Curated category
Star Wars literary characters
- Obi-Wan KenobiOn the ice planet Hoth, a young Luke Skywalker hears the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi. The Jedi Master instructs him to travel to Dagobah to find Yoda.
- Luke SkywalkerLuke Skywalker first appeared on screen in 1977, a teenager from a desert planet who wanted nothing more than to leave home.
- R2-D2George Lucas watched Akira Kurosawa's 1958 film The Hidden Fortress and saw a peasant character named Matashichi. That small, round figure became the visual…
- Mara JadeTimothy Zahn introduced Mara Jade in the 1991 novel Heir to the Empire. He wanted a strong female character who lacked the usual Star Wars tropes of the time.
- Darth VaderDarth Vader first appeared in 1977, and the question George Lucas put before his production team was deceptively simple: how do you make a villain feel like…
- C-3PORalph McQuarrie painted a golden humanoid figure in 1976 that drew directly from the female robot in Fritz Lang's 1927 film Metropolis.
- Princess LeiaGeorge Lucas wrote and refined the Star Wars screenplay over several years, changing Princess Leia's identity multiple times before settling on her final…
- PalpatineSheev Palpatine is the main antagonist of the Star Wars franchise, a character so carefully constructed that his first name did not appear on screen until…
- Grand Admiral ThrawnTimothy Zahn introduced Grand Admiral Thrawn in the 1991 novel Heir to the Empire. This book marked the first appearance of an alien military leader within…
- Han SoloHan Solo made his first appearance not on screen but on the page, in the novelization of Star Wars published in 1976, a full year before audiences saw him…
- Jacen SoloJacen Solo begins his fictional life as one of a pair of unnamed twins Leia Organa Solo is carrying in the 1991 novel Heir to the Empire.
- Darth MaulDarth Maul arrived on screen in 1999 with a face that concept artist Iain McCaig described as what you would see if you stripped the flesh off your own face…
- Lando CalrissianGeorge Lucas began writing The Empire Strikes Back in 1978 with a specific character type in mind. He wanted a gambler who would serve as a foil to the rough…
- Padmé AmidalaPadmé Amidala enters the Star Wars universe as the teenage queen of Naboo, a planet under military occupation. She is fourteen years old, recently elected…