Star Wars has effectively erased one of Luke Skywalker’s most impressive Force feats from the official canon. The Battle of Jakku was the definitive conflict that ended the Galactic Civil War a year after Return of the Jedi, the final reckoning that led to the Empire’s official surrender to the New Republic. In this major battle, the remnants of which can be seen in The Force Awakens, Luke Skywalker’s role was said to have been much bigger according to galactic myth and legend. However, Star Wars has since revealed a true account of what the Jedi Knight was doing during Jakku.

Thanks to Marvel’s new Battle of Jakku comic series, we finally know exactly what Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, and Han Solo were up to during the canonical events leading up to and during Jakku. This is because previous canonical content had only shown the battle through other characters and perspectives, largely keeping them out of the spotlight. However, there was a Star Wars novel published in 2017 that teased what Luke Skywalker accomplished during the battle, and many fans will likely agree that the legend is much better than the reality of what the Jedi was actually doing during the Battle of Jakku.

Luke Skywalker’s Original Role At The Battle Of Jakku Was Legendary

Bringing Down An Entire Star Destroyer

In Ken Liu’s novel The Legends of Luke Skywalker, it’s strongly hinted via second-hand accounts that Luke brought down one of the Imperial Star Destroyers at Jakku…using the Force alone. Not unlike Starkiller in the Legends’ Force Unleashed games, this would have been quite an impressive feat for the Jedi Knight. Without a doubt, it was easily one of his most powerful acts, representing his great connection to the Force at a time when he was truly the last of the Jedi before his mission to rebuild the Jedi Order with a new academy.

That being said, the fact that this story was simply a myth in-universe and shared by a group of deckhands on board a cargo freighter meant Star Wars could easily provide a real account of what Luke actually did during the Battle of Jakku. Nearly 8 years later, Star Wars has indeed finally revealed what Luke Skywalker was really doing, thanks to the Battle of Jakku comic series. However, it’s arguably far less impressive, at least when it comes to feats using the Force.

It Turns Out This Particular Tale Is Just A Legend, Not Reality

Star Wars Just Revealed What Luke Was Actually Doing…

In the final issue of Battle of Jakku by Alex Segura, Jethro Morales and Jim Campbell, Luke Skywalker faces Grand Moff Adelhard, a rogue Imperial who initially was in denial about the Empire’s losses at Endor, and refused to bend to Palpatine’s posthumous orders given by Councilor Gallius Rax. Commanding a force of loyalists and allied spice runners, Adelhard eventually decided to attack both the Empire and New Republic forces ᴀssembled at Jakku. However, the spice runners eventually turn on him, and the final issue sees a defeated Adelhard rejecting Luke’s attempts to save him from his damaged Star Destroyer set to explode.

Although it’s a strong conclusion for Luke and Adelhard’s ongoing rivalry in the year between Endor and Jakku, it certainly does come at the expense of rewriting and erasing such an epic moment where Luke used the Force to bring down an entire Star Destroyer. Despite being an in-universe legend, there had been no actual account to refute it for so long that many fans had taken it as a canonical feat (until now). At any rate, it’s still nice to imagine that the Force feat is something Luke still could have accomplished in the Star Wars canon, if now only in theory.