Every Star Wars Character With Daddy Issues, Ranked

“I am your father” is one of the most iconic Star Wars lines of all time, which in and of itself cements Star Wars as a franchise full of daddy issues. After all, that line was delivered by Darth Vader, one of the most powerful Sith and evil beings in Star Wars movies and TV shows, to Luke Skywalker, who had absolutely no idea who his father was—actually, he had believed he was a war hero (which technically wasn’t wrong, but it certainly wasn’t the whole truth, either).

Surprisingly, this is just the beginning of Star Wars’ legacy of daddy issues. For one, numerous characters grew up without their fathers around, including Han Solo, who literally derived his last name from being alone. Characters like Pedro Pascal and Boba Fett, among many others, also lost their fathers in traumatic ways. And, sadly, these are some of the less severe daddy issues in the franchise; the below seven characters represent those with even more troubling relationships with their dads.

Anakin Skywalker

Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader is one of the most complicated characters in the entire franchise. As the Chosen One, he had incredible power and, in theory, responsibility in equal measure, which already made him a unique case. In addition to that, he was once one of the most important Jedi in the Order, particularly during the Clone Wars, but he then became instrumental in the Jedi’s destruction.

While not all of that can be chalked up to not having a father, especially considering he theoretically would have grown up without parents anyway as a Jedi, his parentage certainly didn’t help. In fact, Anakin being told from birth that he was essentially a miracle who had no father no doubt bolstered his ego to a degree. Moreover, though, Anakin often felt lost and unsure of himself, and having no sense of where he truly came from, at least not entirely, was undoubtedly a factor.

Luke Skywalker

As already mentioned, Luke Skywalker also certainly didn’t have an easy time when it came to dads. Ironically, like his father, Luke grew up on Tatooine with very little information about where he actually came from. Worse than Anakin’s parentage, though, Luke came to discover that his dad was the person who had been terrorizing the galaxy since he was born and had also just cut off his hand.

However, Luke did have a father figure, and Obi-Wan Kenobi revealed just how loving Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru actually were. While that relationship was previously under-explored, Owen’s Obi-Wan Kenobi declaration that Luke was “his own” confirmed how much of a father he really had been. Even so, this revelation about Darth Vader was a brutal one for Luke.

Rotta the Hutt

The newest addition to the Star Wars daddy issues list is Rotta the Hutt, as of The Mandalorian and Grogu. Rotta was not introduced in this new movie; his first appearance was actually in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie, and he then had a brief follow-up appearance in the show of the same name.

However, it wasn’t until The Mandalorian and Grogu that Rotta revealed his serious daddy issues. In his case, this stemmed from Rotta being the son of Jabba the Hutt, a villainous being who had died not too long before The Mandalorian and Grogu. Because of Jabba’s reputation and the heinous things he did, Rotta is determined to be his “own man” (something he actually says, which was a little confusing given that he’s a Hutt). Clearly, he has a major chip on his shoulder, all to do with his dad.

Jyn Erso

Jyn Erso was introduced in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and in addition to being a brilliant new character, even as a one-off for the movie, Jyn was revealed to be among the Star Wars characters with serious daddy issues. Early in the movie, these troubles stem from the fact that Jyn believes her father to be a heartless Imperial, actually assisting the Empire in their wrongdoing.

Ultimately, Jyn learns that her father was actually working against the Empire and had planted a weakness in the Death Star to give the Rebels a fighting chance. That relief is short-lived, though, as her dad, Galen Erso, dies very soon after this revelation. Sadly, that only gives Jyn a brand-new type of daddy issue (and, even sadder, she also dies soon after).

Leia Organa

Like Luke, Leia Organa’s biological father is Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, and while that revelation was plenty painful for Luke, Leia had it even worse. In A New Hope, Leia was tortured directly at the hands of Darth Vader, and even more brutally, she had to stand by and watch as Vader, Tarkin, and their superweapon the Death Star wiped out basically everyone she knew and loved.

For that reason, Leia never forgave Anakin/Vader the way that Luke did, and she died never really wavering in her resentment of him and the pain over what he had done to her. The only saving grace for Leia is the fact that she had a truly loving adoptive father in Bail Organa.

Rey

Rey was confirmed to have daddy issues (and parenting issues/abandonment issues in general) from more or less the moment she appears on screen. The Force Awakens reveals relatively early on that Rey was abandoned by her parents on Jakku, and she has remained on the planet ever since, hoping they return for her. In Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Kylo Ren even calls Rey out for needing her parents and remaining obsessed with them.

Sadly, there was no happy ending for Rey when it came to her parents. Although Kylo’s comments that they were junk traders who had sold her for drinking money proved false, it wasn’t much better news that they had been killed while on their mission to protect her.

Kylo Ren

Finally, Kylo Ren has the single most daddy issues overall in Star Wars. Even before Star Wars: The Force Awakens is set, Kylo (then Ben Solo) grew up feeling abandoned by his parents. However, in The Force Awakens, he also goes on to kill his father, Han Solo, in order to prove that he’s fully committed to the dark side.

Unfortunately for Kylo, he wasn’t actually fully committed to the dark side, and he lived with the guilt of what he had done to his father. In fact, he was so haunted by this murder that he was visited by the memory of his father in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Impressively, this makes Kylo the most affected by his parentage in a franchise that is full of characters with major daddy issues.

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