The Skywalker family tree explained. Who are the Skywalkers, and how are they all related to one another?
Star Wars fans may be sitting there thinking this sounds simple, right? The Skywalkers are the main Star Wars characters in the many Star Wars movies. They’re our heroes, and occasionally villains: both Jedi and Sith.
But there remains a lot of ambiguity around the origins of the family, and the way in which they connect to each other isn’t necessarily as straightforward as it might first appear. Obviously we have Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Darth Vader, but what about all the rest? What about their grandparents, and children? The mysteries are over: here’s everything you need to know about the Skywalker family.
The Skywalker family tree in canon
The Skywalker family tree begins with Shmi Skywalker. She is the mother of Anakin Skywalker, though the question of who is Anakin’s father is more complicated: spoiler, he has no father. Qui-Gon Jinn theorised that the midi-chlorians were responsible for Anakin’s birth, which was why he was so naturally strong with the Force.
Anakin Skywalker would go on to have two twin children with his wife Padmé Amidala, continuing the Skywalker line. Of course, these two children were Luke and Leia Skywalker. Sadly, Anakin would soon become the Star Wars villain Darth Vader, and lose touch with his kids.
In canon, Luke had no children as he devoted his life to the teaching of the Jedi and rebuilding the Jedi order. However, with Han Solo Leia had one child: Ben Solo. Ben Solo was the nephew of Luke and the grandson on Anakin Skywalker. However with the death of Ben Solo in The Rise of Skywalker and Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi, the Skywalker bloodline, name, and genetic line came to and end.
But, is Rey a Skywalker? Not from a genetic perspective, no, but she was essentially made an honorary Skywalker by the Force ghosts of Luke and Leia who reached out to her on Tatooine. Any children she may or may not have in new Star Wars movies or TV series will therefore likely carry the name ‘Skywalker’ while not being related to Shmi in anyway. In fact, they will be related to Emperor Palpatine as he was the grandfather of Rey.
The Skywalker family tree in Legends
The Skywalker family tree in Legends lore is a bit more complex, especially around Luke and Leia’s children.
In Legends, Leia still marries Han Solo but they have three children rather than one. These three children are Jaina, Jacen, and Anakin Solo.
On Luke’s side, in Legends he does form a relationship with a fellow Jedi named Mara Jade. They have a son named Ben Skywalker (named after Obi-Wan Kenobi, who used to go by the name Ben), who continued the Skywalker line long into future generations (but the various links and extent of this in unknown due to a time-jump).
That’s it on the Skywalker family tree for now. It may expand in future iterations of the Star Wars series, but who knows. For more on Star Wars, check out our guide to the Andor season 2 release date, the Obi-Wan Kenobi season 2 release date, and the Ahoska release date. Or learn more about the best Star Wars droids, the best Star Wars aliens, or little old Yoda.