Luke Skywalker arrived to train Grogu in The Mandalorian season 2 finale, but just how powerful was he at this point in the Star Wars timeline compared to the movies and Legends? Few moments in the Disney Star Wars era have excited fans quite like Luke Skywalker in The Mandalorian season 2, episode 8, "Chapter 16: The Rescue," when the fabled Jedi turned up on Moff Gideon's light cruiser. Making relatively easy work of the Dark Troopers and striking fear into the heart of Gideon, this was in many ways the Luke fans had always wanted to see on screen, as a masterful, powerful Jedi.
Like his father before him, Luke always had the potential to become the greatest Jedi who ever lived, blessed with that same innate link to the Force and high midi-chlorian count. He may not have been the Chosen One, but he at least had that same power. While it's true that Luke was powerful across the original Star Wars trilogy, the combinations of limited budget and effects, alongside his journey ending in Return of the Jedi, meant that viewers never got to fully see that potential, with his movie story instead eventually continuing decades later.
The Mandalorian helps to bridge that gap. Star Wars Legends (previously the Expanded Universe) featured an all-powerful Luke Skywalker, and while the live-action TV version who saves the day on Disney+ isn't quite up to those almost impossible standards, he is still one of the most gifted Force-wielders to have ever been witnessed.
How Powerful Luke Skywalker is In The Mandalorian Compared To Star Wars Movies
When audiences had last seen Luke (in terms of the timeline) he was defeating Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi, which itself showed just how powerful he had become. After some training in the first two Star Wars movies, by the close of the original trilogy he had become a fully fledged Jedi, clearly strong with the Force and yet still rather young and inexperienced, at times allowing his emotions to get the better of him. He had some Force abilities and prodigious skill with a lightsaber, but nothing that necessarily beat what viewers had already seen from the likes of Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Yoda.
In The Mandalorian season 2 finale, Luke is the most fully powerful audiences have seen him. It is worth remembering that he's facing Dark Troopers rather than, say, a Sith, but it's those same enemies who were about to make short work of skilled combatants such as Din Djarin and Bo-Katan Kryze. And while they likely would have perished against such an army, Luke cuts through them with ease. Compared to the original trilogy, The Mandalorian's version of Luke Skywalker looks far more comfortable and assured in his abilities; the way he uses the lightsaber and the Force to chop down, push around, and even completely crushed his opponents suggest a real level of mastery of the Force and his own innate skills that he hadn't achieved in the original Star Wars movies.
This makes sense, of course, given that Luke has spent the time since Return of the Jedi traversing the galaxy, searching for ancient Jedi and Sith artifacts to give him greater knowledge and understanding of the Force. This is a Luke who, if not in his prime, isn't too far away from it, and has the intention of becoming the next Grandmaster of a rebuilt Jedi Order, and his powers displayed in The Mandalorian fit with that. He may not be quite as powerful yet as Yoda was, but from what is shown he's already at least on, but has arguably even surpassed, the level Anakin was at in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, with a wide range of telekinesis Force powers, great lightsaber skill, and yet combined with a sense of calm assuredness in himself. Much of Luke's post-original trilogy story is still to be fleshed out, but canon stories do fit with this, such as a few years later when he is able to so easily defeat the Knights of Ren in The Rise of Kylo Ren comic books, again displaying similar levels of mastery over the Force and with his lightsaber.
This then continues into the Luke viewers see in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Both portrayals are controversial, and neither is as all-round powerful as the Luke at the point of The Mandalorian, because he was nearing the peak of his powers at that stage. In The Last Jedi, he has been cut off from the Force for several years and his much, much older, but he remains incredibly strong. Indeed, to use Sever Force itself is a great feat (in Legends, it was one of the most powerful attacks), and his Force projection across the galaxy, despite having been separated from it for so long, shows an amazing level of both power and control. Similarly, his return as a Force Ghost who can interact with his surroundings and still display Force powers is something only previously seen with Yoda. The Mandalorian's Luke is very much on his path to achieving these feats and more, because of how complete a Jedi he is and will continue to become. Star Wars myths of the time shortly after the original trilogy even have him pulling a Star Destroyer from the sky at the Battle of Jakku and, while it may not be true, The Mandalorian makes it a little more believable.
How Powerful Luke Is In The Mandalorian Compared To Star Wars Legends
Luke may be more powerful in The Mandalorian than he was in Star Wars movies, but he still has some way to go to match his Legends counterpart. Luke is often said to have been "overpowered" in the old EU's post-Return of the Jedi timeline, which is true to an extent, because he becomes by some distance the greatest, most powerful Jedi to have lived, but that's also at least partially in keeping with what George Lucas intended him to be, as Luke is what Anakin could have been had he not fallen to the dark side, with the same astonishing midi-chlorian count and connection to the Force. In Legends, Luke became one of, if not the greatest duelists of all time, gaining knowledge and use of several different forms of lightsaber combat, which he was able to develop and teach to a new generation of Jedi. He faced Palpatine twice, defeating him in their rematch after only narrowly losing the first encounter, and also learned to fight with two lightsabers, using a shoto blade alongside his green lightsaber in order to defeat Lumiya (one of the most powerful villains in Legends) and her lightwhip. Luke was also a leader in the Yuuzhan Vong War, where on the battlefield he cut down dozens of their Warriors and several Slayers, their most elite fighters, as well, a feat that far surpasses his defeat of the Dark Troopers.
Like his skill with a lightsaber, Luke's Force powers in Star Wars Legends were also incredibly vast, with him displaying a complete mastery that allowed him to utilize a range of rare and unique abilities. These included an almost unprecedented level of telekinesis abilities, giving him control over all of the objects around him, as if being able to freeze time itself. His Force speed paired with his lightsaber combat so that, in battle, he would appear as little but a blur to his opponents, as though he were wielding dozens of lightsabers, while to him time slowed down, allowing him greater reaction time and reflexes. He was also able to not only absorb blaster fire from an AT-AT (giving a reality-based version of what he did as a Force projection), but then push it over using the Force as well. Luke also possessed a range of manipulation abilities that went beyond the Jedi mind trick, including being able to disguise his face and hide spaceships. Later, he was able to walk Beyond shadows, a Force-realm for those who could separate consciousness from body, in order to defeat Ableloth, considered one of the most remarkably powerful Force beings of all time. Luke was also one of the few Jedi to use Oneness, an ability that allowed him to become one with the Force without dying, becoming a pure extension of the light side of the Force.
A lot of these powers have not made it into canon, and many likely wouldn't work on screen because, even by Star Wars' standards, they may be considered too fantastical or, like the old argument for Luke goes, that he would end up seeming overpowered. There's no denying that Legends Luke was incredibly gifted, but what makes Luke in The Mandalorian so interesting is that his astonishing powers there feel like they could believably grow into some of what he achieved in the EU, while also staying true to the great character work of the Star Wars movies, including his downfall and re-emergence in The Last Jedi. The Mandalorian gives viewers the most fully powerful version of Luke Skywalker on screen, and who connects the originals to the sequels, and gives a nod to Legends at the same time, unifying all aspects of Star Wars in just a single scene.