May The Fourth Be With You!

It’s Star Wars Day!

I’ve been a Star Wars fan for my entire life, literally. Although I was just a few days away from being one year old when it was released, my family went to the theater to see Star Wars (now known as Star Wars IV: A New Hope). I’ve seen every other Star Wars film in the theater since then with the exception of the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars film. I own many of the soundtracks, still collect many of the toys, and have accumulated numerous other collectible items over the years including autographs, PEZ dispensers, posters, apparel, bobbleheads, and more. Along with Doctor Who and Star Trek, it forms the Holy Trinity of my fandom.

With that in mind, I decided to list a few of my favorite characters from the films and the cartoons. This isn’t a complete list and I’m sure that a quite a few people will disagree with me, but it’s my list. Feel free to comment your own favorites below. I’ll break down this post into four sections: Original Trilogy, Prequel Trilogy, Disney Films, and The Rest of the Galaxy (cartoons, book characters, etc.). I’ll list my top six from each section and I’ll also throw in a few honorable mentions at the end of my post as well.

Original Trilogy

• Luke Skywalker
• Princess Leia
• Han Solo
• Chewbacca
• Darth Vader
• Boba Fett

The films that started it all gave me some of my favorite memories as a child. Han, Leia, Luke, and Chewbacca captivated my young imagination. As a youngster, I wanted to be Luke, but as I got older, I wanted to be Han. Along with this group were two of the greatest villains in all of cinematic history: Darth Vader and Boba Fett. Sure, Fett’s time on the screen was minimal and he didn’t necessarily go out in a blaze of glory, but he was just cool. From the visor to the sinister quiet demeanor, Boba Fett was the man. Vader, of course, was as terrifying as the come, and I seriously doubt that there aren’t a lot of people who don’t know his name.

Prequel Trilogy

• Obi-Wan Kenobi
• Darth Maul
• Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus
• Jango Fett
• General Grievous
• Ki-Adi-Mundi

This list is notably short on heroes, as very few of them impressed me enough to make my list. Nope, in the prequels, the villains took center stage with Darth Maul and Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus leading the way. General Grievous was an amazing villain who I wish would have had more screen time (the same goes for Dooku and Maul), but their characters would be fleshed out more in the animated Clone Wars television series and, at least Maul, in Rebels. Jango Fett was a gunslinger through and through and I wish that his death wouldn’t have been so quick. Ki-Adi-Mundi is on my list, but I could have easily swapped him for Kit Fisto, Plo Koon, or any of the other Jedi from the prequels who had a least a few shining moments. Ki-Adi-Mundi’s death was one of the best one’s in the prequels in my opinion, so he gets the nod on my list.

While most people (including George Lucas) believe that the prequels are Anakin Skywalker’s story, in my opinion they are really the story of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Not only does his character develop the most over the prequels (seriously, we all knew what would happen to Anakin), Ewan McGregor’s performance is arguably the best in the entire trilogy. For this reason, Kenobi is one of my favorite characters overall in the Star Wars universe.

Disney Films

• Kylo Ren
• K-2SO
• Zorii Bliss
• General Hux
• Enfys Nest
• Director Orson Krennic

Of all of the characters created for the Disney films, Kylo Ren is the best. Yes, he’s a big baby at times, but he is ultimately the one character that makes the Disney trilogy better than it really is in the long run. I actually cared about him in the films and wanted him to redeem himself. The only other characters from the Disney trilogy that I really enjoyed were General Hux and Zorii Bliss. Hux was the perfect sniveling foil every time he appeared on the screen, and he’s also one of the few figures from the Disney trilogy that I actually sought out. Bliss made for a perfect “is this person a hero or a villain” character and injected some much need “grey area” to the trilogy.

As far as the expanded universe films, Rogue One and Solo, are concerned, both were very good films and both added some interesting characters to the Star Wars universe. K-2SO is my favorite of the bunch, with his quick wit and biting tongue a perfect comedic punch to an otherwise serious film. Sharing a spot near the top with him is the main antagonist of Rogue One, Director Krennic. Krennic was a great villain. He was looking out for number one the entire time and was willing to throw everyone under the bus to get to the top in the Empire. Unlucky for him, though, Grand Moff Tarkin was just as ruthless and he had more power within the imperial ranks.

Solo had its own share of excellent characters but Enfys Nest stuck out to me. I loved how the film intertwined her story as a freedom fighter working with and against criminals in order to disrupt the Empire’s routines. Hopefully we’ll get to see the character fleshed out more over the next few years in either a live action film or series or in an animated series.

The Rest Of The Galaxy

• Kit Fisto
• Captain Rex
• Ahsoka Tano
• Galen Marek
• Grand Admiral Thrawn
• Omega Squad

Okay, I might be cheating a bit with this particular list, as Omega Squad is technically five characters, but they are so amazing that they deserve their own spot on this list. For those of you who don’t know, Omega Squad is the creation of Karen Traviss. She wrote the Omega Squad stories based off of the Star Wars: Republic Commando video game. Omega Squad consists of four commandos grouped together who are the only survivors of the previous squads. The original four from the books are Sgt. Niner, Darman, Atin, and Fi. When Fi is thought to be mortally wounded, he is replaced by Corr. If you haven’t checked out Traviss’ Republic Commando novels, I highly recommend them.

Two characters that completely dominated the Clone Wars animated series were Ahsoka Tano and Captain Rex. These two characters were amazing and are still developing thanks to the continued series on Disney+. Kit Fisto joins them as another favorite from the animated shows. While he was featured in the live action prequel trilogy, his character benefited from some excellent development in the Clone Wars series.

Grand Admiral Thrawn may be best known to fans of Rebels, but older fans like myself remember him best from the Timothy Zahn penned “Thrawn Trilogy” consisting of Heir To The Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command. These three stories were a perfect follow up to the original trilogy of films, giving us a glimpse at the new Republic and the removal of the final remnants of the old Empire. Thrawn was an amazing villain and the stories were so popular that, despite being designated as Legends by Disney, Thrawn was one of the characters brought into the new canon.

Last but not least, one of my other favorites is Galen Marek from the video game series, The Force Unleashed. Those games told a story that was just as exciting as the live action films. Finding young Marek, the son of two Jedi, while eliminating Jedi during the Great Purge, Darth Vader takes the boy under his wing and raises him as a lethal apprentice. In the game, the player is forced to choose between the light and dark side of the Force. The story was brilliant and I’m sad to see it removed from the Star Wars canon, but I highly recommend both the game and the novels base upon it that were written by Sean Williams.

Honorable Mentions

• Rose Tico – Say what you want about the character, I loved Rose. She injected some much needed life into the Disney Trilogy.
• Commander Cody – Loyal to a fault, Cody was originally my most hated Clone, but as his character developed in the animated series, he became a quick favorite.
• R2-D2 and C-3PO – The only characters to appear in all of the trilogy films, how can you not love these guys.
• Young Han and Lando – I loved Solo and thought that it was a victim of the fallout over The Last Jedi. Both of the actors that portrayed these characters, Alden Ehrenreich and Donald Glover, took two of the most beloved characters in the franchise and delivered great performances as their younger versions.
• Lando Calrissian – Billy Dee Williams was amazing as Lando. His development from being an untrustworthy scoundrel to a loyal ally of the Rebellion made him a wonderful character.
• Wedge Antilles – He survived the original trilogy and returned to finish off the Final Order in The Rise of Skywalker. On top of that, the book series Star Wars: X-Wing, written by Michael Stackpole and Aaron Allston, in which Wedge is the main character, is one of the best Legends series out there.

So, there you have my list of favorites and a few honorable mentions. Thanks for checking it out and……..May The Fourth Be With You!