Can Jedi Have Sex? George Lucas Reveals The Shocking Answer
To Star Wars fans, one of the most obvious drawbacks to being a Jedi is that these sci-fi space monks can’t have sex. Everyone from serious fans to tongue-in-cheek meme makers has pointed out that Anakin Skywalker turned to the Dark Side and transformed into a genocidal maniac just so he could hook up with Padme Amidala. But it turns out that Jedi don’t need to turn evil to get a little action: over two decades ago, George Lucas confirmed that “Jedi Knights aren’t celibate,” claiming that the things are “forbidden” area ”attachments and possessive relationships.”
This simple claim from the Star Wars franchise creator himself is enough to turn the entire prequel trilogy on its head. After all, even if the Jedi aren’t technically celibate, we never seem to see anyone except Anakin Skywalker who is looking for love: in fact, if Yoda and Mace Windu are any indication, Jedi spend most of their downtime just sitting in dark rooms and sharing gloomy thoughts with one another.
However, Anakin may be a good example of the fact that it’s difficult for Jedi to have casual sex without developing strong feelings for their partner, and this can lead to those forbidden attachments that lead Jedi down the path to the Dark Side. But as both the non-canonical Star Wars EU stories and current continuity tales have illustrated, the franchise has been relatively loose in its interpretation of Jedi and sex for a very long time.
For example, the most famous relationship in the Star Wars Expanded universe was the one between Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade. These two eventually got married and had a child together, just as Han Solo and the Jedi Knight Leia Organa did in both the EU and the Sequel Trilogy. In the old EU books and the most recent Star Wars films, it seems that attachment to a sexual partner did not lead either Luke or Leia to the Dark Side as it did Anakin Skywalker.
Since Disney did away with the EU and removed Mara Jade and her relationship with Luke Skywalker from canon, many fans couldn’t help but wonder if Luke died a virgin at the end of The Last Jedi. When one fan posed this question on X, Mark Hamill weighed in by claiming that fans could make up their own stories, but in his own headcanon, Luke didn’t die a virgin. That won’t end the constant nerd debates over the canonicity of Jedi sexuality, but it’s interesting to know the man who brought the most famous Jedi to life believes a dusty Jedi Code wouldn’t keep his character out of the sheets.
The most recent evidence of Jedi having sex comes to us courtesy of Ahsoka. In that show, we see the grown-up child that Hera conceived with the Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus. Kanan certainly didn’t fall to the Dark Side due to his long-term and intense relationship: he actually gave his life to save Hera and others, showcasing the same commitment to nobility and self-sacrifice that has been exemplified by exemplary Jedi such as Obi-Wan Kenobi or Luke Skywalker.
What does all this mean to the greater canon of Star Wars itself? Somewhat depressingly, it seems to mean that nobody can make up their minds on the matter: George Lucas thought it was okay for Jedi to get married in the once-canonical EU and then later changed his mind in the prequels, and Disney outright ignored those prequels in showcasing that Leia could be a married mother and a Jedi. Even those prequels made weird exceptions, including letting the cone-headed Ki-Adi-Mundi have seven children with his five wives.
At the end of the day, we can’t help but think that Obi-Wan Kenobi would have been a lot less uptight if he spent some of his free time cruising the various nightclubs of Coruscant. All he’d have to say is “hello there” to secure enough sexual partners to make his lost love Duchess Satine Kryze a distant memory.
Source: BBC
