And here we are, 30 votes later, to the final of our Star Wars character top trumps tournament. Over the last few weeks, we’ve been collecting your votes on Twitter as you’ve helped decide who is the greatest Star Wars character of all time.
We’ve had some surprise early eliminations; favourites Boba Fett, Darth Maul and Emperor Palpatine didn’t make it past the first two rounds, while the heroic characters of the saga were more successful. The fact that Han, Luke and Leia were all the semifinals didn’t go unnoticed, though Leia, along with Yoda and Darth Vader fell at the final hurdle, leading to the final top trumps battle between Han and Luke in the end.
Here are the links to the earlier rounds…
Star Wars: Battle of the Characters – round one
Star Wars: Battle of the Characters – round two
Star Wars: Battle of the Characters – the Quarterfinals
Star Wars: Battle of the Characters – the semifinals
And now on to the final…
The Final: Han Solo vs Luke Skywalker
Both characters are worthy finalists; heroes that were instrumental in the destruction of the Empire’s first Death Star and oversaw the Imperial defeat at Endor. But who is the greatest? Their skills as pilots? Han’s Millennium Falcon ran the kessel run in 12 parsecs. But Luke could used to bull’s-eye womp rats in his T-16 back home and they’re not much bigger than two meters.
Skills as a solider then? Han Solo can certainly hold his own in a battle against Imperial stormtroopers, but Luke is also nifty with a gun and a lightsaber. While that may give him the edge, it is his skill with the force that puts him firmly in the lead. Han might refer to the Force as a lot of simple tricks and nonsense but Luke clearly has the skills as a Jedi to prove he is the stronger of the two.
And it’s with those simple tricks and nonsense that Luke takes the lead with 65% of the vote and is crowned the winner!
Of course, with Star Wars: The Last Jedi now out, there are new potential characters to choose from and we could do this all over again. But arguably, none would be as iconic as Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker…