On May 4, fans everywhere will celebrate Star Wars Day, the fan-made global holiday celebrating the classic science fiction films that comprise the Star Wars universe. The foundation of the holiday is the pun, “May the Fourth be with You.”

The most knowledgeable fans of the franchise could surely list dozens of characters most Americans would not recognize. 24/7 Wall St. did the opposite. Taking into account such factors as lead roles, number of film appearances, prominence on credit reels, and screen time we identified the 25 most important Star Wars characters.

Luke Skywalker is the hero and main character of three films, and in the number one position on our list. Darth Maul, the main antagonist in Episode I: The Phantom Menace, rounds out the list of 25.

Click here to see the 25 most important Star Wars characters.

A character’s importance is bound to be disputed. The iconic status of characters such as Admiral Ackbar and Greedo would for many justify automatic inclusion on a list of important Star Wars characters. With only a few scenes, however, these characters did not make the cut.  

On the other hand, there are a few characters on this list who are perceived as irrelevant or are even downright hated. The Gungan military commander and politician Jar Jar Binks, despite deeply negative reception, played a major role in several of the Star Wars prequel trilogy movies.

To identify the 25 most important Star Wars characters, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed characters in each of the eight main Star Wars films — episodes I through VII and Rogue One. To make the list, a character needed to appear among the first 25 people listed in the credit reel of at least one of the films. Credit reels are generally presented by order of importance. To break ties, we selected the character with more screen time. We also considered characters who were in lead roles.

These are the 25 most important Star Wars characters.