Author Topic: Why weren't Luke and Ben's last names concealed?
rsterling78  4883 posts
Registered: May '02
7008_Clone Sergeant
Date Posted: 1/16 9:43pm Subject: Why weren't Luke and Ben's last names concealed?
I guess there's some logic -- although questionable logic it is -- hiding Luke on Tatooine with Owen and Beru Lars. I doubt Darth Vader was planning on coming home for the holidays, or anything like that. But it still seems strange that Luke was told his last name is Skywalker. While it's not very likely that the Emperor or Vader would hear about anyone name Skywalker living on a rural moisture farm, in the unlikely they did hear about it, it would certainly lead to Luke and the Lars being taken into custody, Luke's relationship to Vader being established, and Luke being trained in the Sith arts.

That's not what was done with Leia. She was given the name Organa after Bail and his wife. I know, I know: the Alderaanian royal family is much higher profile than a farmer on Tatooine. "Princess Skywalker" wouldn't have made it into toddlerhood without being picked up by the Empire.

But why take the chance with Luke? The same goes for Ben Kenobi. Having someone with the apparently uncommon name of Skywalker living with Vader's closest living relatives on Vader's home planet in close proximity to a man named Kenobi is not exactly my idea of keeping a low profile. I hope these folks at least took the precaution of having unlisted phone numbers and addresses, or whatever the GFFA equivalent of that would be.

It just seems like using aliases would have been a very easy and much safer thing to do.

 

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Grand_Moff_Jawa  4737 posts
Registered: May '01
20018_Jawa
Date Posted: 1/16 11:05pm Subject: RE: Why weren't Luke and Ben's last names concealed? - Date Edited: 1/16 11:09pm (3 edits total) Edited By: Grand_Moff_Jawa
rsterling78 posted:
I guess there's some logic -- although questionable logic it is -- hiding Luke on Tatooine with Owen and Beru Lars. I doubt Darth Vader was planning on coming home for the holidays, or anything like that. But it still seems strange that Luke was told his last name is Skywalker. While it's not very likely that the Emperor or Vader would hear about anyone name Skywalker living on a rural moisture farm, in the unlikely they did hear about it, it would certainly lead to Luke and the Lars being taken into custody, Luke's relationship to Vader being established, and Luke being trained in the Sith arts.

That's not what was done with Leia. She was given the name Organa after Bail and his wife. I know, I know: the Alderaanian royal family is much higher profile than a farmer on Tatooine. "Princess Skywalker" wouldn't have made it into toddlerhood without being picked up by the Empire.

But why take the chance with Luke? The same goes for Ben Kenobi. Having someone with the apparently uncommon name of Skywalker living with Vader's closest living relatives on Vader's home planet in close proximity to a man named Kenobi is not exactly my idea of keeping a low profile. I hope these folks at least took the precaution of having unlisted phone numbers and addresses, or whatever the GFFA equivalent of that would be.

It just seems like using aliases would have been a very easy and much safer thing to do.





You want the real answer? Here it is. When there was only Star Wars (before TESB, ROTJ), Darth Vader was not formerly Anakin Skywalker. That was changed later to make the story more interesting. That's why we get the lame "certain point of view" explanation from Ben later. Also, Leia wasn't Luke's sister either. Again, changed to advance the story. Remember Leia and Luke kissing in TESB? Do you really think George would have filmed that knowing they were siblings? Nope. Leia wouldn't have had the Skywalker name, therefore. I know George claims the OT was written with the stories fully fleshed out in advance, but if that were so, things would have been very different in the original Star Wars. Remember, Star Wars was originally written to be a stand alone movie. It did so well that George completed the other two stories and changed things dramatically with the main characters.

That's the real world explanation.

 

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jedimasterbac  6231 posts
Title: CT and Fan Design Manager
Registered: Jun '04
24180_Obi-Wan Art
Date Posted: 1/16 11:34pm Subject: RE: Why weren't Luke and Ben's last names concealed?
Per Jawa, and the in-universe explanation was basically that Tatooine was so remote of a planet and Vader refused to there because of what happened to his mother that they could basically hide "in plain sight" on Tatooine without worrying about being located.

 

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Jarren_Lee-Saber  95 posts
Registered: Apr '08
41558_Neo Jedi
Date Posted: 1/17 1:50am Subject: RE: Why weren't Luke and Ben's last names concealed?
In one of the EU books (I think its "Last of the Jedi") Qui-Gon Jinn tells Ob-Wan that Vader will NEVER return to either Naboo or Tatooine, because it reminds him too much of Anakin Skywalker & Padme which he wants to forget.

 

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TwiLekJedi  69989 posts
Title: Classic Trilogy Manager
Registered: Jun '01
49704_H213: Halflife
Date Posted: 1/17 5:50am Subject: RE: Why weren't Luke and Ben's last names concealed?
And it's probably not even an issue with Ben because I doubt he's a registered resident of Mos Eisley and he probably only tells people his name is Ben, without the Kenobi. The Larses are probably the only ones knowing he's Obi-Wan Kenobi. He doesn't exactly have neighbors tongue


Maybe people on Tatooine thought Luke was a random relative of Shmi, because she used to live at that same farm. wink Still wouldn't deter Vader (or the Emperor) but maybe, just maybe, it helps tongue

 

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Darthbane2007  1373 posts
Registered: Oct '07
13725_Lando and Han
Date Posted: 1/17 6:41am Subject: RE: Why weren't Luke and Ben's last names concealed?
Okay, say Luke was able to go to the Imperial Academy and put Luke Skywalker on his application. What would hve happened to him then?

 

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Jarren_Lee-Saber  95 posts
Registered: Apr '08
41558_Neo Jedi
Date Posted: 1/17 8:15am Subject: RE: Why weren't Luke and Ben's last names concealed?
He would've been sent off to coruscant to train as a Sith....but that never happened

 

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jedimasterbac  6231 posts
Title: CT and Fan Design Manager
Registered: Jun '04
24180_Obi-Wan Art
Date Posted: 1/17 8:56am Subject: RE: Why weren't Luke and Ben's last names concealed?
Darthbane2007 posted:
Okay, say Luke was able to go to the Imperial Academy and put Luke Skywalker on his application. What would hve happened to him then?


I don't think Obi-Wan would've let him go to the Academy, so that's probably a non-issue.

 

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Arawn_Fenn  10326 posts
Registered: Jul '04
46079_Darth Plagueis
Date Posted: 1/17 9:18am Subject: RE: Why weren't Luke and Ben's last names concealed?
Darthbane2007 posted:
Okay, say Luke was able to go to the Imperial Academy and put Luke Skywalker on his application. What would hve happened to him then?


He would have gotten a legacy scholarship?

 

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jedimasterbac  6231 posts
Title: CT and Fan Design Manager
Registered: Jun '04
24180_Obi-Wan Art
Date Posted: 1/17 9:22am Subject: RE: Why weren't Luke and Ben's last names concealed?
Arawn_Fenn posted:
Darthbane2007 posted:
Okay, say Luke was able to go to the Imperial Academy and put Luke Skywalker on his application. What would hve happened to him then?


He would have gotten a legacy scholarship?


It always helps when you go to your rich daddy's alma matter. tongue

 

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celera  405 posts
Registered: May '02
24190_Owen and Beru
Date Posted: 1/17 10:29am Subject: RE: Why weren't Luke and Ben's last names concealed?
"Remember Leia and Luke kissing in TESB? Do you really think George would have filmed that knowing they were siblings? Nope."

I always wondered why George decided to reveal that Leia was Force-sensitive in ESB when he didn't know at the time that she was Luke's sister. What other possibilities for her did he have in mind other than being a Skywalker?

Owen and Beru kept Skywalker as Luke's last name as a tribute to Shmi.

 

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VadersLaMent  24969 posts
Registered: Apr '02
23042_Vader Jumping
Date Posted: 1/17 4:08pm Subject: RE: Why weren't Luke and Ben's last names concealed?
With quadrillions of sentients in the galaxy the names might not be common in terms of frequency compared to the population at large but coudl still mean there are thousands or hundreds of thousands of such names spread all over. Besides, if you are "off the grid" it would make little difference.

 

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Arawn_Fenn  10326 posts
Registered: Jul '04
46079_Darth Plagueis
Date Posted: 1/17 6:27pm Subject: RE: Why weren't Luke and Ben's last names concealed?
Apparently there are a lot of people named Jax Pavan.

 

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jedimasterbac  6231 posts
Title: CT and Fan Design Manager
Registered: Jun '04
24180_Obi-Wan Art
Date Posted: 1/17 6:42pm Subject: RE: Why weren't Luke and Ben's last names concealed? - Date Edited: 1/17 6:42pm (1 edits total) Edited By: jedimasterbac
celera posted:
I always wondered why George decided to reveal that Leia was Force-sensitive in ESB when he didn't know at the time that she was Luke's sister. What other possibilities for her did he have in mind other than being a Skywalker?


I don't know if that was a revelation of Leia being Force sensitive. They may have just been suggesting that a Force user can reach out to the minds of anyone, including non-Force users. We never actually say Leia communicate back, after all.

Arawn_Fenn posted:
Apparently there are a lot of people named Jax Pavan.


There are 582,797,754 of them on Coruscant alone. tongue

And no, unfortunately, I'm not making that up. doh!

 

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ZonemanFett 
Registered: Jun '05
6218_Boba Fett
Date Posted: 3/17 10:18am Subject: Why weren't Luke and Ben's last names concealed?
Darthbane2007 posted:
Okay, say Luke was able to go to the Imperial Academy and put Luke Skywalker on his application. What would hve happened to him then?


I'm just re-watching ANH and the Academy that Luke talks about wanting to leave to go to has caused me some thought.

If it's the Imperial Academy - doesn't this sit a little oddly with how enthusiastically Luke reacts when 3PO tells him that they had involvement with the Rebellion?:

"You know of the Rebellion against the Empire?!"

Plus later when he's talking with Obi-Wan he says:

"It's not that I like the Empire, I hate it."

This is all before they get caught up in escaping from Stormtroopers in Mos Eisley and the Alderaan destruction and the subsequent events in ANH.

So we know Luke is definitely anti-Empire, so why does he WANT to go to the Imperial Academy?

Also if Biggs left to join the Imperial Academy, why is he a rebel by the time we get to Yavin?

 

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Black-Tiger  420 posts
Registered: Nov '08
13617_Darth Maul
Date Posted: 3/17 11:58am Subject: Why weren't Luke and Ben's last names concealed?
jedimasterbac posted:
celera posted:
I always wondered why George decided to reveal that Leia was Force-sensitive in ESB when he didn't know at the time that she was Luke's sister. What other possibilities for her did he have in mind other than being a Skywalker?


I don't know if that was a revelation of Leia being Force sensitive. They may have just been suggesting that a Force user can reach out to the minds of anyone, including non-Force users. We never actually say Leia communicate back, after all.



No, it is in no way indicated in ESB that Leia is strong with the Force, only that Luke was able to send a one way message to her via telepathy. Annoying, this is, that everyone seems to think that Luke only telepathically sent an SOS to Leia because she was Luke’s sister, especially since she wasn’t even written in as Luke’s sister until after ESB was made. And besides, as things turned out in the story Luke didn’t even know until ROTJ that she was his sister!

 

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