The Star Wars Icon Who Fell In Love With A Dead Woman
No character in Star Wars has had a more cursed love life than Luke Skywalker. Putting aside the whole crush on his sister thing, Luke has had a number of flings, both in continuity and in Legends, that have all ended in disaster. None however were as tragic as the time Luke Skywalker fell in love with a dead girl.
Luke Finds Love Online… Sort Of
During the events of the Legends novel Children of the Jedi (1995) by Barbara Hambly, Luke comes across a long-dead Jedi whose spirit has been inhabiting a computer since the dawn of the Empire. Over the course of the book Luke Skywalker and the phantom Force-user develop feelings for each other that eventually blossom into love.
Right around the time Luke was born, Callista Masana was a Jedi on a mission to prevent the Imperial dreadnaught Eye of Palpatine from destroying a Jedi refuge on the planet Belsavis. Masana sacrificed her life to stop the Eye of Palpatine and, in the process, ended up haunting the ship’s gunnery computer—you know, because Force ghosts.
Luke Tries To Give The Dead Jedi Corporeal Form
Thirty years later, the Eye of Palpatine’s AI suddenly reactivated and began abducting a myriad of seemingly unrelated alien species, such as Jawas and Gamorreans. Luke is among those brought aboard the Clone Wars-era ship along with two of his Jedi trainees. While attempting to figure out how to overcome the ship’s AI, Luke Skywalker discovers Callista and unexpectedly starts to fall in love with her.
The two Jedi develop their relationship as Callista helps Luke navigate his way through the Eye of Palpatine, saving his trainees and avoiding the ship’s hostile defenses along the way. Eventually, Luke asks one of the young Jedi, Cray Mingla, a noted AI tech, to create a droid for Callisata’s spirit to inhabit so she can leave the ship with them. Mingla refuses, opting instead to destroy the ship before it can get to Belsavis and complete the mission it started 30 years ago.
In the end, Mingla ends up sacrificing herself so that Callista can again inhabit a living body. The former Jedi is able to transfer her essence into the new body, but there’s one problem. Doing so causes Callista to lose her connection to the Force, something that puts a damper on her and Luke Skywalker’s burgeoning love affair.
Luke Takes His New Girlfriend To Dagobah
Following the events of Children of the Jedi, Luke attempts to help his girlfriend—now going by Callista Ming in honor of the padawan who gave up her body—regain her ability to use the Force. Luke takes Callista to Dagobah, hoping that the planet where he discovered how to harness his abilities might help her rediscover hers. The pair are attacked by nightbats, causing Callista to subconsciously tap into the Dark Side of the Force to defeat them.
Luke Gets Dumped
Not wanting to succumb to the Dark Side and feeling like remaining with Luke was putting too much pressure on her to regain her Force powers, Callista broke things off with the Jedi Master. Her last message to him was, “I have to go on my own odyssey. I’m confident that someday I will rediscover my powers. That way I can come back to you on my own terms.”
Luke Finds Love Again
Luke Skywalker was understandably heartbroken over the loss of what was, at that time, the love of his life. While he would eventually get over it and even end up marrying Mara Jade, secretly, Luke would always carry a torch for the computer ghost he fell in love with once upon a time.
