Galen Marek

Starkiller (Galen Marek)
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed character
Starkiller in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (2008).
First appearance	Soulcalibur IV (2008)
Last appearance	Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (2011)
Created by	Haden Blackman
Voiced by	Samuel Witwer Zeb Drees (young)
Information
Aliases	"The Apprentice"
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Galactic Empire (formerly) Rebel Alliance

Starkiller, born Galen Marek and also known as The Apprentice, is the Dark Jedi anti-hero protagonist of the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed project. The character's likeness and voice are provided by Samuel Witwer. Raised by Darth Vader, he is made the secret apprentice under the name "Starkiller" due to being potent with using the Force for destructive purposes and described as less of an assassin and more of a "Force wrecking ball". The character's name is taken from Luke Skywalker's original name "Annikin Starkiller".

IGN called Starkiller's story "nice and complete".Game Informer, UGO Networks and GameDaily also gave good reviews. However, GamesRadar has criticized Starkiller's design. In GameSpot's vote for the greatest video game character of all time, Starkiller (as "The Apprentice") was eliminated in round 1 against Niko Bellic.

George Lucas motivated the team working on Star Wars: The Force Unleashed to make a brand-new character. Before deciding on Starkiller's character, other ideas for the main character included a Han Solo-like smuggler, a superheroic Rebel Wookiee, "the last Skywalker" and a gadget-wielding mercenary. The developers used feedback from focus test respondents and executives at LucasArts in order to make Starkiller. The developers consciously decided not to give him a name in the game, but as the novel's author Sean Williams said he needed a name, "Galen Marek" was given in the novel.