Characters of Star Wars

Darth Vader

Darth Vaders real name is Anakin Skywalker, and he is the father of Luke Skywalker. He is human, even though he is very tall (more than two meters tall), wears a black body-armour and a great part of his body consists of cybernetic parts ("He's more machine now than man" as a famous character once said). As a youngster he was very adventurous, and he later became a pilot for the Old Republic, and there he swiftly rose in rank. He fought in the Clone Wars, by the side of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Bail Organa, and other great warriors. Obi-Wan started training Anakin in the use of the Force, and Anakin showed a great talent for this. Obi-Wan hoped for his apprentice to become a Jedi-knight, and Anakin liked the idea, very much. He was amazed by the immense powers he found in the Force, and the two continued his training for many years.
As it turned out, Anakin was too curious about the Force, and he thought is teacher was too slow in educating him. As he met Senator Palpatine (later to be Emperor Palpatine) he was shown a bit of the miracles there was to find in the dark side of the Force. He saw many advantages in this and what good it would bring him and his pregnant wife Nashira Skywalker. He therefore turned from the side of Obi-Wan, and now became an apprentice of Palpatine. Obi-Wan saw the change and desperately tried to make Anakin come back from the dark side. But his apprentice was allready lost, their argument got more and more intence, and they started fighting. The two were rather evenly matched, but since Obi-Wan had more experience with the Force, and thus was able to push Anakin back, making him fall into a pit of molten lava. To save Anakins life, Obi-Wan managed to get him back up.
Intensive cybernetic surgery was now needed to save Anakin, during wich Obi-Wan took care of Anakins wife Nashira. Palpatine never left the side of his new and powerfull apprentice, and he made sure to use the pain and anger in Anakin, thereby leading him even further on the path to the dark side of the Force. Anakin now became Darth Vader, the dark Lord of Sith, one of the mightiest warriors of the Empire and a symbol of its evil. He now helped Palpatine in his rising to become Emperor by hunting down and killing as many of the other Jedi-knights as he could.
Vader was now put in charge of the mission to seek out and destroy all leaders of the Alliance. This mission got personal for the Dark Lord, since one of these leaders was his son, Luke Skywalker. He, as well as the Emperor, wanted to convert Luke to the dark side, but Luke did not give in to them, forcing the Emperor to kill him. But Darth Vader killed the Emperor in order to save the life of his son, thereby coming back from the dark side by the good still left in him. This did however caused him lethal damage, and his last wish was to see his son with his own eyes, undisturbed by his mask.

C-3PO

This droid has been in service for the Senate for more than a hundred years, and has worked for many of the most important politicians in the galaxy. His work is to translate for the Senate, where many different species cooperate. He is fluent in over six million languages, and was often lent out to different ambassadors. It was during the transport to his new owner (Captain Antilles) that his transport was attacked by the Empire. Fearing to be captured and melt down, he escaped to the planet of Tatooine together with R2D2, wich lead to a long series of adventures. Soon after the landing he did not want to go in the same direction as R2D2, and they separated. Having walked many a mile in the vast deserts he was captured by Jawas, and thereby re-united with his friend, also captured. By pure luck, the two droids were sold to the same person, Owen Lars, and looked after by this mans nephew, Luke Skywalker. C3PO has stayed with Luke Skywalker ever since, and he is of great help to the Alliance, translating imperial messages and more. He is related to R2D2 by his programming, and this has given them a speciall relationship, and this has only been improved by their adventures together, even though they constantly nag on each other.

R2D2

R2-units are very advanced droids, and they have the most diverse tasks. While working on a transport-ship (the Tantive IV), the Empire attacked them, and Princess Leia programmed him to find Obi-Wan Kenobi and give him the secret plans of the first Death Star, stored in his memory, together with a call for help ("Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, your our only hope"). R2D2 managed to get into an escape shuttle, together with C3PO, and was sent to the desert planet of Tatooine. When they had landed R2D2 was very certain of where he wanted to go, but C3PO did not agree with him, and they separated. Both were captured by Jawas, who sold them to Owen Lars. This did not stop R2D2 from fullfilling his task given to him by Leia, he fled from the care of Owens nephew, Luke Skywalker. Luke then had to go find him, when he did he was attacked by sand people, but was saved by Obi-Wan Kenobi. Now that R2D2 had reached his goal and shown his message, he was happy to stay with his new master Obi-Wan. He did not want the droid however, and gave it to Luke. R2D2 has since then followed his master, and helped him out many a time, among other things he is always the R2-unit to go with Luke in his X-wing.

Chewbacca

Chewbacca, or Chewie to his friends, is a Wookie, born on the planet of Kashyyyr. He early showed a great skill as a mechanik, but when he was 80 years old, still young for a wookie, he went out in the galaxy to visit other worlds. During the 60 years he was away he learned a lot, but while he was gone the Empire invaded Kashyyyr, and all wookies were declared as slaves. This meant that everyone who saw a free wookie was allowed to capture it, if he could, and use him as a slave or sell him. Chewie was taken prisoner by a slavesdealer and had to work hard in his service for 30 years. He was saved by a young correlian officer of the imperial forces, Han Solo. Han helped the wookie to his freedom, and Chewies way to thank Han was to stay by his side forever. This took some time for Han to accept, but he got used to the wookie, and they have now become friends for life and both would gladly die for eachother. Chewie is usually the consience and calm of the two, however he cannot be called philosophic (it was for instance the wookie who made Han turn back and help his friends in the battle of Yavin. He has a bad temper, and is known for ripping droids apart after losing to them in holographic chess or cardgames, but is also known for putting other, severly damaged droids together. He usually leaves what he cannot rip or shoot apart alone. When it comes to fighting his favourite weapon is the crossbow or his fists, both often causing a lot of damage to the target.

Owen and Beru Lars

Owen Lars and his brother Obi-Wan Kenobi grew up together, but Owen was not as adventurous as his brother. When Owen left home he started a new life together with his wife Beru Weth, and they started a moisture farm on the planet of Tatooine since that was far away from everybody they knew. Many years later Obi-Wan came to them with a small child named Luke Skywalker, and asked them to take care of it. Owen did not like this, but Beru felt sorry for the child and convinced Owen, and they raised Luke as their own child. They told the neighbours he was an orphan, that his mother had died in a terrible accident, and it was their care that made him the strong, and selfconfident person he now is. Both Owen and Beru died when the Empire atacked their home in search for the two droids they had just bought from the Jawas (R2D2 and C3PO).

Princess Leia Organa

Since Leia was taken from her real home by Obi-Wan at an early age she does not remember much about her parents, she told herself that they died and Bail Organa took care of her. The real story was that Obi-Wan took her to his friend Bail Organa and his wife after Leias father Anakin Skywalker had turned to the dark side of the Force and become Darth Vader. Since Bail Organa was of noble birth, Leia got the best of educations She became a skilled leader, and the youngest of the members of the Imperial Senate, where she fought for reforms, but her fights were in vain, and she later came to work for the Rebellion. Leia is a woman with a strong will, and she often knows what has to be done. It was Bail Organa who gave her the mission she was on when she was attacked by the Empire in the beginning of Star Wars: A new hope. She was trying to get to bring the secret plans of the first Death Star to the Rebellion, but her transport ship was borded by an Imperial Stardestroyer, and she programmed R2D2 with the plans and sent him to find Obi-Wan.

Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi

Obi-Wan started to study the mysteries if the Force early in life, and he was educated by Yoda, a Jedi-master, and thereby increased his allready great inner strength. He fought for the Old Republic in the Clone Wars, together with Bail Organa and Anakin Skywalker, and rose in ranks. It was during these battles that Obi-Wan discovered Anakins interest for the Force. He offered to teach Anakin what he knew about the ways of the Force, but this was harder than he had expected, and Anakin was to eager to learn more, this led to Anakins fall to the dark side of the Force. When Obi-Wan discovered this he tried to turn him back to the right path, but it was too late, and the former friends started fighting. The fight was long and hard, but since Obi-Wan had more experience with the Force, he managed to push Anakin into a molten pit. Obi-Wan knew this would cause Anakins new teacher, Palpatine to want revenge. He therefore hurried to take care of Anakins family, he sent the daughter to Bail Organa on Alderaan, and the son to his brother Beru Lars on Tatooine. In order to stay close to Luke Skywalker Obi-Wan also hid on Tatooine, under the name "Ben", when the Emperor started killing all the Jedi-knights in the galaxy together with Dart Vader. Most people on Tatooine came to think of "Old Ben" as a strange old man, who sometimes helped people who were attacked by the Sandpeople, for instance he saved Luke from them when R2D2 had run away to find Obi-Wan. He also later gave his life in a fight with his old apprentice Darth Vader ("Now I am the master"), in order to give Luke time to escape. Even after his death, he helped Luke by advising, and encouraging him. He then showed as a ghostly, glowing figure, as did Yoda and Anakin Skywalker after their deaths.

Back to the first page
Sounds of Star Wars
Vehicles of Star Wars