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Post #1657638

Author
Tosche Station
Parent topic
George was telling the truth about the Father Vader twist going back to ANH, but so was Kurtz:
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1657638/action/topic#1657638
Date created
27-Jul-2025, 2:41 PM

CitizenofBespin said:

Whatever path they took to eventually land on the most famous twist in cinematic history, the idea was not original to Lucas or Kurtz. It almost certainly was inspired by the same twist in DUNE, the novel, where Paul Atreides finds out he is the grandson of the primary villain, Vladimir Harkonnen. And so many other aspects of Star Wars seem lifted or inspired by Dune, I think it’s fairly obvious at this point, if Lucas was wrestling with anything about Vader’s backstory, it was how much ‘on the nose’ he could be without looking like he actually ripped it off directly from Dune.

I don’t think Kurtz would have failed to mention Lucas having been inspired by Dune for this particular plot point (even the dropped part) if the above were the case. Kurtz gives credit solely to Lucas for both twists - the earlier dropped one (for ANH), and the one Lucas eventually settled on (circa the second draft of Empire). Plus, Frank Hebert definitely would have called foul against Lucas on this particular element if what you’re saying were true.