In the Star Wars Universe, clones are pretty common. Whether it’s an army of soldiers or the franchise’s greatest villain, that galaxy far, far away has seen its fair share of duplicated lifeforms. But one of the series’ most surprising clones was that of one of its greatest protagonists, Luke Skywalker.
This clone originally appeared in Timothy Zahn’s The Last Command, the final entry in the widely beloved Thrawn Trilogy in Star Wars Legends continuity, before also making an appearance in the novel’s comic book adaptation by Mike Baron, Edvin Biuković, and Eric Shanower, Known as Luuke Skywalker, this clone exited the scene as quickly as he appeared, but the effects of his existence had a lasting impact on Luke Skywalker and those close to him.
The events of the Thrawn Trilogy see the titular Grand Admiral taking control of the deceased Emperor Palpatine’s secret storehouse within the heart of Mount Tantiss on the planet Wayland. Within this storehouse are a great many items the Emperor deemed useful, including a collection of Sparti cloning cylinders. This storehouse is guarded by the mad clone of Clone Wars-era Jedi Master Joruus C’baoth, who is soon persuaded to join Thrawn in his schemes with the promise of a new generation of Jedi -- namely Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa Solo and her Force-sensitive children -- for him to mold as he sees fit.
C’Baoth quickly grew tired of Thrawn’s more meticulous methods for achieving his goals and sought to subvert the Chiss Imperial, using a Jedi mind trick to manipulate one of Thrawn’s most trusted subordinates into using the cloning cylinders to create a special clone for him without Thrawn’s knowledge. This clone was Luuke, who created with DNA taken from the dismembered hand of Luke Skywalker after his father, Darth Vader, cut it off during their climactic battle on Bespin. After Luke and his friends made their escape, Vader recovered the lightsaber and the hand, even contemplating creating a clone of Luke himself to serve as his apprentice. However, the Emperor soon discovers Vader’s tentative plans, taking the hand for himself and storing it in Mount Tantiss as sample B-2332-54. Grown in under a month, the clone was a blank slate for C’Baoth to use and totally bend to his will with the hopes that either the corrupted clone would prove worthy of taking Skywalker’s place at C’baoth’s side or that the real Luke would slay his clone and turn to the Dark Side himself.
The original Luke met this clone for the first and final time within the Emperor’s throne room on Mount Tantiss as he faced the mad C’baoth alongside Mara Jade, a Force-sensitive smuggler and former Emperor’s Hand who’d been tasked by her master to assassinate Skywalker. As the duo confronted C’baoth, Luke began to feel a buzzing pressure, disorienting the Jedi Knight as if he were caught in a feedback loop. A mysterious brown-robed figure emerged, revealed by C’baoth as Luke’s clone, Luuke, wielding the saber formerly held by Luke and his father before him. This reveal threw Luke, reminding him of his duel in the cave on Dagobah and putting him at a disadvantage against his unforeseen foe.
Both Skywalkers appear to be evenly matched with the Force as Luuke fought toe-to-toe with Luke. The battle comes to a temporary halt after the arrival and incapacitation Leia and her husband, Han Solo, by C’Baoth, Luke attempts to bargain with the mad Jedi clone, offering his servitude in exchange for the others’ freedom, but Luuke interrupts, reigniting his lightsaber and restarting their battle. Just as he gains the upper hand, Luuke is disoriented when he accidentally destroys a viewscreen. Mara Jade takes advantage of this momentary weakness, slaying the clone using Leia’s recovered lightsaber as he turns to confront her and freeing herself of the haunting assassination order she was given by the Emperor. Luuke’s death quickly sparked C’baoth into a rampage that ended with his death and the narrow survival by Luke, Mara and the others.
While Luke had seemingly moved on, he gave Luuke’s lightsaber to Mara Jade, the encounter with Luuke haunted him in the days to come. Reminded of his duel against himself within the cave on Dagobah, the confrontation caused him to wonder if he could be so easily corrupted by the Dark Side of the Force just as both his clone and his father had. Although he was not Star Wars’ most famous clone, Luuke still had a long-term impact on Luke Skywalker, serving as a warning against the temptation of the Dark Side in a way that his father, Darth Vader, never could be.