Bigger Luke

The approximate scale of Luke Prime shown relative to the generally agreed size of Bigger Luke.

Bigger Luke, commonly abbreviated to BL, or more uncommonly BgL, is the slightly larger manifestation of Luke Skywalker that is said to appear in certain scenes of the original Star Wars Trilogy, contrasting to Regular Luke.

The appearance of Bigger Luke in a particular scene is generally, but not always, judged relative to the height of Han Solo, and as such Han is the primary go-to frame of reference amongst Bigger Luke Theorists. Because of this, "No Han Pics"(commonly abbreviated to NHP) are generally discouraged, as it is very difficult to determine Luke's height without Han Solo as a constant frame of reference. Whilst uncommon, the use of other Star Wars characters to judge Luke's height are not unheard of. The second most common character to judge if Bigger Luke is in the scene or not has generally been Obi-Wan, followed closely by Princess Leia. The activity of combing the original Star Wars trilogy for instances of Bigger Luke is known as Luking.

Theories

There have been many elaborate theories as to why there exists a larger version of Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars films, however most theories fall into two general categories:

The Canon Luke Hypothesis, sometimes simply The Bigger Luke Hypothesis, in which it is theorized that within the Star Wars universe and canon there does indeed exist a version of Luke Skywalker that is slightly larger than a posited regular Luke Skywalker, or Luke Prime.

The Hamill Hypothesis, in which it is theorized that there exists an uncredited Mark Hamill look-alike who was used in certain scenes of the original trilogy for undisclosed reasons and whose identity has yet to be determined.

The Canon Luke Hypothesis is the most popular of the two, with the Hamill Hypothesis a close second.

Visual Evidence

Evidence for the existence of Bigger Luke is scattered throughout the original Star Wars films, predominantly, or at least most well documented, in A New Hope. If one were to juxtapose multiple scenes containing both Luke Skywalker and Han Solo standing up in the same frame, one would quickly be able to discern the existence of a slightly larger version of Luke Skywalker, dubbed the titular Bigger Luke. It is generally agreed that Bigger Luke is approximately two to three centimeters / approximately an inch taller than Regular Luke, but disagreements as to the exact height discrepancy do exist, and tend to be muddled due to perspective. See Size Debate for more details.

Bigger Luke. Note the size discrepancy indicated by the red line in the previous image.

A Larger World

It is believed by supporters of the Canon Luke Hypothesis that Obi-Wan's line shortly after Luke first succeeds in blocking the training remote's shots (You've taken your first step into a larger world) is evidence of Obi-Wan's knowledge of there being a larger Luke Skywalker. Elaborated on here.

A little short for a Stormtrooper?

Another commonly held theory is that Princess Leia's comment towards Luke shortly before being rescued (Aren't you a little short for a Stormtrooper?) is a thinly-veiled acknowledgement of the existence of a size discrepancy between different versions of Luke Skywalker. Because this is an in-universe acknowledgement, it is generally deemed evidence in favor of the Canon-Luke Hypothesis, as opposed to the Hamill Hypothesis, as it seems very unlikely that a Star Wars character would acknowledge the existence of different actors.

Conversely, supporters of the Hamill Hypothesis argue this could be some form of easter egg on the part of the production team, and therefore does not explicitly favor either the Canon Luke or Hamill Hypothesis'. Other supporters of the Hamill Hypothesis even go so far as to claim it is unlikely Princess Leia would be aware of different versions of Luke Skywalker at this point in the timeline, and therefore it is, in fact, evidence in favor of the Hamill Hypothesis. Detractors claim that, through the force, Princess Leia could subconsciously manifest some form of awareness of the existence of two versions of Luke, but not be innately aware of it, merely seeing her statement as a witty quip.

Some suggest that a more literal interpretation of Carrie Fisher's line would indicate evidence towards the extremely controversial and fringe Smaller Luke Hypothesis. See FORA for more details.

The line "Aren't you a little short for a Stormtrooper?" does not seem to appear in the original script of Star Wars. Therefore the decision to reference Bigger Luke in some way or another must have been done later in development.

Biggs

There has been some suggestion that the inclusion of the peculiarly named character of Biggs Darklighter in the Star Wars canon is a direct hint as to the existence of a slightly larger version of Luke Skywalker.

Lando's reaction to first seeing Luke

Lando's first viewing of our hero.

At over an hour and a half into The Empire Strikes Back, Luke arrives at Cloud City and soon falls under attack by Imperial Stormtroopers escorting Leia, Chewbacca, and C3PO shortly after being shot at by Boba Fett. During this scene, Lando Calrissian lays his eyes on our hero for the very first time, and quickly loses interest. However, towards the end of this scene Lando appears to stare at Luke with a very perplexed expression. Being the proficient card player and gambler that he is, one would assume that Lando Calrissian had a very keen eye - perhaps the best eyes in the galaxy. It is therefore distinctly possible that Lando did in fact perceive a height change in Luke between two different viewings.

What could possibly trigger such bewilderment in Lando but a sudden change in Luke's size mere seconds between viewings?

One would come to the conclusion that, if Lando was indeed observing a shift in Luke's size, perhaps even accompanied by a subtle flicker, then this rules heavily in favor of the Canon Luke Hypothesis, if not flat out refutes the Hamill Hypothesis. However, subscribers to the HAMCAN sub-theory of the Hamill Hypothesis can easily reconcile this discrepancy.

Gallery

An instance of Bigger Luke at about 1 hour 5 minutes into A New Hope. Bigger Luke appears slightly larger than he normally does due to leg height not being a factor in this image.

Bigger Luke at approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes into A New Hope. Han is the one wielding the long rifle.

Again at 1 hour and 11 minutes.