Star Wars: Luke's Kill Count Trumps Darth Vader's (But Can't Beat Ahsoka's)

A whole lot of death has taken place in a galaxy far, far away. It's bound to happen when the bad guys are constantly trying to build devices that can obliterate planets with the push of a button. However, the deadliest characters may surprise you when looking at the highest kill counts in the "Star Wars" universe.

To begin, it's worth noting that Darth Vader doesn't even crack the Top 10. Looking at his time as both Anakin and Vader, he's killed 153,232 sentient beings. With these numbers, it would appear droids are included as "sentient beings." Vader's son, Luke, actually surpassed him in that department by killing 1,549,232 individuals. You may wonder how that's possible. Well, Luke was the one who fired the shot that destroyed the Death Star, instantly killing anyone who was onboard. That means over 1 million deaths right there, plus whoever he's killed in other properties in both Canon and Legends media. 

But Anakin's Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, even bests Luke. Her kill count stands at an astonishing 4,002,915. Ahsoka's number certainly lends credence to the idea that droids are included, as she offed a bunch of them during "The Clone Wars." Most of her kills come from the "Weapons Factory" episode, where she dispatched 3.5 million Battle Droids, Super Battle Droids, and Droidekas. But even those are rookie numbers compared to the biggest killers in the galaxy.

Ahsoka's kill count being a little over 4 million still only puts her in fifth place in the "Star Wars" franchise. Coming right ahead of her in fourth place is Orson Callan Krennic, played by Ben Mendelsohn in "Rogue One." He has over 11 million kills to his name due to him ordering the destruction of Jedha City. This is where we start getting into Death Star numbers, and the kills are associated with those who gave the order to destroy entire planets and cities. 

Third place belongs to Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, who ordered the destruction of Alderaan in "A New Hope." 2 billion sentient beings instantly lost their lives, so while Darth Vader may have had the cooler design, Tarkin was far deadlier out of the two. Number two only makes sense to those who are more familiar with the "Star Wars" Legends continuity. Darth Nihilus killed 6.5 billion people when he roamed the galaxy, which was thousands of years prior to the events of the original trilogy. As Nihilus approached Katarr, his voice filled the Miraluka people with a sensation through the Force. His hunger overwhelmed them, eventually annihilating the planet and all of its people except one — Visas Marr.

As for the biggest killer in "Star Wars," that distinction belongs to Armitage Hux, played by Domhnall Gleeson in the sequel trilogy. Tarkin may have destroyed one planet, but Hux's orders resulted in the destruction of multiple, bringing his kill count to over 155 billion. The only way someone is beating Hux is if yet another Death Star is built, and the franchise should probably move on from that device.