Although the Skywalker saga has now ended, the Star Wars universe left behind a couple of mysteries, most of them plot holes and other elements related to the narrative – however, there are others unrelated to the story that have made way for a bunch of theories, such as Luke Skywalker’s height. Many fans over the years have pointed out that his height changes through the original trilogy, and so have come up with a couple of explanations.
Star Wars arrived in 1977 to change the sci-fi genre, and went on to become one of the most successful franchises in the entertainment business. Although Star Wars has expanded to other media, most notably television and theme park attractions, its best known for its film saga, which is divided in three: the original trilogy, the prequels, and the sequels. Though each trilogy complements the others, they have also created some inconsistencies, plot holes, and other mysteries, and one of the weirdest and most popular ones is all about Luke Skywalker’s height.
While there are a lot of things going on in the Star Wars films, many fans have pointed out that Luke’s height changes in some scenes, and that he’s way shorter than Darth Vader. As a result, fans have come up with theories on why Luke sometimes looks taller, even if there are some behind-the-scenes explanations.
Luke Skywalker is shorter than many (human) characters in Star Wars, and the difference is bigger when next to his father, Darth Vader. Luke Skywalker is said to be 5’6’’ tall (although Mark Hamill is 5’9’’), while Darth Vader is 6’6’’ (Hayden Christensen, who played Anakin Skywalker in the prequel trilogy, is 6 feet tall). Although Padmé Amidala was 5’4’’, many fans have pointed out it’s still not quite right for Luke to be so short, but what a lot of curious viewers are forgetting is that Darth Vader is much taller than when he was Anakin Skywalker due to all the damage his body went through after the duel on Mustafar in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.
Obi-Wan Kenobi severed his legs and left arm and left him on Mustafar believing he wouldn’t survive. When Anakin was rescued by Palpatine, he was given a life-sustaining suit of armor, which included robotic limbs and special boots. The suit was also built to be intimidating, which is why it added more to Anakin’s height. Of course, there’s also the behind-the-scenes explanation, which is that David Prowse, who played the physical form of Darth Vader in Star Wars: A New Hope, is 6’6’’ tall, and Darth Vader wasn’t planned to be Luke’s father until much later.
One of the most memorable lines in A New Hope comes from Princess Leia when Luke arrives to her rescue dressed as a stormtrooper. Leia says “aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper?”, with Luke taking off the helmet after a second of confusion. This simple and funny line, which also served to establish Leia’s sense of humor and personality, has been analyzed incessantly by Star Wars fans, more so after all the mystery over Luke’s height. Stormtroopers are usually 5’11’’ tall, so with that in mind, Luke indeed was a bit short for a stormtrooper. However, the line shouldn’t be taken that seriously, as it was nothing more than a taste of Leia’s personality, and she was just messing with the stormtrooper that arrived to her cell, waiting to see what his reaction would be – and even Mark Hamill has finally come to terms with that.
During the casting process for A New Hope, George Lucas was looking for unknown actors. Before Mark Hamill was cast as Luke Skywalker, William Katt was considered for the role and even auditioned for it (and the casting tape can still be found online). Katt is approximately 5’7’’ tall. However, Hamill delivered his lines in a manner that fitted Lucas’ vision best, and thus was cast, while Katt got the role of Tommy in Brian De Palma’s Carrie. Another actor in consideration for the role of Luke Skywalker was Charles Martin Smith, who is 5’3’’’. Though they are all around the same height, Lucas’ vision wasn’t really aimed at the actors’ height but at their talent, and he didn’t deliberately cast a short actor as Luke Skywalker.
All these differences in height have made way for different theories, and the most popular one is “Bigger Luke”. The theory refers to a “slightly larger manifestation” of Luke Skywalker in certain scenes, usually in comparison to Han Solo’s height. Within “Bigger Luke” are two hypotheses to try to explain the appearance of this larger version of the character: the “Canon Luke Hypothesis” or “Bigger Luke Hypothesis”, which says there’s a version of Luke slightly larger than regular Luke (or Luke Prime) in canon, and the “Hamill Hypothesis”, which says there’s an uncredited Mark Hamill look-alike used in some scenes.
“Bigger Luke” theorists have found more evidence of it in A New Hope, comparing different frames and finding that Bigger Luke is around an inch taller than Luke Prime (of course, perspective plays a key role in this, making the height difference more confusing to some). The theory also points out Leia’s “short for a stormtrooper” line, claiming it was a subtle acknowledgment of a size discrepancy, even though she didn’t even know who he was at the time, while others say it’s an Easter egg that points at two actors portraying Luke (the “Hamill Hypothesis”). Another moment pointed out by “Bigger Luke” supporters comes from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, where Lando Calrissian turns to Luke with a perplexed expression shortly after not showing any interest in him. The theorists explain this is because Lando noticed the shift in Luke’s size, especially as he’s a proficient card player and gambler, and thus would have “a very keen eye”.
Within the “Canon Luke Hypothesis” are many explanations as to why Luke’s height changes. Among those are the “force illusion”, which says Obi-Wan created an illusionary, slightly larger Luke “in order to potentially frighten imperial stormtroopers”; “resizing Luke”, which suggests his force sensitivity allows his size to fluctuate due to immense energy; some believe Luke was cloned, either by Obi-Wan, Uncle Owen, or even R2-D2, but there were some minor imperfections in the process and the clone ended up being slightly bigger; and others have gone as far as to suggest Luke Prime killed Bigger Luke at the Dark Side Cave in Dagobah.
In the end, it’s up to every Star Wars fan to choose what to believe when it comes to Luke Skywalker’s supposed changes in size: whether the existence of two Lukes, an uncredited actor, inconsistencies between the characters’ and actors’ heights, or simply an optical illusion due to perspective.
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