Originally posted by: MJR80
... it does seem like Lucas was making things up as he went along... He may have felt a burden to conjure another "plot twist" or "surprise"

He was. It's been confirmed several times over. He didn't have a story beyond Star Wars. Vader-as-father, Leia-as-sister - none of that was there in his "original vision" and the weakness of story, by inventing them later, is obvious. As I've said before, he took an outer space adventure that was on a grand scale - and reduced it to The Wizard Of Oz. Their being related feels out of place and added on - because it was.

He didn't even know what to do with it after he added it. It's not only cheap - it serves absolutely no purpose in the story. It's a useless, weak story arc that goes nowhere. It's embarrasing enough that he made up stuff up on the fly - turns out he's not even good at it.

In answer to the question - Star Wars for me consists of a single film. An outer space adventure in a galaxy far away - and none of the characters are related to each other. They weren't when I was a kid - they aren't now. It's not even a consideration when I watch Star Wars. I can't pretend or imagine they are because I know they aren't. I know they weren't when the story was first written and I know it was thought up later.

Revisionist history only works on people who weren't there during the actual history.