TheBoost said:

SpenceEdit said:

Plus if he had told Luke this in the first place, would Luke have gone with him? Would he have tried to reason with Vader and be killed, thus ending their last hope at restoring balance? If I were Obi-Wan, I wouldn't have told him till he was ready, and unfortunately he found out from Vader himself long before that time.

It's also worth noting how much Luke didn't know. Dude didn't even know what the Force was, probably didn't know what a Jedi was and didn't know his dad was one. Add on that there's a Dark Side that made his dad evil and that kind old Ben tossed him in a volcano and he's now the evilest man alive... .... talk about a mind blowing experience. If I was Luke I'd go to the cantina and drink myself to oblivion.

But, as presented, Luke faces worse than that. He gets this exact same message in a single terrible moment -- but with the added mental anguish that his pals Yoda and Ben are revealed as liars (by no less than Darth Vader himself). Vader's the only one who tells him the truth. And Luke is man enough to face it and overcome it. He surely could have handled it a few hours earlier back on Degobah. He could have handled it back in Obi Wan's hut on Tatooine. Luke is a hero and lying to him instead of trusting him makes Obi Wan and Yoda deeply flawed. However, as stated, they appear deeply flawed in the prequels as well and contribute greatly to Anakin's fall.

I've wrestled with this one a long time. To me there are 2 Star Wars. There's the one released in 1977 where Obi Wan is noble. Then there's the Saga where they change Vader into Luke's dad and Obi Wan into a liar and manipulator. In the Saga, the real heroes are the Skywalkers.

It's interesting how I think this edit serves both of our interpretations. The "lie" is a mysterious part of Star Wars and this edit does more to honor Luke's inner life than anyone's ever tried before.