Originally posted by: battlewars
obi wans a real asshole then

Even though Lucas didn't have the whole backstory writen yet, you can see it in Alec Guinness' acting when Luke asks him, "How did my father die?" You see him shift uncomfortably and pause and think about how he is going to "break the news" to Luke. He couldn't bear to tell Luke the truth, so he didn't flat out lie, but he sure bent the truth.

Luke knew nothing of his father. Why should Obi-Wan burden him with how horrible a person he turned out to be? Tell him about the man he was, not the man he became. He knew that if Anakin had died in battle or something, he would have wanted Luke to have his father's lightsaber. Sure, Anakin never flat out told Obi-Wan that, but the two were close and Obi-Wan was making assumptions that he was sure to be true.