The Star Wars media franchise needs no introduction. From the tremendous success it enjoyed across all multimedia platforms from the late 70s even to the 2000s, the Star Wars franchise has enjoyed unprecedented success and fantastic popularity. To be free of ambiguity, George Lucas’ Star Wars is an exceptional media franchise consisting of numerous movies and other media like television series, video games, novels, comic books, toys, and theme park attractions.
This franchise began with the Star Wars movie released in 1977 and subtitled Episode IV: A New Hope. Two more movies came out in 1980 and 1983 to form the original Star Wars Trilogy. To fully complement the franchise, George Lucas produced a trilogy of prequels. Then, after Disney acquired the franchise, they produced a trilogy of sequels to form the full Star Wars storyline.
The Star Wars movies portrayed so many arrays of characters, some with minor roles and some with major roles, all together to make this wonderful body of art. There was no shortage of protagonists or antagonists in the movies. There were many characters for fans to choose their favorites from or choose their most hated from. The Star Wars movies cast a lot of superstar artists like Jack Lloyd, Henry Ford, Alec Guinness, Ian McDiarmid, Daisy Ridley, and Samuel L. Jackson.
We considered characters from the movie that had major roles and major effects on Star Wars. This list contains the best ten characters across the movie franchise, from the first episode to the ninth.
Presenting the Top Ten Star Wars Characters from all three trilogies
10. C-3PO
Anthony Daniels played and voiced the android character C-3PO, who was ever-present in all the Star Wars films. Built by young Anakin Skywalker from scraps from a junkyard, C-3PO is a protocol droid designed for etiquette and protocols. Even though C-3PO stated he was fluent in over 6 million forms of communication, he usually spoke in a machine-accent English.
C-3PO had a calm, intelligent, worry-prone personality throughout the Star Wars movies, even serving as comic relief in some cases with his intuitiveness.
9. Rey
Daisy Ridley played Rey in the sequel trilogy of the Star Wars movies, where she was the main protagonist.
Rey was an orphan scavenger who hails from the planet Jakku. Eventually, she learned that she gained her Force-Sensitive abilities because she is the granddaughter of the evil Darth Sidious. Rey trained in the Jedi Order by Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa. When she was ready to become a Jedi Knight, Rey faced her fears and conquered the Sith Eternals along with her newly resurrected grandfather. Rey ended the Sith Order for good.
Being the last remaining Jedi Knight and refusing to use her grandfather’s name, Rey sought the permission of both Luke and Leia through their force spirit about using the Skywalker surname, as there were no living Skywalkers anymore, they both gave their blessing, and she became Rey Skywalker the Last Jedi Knight.
8. R2-D2
R2-D2 was another ever-present droid throughout the Star Wars movies. Kenny Baker and Jimmy Vee played this character throughout his appearances.
This droid is from an R2 Astromech series manufactured by Industrial Automaton. R2-D2 is a plucky and smart droid who had saved the day so many times in the Star Wars movies while serving different masters. R2-D2 formed a very interesting friendship with Anakin Skywalker’s C-3PO while serving the Jedi Knight until he fell to the Force’s dark side.
7. Han Solo
Harrison Ford brought life to the memorable space smuggler, Han Solo. His charismatic portrayal of Solo then propelled Han Solo to stardom for decades to come.
Formerly a space smuggler, Han Solo and his co-pilot, the giant Chewbacca, used their Millennium Falcon to smuggle goods through the universe. Han Solo joined the Rebel Alliance, married Princess Leia, and had a son with her, Ben Solo. Han Solo was influential in the Rebels’ defeat of the Galactic Empire, and he became some sort of celebrity. Ben Solo, Han’s son, fell to the dark side of the force and became Kylo Ren. Han Solo’s attempt to bring his son back to the right side of the force proved fatal to him as his son’s dark alter ego killed him.
6. Obi-Wan Kenobi / Ben Kenobi
The Obi-Wan Kenobi character appeared throughout the Star Wars movies. First, Sir Alec Guinness brought his star power to the role in the original trilogy. Then, Ewan McGregor took on the mantle for the prequel trilogy.
Obi-Wan Kenobi was a wise and very skilled Jedi Master who trained both Anakin and Luke Skywalker in the Jedi Order. After the death of Master Gon, the Jedi Master that discovered Anakin Skywalker and insisted on training him, Obi-Wan Kenobi took the responsibility of training the young Skywalker as a sign of respect to Master Gon.
After Anakin Skywalker fell to the Force’s dark side, Obi-Wan was part of the group that decided to keep the birth of his twins from him, and after Obi-Wan survived Order 66, he retired to Tatooine where he looked after young Luke Skywalker and taught him the Jedi Order. Obi-Wan Kenobi died in a confrontation with Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker’s evil alter ego.
5. Leia Organa
Carrie Fisher played Leia Organa throughout the Star Wars franchise. This role made Fisher internationally recognizable. Unfortunately, while she appeared in The Rise of Skywalker, she passed away before filming started.
Leia Organa’s story began when her biological father, Anakin Skywalker, fell to the dark side to look for a way to save his wife from impending death. Padme died eventually but had already birthed twins, Luke and Leia. To protect the children from their evil father. The royal Organa family adopted Leia and raised her as their child. Hence, she never took the Skywalker.
Leia grew up to become the princess of Alderaan, Imperial Senator, and strong opposition to the Galactic Empire; she even leads the Rebel Alliance. Leia was Force-sensitive even though she never trained in the Jedi Order.
She married Han Solo and gave birth to a son, Ben Solo, who was Force Sensitive too. Leia’s health had started to diminish. And in her last act of selflessness, she reached out to her son Ben (who is now Kylo Ren because he fell to the dark side of the Force) through the Force, knowing she would not recover from the strains this act will leave on her, Leia helped redeem her son back to the right side of the Force.
4. Luke Skywalker
Mark Hamill launched into stardom with his portrayal of Luke Skywalker, the main protagonist of the original trilogy. He then returned to reprise his role for the sequel trilogy.
This legendary Jedi hero was the son of Anakin Skywalker and Amidala. After his mother died in childbirth, the remaining Jedi separated Luke from his twin sister, Leia Organa, for their safety. The Lars family on Tatooine adopted their nephew, Luke, while Master Obi-Wan Kenobi kept watch over the family. Eventually, Obi-Wan trained Luke all he needed to know anything about the Jedi Order.
After the completion of his Jedi training, Luke Skywalker fought fervently against the Galactic Empire and even confronted and defeated his father. Luke’s pain from Darth Sidious’s torture woke up the good in Vader, and he turned against his master, with the two Darth Lords dying in the process.
Luke Skywalker attempted to revive the dying Jedi Order by training his nephew. Unfortunately, when Ben Solo fell to the dark side of the Force, Luke found his plans in ruin. Luke Skywalker went on a self-imposed exile until Rey found him and insisted, he trained her in the Jedi Order, which he did, albeit reluctantly.
3. Master Yoda
Frank Oz was the puppeteer and voice for the esteemed Jedi Master, Yoda. Yoda is memorable for a lot of things, including his body stature, his mastery of the Jedi Order, his skill with the lightsaber, and a lot more, but the most intriguing of Yoda’s many attributes is his distinct pattern of speech. Unlike typical English sentences, Yoda often presented the object of his sentences before the subject and verb, giving them a backward feel.
Yoda lived for over nine centuries and trained several generations of Jedi. Within the Jedi order, he was the Jedi Grandmaster. Yoda also trained Luke Skywalker before his demise due to old age.
2. Sheev Palpatine / Darth Sidious
Ian McDiarmid played Sheev Palpatine, also named Darth Sidious or the Emperor, in all three trilogies. However, before he was set as the Emperor in Return of the Jedi, Clive Revill voiced while Marjorie Eaton portrayed the emperor in a brief appearance during The Empire Strikes Back.
Sheev Palpatine was a successful and renowned politician, serving as a Naboo Senator and subsequently the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic. He, however, has a secret alter ego, the evil Darth Sidious. Sidious, after killing his master, ranked up among many apprentices, including Darth Vader. He was solely responsible for Order 66, which wiped out the vast majority of Jedi Knights and even little students.
Darth Sidious rules the galaxy as Emperor during the time of the Galactic Empire. His protege and top enforcer, Darth Vader, ended Sidious’s reign after he redeemed himself and saved his son from the dark lord. Darth Sidious later returned from the dead to reclaim his rule over the galaxy. However, his granddaughter quickly destroyed his plans then ended his life with the help of Ben Solo.
1. Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader
In the original trilogy, while David Prowse had the height to portray Darth Vader on screen, James Earl Jones’ voice brought the character to life. Sebastian Shaw also appeared in the original trilogy as the unmasked Vader. Following the success of the original trilogy, George Lucas eventually returned to tell the story of Anakin Skywalker in the prequels. First, Jake Lloyd played a young Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace. Then, Hayden Christensen took on the roll to finish off the prequels.
Anakin Skywalker was the Jedi Knight with the most midi-chlorians in his blood in the whole universe, even surpassing that of Grandmaster Yoda. Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan’s former master, also tagged Skywalker as the prophesied Chosen One.
Anakin’s journey started when a Jedi master, Qui-Gon Jinn, discovered him on his home planet of Tatooine. Qui-Gon then believed he was the Chosen. The Jedi master tried to convince the council to take in Anakin, but he was way past the Jedi Order’s age set. Anakin Skywalker eventually trained in the ways of the Jedi by Obi-Wan Kenobi, but he lost his way and became the Sith Lord Darth Vader.
Enforcing Darth Sidious orders throughout the universe, Skywalker (as Vader) faced off with his master Obi-Wan and killed him, although he was badly injured too and had to use an armored suit to survive. Luke helped guide Vader back to the light side of the Force, and he fulfilled the prophecies by killing Darth Sidious to save Luke. Anakin Skywalker walked the line between a protagonist and an antagonist throughout the Star Wars movies.
Conclusion
Memorable and vibrant characters fill up every corner of the Star Wars universe. There is no shortage of memorable characters from the films and expanded universes. However, did your favorite characters make it to our list? Let us know who your favorite character is.
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About the author
Author: Chris Ingledue
Contact: email
Bio: I am the founder and owner of Wheeljack’s Lab pop Culture and Toy Shop. My vision has always been to reunite customers with their favorite childhood toys and pop culture, triggering fond memories, and reigniting their imaginations. Every day, I work in the “lab” where it’s Christmas 365 days a year. I scour the internet, like when we had the Sears Catalog of yesteryear, for the next great treasure. Then, I await the arrival of the postman as if he were Santa Claus himself and helping collectors worldwide with their own versions of Christmas. Every day as a vintage toy buyer is an absolute joy!