In the lead-up to The Force Awakens a decade ago, Star Wars began telling the story of the Battle of Jakku – the fight that finally and decisively ended the Galactic Civil War, one year after Return of the Jedi.
Since then, the Battle of Jakku has been explored heavily in books (like the Aftermath and Alphabet Squadron trilogies, among others), as well as the Battlefront II story campaign, among others. But for all the different angles of this massive battle – one that raged on the ground and especially in space – there was one very noticeable thing missing: the presence of any of the original trilogy heroes fans had come to know and love.
Sure, there was Admiral Gial Ackbar commanding the entire New Republic fleet, but there was nothing about Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Leia Organa, Lando Calrissian, or Chewbacca anywhere to be found. In fact, the stories made it a point to mention that they weren’t involved in the battle, which was a weird feeling for them. It also created a weird feeling for fans, seeing how the main heroes who had fought in some of the most significant battles of the war weren’t involved at all in this final one? It was an odd storytelling decision that, today just as much as a decade ago, makes no sense.
It seems that writer Alex Segura realized this and tried to rectify it in his recent 12-issue Battle of Jakku comic series, telling the story of the battle from yet another angle: the perspective of these original heroes. Though the series had plenty of faults, credit is due for trying to right this glaring and unforgivable oversight of having the heroes totally disengaged from the Battle of Jakku. Because of those previous stories Segura had to get a bit creative in how he did it, but the final issue of the series – Last Stand #4 – revealed that yes, they did in fact participate in the fight.
They didn’t fight in the battle at large, but they had a role to play. The series explored how an increasingly deranged Imperial Moff, Ubrik Adelhard, decided to be a third wheel at Jakku and attack both the New Republic and Imperial forces. Luke Skywalker had voiced his concern about the threat Adelhard posed as long as he was around, and at one point even led an attack force with Lando Calrissian against Adelhard’s Star Destroyer. So, aware that Adelhard was still out there, Luke went on a fact-finding mission while the New Republic gathered to meet the Empire at Jakku. This led Luke to Jakku, where Adelhard’s Star Destroyer had arrived. Luke infiltrated the Destroyer and tried to save the Imperial leader, pleading with him to surrender.
Meanwhile, on Chandrila, Mon Mothma monitored the battle’s progress with Leia Organa and Han Solo, and they received a report about how it was not going well. Han said they couldn’t just let Luke die on board the Destroyer, but others shared that they had no way of getting him out. Han told Leia he was going to save Luke, and he brought help. Han took the Millennium Falcon and led, alongside Lando in the Lady Luck, a squadron of New Republic fighters to reinforce the battle and, specifically, to rescue Luke. Han brought the Falcon into the Star Destroyer’s hangar bay, where Luke and his companion, Rynn Zennat, were able to board and be flown to safey.
So there you have it: Luke, Han, and Lando were all participants in the Battle of Jakku after all. Though they weren’t originally planned to be part of the fleet commanded by Ackbar, and while they didn’t fight on the planet’s surface, they did work to defeat a rogue Imperial warlord, and more importantly, to save their friend. After all, that’s the whole reason for fighting in the first place: to save what they love.
I’m glad that Star Wars has finally, if imperfectly, addressed the glaring omission and made it clear that the main heroes of the original trilogy were, in fact, present at one of the war’s most defining battles.
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