Luuke Skywalker

Luuke Skywalker's genesis began with cells extracted from the severed hand of Luke Skywalker, an appendage lost, along with Skywalker's lightsaber, during his duel against Darth Vader, the Dark Lord, on Cloud City in 3 ABY. An Ugnaught by the name of Groggin discovered the hand and lightsaber amidst scrap in Cloud City's Smelting Core D, intending to melt the lightsaber down for its metal content. However, Vader intervened, seizing both the severed hand and lightsaber as trophies for Galactic Emperor Palpatine. As Vader prepared to depart Cloud City aboard his shuttle, he briefly considered creating a clone of Skywalker from the severed hand to serve as his personal apprentice. Palpatine, however, uncovered Vader's scheme and commanded him to deliver Skywalker's severed hand and lightsaber to his private repository at Mount Tantiss on Wayland. Vader personally presented the hand and lightsaber to Palpatine, where they were incorporated into the Emperor's collection.

Six years later, Grand Admiral Thrawn, having returned from the Unknown Regions to lead a campaign aimed at crushing the New Republic and restoring the Empire, forged an alliance with the Guardian of Mount Tantiss, a Jedi clone named Joruus C'baoth who suffered from madness. Employing a mind trick, C'baoth directed Thrawn's subordinate, Captain Gilad Pellaeon, to secretly generate a clone for him within Mount Tantiss's cloning facilities, utilizing sample B-2332-54, the designated code for Luke Skywalker's severed hand. C'baoth then erased the order from Pellaeon's memory to ensure that the captain would never disclose it to Thrawn.

The clone who would later be known as Luuke Skywalker was cultivated in a Spaarti cloning cylinder in less than a month, received training to master the Jedi arts, and was ultimately placed under C'baoth's complete dominion.

The clone's capabilities were soon put to the test when C'baoth summoned him to the Emperor's throne room on Mount Tantiss, a location recently infiltrated by the original Luke Skywalker, now a Jedi Knight, aided by Mara Jade, a former Emperor's Hand. Upon realizing his inability to sway Skywalker to the dark side, C'baoth incapacitated Jade with Force lightning and introduced the clone. At C'baoth's command, the clone, clad in a brown robe and partially obscured by the light of a nearby hologram, detached a lightsaber from his belt and advanced toward Skywalker and Jade. The lightsaber wielded by the clone was Skywalker's original weapon, recovered from Cloud City and stored at Mount Tantiss alongside his hand. The clone's presence generated a buzzing pressure within Skywalker's mind, accompanied by a disconcerting sense of familiarity. Skywalker was immediately reminded of his encounter in the Dark Side Cave on Dagobah with the Dark Spirit, a Force manifestation of himself that he had dueled, and the clone Luuke finally revealed his face to the Jedi. Skywalker's mind froze in shock as he gazed upon a face that was his own, the buzzing pressure in his mind continuing to grow. C'baoth disclosed the clone's origins and claimed that whichever Skywalker defeated the other would be the one to serve him.

Taking Skywalker by surprise, the clone activated his lightsaber and launched an aggressive assault, aiming his blade toward Skywalker's chest. As Skywalker attempted to block with his own lightsaber, the force of the clone's attack nearly threw the Jedi off balance. When Skywalker retreated to a raised guard platform at the lower level of the throne room, the clone followed through with a lightsaber throw, which sliced halfway through the platform, causing Skywalker to perform an unsuccessful backflip onto the ground. The clone retrieved his lightsaber and once more engaged Skywalker. He hurled his lightsaber at Skywalker when the Jedi leaped up to a nearby catwalk. The saber barely missed Skywalker but sliced through most of the catwalk and the support struts holding it to the ceiling. Skywalker attempted to Force-pull the clone's falling lightsaber to himself but was thwarted by C'baoth, who stopped the lightsaber in midair and insisted that the duel be fought fairly. The clone had been standing still the whole time, knowing precisely what his master was doing. Skywalker threw his own lightsaber at the clone's, intending to destroy the clone's weapon. However, C'baoth intervened once again and threw an object at Skywalker, which caused the Jedi to miss and lose his mental grip on the clone's lightsaber. The clone recovered his lightsaber and raised it to an en guard position as a weary Skywalker prepared to continue the duel.

Leia Organa Solo, Skywalker's sister, along with her husband, Han Solo, and the smuggler Talon Karrde, entered the throne room during the battle. An attack from C'baoth left Organa Solo incapacitated, prompting Skywalker to aggressively attack his clone in a bid to finish the duel quickly and save his sister. The clone Luuke fell back before the onslaught, barely being able to block Skywalker's blows. The clone then retreated up a set of stairs to his master's side while Skywalker seemingly pursued him. Skywalker, however, switched his lightsaber off and attempted to bargain his own life with C'baoth for those of his comrades. As C'baoth conversed with Skywalker and Jade, the clone reignited his lightsaber and leaped toward Skywalker, who ignited his own weapon just in time to parry the clone's aerial attack. The clone drove Skywalker off the stairway and onto the floor below, and the two continued their fight on the lower level until Skywalker leaped back up to the main floor with the clone in pursuit. The clone then attacked Skywalker with vicious horizontal thrusts, slowly backing the Jedi against a wall. Jade managed to recover Organa Solo's lightsaber while C'baoth was distracted and charged at Skywalker's clone. The clone was aware of Jade's imminent attack but decided to take a gamble and finish off Skywalker first. As the clone swung his lightsaber for a finishing blow, Skywalker ducked, causing the clone's lightsaber to slice through a viewscreen mounted on the rock wall behind Skywalker. The electronic components of the viewscreen exploded in the clone's face, and he shrieked, staggering backward. Dazed and angry, the clone raised his lightsaber in attack toward Jade. The former Emperor's Hand ducked and struck the clone with a killing strike, thus fulfilling the last command given to her by Palpatine: to kill Luke Skywalker.

The death of Luuke Skywalker, the clone, triggered a violent outburst from the deranged Joruus C'baoth. Mara Jade, with the assistance of Luke Skywalker, who experienced immediate relief from the mental pressure after his clone's demise, was compelled to slay the insane Dark Jedi. Following the duel, Skywalker gifted Jade the clone's lightsaber, his own original weapon. Skywalker remained haunted by his duel with the clone, enduring several sleepless nights. He documented his experience with the clone in a personal datapad journal, written several days after the confrontation, expressing his fears about his future and the unease it caused him. Skywalker compared the clone to the spirit he battled on Dagobah, noting that both adversaries possessed his strengths and weaknesses and were his equals in almost every way. Skywalker was disturbed at the thought that a nearly exact duplicate of himself could become, in his mind, evil. Skywalker continually wondered if the same potential was present in himself and whether one day he could fall to the dark side.

In physical terms, Luuke Skywalker was a precise replica of Luke Skywalker. However, mentally, he functioned as little more than a mindless automaton, an extension of Joruus C'baoth's will. The clone was created as a tool for C'baoth's use, and he executed the insane Dark Jedi's every command without hesitation. Devoid of any sense of individuality, the clone exhibited no discernible emotion until the conclusion of his fight with Skywalker, when he shrieked and attacked Mara Jade in a fit of rage after a viewscreen exploded in his face. Skywalker regarded the clone as thoroughly evil, a distorted and perverse version of himself.

Luuke Skywalker possessed a level of proficiency in both Force application and lightsaber dueling comparable to that of the original Luke Skywalker. During their duel at Mount Tantiss, Skywalker found himself consistently matched by the clone. Their abilities were nearly identical, although the clone's presence generated a mental pressure within Skywalker, providing the clone with a slight advantage. The clone's lightsaber techniques involved aggressive and forceful thrusts, and he demonstrated the ability to synchronize his actions with C'baoth's mind, enabling him to execute C’baoth’s will instantaneously. The clone was skilled in various telekinetic Force techniques, including Force jumping, pulling, and lightsaber throwing.

Luuke Skywalker was conceived by Timothy Zahn in 1993 for The Last Command, the concluding novel in the Thrawn Trilogy. His backstory was further developed in The Last Command Sourcebook, authored by Eric S. Trautmann and published in 1994. The clone later appeared in the final issue of The Last Command comic book adaptation in 1998.

A minor inconsistency exists regarding the circumstances of the clone's death. The Last Command describes Mara Jade as striking the clone down with Leia Organa's lightsaber. However, the comic book adaptation of the novel portrays Jade stabbing the clone through the chest.

On April 1 2012, Luuke Skywalker was the central figure in "An Apology," a non-canon short story penned by Timothy Zahn and published on the Random House genre website Suvudu as an April Fools' Day prank. Presented as an epilogue to the Fate of the Jedi novel series, the story was narrated from Luuke's perspective, offering an in-universe account of his life. According to the narrative, Grand Admiral Thrawn secretly chose Luuke to replace Luke Skywalker within the New Republic hierarchy. During Mara Jade's duel against Luuke on Mountain Tantiss in The Last Command, the former Emperor's Hand inadvertently killed the real Luke Skywalker, and Luuke subsequently assumed the Jedi's identity, masquerading as the original Luke. The text accompanying the story claimed that this "revelation" meant that all appearances of Luke Skywalker in post–Last Command Star Wars media were, in fact, appearances of Luuke.

An Apology further elaborated that, following the clone's infiltration of the New Republic, Thrawn covertly provided Luuke with instructions. The Dark Jedi adapted well to his new role, although he occasionally struggled to adjust to Luke Skywalker's culinary preferences. Luuke went on to establish a new Jedi Order and founded a Jedi Academy on the moon Yavin 4. Thrawn requested that Luuke obtain tissue samples from the Sith spirit Exar Kun and the unorthodox Jedi Callista. While the clone failed to fulfill this task, Luuke subsequently appeased the Grand Admiral by providing him with genetic samples from the crime lords Prince Xizor and Durga the Hutt. According to An Apology, Luuke later participated in the Black Fleet Crisis and the conflict surrounding the rediscovery of the Caamas Document, but the pressures of war began to take their toll, and Thrawn considered replacing the Dark Jedi with a new clone. Over time, Thrawn amassed a collection of clones, and during the Yuuzhan Vong War, Luuke began to suspect that the Admiral was insane. Thrawn also began substituting clones with their original progenitors, as he had with Luke and Luuke, then imprisoning the progenitors inside the Grand Admiral's fortress in the Patagonia system. A replacement for Luuke, named Luuuke Skywalker, was eventually created by Thrawn, and Luuke planned to go forth to Patagonia, to accept his final fate.