The Skywalkers are the foundation of the Star Wars films. In fact, the majority of films--the entirety of the original trilogy, prequel trilogy and sequel trilogy--are all part of the Skywalker saga.
Much of the original trilogy's greatness stemmed from Luke Skywalker, his sister Leia, and their father Anakin Skywalker as Darth Vader. The prequel trilogy offered more insight into the Skywalker family's past as it followed Anakin's journey to becoming Darth Vader.
The sequel trilogy has enriched the story of the Skywalker family even more with an older Luke, Leia, and her son Ben Solo--or Kylo Ren as most call him. Even outside the Skywalker saga the family's presence persists, such as Darth Vader's scene-stealing performance in Rogue One.
As beloved and richly developed as they may be, a number of inconsistencies and question marks still surround the Skywalker family. Some of these issues were created by the ever-expanding stories constantly added to the Star Wars universe while others have existed for many years. Others, especially those related to the still fairly new sequel trilogy, may be answered in time. After all, fans debated certain plot holes in the original Star Wars movie for forty years before they were addressed in Rogue One. As of now, though, there are still plenty of head-scratching elements surrounding the Skywalkers.
Let's take a look at 20 Things That Make No Sense About The Skywalker Family.
Anakin's Birth
The prequel trilogy introduced fans to Anakin's mother Shmi Skywalker. Her compassion and inner strength influenced Anakin in many positive ways, but her demise helped spark the darkness within her son. Anakin's father, on the other hand, remained a mystery in the films. Qui-Gon Jinn asks Shmi about Anakin's father in The Phantom Menace. Shmi tells Qui-Gon "There was no father. I carried him, I gave birth, I raised him. I can't explain what happened."
Using Shmi's dialogue, along with other information in the Star Wars universe, many fans interpreted this as Shmi essentially having a miraculous birth. The idea is that Anakin was conceived by the Force in order to become the Chosen One and bring balance to the Force as prophesied.
The novel Darth Plagueis suggests that Anakin's lack of father is the product of Plagueis' experiments. The Force intervened against the Sith's dark experiments and created Anakin, choosing the humble yet strong Shmi as a host for his birth.
The Darth Plagueis novel is no longer canon, though, so this explanation no longer works. The novel remains among some of the most popular works from the Expanded Universe, so there is a chance some elements of it, including Anakin's birth, will return to canon one day. For now, however, it's still unclear how exactly Anakin was born in the first place.
Anakin's Obvious Secret
Anakin's marriage to Padmé is supposed to be a secret. In order to remain a Jedi, the secret must be kept at all costs, and no one other than wedding attendees C-3PO and R2-D2 are supposed to know the truth.
The problem is that Anakin and Padmé aren't exactly subtle about it. They are frequently seen together in Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, The Clone Wars movie and television show. Of course, being seen together doesn't equate to marriage. The way they interact with each other is the giveaway, though. They're either too intimate and emotional, or they try to exude such a cold and professional demeanor to the point that it's obvious they're trying way too hard.
Anakin gets emotional about Padmé in a way he doesn't about anyone or anything else.
Perhaps an ordinary person would miss all the signs, but it strains plausibility to accept that the Jedi Council was completely oblivious to the truth of Anakin and Padmé's relationship. They are Force-sensitive and read people better than they can read themselves. They knew how Anakin operated and how he had felt about Padmé in the past. If nothing else, it seems unlikely that they didn't even know the two of them lived together.
The Star Wars: Forces of Destiny episode "Unexpected Company" shows that Ahsoka Tano figured out the truth about Anakin and Padmé when she was Anakin's apprentice. Ahsoka was always gifted, insightful and understood Anakin better than most. Obi-Wan seemed to suspect it, but didn't act on his suspicions, nor did he see the full picture until the end. Regardless, the likes of Yoda and Mace Windu should've been able to realize it as well. Even someone who wasn't a Jedi like Senator Bail Organa could've figured it out. If he only turned around and stopped talking after speaking with Anakin in Revenge of the Sith, he would've seen Anakin running towards Padmé, embracing and kissing her.
It's possible but still dubious that the Jedi Council, especially Obi-Wan given his relationships and understanding of both Anakin and Padmé, knew the truth but essentially chose not to deal with it. With that same hubris Luke Skywalker would later tell Rey plagued the Jedi Order and allowed Darth Sidious to rise to power, the Jedi Council could've turned a blind eye to the marriage as they relied heavily on Anakin as one of their most skilled Jedi, his future as the Chosen One, and his unique connection to Chancellor Palpatine.
The Diplomatic Mission Lie
When Darth Vader and his Stormtroopers board the Tantive IV at the beginning of A New Hope, both Leia and Captain Raymus Antilles are adamant that they have no knowledge of the Death Star plans. They insist that the Tantive IV is a counselor ship on a diplomatic mission.
The issue with this lie is that Vader saw the Tantive IV flying away with the Death Star plans at the end of Rogue One. In his pursuit to retrieve the stolen Death Star plans, Vader took out numerous rebels in Rogue One's iconic hallway scene before one of them slipped onto the Tantive IV with said plans. Leia and Captain Antilles can be admired for boldly defying the terrifying Vader. They probably should've tried to come up with a better lie, though, one that wouldn't contradict what had occurred only minutes ago.
Rogue One enhanced the Star Wars universe in countless ways and even filled in plot holes from A New Hope. The way in which Rogue One's ending directly leads into A New Hope is epic to behold. Yet, the contradiction of the diplomatic mission lie is one way that Rogue One created a new plot hole for A New Hope.
A Failed Interrogation
As a captive aboard the Death Star, Leia is interrogated in the hopes that she will reveal the Rebel Alliance's hidden base. Darth Vader himself conducts the interrogation. Leia resists the mind probe droid and doesn't give up the Rebellion's secret base on Yavin 4. Leia's strength with the Force surely helped her in the situation. Training she received as a crucial member of the Rebel Alliance, and as royalty and a politician also must've prepared her to withstand such interrogation.
It doesn't make sense that Darth Vader could walk away from this interrogation not realizing Leia was his daughter, or at the very least that she was Force-sensitive.
Vader is too powerful in the Force to be completely ignorant of both these facts. Leia's unique resistance to the mind probe droid, something that Jedi were actually trained to do, should have been a gigantic hint that Leia was Force-sensitive.
It's also hard to accept that Vader couldn't recognize that Leia was Force-sensitive considering that he trained the Inquisitors. One of the purposes of the Inquisitors was to locate Force-sensitive children so they couldn't be used against the Empire, yet the individual who trained them couldn't realize that the woman he was interrogating was Force-sensitive.
Scared Of Sand
Darth Vader doesn't realize until the original trilogy that his children survived and didn't perish along with their mother. This explains why he doesn't search for them in the time period between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.
Vader still had plenty to search for, though, including his former master and Order 66 survivor Obi-Wan Kenobi. Tatooine seems like a logical place to search considering how the pasts of both Vader and Obi-Wan are linked to Tatooine. Fans joke that Vader didn't return to Tatooine because of his hatred for sand, just as Anakin told Padmé in one of the most frequently mocked lines from Attack of the Clones. Amusing as it may be, it doesn't suffice as an explanation for why Vader didn't go to Tatooine.
Even when it's clear at the beginning of A New Hope that Leia hid the Death Star plans via the droids in the escape pod, which descended to the surface of Tatooine, Vader doesn't go personally to find the all-important plans and instead sends troops to do the dirty work. It's as if Vader wanted to avoid Tatooine at all costs. His aversion probably has more to do with the painful memories it holds than the sand itself, but it seems like retrieving the Death Star plans himself should take precedence, especially considering what they meant to Emperor Palpatine.
The comics reveal that Vader didn't return to Tatooine until after A New Hope when the Emperor ordered him to go there to negotiate with Jabba the Hutt regarding resources the Empire needed in the wake of the Death Star's destruction.
Painful memories and sand aside, Vader was too powerful and fearless an individual to avoid returning to Tatooine until his master explicitly commanded it.
No Fake Name?
Under no circumstances could Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, or anyone in the Empire learn that the children of Anakin Skywalker lived. That's exactly why Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Bail Organa devised a plan at the end of Revenge of the Sith to keep the existences of Luke and Leia secret.
Raised by Bail and Breha Organa, the senator and queen power couple of Alderaan that always wanted a child made a lot of sense. They'd love and care for Leia, make sure all her needs were met, and she could grow up with the name Organa. Sending Luke to Owen and Beru Lars was already a riskier move since Vader could remember his stepbrother and his wife, and that they likely still lived on Tatooine. With Obi-Wan watching over Luke from afar as well the decision could be justified.
Even so, that doesn't explain why anyone would think it's a good idea for Luke to grow up with the last name Skywalker. If Vader or anyone from the Empire ever caught wind of that name, Luke's secret would be out. It wouldn't have been difficult at all to give Luke another name, one that doesn't threaten to undo all the efforts made to keep him alive and hidden.
In fact, it is Luke's Skywalker name that allows Vader to learn that he has a son in the first place.
Barely Grieving
Luke loses a lot of people that are important to him in A New Hope. Uncle Owen, Aunt Beru, Obi-Wan, and Biggs Darklighter are all terminated by the Empire in the film. That amount of loss in such a short period of time is difficult to process, especially for a compassionate person like Luke who ultimately puts the needs of his family and friends ahead of everything else.
Luke barely grieves over any of them in A New Hope, though. Moments after seeing the end of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, he hurries back to Obi-Wan, says he wants to be a Jedi, and doesn't even mention them again for the rest of the movie.
Obi-Wan's demise elicits the most response from Luke as he cries out, starts shooting at Stormtroopers, and then briefly sits in a grief-stricken daze aboard the Millennium Falcon.
It doesn't last long as he quickly proceeds to gleefully blowing up TIE fighters. The end of Biggs provides even less of a reaction from Luke than it did with Owen, Beru, and Obi-Wan. Drawn-out scenes of mourning would've clashed with the pacing and tone of A New Hope, but it still seems like there should've been at least a little more of Luke grieving for his loved ones, particularly since he's proven to be a character largely driven by compassion for the people he loves.
Never Acknowledging The Odd Kiss
Long before George R.R. Martin gave the world Cersei and Jaime Lannister, popular culture's definitive awkward romance was Luke and Leia. There are a lot of romantic feelings between them in A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, especially when they kiss. All romance between them is gone in Return of the Jedi, the same film where they both discover they're siblings. They maintain a close, strictly platonic relationship from Return of the Jedi and onward.
They never do acknowledge the kiss from The Empire Strikes Back, or any of the romance in their early years of knowing each other. It seems like something they should've addressed at some point, if only to help with the process of fully moving on with their lives. The kiss in particular is probably something they want to leave firmly in the past and forget about if possible. At the same time, it seems even more awkward to maintain a close relationship without ever acknowledging and working through arguably the most embarrassing moments of their past.
Failing to reconcile with the past has caused trouble for the Skywalkers before, just as Leia never telling her son that Darth Vader was his grandfather would later contribute to his transformation into Kylo Ren. Luke goes into self-imposed exile and Ben Solo becomes Kylo Ren because of their difficulty to deal with the past, and Luke and Leia refusing to acknowledge their past romance is just as harmful.
Luke's Exponential Power Growth
Luke learns a great deal from Yoda during his training on Dagobah. He's still shown to be a novice in certain ways with the Force and as a Jedi, though, especially in his duel against Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back. Roughly a year passes between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. It's made clear in Return of the Jedi that Luke's reunion with Yoda is the first time he's returned since rushing off to save his friends during The Empire Strikes Back.
All this information makes it unclear how Luke becomes a much more powerful and confident Jedi between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. He didn't receive any further training from Yoda in that time period. It doesn't seem like Obi-Wan's Force ghost was helping him out either. Luke's conversation with Obi-Wan's Force ghost in Return of the Jedi suggests that he and Luke haven't spoken since Darth Vader claimed to be Luke's father. There's a fan theory that Ahsoka could've met Luke during this time period and provided him with the training necessary to make such significant gains, but it's just a theory at this point.
There's a certain degree of training and discipline Luke could've achieved all on his own. Obi-Wan and Yoda provided a solid foundation of training. That foundation mixed with Luke's raw talents and abilities and a newfound sense of discipline and purpose following The Empire Strikes Back could've provided him with what he needed to progress as a Jedi. He's become a bit too powerful and advanced to have received no training in this time period, though. Unless the Ahsoka theory becomes true, Luke's exponential growth in power and confidence doesn't make much sense.
Luke's Green Lightsaber
Along with his accelerated growth with the Force, Luke also has a brand new green lightsaber by the time of Return of the Jedi. Luke needed a new lightsaber after the previous blue one, originally belonging to his father, plummeted into the depths of Bespin along with his severed hand. How Luke acquired his green lightsaber is not so straightforward, even with the Return of the Jedi deleted scene that shows him finishing its construction on Tatooine.
A kyber crystal is needed to power a lightsaber. They were never easy to acquire in the first place, but they would be even more challenging to find in the time period between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
Jedi younglings used to go to the planet Ilum to undergo the rite of passage known as the Gathering where they found and harvested the kyber crystals that would power their lightsabers. The Empire drained Ilum of all its kyber crystals as they needed the unique resource to power the Death Star's superweapon. On Jedha and many other planets throughout the galaxy, the Empire also drained them dry of their kyber crystals in order to make the Death Star's superweapon a reality.
This means that by the period in between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, it would be incredibly difficult for Luke to locate a kyber crystal. Even if he did, he probably wouldn't know how to construct a lightsaber. His previous lightsaber was built long ago. Neither Obi-Wan nor Yoda taught him how to make one and Luke didn't have the sacred Jedi texts that he would later acquire, texts which will likely show Rey how to construct a lightsaber.
Leia Remembering Her Mother
In Return of the Jedi, Luke asks Leia if she remembers her real mother. Leia says her mother passed away when she was very young but she can remember some images and feelings. She recalls that her mother was beautiful, kind, but sad. Luke says he has no memory of his mother.
Leia shouldn't have any memory of their mother either. In Revenge of the Sith, Padmé passes away very shortly after giving birth to Luke and Leia. Both children have proven their strength in the Force countless times, but no amount of Force-sensitivity can explain how Leia could retain all those memories of her mother only moments after being born. Leia was also born after Luke, meaning she had even less time to make those memories in the first place.
Even if someone can argue that Leia could remember her mother only moments after coming into the universe, it's still difficult to imagine a baby gleaning those defining traits of beauty, kindness, and sadness. All those traits are true of Padmé by the time Luke and Leia were born, but are not things Leia could realistically process and remember.
Like her brother Luke, Leia also shouldn't have any memory of their mother.
Vader Ignores The Rule Of Two
The Sith are governed by the Rule of Two. The concept is that there are never more than two Sith Lords at a time, a master and an apprentice. It is because of this very rule that Palpatine had Anakin slay Count Dooku in Revenge of the Sith. Dooku and Anakin could not both be Palpatine's apprentices. There could only be one.
Palpatine is crystal clear in Return of the Jedi about turning Luke to the dark side and making the young Skywalker his new apprentice. History is repeating itself, only this time instead of Dooku being eliminated for the replacement of young Anakin, the older Skywalker is being pushed out for the younger one. Vader surely must have remembered this, but he still does everything in his power to bring Luke to his master and force his son to embrace the dark side--until his ultimate, game-changing decision to save Luke and defy his master.
The only explanation is that Vader was so steeped in the ways of the dark side and his longtime dynamic with Palpatine that he felt he had to obey his master, even if it meant an end to his own life and power.
The problem with that is Vader is shown to be too resourceful and too much of a constant survivor to just obey Palpatine even if it meant the end of Vader himself.
The Chosen One
The prequel trilogy established the prophecy of the Chosen One, foretelling of one who would bring balance to the Force. Qui-Gon Jinn believed Anakin Skywalker to be the Chosen One, as did many others. Anakin's journey to becoming Darth Vader would suggest otherwise, but his ultimate decision in the original trilogy to defeat Palpatine and save Luke made it seem like Anakin eventually did bring balance to the Force. He was the Chosen One all along, just with a trajectory no one could have anticipated.
This idea has been challenged by recent films, books, and television shows. It began with Obi-Wan telling Maul in Star Wars Rebels that Luke is the Chosen One. This doesn't definitively mean Luke is the true Chosen One, only that it's what Obi-Wan believed at the time considering Anakin's fall to the dark side and the potential that Luke represented.
One of the stories in the book From A Certain Point of View revealed that Yoda didn't want to train Luke in the first place. He actually wanted to train Leia and believed she was the Chosen One. The sequel trilogy brings the Skywalker family's Chosen One status into further question as Luke thought his nephew Ben Solo was actually the Chosen One. Others argue that it is Rey. At this point, every Skywalker other than Shmi has been pegged as the Chosen One. It's very convoluted who the prophesied individual is and if it's a Skywalker at all.
Anakin's Force Ghost
It's a beautiful moment at the end of Return of the Jedi when Luke sees the Force ghosts of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and his father. All were instrumental in Luke's journey as a Jedi in the original trilogy. In order to create more continuity with the prequel trilogy, George Lucas made some changes to the original trilogy. Few of these changes sat well with the fans, but the most maligned is probably the decision to digitally add Hayden Christensen in as Anakin's Force ghost. This was a replacement for Sebastian Shaw playing Anakin's Force ghost, even though Shaw also played Anakin when Luke took off his father's helmet.
This change doesn't make sense as Luke wouldn't recognize this significantly younger version of his father. Obi-Wan's Force ghost appears as the older version Luke knew, the one played by Alec Guinness, not the younger version played by Ewan McGregor.
Instead of creating further continuity within the universe, Lucas created more inconsistencies with a young Force ghost of Anakin and an older Force ghost of Obi-Wan. They appear at the end of Return of the Jedi for Luke, and appearing in an unrecognizable form just doesn't work. It takes fans out of the scene in what was originally a perfectly beautiful moment.
How Maz Acquired The Skywalker Lightsaber
The blue Skywalker lightsaber has played an integral role throughout the prequel, original, and sequel trilogies. First belonging to Anakin during The Clone Wars and Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan later passed down the lightsaber to Luke in A New Hope. Luke wielded it until Darth Vader cut off his son's hand in The Empire Strikes Back, and sent both hand and lightsaber sailing into the depths of Bespin.
It resurfaced in The Force Awakens when Rey found the lightsaber tucked inside a chest within Maz Kanata's castle on Takodana. The lightsaber provides some wonderful connective tissue between all eras of the Skywalker saga, but it's unclear how Maz acquired it in the first place. When asked how she got the lightsaber Maz says "A good question, for another time." Eventually the story of how Maz acquired the legendary lightsaber will probably be answered. If Episode IX doesn't reveal the answer, a canon novel, comic, or video game will likely tell the story.
As of right now, Maz's answer feels like a cop out. It was decided the lightsaber needed to return, and the important details of how have been skated over.
There's a fan theory that Lando Calrissian found the lightsaber on Bespin and gave it to Maz. Until that theory is proven or another explanation is provided, it doesn't make much sense how Maz has had the lightsaber for so long.
Kylo's Hair
It's a bit of a jarring moment when Kylo Ren takes off his mask for the first time in The Force Awakens. When Kylo says Rey wants to end him she replies, "That's what happens when you're being hunted by a creature in a mask." Before Kylo removes the mask, he mostly comes off as a ruthless, if petulant creature in a mask. The moment where he reveals his face presents a kind of humanity that neither Rey nor the audience expected. He's not a mechanical monster or Vader 2.0. Unlike Vader he doesn't need the mask or helmet.
This revelation and Adam Driver's brilliant acting exudes a palpable sense of youthful desperation. Kylo hungers for the answers that he thinks will solve his inner conflict. The only problem with this wonderfully executed moment is that Kylo has perfectly groomed hair when he takes off the mask and helmet. It's not that he can't have that luxurious hair, but it shouldn't look that perfect after wearing a helmet and mask for the entirety of the movie.
Skywalkers are skilled in many ways, but even they shouldn't be able to maintain perfect hair after wearing a helmet for an extended duration of time.
Kylo Forgets Some Of His Abilities
Kylo Ren proved himself a formidable Force-user in The Force Awakens. He stopped Poe Dameron's blaster bolts midair and probed into the pilot's mind. On Takodana, he froze Rey in place so she couldn't shoot at him. Upon realizing she'd seen the portion of the map that BB-8 carried, he made Rey unconscious and took her back to his ship.
When Kylo and Rey dueled later on Starkiller Base, he seems to have forgotten how to use some of these abilities. At no point during their fight does he use the Force to immobilize Rey or make her unconscious. Using either of these abilities could've ended the fight quickly and would've been practical when Kylo was as physically close to Rey as in the picture above.
The shot from Chewbacca's bowcaster definitely made Kylo weaker, as did the emotional weight of patricide. Kylo was not at full strength and this turned to Rey's advantage. The injury from the bowcaster and emotional anguish doesn't mean he should forget his Force abilities, though, especially when the ones that would've ended the fight quickly were used against Rey earlier in the movie.
Rey's natural talent with a lightsaber might not even have mattered in the end if Kylo had just used abilities he was already established to have in order to expedite an end to the fight.
Kylo's Scar
Kylo Ren will always carry the internal scar of slaying his father Han Solo in The Force Awakens. The movie also leaves him with a physical scar on his face, courtesy of Rey as she defeated him in lightsaber combat. When the first trailer for The Last Jedi was released, fans noticed that Kylo's scar had changed. The scar ran up the bridge of his nose in The Force Awakens, but had changed position for The Last Jedi. Rian Johnson eventually disclosed to fans that the position of the scar changed because "it honestly looked goofy running straight up the bridge of his nose."
Johnson may be right. With all the crucial Kylo moments in The Last Jedi, fans couldn't afford to be distracted by a potentially goofy looking scar, especially in some of the more dramatic scenes in Snoke's throne room and on Crait. That doesn't change the fact that there's no in-universe explanation for Kylo's scar magically moving in between films.
In a universe where even little things like Lando Calrissian's pronunciation of Han's name in The Empire Strikes Back is explained in Solo, it wouldn't be shocking if there one day is an in-universe explanation for the movement of Kylo Ren's scar.
Luke Choosing Ahch-To
It's revealed in The Last Jedi that Luke has cut himself off from the Force. This is why he didn't sense Han's demise in The Force Awakens or any of the other recent galaxy-altering events. Luke's decision makes sense given what happened with his nephew and other Jedi students. It's more than enough to evolve Luke's belief in himself, the Force, and the Jedi.
What doesn't make sense is why Luke would choose Ahch-To for his self-imposed exile as he cuts himself off from the Force. Ahch-To is the birthplace of the Jedi Order and home to the sacred Jedi texts. A place so strongly tied to the Force and the Jedi seems counterintuitive to Luke isolating himself from the Force.
It's like an alcoholic choosing to go to a fully stocked bar in order to cut themselves off from alcohol.
One might argue that Luke went there with the intent to truly end the Jedi Order by destroying the sacred Jedi texts, something he'd tried to do even before Rey showed up on Ahch-To at the end of The Force Awakens. Even so, the very nature of Ahch-To's past and present would constantly challenge Luke's mission to cut himself off from the Force.
Kylo's Line About The Sith
After working together to defeat Supreme Leader Snoke and his Praetorian Guard in The Last Jedi, Kylo tells Rey they need to let old things end. According to Kylo this includes "Snoke, Skywalker. The Sith, the Jedi, the Rebels." Why Kylo believes these people or things should end makes sense given his character development.
What doesn't make sense is Kylo including the Sith in this line. J. J. Abrams confirmed before The Force Awakens that neither Kylo nor Supreme Leader Snoke were Sith. Unless there are Sith in the galaxy that fans don't know about, the Sith are already gone when Kylo says this line. Snoke is also mentioned in the line and he's been taken out by this point, but only mere moments ago. It's a different story with the Sith who have presumably been gone since the demises of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi.
There's a possibility--albeit a very unlikely one--that some hitherto unknown Sith will be introduced in Episode IX. The Knights of Ren will almost definitely be in Episode IX, but they are different than the Sith. Ultimately, Kylo's inclusion of the Sith in this line doesn't make much sense. It seems like he just lumped the Sith into other old people or things he wants gone.
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What do you think makes no sense about the Skywalker family? Let us know in the comments!