Return Of The Jedi - a general Random Thoughts thread — Page 15

Just a thought…

Like many fans I’ve always struggled with Obi Wan’s famous ‘point of view’. Of course we all know that the ‘Vader as dad’ thing was conceived midway through the inception of TESB, hence the awkwardness of the whole situation. For some time I’ve thought it would’ve been a good idea if Obi Wan had instead claimed (during his chat with Luke on Dagobah) that he’d promised Owen Lars to never tell Luke the truth. But that doesn’t explain why he (Obi Wan) had stuck with the lie after Owen’s unfortunate end in Star Wars '77.

What if Obi Wan had promised Padme that he would never tell Luke who his real dad was? This would absolutely make sense - “I promised your mother that I would never tell you the truth about Anakin. It wasn’t just about protecting you - she truly believed that the good man who was your father had been destroyed by Darth Vader”. This way Obi Wan’s lie has a kind of nobility about it, and it also explains why he and Yoda didn’t just tell Luke the truth before he flew off to Bespin to rescue Han and Leia. Obi Wan was bound by his vow to Padme (perhaps she’d asked him this as she lay dying) and he had to let the truth come from Vader’s own lips.

JackNapier said:

But that contradicts Padme’s line about there still being good in him (Anakin)

No, I’m positing this from an entirely RoTJ 1983 perspective. The prequels would then have been written with this in mind. You’d have a big emotional scene in ep 3 where a dying Padme makes Obi Wan swear that he’ll preserve her version of things for Luke’s sake - thereby justifying Obi’s adherence to the narrative. It wouldn’t have to be throwing Padme under the bus per se. There could be subtle dialogue (in both RoTJ and/or the prequels) indicating that Obi Wan more or less agrees with Padme’s perspective in terms of separating Anakin and Vader as entities.