn’t thought it was going to be important, so this is probably not the last time we will see the mysterious object.
Perhaps it will lead to even more Jedi secrets.
He Created The Jedi Tree Library… And Then Tried To Destroy it
The ancient Jedi texts were not always hidden in the Ahch-To library.
During his travels after the fall of the Empire, Luke collected many of those books and stored them in the ancient tree. However, after the failure of his new Jedi academy, Luke had second thoughts.
When Rey arrived on Luke’s island, Luke was trying to summon the will to destroy the old books. However, even though he had rejected the Force, Luke could not bring himself to destroy such important texts.
Later in The Last Jedi, Luke believes that the texts have been destroyed by Yoda. Of course, fate had other plans for those texts, which eventually made their way into Rey’s possession aboard the Millennium Falcon.
He Built A New Jedi Temple
After recruiting a group of Force-sensitive pupils, Luke still needed a place to train them, so he built a secret facility hidden deep in the galaxy.
The only people who knew the location of the new Jedi temple were Luke, his apprentices, and his faithful droid R2-D2.
During the destruction of the temple by Kylo Ren, R2-D2 was by his master’s side. However, after R2 went into low power mode and Kylo Ren took down or recruited all of Luke’s Jedi trainees, the location of Luke’s temple was forgotten by everyone.
With Luke becoming one with the Force and the attention of Kylo Ren turned elsewhere, we may never discover the exact location of Luke’s temple.
He Destroyed (Or Crashed) His Iconic X-Wing Fighter
Luke and his X-Wing have been through a lot together.
Luke used his iconic ship to destroy the first Death Star, pass an important test of his mastery of the Force, and travel across the galaxy to help save the Rebellion from the evil forces of the Empire.
Unfortunately, it appears that his trusty fighter met an untimely demise.
In The Last Jedi, Luke’s X-Wing is shown at the bottom of the lagoon on Ahch-To with its engines blown out and its cover broken.
While Luke might have accidentally crashed his vessel, it’s more likely that he destroyed his ship in an effort to cement his self-imposed exile. It’s pretty hard to leave a planet without a spaceship.
Either way, Luke’s X-Wing doesn’t appear to be in working order.
He Ditched R2-D2
While R2-D2 was with Luke when Kylo Ren destroyed Luke’s new Jedi temple, the droid did not go with Luke to Ahch-To.
Instead, after being deserted, R2 shut himself down after years of running without a break.
Because R2 was such a legend, the Resistance didn’t scrap him for spare parts. Instead, they stowed him away and waited for him to reawaken.
Even though Luke left R2 behind when he went to Ahch-To, R2’s devotion remained.
During his hibernation, R2 searched through his archives for the last piece of the map that led to Luke’s location.
Just when all hope seemed lost, R2 woke up and helped Rey, Leia, Chewbacca, and the Resistance track down his long-lost master.
He Rejected The Ways Of The Force… Or Did He?
After his failure to save Kylo Ren from turning to the dark side, Luke apparently completely cut himself off from the Force.
However, can it be that simple?
Despite his rejection of the teachings of the Force, he still preserved the ancient Jedi texts in the Ahch-To tree library.
His command over the Force also progressed significantly — he learned to project himself through the Force and maintained his ability to communicate with his deceased elders and sense the Force at work on the island where he was exiled.
While Luke may have wanted to be completely cut off from the Force, it turns out that this is a little more difficult than he originally thought.
Once a Jedi learns to recognize the Force at work, it’s not something that can just be ignored.
He Married Mara Jade And Had Children
Though it’s hard to confirm as their union isn’t mentioned in the canonical tale of Luke Skywalker, in the novelization of The Last Jedi, it is mentioned that Luke had a wife.
More than likely, his wife is Mara Jade, a smuggler, Jedi, and former follower of the dark side of the Force.
Luke and Mara met while working together on several missions, but eventually realized that they were in love and were married with the blessing of Luke’s sister, Leia.
Eventually, Mara Jade discovered that she was pregnant and gave birth to a son who she and Luke, interestingly enough, named Ben.
It is unknown if Mara Jade ever existed in the Star Wars canonic universe, and if she did, her whereabouts when Luke goes into exile are unknown.
He Helped Liberate A Planet From An Invasion
Shortly after the Battle of Endor, Luke received a distress call from the planet of Bakura — an alien army of Ssi-ruuk (a lizard-like people) were trying to take advantage of the instability of the Empire to take over the planet.
The Ssi-ruuk used a captured Force-sensitive human to attempt to gain the upper hand and take over the planet, but Luke eventually helped the people of Bakura fight off the Ssi-ruuk.
This resulted in Bakura deciding to join the Rebel Alliance.
The events of Bakura are important because they marked one of the first times that Luke encountered another Force-sensitive human.
Additionally, Luke began to fully realize the danger of a Force-sensitive being indoctrinated to fight for the enemy.
He Might Have Been Responsible For The Crashed Star Destroyer On Jakku
According to one legend, Luke was a critical part in leading the Resistance forces to victory in the pivotal battle of Jakku.
An Imperial officer told the story of Luke destroying the Empire’s ships in space by using the Force as well as his lightsaber.
It seems that Luke learned to put his ability to move spaceships with the Force to good use.
However, Luke is no cold-blooded criminal. After the Battle of Jakku was over, he went down to the surface and looked for salvage and survivors — Resistance and Imperial alike.
Despite Luke’s roll in the battle, the remnants of the Empire continued to deny Luke’s existence and the idea that he might have fought with the Resistance at Jakku.
He Learned About The Force From An Ancient Race
Luke traveled to Lew’el, a long-forgotten aquatic planet, after hearing about the locals’ connection to the “Tide,” which he believes might be the same or similar to the Force.
Luke was correct. After he saved some local children from a storm that took them by surprise while they were hunting, Luke spoke with village elders late into the night, learning all he could about their strange connection to the Force.
The elder told Luke that in order to prove himself worthy of knowledge, he had to pass three tests. Luke passed the first two, but just barely failed the final test.
However, through the tests, he learned as much about the Force as he would have had he succeeded.
Lew’el is also where Luke learned to spearfish, which came in handy during his exile on Ahch-To.
He Fell In Love… But It Ended In Tragedy
After the Battle of Endor, much of the galaxy fell into civil war as the remnants of the Empire clashed with the Rebellion.
Luke helped many revolutionary groups rise up against planetary governments that were still loyal to the Empire.
While helping a rebel group on Solay overthrow their Imperial government, Luke fell for one of the revolutionary fighters, Mary. He even considered leaving the rebellion to be with her.
However, their brief affair ended tragically when Mary was betrayed by her traitors in her own resistance and taken down by Imperial forces.
Initially, Luke wanted to take revenge on those who destroyed Mary, which pulls him farther towards the dark side.
However, he eventually decided that the best way to honor her legacy was to continue aiding the Rebellion and following the path of the light.
He Helped The Ewoks Fight A Giant Space Bear
All of the tricks and traps that the Ewoks used to help the rebels during the Battle of Endor weren’t built for crushing Stormtroopers. After all, the Ewoks had barely even encountered humans before, let alone fought against them.
The swinging logs and falling rocks that Endor’s indigenous population used to help save the Rebel Alliance were actually built to stop Gorax — giant monsters that looked like a cross between a bear and a bigfoot.
Luke helped the Ewoks defeat a Gorax.
He did this by distracting the monster with his lightsaber and various Force powers while Princess Leia and the Ewoks reset their traps and captured the beast.
Can you think of any other things that Luke did between Episode 6 and 7 in Star Wars? Sound off in the comments!
