The Force of Fans Behind Luke Skywalker


    There are millions of Star Wars fans around the world, but none compare to the fandom behind the biggest hero of the movie series: Luke Skywalker. The fictional movie series that takes place among the stars portrays the story of the brave Luke Skywalker as he grows up and saves the galaxy time and time again. Luke's fandom remains the biggest out of all the Star Wars characters, and the most devoted. Perhaps it is Luke's charm and bravery that attract his loyal fandom, or maybe it is his heroic attitude. Either way, his impact on his fans, which tend to be of all ages, remains significant. 

Luke Skywalker's Cosplay Community

    A popular activity among Luke's fandom is to 'cosplay' as Luke himself. Cosplay is short for "costume play" and many Star Wars fans attend conventions and celebrations of the film series dressed up as their favorite characters. These cosplay conventions are a perfect way to bring die-hard Luke Skywalker fans together in a welcoming and fun environment. When it comes to Star Wars cosplay, fans choose Luke as the Jedi they love to dress up as. Luke's fandom goes to a great extent to master his outfits, style, and even the his haircut to resemble him as much as possible. These fans furthermore spend hundreds of dollars and even hours of their own time to replicate Luke's weapon of choice, a green lightsaber. Cosplaying as Luke allows fans to be creative and voice their own ideas on how Luke acts. Luke has been in a number of stages throughout the epic Star Wars saga, and so his fans portray different eras of his life. There are hundreds of different accounts across social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter that share their creative Luke Skywalker cosplay with their Star Wars communities and the world. 

    Luke Skywalker cosplay costumes are sold online on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, SimCosplay, ProCosplay, and many more websites. Some Luke costumes on Etsy run fans hundreds of dollars, while others linger around the $50 mark, showing just how truly devoted and serious his fandom is. Luke Skywalker's fanbase can be found across all social media networks. On Twitter, there is a fandom account called Luke Skywalker that posts Luke content with over 14 thousand followers. There is a hub of fans that similarly retweet Luke content ranging from GIFs of lightsaber duels to fan favorite Luke scenes.


Figure 1: Old Man Skywalker's cosplay

Figure 2: Vualo-k's cosplay












     A popular cosplay event for Star Wars fans and cosplay fans alike, the New York Comic Con, occurred last October. At the event held in New York, there was seemingly tension between two cosplayers dressed as Mara Jade and Luke Skywalker, two Star Wars characters that ultimately become romantic partners in the film series. Surrounded by fellow Star Wars cosplayers, the two dueled in a lightsaber battle until the cosplayer of Luke Skywalker bent to one knee, surrendering his green lightsaber. He then held out a ring and proposed to his opponent cosplaying Mara, and right then and there at Comic Con the two got engaged. A video of the special moment was posted to TikTok and it went viral. Luke's fandom sure does run deep, deep enough that fans propose while cosplaying him!

Luke's Fandom on Social Media

    There are hundreds of accounts of Luke cosplayers and on YouTube especially, there are fans that roleplay as Luke. In a similar sense to cosplaying, these fans dress up as Luke and create their own mini-films of Luke (themselves) fighting or having dialogue with other characters. One of the most popular roleplaying accounts on YouTube I discovered was Mikestarwalker. On his account with over 115 thousand subscribers, Mikestarwalker lightsaber battles, duels, and he even provides jedi training videos on how to properly use a lightsaber. In many of his videos, he roleplays as Luke Skywalker fighting another Star Wars figure. There are multiple YouTube channels that reenact or create their own Luke Skywalker battles and stories. 

    On YouTube, there are fans that voice their fan-fictions on seeing Luke Skywalker with other Star Wars characters. Shipping two characters usually means seeing them together romantically, but for Luke this is not the case. Much of his fandom hopes for future shows and movies to feature more characters interacting with Luke. For example, a video by Echo Base Network suggests that Luke and a character named Ahsoka should and will meet up and conversate about Jedi agendas. 


    In addition, there are conspiracy theory videos on Luke about different aspects of his life throughout the film series. One video posted by Star Wars Explained, a popular Star Wars content based account with over 785 thousand subscribers, theorizes that Luke has extended family members and siblings that the movies do not go into depth on. Other fan fiction accounts on YouTube create videos about Luke encountering characters such as Darth Vader, Rex, and there are videos about him joining the dark side as a means to go undercover.

   I personally have watched every Star Wars film in the movie series and can say I have been a fan since I was little. Luke Skywalker has always been a great role model character for me since he had to fight through an entertaining and challenging life to try and find his purpose. It is understandable why he has one of the largest fandoms out of the pot of Star Wars figures. 

    Luke Skywalker's fandom is one of the biggest in the Star Wars universe. The extent that his fandom goes to imitate Luke's clothing, charisma, and famous lightsaber is admirable. His fanbase also produces some entertaining roleplaying videos as Luke himself, which I touched on earlier. Additionally, the fan-fiction content on Luke does not disappoint. From shipping Luke and other characters meeting to theorizing about aspects of Luke's life, this fandom is dedicated and interesting.

Figure 4: Luke Skywalker on his home planet, Tatooine


Work Cited 

@Destructagon. "The cutest thing happened at #nycc this year...". TikTok, 11 October,2021, https://www.tiktok.com/@destructagon/video/7017859824314567941?embed_source=121331973%2C120811592%2C120810756%3Bnull%3Bembed_share&refer=embed&referer_url=www.cosplaycentral.com%2Ftopics%2Fcosplay%2Fnews%2Fstar-wars-cosplayers-engaged-at-new-york-comic-con&referer_video_id=7017859824314567941


Figure 1 via OldManSkywalker. Star Wars: 10 incredible Luke Skywalker cosplays that look just like him. Screenrant. 29 April, 2020, https://screenrant.com/star-wars-luke-skywalker-best-cosplay/#the-death-star-duel


Figure 2 via Vualo-k. Star Wars: 10 incredible Luke Skywalker cosplays that look just like him. Screenrant. 29 April, 2020, https://screenrant.com/star-wars-luke-skywalker-best-cosplay/#the-death-star-duel


Figure 4 via Dom Nero. The Binary Sunset has Always Held the True Meaning of Star Wars. Esquire, 4 May, 2021,  https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a36331389/star-wars-binary-sunset-meaning/ 


Ginn, L. (2021). Star Wars cosplayers engaged at New York Comic-Con. Cosplay Central. https://www.cosplaycentral.com/topics/cosplay/news/star-wars-cosplayers-engaged-at-new-york-comic-con


@MentorSkywalker. "The stories people tell about me can change who I really am..." Twitter, 7 May, 2023, https://twitter.com/MentorSkywalker


@NewYorkComicCon. "May the force be with you". Facebook, 4 May, 2023, https://www.facebook.com/newyorkcomiccon/


Pierce-Bohen, K. (2020). Star Wars: 10 incredible Luke Skywalker cosplays that look just like him. Screenrant. https://screenrant.com/star-wars-luke-skywalker-best-cosplay/#jedi-knight


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