CT Uncle Owen

If you just watch the Original Trilogy is it implied that Uncle Owen is actually Luke's Uncle? I feel like it is implied he is his brother because I feel like it would make more sense to leave infant Luke with a family member, than the son of the man of bought Luke's father's mother out of slavery. Also when Obi-Wan showed up to hand off Luke to Owen and Beru why would they even accept him? They never met Obi-Wan before and they only met Anakin briefly. Does anyone else find this strange? I just feel like it could've been handled better than that.

 

A few things:

+ Owen was the son of Shmi and Cleigg. This means he was Anakin's half-brother, thus making him Luke's half-uncle. So yes, he's related to the Skywalkers. To our knowledge, Owen is the only one with a connection to the Skywalker and who, most importantly, isn't living on the homeplanet of the newly-crowned Emperor. Which is why Obi-Wan wasn't knocking on the door of Amidala home.

+ They likely accepted Luke because they're nice people who figured they were the best chance of Luke having a decent life on Tatooine? It's possible that Obi-Wan did his research and informed the Lars something like, "This child's father, Anakin, has died. He needs a home, will you be willing to care for him?" and they were all, "Sure, sure. Bring him along." Even if they only knew Anakin for a grand total of five minutes, I doubt they're the sort to abandon his child. After all, the kid's family!

 

I don't think it's ironclad Anakin and Owen are related. Revan, I concur that it could've been handled much better because as is it doesn't read credibly.

 

um no, Owen isn't Shmi's son. Cliegg had him with another wife.

Additionally, It's never stated that Anakin and Owen are blood related in A New Hope, Luke just calls him Uncle.

 

Oh, right. Owen told Anakin, "So I guess we're stepbrothers".

That said, Owen seems decent enough to be willing to care for a child whose parents are (as far as he knows) dead.

 

Owen & Beru (and to a lessor extent Bail Organa) really fell through the cracks of the PT. That's really the only place I expected more from the PT. But I suppose they could always give us a "Stand alone" movie that would deal with Owen's animosity towards Ben during those "in between" years.

 

It's not all that complicated. Obi-Wan stopped by to visit too many times for Owen's liking. Owen didn't want Luke getting involved in Jedi-related troubles, since that might have attracted Vader's attention.

 

Obi-Wan says to Luke, "That's what your uncle told you. He didn't hold with your father's ideals, thought he should've stayed here and not gotten involved". I'm not saying it implies that they're necessarily brothers but i think it implies that Owen had more interaction with Anakin then meeting him once and saying a line of dialog or 2. In AOTC, never do we see Owen question Anakin's ideas, morals, or principles, nor does he ask Anakin to stay on Tatooine. I just think they could've done so much more with the character. We know Owen better from ANH then we do from the prequels which are supposed to fill us in on stuff like that.

 

Yeah they could've done some cool things with Owens character. He could've been the human grounded character (Han Solo) people thought was missing. Him anakin and Obi Wans relationship should've been more relevant. Maybe TPM should've been obi wan not qui gonn trying to convince anakin to learn the way of the force and again Owen Is against a skywalker listening to a crazy wizard. Would've been nice rhyming.

 

The way Owen talked about Anakin, there was a certain deep familiarity in his voice and weariness in his face, I always thought that they were family. In fact I was pretty convinced they were blood-brothers before the prequels.

I think it would have made for very compelling drama for one of the boys to strive for the stars and fall so far and the other choosing a more humble life and eventually finding peace on the farm.

I hope that if they do a Kenobi anthology that we will see more of Beru and Owen.

 

I definitely feel this was a missed opportunity in the PT.

I wish it would have been handled in a manner something like this...

In Episode 1, Obi-Wan encounters Anakin, senses the Force is strong with him, and convinces him to learn the ways of the Force. All the while, Owen, Anakin's brother doesn't think it's a good idea and urges Anakin not to go on some damn fool idealistic crusade with Obi-Wan.

I mean, yeah, more plot / story / detail is needed, but would it have been so hard to include something like that in the PT?

As it is, I, and apparently others here, don't really get or feel the connection between Owen and Anakin. As Darth_Pevra mentioned above, the way Owen talked about Anakin, there indeed was a certain deep, and sad familiarity there which was pretty much ignored in the PT.

 

Wasn't that established in one of the novels set between "Revenge of the Sith" and "A New Hope"?

 

I agree it may not out outright say they were brothers but it definately implies some sort of familial relationship between the two and I know you can call anyone uncle but it feels like more than a random guy. At the very least they had too have been good friends, not the random 2 line character that was shown in AOTC.

 

Based on the OT alone, I always just thought of Owen and Beru as kind of like the Kents (Superman). A kindly couple who weren't related to the boy in question by blood, but who loved him as parents regardless of it. I think that's how it comes across in the OT, before the info from the PT is revealed.

Somewhat related: I saw a comic posted on reddit a few days ago that shows Luke's childhood and made me sympathize with Owen more. The link said it was a Korean comic that had been translated, and that it was indeed new and part of the new canon, but I can't verify that. I enjoyed reading it though! Owen basically said Luke was his son, as far as he was concerned.

 

While it's hard for me to put myself in the headspace I was in pre-PT, as I remember, for a long time we didn't really have a lot (from the OT) to make us doubt that Owen was Luke's blood-related uncle. Although, I know it was proposed and discussed pre-PT that Owen was Obi-Wan's brother. . .

 

And stated outright in the ROTJ novelization.

 

Just ignore all the PT guff and it's all simple enough

 

Owen had grown up and been (partially) raised by Shmi. She was a kind gentle soul and become a second mother to him. Due to the gruesome end she met my assumption is that Owen thought he could honor her by raising her grandson as his own just as she did for him.

What's questionable is why would they leave Luke (at that point a newborn) with the same name that his birth mother gave him. Padme could have easily spoken about his name beforehand with Anakin..as most parents do. Even if he thought Anakin was dead that name would easily be the best way to connect him to the Jedi.

 

did you see his time with anakin? ani wasn't the greatest guy. he was also a strange kid who left the planet and came back as some sort of space wizard. then he went and got himself killed in the clone wars or worse. then another strange space wizard drops by with anakin's son and just drops him off. he probably told them to keep it a secret. then the weird wizard stays on the planet and spies on them occasionally.

that's enough to make a farmer nervous. he doesn't need to know or want to know what happened.

 

Obi-Wan had never behaved as if Owen was his brother. I just saw "A New Hope". He seemed surprisingly distant over Owen's death. On the other hand, he seemed a good deal more emotional regarding Luke, his memories of Anakin and the Jedi Order. Looking back, Obi-Wan's comment that Owen was his brother in "Return of the Jedi" doesn't seem right to me.

 

Had AOTC not reversed it, TPM would have made it even more plausible - by establishing that Obi-Wan, like all Jedi except Anakin, was handed over to the Jedi Order as an infant and so has very little emotional connection to his birth family.

 

"A New Hope" never indicated that Obi-Wan and Owen were brothers. Obi-Wan didn't seem particularly upset over Owen's death. At the same time, I could see his disappointment over Luke's initial decision to remain on Tatooine and his longing for the old Jedi Order and the old days. So when Obi-Wan stated in "Return of the Jedi" that Owen was his brother, it just seemed wrong to me. Also, Obi-Wan spent 19 years on Tatooine, living close to Luke and the Lars. And yet after those 19 years, he was still incapable of expressing any emotion over Owen's death? I can see why Lucas had decided to establish Owen as Anakin's stepbrother.

 

ROTJ was the one that reversed ANH, where Obi-wan and Owen were not related. But that aside, Owen still considered Anakin to be his brother despite barely knowing him as a person. All he had to go on as Shmi's memories and his brief encounter with him. As to adopting Luke, Owen and Beru understood that they had an obligation to honor Shmi's memory, by raising Luke and since they couldn't have children of their own, they took Luke in.

 

Yea, Anakin and Owen as brothers fits a lot better.

 

Obi-Wan never comments that Owen was his brother..