CT Did Luke know what a Jedi was?

It seems in ANH Luke didn't know about the force when Ben used the word. However he didn't seems to question the word "jedi knight" when talking about his dad with Ben. Do you think Luke knew what a Jedi was or just didn't want to look stupid? Maybe his uncle bashed jedi's a lot

 

Luke didn't know what the Force was, therefore I doubt he'd heard of Jedi either. I mean, they kind of go hand in hand.

 

Luke was, shall we say, just a bit sheltered on a desert world on the outskirts of the galaxy. Oh sure there might have been some holonet out there. But not only did the Empire take control and censor much of it but really, what will a teenager in the middle of nowhere look up on a galactic holonet when he has the chance? "The Force" or "Nude twi'lek dancers"?

 

Now you've got me seeing Luke watching this on a holo-net pad in the garage.

 

Seriously, Luke could have heard of the Jedi without necessarily knowing the specifics of what they believed.

 

I've never really thought of this, but I would venture that Luke probably knew about Jedi, although obviously not in any detail since he didn't know about the Force. I imagine it was only insofar as having heard the word before, like mentioning to someone with a passing knowledge of ancient history something like "Praetorian Guard," or "Janissary"--he might have thought "that sounds familiar" but Luke's knowledge probably wouldn't have gone much farther than that.

 

This is my take on it too.

 

I don't think Jedi were very common knowledge under Palpatine's Empire. I'd say info about them was basically erased from official records. Even Han doesn't seem to know a great deal about them or The Force and he would have been a young child when the Clone Wars happened. I'm assuming is because the Empire did it's best to ensure the legacy of the Jedi was removed from general knowledge and never spoke of so therefore they eventually became 'forgotten'.

 

Yep, neither Han nor Chewie knew (or thought it was some weird ancient religion), as evidence from this dialogue:

Ben to Luke: "Your destiny lies along a different path from mine. The force will be with you. Always"
-Ben leaves.
Chewie: "wtf?"
Han: "You said it Chewie. Where did you dig up that old fossil?"

 

I realize that there are numerous ways to interpret things, but I find it difficult for the Jedi's reputation to be so far buried in only 20 years that even a person as widely traveled as Han (we can presume, with his pirate ship, job with Jabba, past with Lando, etc) wouldn't have heard of them. Sure mass-media control would be a powerful tool, but it would be harder to erase the memories and passed-down accounts. And we know that 30 years before ANH in TPM Anakin knows a lot about the Jedi, down to being able to spot one by the weapon he carries, and of course Tatooine isn't even in the Republic where knowledge of the Jedi is probably even more common since the Jedi are sworn to serve the Republic. But you're right, no doubt Palpatine was trying to keep knowledge of them down and keep them discredited (maybe this is where Han's disrespect for the Force comes from?), but I think it would have taken longer to bury knowledge of the Jedi so far.

 

How can Chewie not know about the Jedi nor the Force? Has he forgotten that he helped a certain Jedi grandmaster escape from his home planet?

 

That was my initial reaction as well until I remembered that Chewbacca's relationship to Yoda and the Jedi, in 1977, was nonexistent. As was Yoda himself. I suppose we must chalk it up as something else that now has to be redefined in light of the prequels. I think the original context is probably closer to the "what the kriff" interpretation.

 

Not necessarily. One could know of the Jedi, but not know about the Force.

Ben mentions "I was once a Jedi Knight the same as your father". Luke doesn't ask what a Jedi Knight is.

"Vader was seduced by the dark side of the Force."
"The Force?"
"The Force is what gives a Jedi his power."

When Luke hears Ben mention the Force, he immediately asks what it is.

Luke has heard of the Jedi, he just doesn't know much about them.

Many people have heard of Chinese people, some of them have never heard of "chi", or know little to nothing about it.

 

I don't think the information they had about the Jedi was accurate in any way. More like imperial propaganda. Luke might have asked elders like Mon Mothma or Dodonna about their impression of the Jedi, but even their view would've been tainted by their subjective feelings on the matter.

Luke became a new kind of Jedi, and that's a good thing.

 

But Luke did know about the clone wars and the Jedi were a big part of that.

Regards
Nordom

 

Well, there's official information, and there are rumors and folk tales. I'm sure Luke heard stories about the Jedi from someone who heard it from someone who heard it from someone else.

I can just see Biggs and Luke as kids, having this exchange:

BIGGS: There were these guys called Jedi Knights. My Dad says they're just legends, but Fixer swears he heard from somebody at the Power Station that they were real. He told me that they had magical powers and carried these swords that could cut through anything.
LUKE: Anything?
BIGGS: Yeah, anything. And they could read minds and beat, like, a hundred guys at a time in a fight!
LUKE: Wizard!
BIGGS: And they all lived in a big temple somewhere. Fixer said it was on Coruscant, but Deak said he heard it was on Alderaan.
LUKE: So, what happened to the Jedi Knights?
BIGGS: I dunno.

 

I applaud your use of "wizard".

 

So do I.

 

IIRC, Peter Mayhew simply said, "That old man's crazy!" Nothing suggests he had no knowledge of the Jedi.

 

Luke was your typical teenage lad all he was interested was flying his skyhopper and hanging out with his friends of course he didnt know much details about jedi and the clone wars.
you go out and ask some teenage lad now in his modified car about the first gulf war and he most likely will have heard of it but not know much else about it.
Also if his family have specifically kept all talk of these subjects away from him he would be even more in the dark about it

 

Even Anakin had heard about the Jedi when he was a kid on Tattooine. I'm not surprised that Luke had also heard about them and the Clone Wars. No amount of Imperial propaganda is going to prevent someone on the planet from mentioning them.

 

There is the whole 'Uncle Owen' subplot at play here. It seems that Owen really did not like Obi-wan. When Luke mentions Obi-Wan after the droid purchase Owen and Beru look at each other with a worried look. Then Ben Kennobi is mentioned and Owen dismisses him as a 'crazy old wizard.' Beru mentions to Owen that Luke has too much of his father in him and that is what Owen is afraid of.

Luke was told that his father was a navigator on a spice freighter. Obi-Wan corrects this by saying that his Uncle Owen told him that, that Owen did not agree with Anakin's ideals and thought he should have stayed on Tatooine and not gotten involved. He then mentions that Anakin and himself were both Jedi Knights that fought in the Clone Wars. So Luke WAS familiar with the Clone wars and Jedi but NOT about the Force. (He asked if Obi Wan fought in the Clone Wars)

I know this is the Classic Trilogy forum but looking into AOTC Episode 2 could yield a few more answers to this conundrum.

 

Because Ben explained it right after.

 

Obi-Wan explained the Force right after, when Luke says "the Force?". Luke doesn't ask about Jedi Knights or the Clone Wars, and Obi-Wan doesn't give any real explanations of those terms.