March 2023 tournament – Star Wars characters, round 1

It’s time for the annual Disney in your Day March tournament! I guess I can now officially call it the “9th annual” since this is the 9th year I’ve hosted a Disney tournament on the blog.

Even though we’ve been through lots of Disney related topics and voting in the past, it seems there are still plenty of ideas! In the past we’ve done favorite attraction (Haunted Mansion), favorite food (Dole Whip), animated Disney movie (The Lion King), favorite song (Under the Sea), Disney villains (Hades), Pixar movie (Toy Story), Disney sidekick (the Genie), and Disney+ TV show (The Mandalorian). 

We’ve covered a lot, so this year we are going to jump into the Star Wars universe! We’ve had a lot of great Star Wars content in recent years, and the galaxy is so large that there are PLENTY of Star Wars characters to choose from and vote for in a tournament.

Which Star Wars characters qualified for this tournament?

I was open to any Star Wars character to add to the bracket, whether it was from movies, TV shows, or even the theme parks. But I wanted to stick with characters that at least most people would be familiar with if they are only a casual fan. You can definitely get into some obscure characters, and I’m sure that passionate Star Wars fans might see some favorites missing. It was hard to choose!

How did you pick these Star Wars characters?

Because there were so many options to choose from, you might notice below that I created 4 different subcategories (think “regions” or “leagues” in sports style tournaments). The first is “light side,” then “dark side,” “droids, and finally an “other” category. I tried to pick what I felt was the most popular or talked about in each category while still including some of the lesser known characters. In addition, I didn’t want it to just be all from the original trilogy so I tried to find a good balance from older stuff, newer stuff, and TV shows.

Due to the way the regions are set up, it also meant I had to sacrifice some characters I really wanted to include – my apologies to Poe Dameron, Mace Windu, Admiral Ackbar, General Hux, Rose Tico, General Grevious, and my personal favorite: Cobb Vanth.

But wait – X character doesn’t belong in that category!

I know – there might be some disagreement over whether a character is actually light side or dark side, or if they really belong in the “other” category (though I’m pretty sure the droids all made it to the right spot).

I did stick some characters in the “other” category who arguably are on the light side or dark side, but that bracket was already pretty robust and I wanted to include these guys. Most notably I’m talking about Ahsoka Tano, Finn, and Lando. I moved them from light side to other because they have been more complex characters throughout the films or TV shows, even if they ultimately do fight for good.

Who ARE some of these characters?

If you’re deep into the Star Wars universe, you probably recognize all of these characters. But if you don’t catch every small detail, or you haven’t watched the expanded universe of TV shows, there might be some names which are unfamiliar to you. Or like me, that you can’t quite place a face to a name.

Below I’m going to give a very brief description of each character. Maybe someone will catch your eye that you didn’t know about and you’ll be watching a new Star Wars show or movie soon!

Light side

• Luke Skywalker – your main hero of the original trilogy who learns that he is a Jedi.
• Finn – Originally brainwashed to be a stormtrooper, he escapes and joins the resistance in the Force Awakens.
• Yoda – the wise old Jedi master who first appears in Empire Strikes Back.
• Chewbacca – Han Solo’s wookie sidekick and co-pilot of the Millennium Falcon
• Han Solo – A smuggler and pilot of the Millennium Falcon who eventually joins Luke Skywalker and friends.
• Obi-Wan Kenobi – the Jedi master who serves as mentor to both Luke and Anakin Skywalker.
• Princess Leia – Princess of Alderaan and part of the Rebellion who aids in the fight against Darth Vader.
• Rey – the main hero of the newest trilogy (episodes 7,8,9), Rey is a scavenger who becomes involved with the Resistance and is later trained to be a Jedi.

Dark Side

• Grand Moff Tarkin – villain of the first Star Wars movie, he destroys Alderaan and is in charge of the Death Star.
• Darth Vader – the main villain of the original trilogy, the prequels also follow his journeys as Anakin Skywalker.
• Moff Gideon – leader of the fallen Galactic Empire and villain in The Mandalorian, he tries to capture Grogu.
• Darth Maul – one of the antagonists in The Phantom Menace, he wields a double-sided lightsaber.
• Kylo Ren – a young Jedi trained by Luke Skywalker who later turns to the dark side and idolizes Darth Vader.
• Count Dooku – a political figure introduced in Attack of the Clones, it is later revealed that he is working for the dark side under the sith name Darth Tyranus.
• Emperor Palpatine – also known as Darth Sidious, he is one of the main antagonists throughout all 9 Star Wars films.
• Captain Phasma – the commander of the First Order Stormtroopers in The Force Awakens.

Droids

• R2-D2 – an astromech droid who is companions with C-3P0 and joins Luke on his adventures.
• L3-37 – a pilot droid who worked with Lando on the Millennium Falcon on Solo: A Star Wars Story.
• IG-11 – originally a bounty hunter droid on The Mandalorian intent on hunting Grogu, he is later reprogrammed as a nurse droid and takes care of The Child.
• D-O – a data retrieval droid who appears in Rise of Skywalker.
• C-3PO – a protocol droid built by Anakin Skywalker and companion of R2-D2.
• R-3X – a pilot droid who flew for Star Tours before being reprogrammed as a DJ who performs inside of Oga’s Cantina.
• BB-8 – an astromech droid owned by Poe Dameron who joins the Resistance.
• K-2SO – a reprogrammed imperial security droid who is the co-pilot of Cassian Andor in Rogue One.

Other

• Grogu – also known as The Child or Baby Yoda, he is the beloved sidekick of Mando.
• Padme Amidala – First Queen of Naboo and later a senator in the prequels, she is also Anakin’s love interest.
• Boba Fett -a bounty hunter from the original trilogy who has since gotten his own show with the Book of Boba Fett.
• Lando Calrissian – a friend of Han Solo’s who first appears in The Empire Strikes Back.
• Mando (Din Djarin) – the main protagonist of The Mandalorian and protector of Grogu.
• Jabba the Hutt – a crime lord of Tatooine who captures Han Solo.
• Ahsoka Tano – the Jedi Padawan of Anakin Skywalker who first appears in the animated series The Clone Wars.
• Fennec Shand – a mercenary who teams up with Boba Fett in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.

Cast your votes in round 1 of the Star Wars characters tournament now!

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Which Star Wars characters are you rooting for this round?