The dark side was no match!
Luke Skywalker, legendary Jedi and hero of the Rebellion, defeated the evil Darth Vader to win the championship in This Is Madness: The Star Wars Character Tournament, StarWars.com’s annual competition in which fans vote for their favorite heroes and villains. This marks the first title win for Skywalker -- and a notable one, coming against his biggest nemesis and last year's champion. This tournament also marked a huge turnaround for the Jedi; in This Is Madness 2015, he did not even make the tournament, losing a Play-In matchup to Ahsoka Tano, and had previously never made it past the second round. But with a powerful appearance in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, his popularity seems to be at an all-time high. In an amazing run, Luke had decisive victories over major characters in each round, including wins over Hera Syndulla (89%-11%), Han Solo (58%-42%), and Obi-Wan Kenobi (54%-46%), before his ultimate triumph over Vader, a 64%-36% shellacking.
For the third straight year, StarWars.com and Wookieepedia joined their combined strengths for “Predict the Madness," giving fans the chance to fill out their own tournament brackets and win some amazing prizes. Players who finished in the top 5 will win Star Wars prize bundles featuring great items from Hasbro, SMS Audio, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, and Diamond Select Toys. Which fans tuned into the Force and saw the future correctly? Winners will be announced shortly.
This year's competition featured many other exciting storylines and surprises. Ahsoka Tano, already a fan favorite, gained even more visibility having battled Darth Vader in Star Wars Rebels last week, and defeated BB-8 handily in the opening round, 62%-38%. Kylo Ren, the galaxy's newest dark side devotee, seemed destined for the championship round -- until falling to his grandfather, Darth Vader, in the conference final.
StarWars.com and Lucasfilm thank all who voted this year, and congratulate Luke Skywalker and all his fans. The Jedi is back and better than ever.
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