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The Internet Has Exposed Luke Skywalker’s Larger Double in Star Wars

The release of The Force Awakens has opened the door for all kinds of Star Wars fan theories — especially those about the origins of new characters Rey and Finn — but the best, craziest internet fan theory about Star Wars concerns an old favorite: Luke Skywalker. The “Bigger Luke” hypothesis posits that there were two Luke Skywalkers in the original trilogy: Regular Luke and Bigger Luke, who is about an inch taller.

There’s an entire wiki devoted to scanning the films for appearances of Bigger Luke and determining whether he’s a separate character within the Star Wars universe or just a larger Mark Hamill look-alike. Bigger Luke theorists dismiss the explanation that some scenes were just shot to make Hamill look taller next to Harrison Ford. I mean, that’s just silly.

Much of the “evidence” for Bigger Luke comes from screen-grabs of Hamill standing next to Harrison Ford, with their height difference mysteriously shifting from scene to scene. Remember, this has nothing to do with inconsistent camera angles and everything to do with there actually being two different Lukes.

Bigger Luke theorists also find textual evidence for their hypothesis in the films themselves: What else could Obi Wan’s declaration that “this is your first step into a larger world” mean? And what could “Aren’t you a little short for a Stormtrooper?” be but an inside joke about the two Lukes? It’s so obvious once you see it.

And, inevitably, there are also competing advocates for a Smaller Luke theory — they believe that the larger Luke is the real one and that the double is actually smaller than the original.

Mark Hamill has officially stayed mum on Bigger Luke, ignoring questions about it on Twitter, but he did say this about his role in the upcoming Star Wars VIII:

Who knows? Maybe in the next one my part will be twice as big. https://t.co/9UeEYr7Wzr

— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) December 31, 2015

Trying to tell us something, Mark?

Were There Two Luke Skywalkers in Star Wars?