5 Most Notable Sets Of 'Twins' In The 'Star Wars' Universe

The first three episodes of new Star Wars series The Acolyte are now airing on Disney Plus. Set a century prior to the events of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, early trailers set up The Acolyte as a murder mystery, only for the first episode's murder to be not such a mystery at all. Instead, the series has pivoted slightly, to the story Osha and Mae Aniseya, twin sisters on opposite sides of the Force. While Osha trained as a Jedi (training which was incomplete for an as yet unknown reason), Mae appears to be working with a Sith.

Osha, reuniting with Sol, her former Jedi Master, now works to stop Mae from murdering more Jedi who had been stationed on the twins home planet at the time of a terrible fire that killed the coven of witches the pair had been born into, and possibly uncover unanswered questions about said fire.

Of couree, The Acolyte is not the first time twins have played a significant role in a Star Wars story. Across the original trilogy, Legends content, and animated shows, twins have appeared in pivotal moments. Considering the sometimes mystical nature of the Force, science, lore, and even just popular fanon, what it means to be a twin, and how twins come about, can be deeper than just being born together.

Let's look at a few of the most motable sets of twins in the Star Wars universe.

1. Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa

Born of the forbidden love between Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala, one of the Galactic Republic's few non-corrupt Senators, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa are two of the main protagonists of the Star Wars Original Trilogy, aka Episodes IV through VI of the Skywalker saga. After their Mother dies in childbirth, the twins are separated to protect them from their Father, who has fallen to the Dark Side, becoming the Sith Lord known as Darth Vader.

The twins unknowingly reunite as adults, when Luke joins a mission to rescue Leia from Imperial custody after he has begun his own training to become a Jedi. The pair become close friends during their time together as members of the Rebellion, but it is not until Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, that Luke and Leia discover their familial connection.

Between Episode VI and VII, Leia discovers that she is Force-sensitive and completes Jedi Training under Luke, but ultimately decides she can better serve the New Republic as a Senator while Luke aims to rebuild the Jedi Order.

Unfortunately, many fans, and even Mark Hamill himself, believe the sequel trilogy assassinates Luke's character by having him flee the consequences of Ben Solo's fall and the rise of the First Order, only to kill him off in a senseless 'heroic sacrifice' that doesn't feel all that heroic. Leia's story, as a General of the Resistance who takes up Rey's training after Luke's death, is handled only slightly better, even accounting for the mitigating circumstances of Carrie Fisher's untimely death.

However, the issues of the sequels can never take away Luke and Leia's status as the first Star Wars heroes. They are, and always will be, the franchise's most iconic twins.

2. Tiplar and Tiplee

While most younglings give up their family connections when taken into the Jedi Order, this was not the case for force-sensitive Mikkian twins Tiplee and Tiplar, who joined the order together and still retained the bond of sisters. The twins rose through the ranks to eventually become Jedi Masters, and Generals in the Republic Army, serving on many missions together during the Clone Wars.

Sadly, tragedy strikes when Tiplee and Tiplar join Anakin Skywalker and his 501st Legion on a mission to Ringo Vinda. A malfunction in the inhibitor chip of Clone Trooper 5385, aka Tup, caused an early activation of Order 66, resulting in Tup executing Tiplar. Tiplee hardens considerably after her sister's death, until she is killed by Count Dooku while accompanying Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu, and Aayla Secura on a search for Darth Maul.

While Tiplee and Tiplar are not memorable or iconic protagonists in the same way as the Skywalker twins, they remain a notable part of the Star Wars saga for how close Tiplar's death came to changing the course of history. Had ARC-Trooper Fives' attempt to expose the true nature of the clones' inhibitor chips been successful, Order 66 may never have come to pass.

3. Boba Fett/ 'Alpha' and Omega

Here is where the definition of 'twins' gets slightly more complicated. In exchange for allowing the Kaminoans use of his DNA to create what eventually becomes the Republic's Clone Army, the bounty hunter Jango Fett is given custody of a clone to raise as his own son. While most clones are given enhancements by the Kaminoans, such as enhanced ageing to more quickly produce full-fledged troops, 'Alpha', renamed Boba by Jango, is unaltered, and ages at a regular pace. After Jango's death, Boba follows in his footsteps, becoming a well-known Bounty Hunter, and more recently, Daimyo of Mos Espa.

A second unaltered, albeit female clone, Omega, was created at around the same time as Boba. Omega flees Kamino to travel with Clone Force 99, aka The Bad Batch, effectively adopted and raised by them.

The recent finale of The Bad Batch series revealed that as an adult, Omega joined the Rebel Alliance as a pilot.

While all clones consider each other brothers, as unaltered clones, Omega and Boba are the two purest replications of Jango Fett's genetic material. This, along with their similar time of birth and the connection implied by their original 'Alpha' and 'Omega' designations, has led some fans to view the pair as twins.

If so, it seems somewhat odd that the characters have never shared the screen, although that could soon change. New fan theories propose that the adult Omega will appear in the upcoming series Skeleton Crew, set in the same era as The Mandalorian. If this is true, it is possible that Boba Fett and Omega could soon come face to face as the various Mando-era stories converge in preparation for a planned concluding film. Does Omega have room in her life for another brother? Will Boba accept a sister? Time may give us the answers.

4. Jacen and Jaina Solo

While in the canon Star Wars sequel trilogy Han and Leia have only one child, Ben Solo, the original expanded universe, now known as Legends, depicts Leia's first pregnancy as resulting in a pair of fraternal twins, Jacen and Jaina Solo. The Solo twins were kept in hiding for large chunks of their childhood, as they were targeted by enemies of their famous rebel parents.

Both twins were Force Sensitive, eventually beginning Jedi Training under their Uncle, Luke Skywalker. The brother and sister duo shared a psychic bond, and both became notable Jedi in their own right, fighting in important conflicts such as the long-running war against the Yuuzhan Vong.

Unfortunately, during the aforementioned conflict, Jacen was touched by the Dark Side, eventually becoming twisted to believe that Sith methods were the only way to protect his daughter, Allana, and bring peace to the Galaxy. He fell to the Dark Side completely, becoming the Sith Lord Darth Caedus, at which point his twin bond with Jaina is broken. Jaina, tragically, is eventually forced to kill her twin.

For many fans, who got to know the Solo twins over years of novels, their removal from canon is one of the greatest tragedies of Disney's buy-out of the franchise. Some believe the Force Dyad story between Ben Solo/Kylo Ren and Rey was a poor attempt at replicating Jacen and Jaina.

5. Ben Solo and Rey 'Skywalker'

While Ben Solo and Rey Palpatine/Skywalker were not born twins (Ben is chronologically ten years older), their souls are, due to their status as a dyad in the Force.. two who are one. While Ben, manipulated even before birth, falls to the Dark Side and becomes Kylo Ren, Rey is, for the most part, Light Side leaning.

Their initially opposite allegiances was what drew fans to form comparisons between Ben and Rey and the Jacen and Jaina of Legends, with many early theories proposing that Rey was Ben's younger sibling, hidden as an attempt to protect her after his fall. Of course, this idea was scuppered when the two seem to develop romantic feelings towards one another in The Last Jedi.

Ben is ultimately redeemed in time to help Rey thwart a revived Emperor Palpatine, although sadly gives up his life for hers.

Some fans have theorised that The Acolyte may reveal Osha and Mae as a dyad as well as being twins, due to their seeming ability to communicate across vast distances through the Force, and a repeated rhyme:

Always One, but born as two.

Time will tell if this proves to be the case, and where Osha and Mae will fall among important Star Wars twins.