CT What if Vader wasn't Luke's father

In ANH, Obi Wan tells Luke that Darth Vader killed his father. We know enough to realize that the big twist in The Empire Strikes Back was thought of after 1977. How would the trilogy have turned out if that were true?

 

I think the very core of what makes the conclusion great wouldn't have been there.

The idea of redemption for Anakin Skywalker is really wonderfully played out as Luke decides not to fight, but instead to believe in the good in his father.

If Vader was indeed not Luke's father, I think he would have remained two-dimensional and the ending would have been a great fight in which Luke kills both Vader and Palpatine. This would have been entertaining and it probably still would have been a hit... but it would be forgotten as a space-action flick.

The ending that actually happened put this trilogy on the level of Lord of the Rings. Frodo, the most pure soul, was corrupted. The idea being that there is evil in us all, even the most good, and we must fight it. The ending to ROTJ showed us that the baddest man in the galaxy (and greatest cinematic villain) can be redeemed. The idea being no matter how evil a person is, we are all capable of good. Those two ideas go hand and hand, and I think thematically, LOTR and Star Wars are two sides of a beautiful coin.

The prequels surely never would have happened if Vader wasn't the daddy.

 

The entire trilogy would have been a huge waste... basically Vader is a generic bad guy(ZOD type maybe) and he isn't redeemed in ROTJ.... so what exactly happens in ROTJ? Luke confronts him and Emp and kills them. Generic MOS type action/sc-fi ending would have made it very forgettable.

Not necessarily true, you could have done the prequels about Lukes "actual" father... maybe his friendship with whoever they ended up making Vader instead of Anakin. It would be a sort of Jor-El/Zod type dynamic. Then show the rise and fall of their friendship, betrayal etc and the inevitable son Luke(Kal-El) who has to redeem him,

 

Only second badass in the galaxy behind the Emperor...But that's well enough.

By the way, the later apparently seems completely unredeemable. A modern day version of Lucifer/Satan...

Indeed, as soon as summer 1977, Lucas and Kurtz were already thinking about a possible "Young days of Obi-Wan Kenobi" movie, where Father Skywalker was to play a significant part. Among many other options.

So the concept of backstory films didn't wait for the big 1978 (most likely) twist to arouse. But the idea of a backstory/prequel trilogy, and possibly the whole 3 trilogies' 1979 definitive plan, appears to be closely linked to it, that's for sure.

Lucas probably realised and liked the enormous dramatic and tragic potential such a new redefined story would have, and decided to deal with it through an entire trilogy of its own.

 

What if instead Obi-Wan did lie and it turned out Uncle Owen was secretly Luke's father after all, having renamed himself after a horrid accident forced him to give up his life as a Jedi and become a grumpy farmer

AND OBI-WAN WAS THE ILLEGITIMATE GRANDFATHER YEAHHHHH BABY

 

Ok, I mutilated this thread which I feel actually could go somewhere. So in that vein:

Not necessarily. An alternate reality where Obi-Wan's story of what happened is indeed true would be interesting. We'd still probably get a PT but also a very different Episode VI. I'm quite curious how it'd have gone if "No, Obi-Wan killed your father" ended up being used

 

I disagree. I think the redemption of Vader elevated Star Wars on to another level as far as endings and characters go. I think it would have been significantly less successful if it had just devolved into Sci-Fi flick of evil vs good. The real ending really connected with people.

The reason the prequels came about was because GL saw that people still loved his movies even years and years later, and books were being sold and comics and games the desire for more star wars was rampant.

I think this wouldn't have happened if the OT hadn't connected with people so much.

Also, the central idea to the prequels is the downfall of Anakin Skywalker. While I think it would be an interesting alternate reality to see the "Obiwan killed your father" PT, I don't think it would have ever been made. It wouldn't have been nearly as compelling as the real PT. Anakin Skywalker is too important.

But really... Jar Jar is the key to all of this.

 

I actually think a prequel story could be interesting if we went back and saw Luke's father, and how Darth Vader would've betrayed him, etc. I'd enjoy seeing how that all played out. But I agree as well, it would have mainly made the OT forgettable, especially towards the end. IMO that father-son redemption subplot in ROTJ mainly was what sealed the deal on making SW so memorable and relatable in our own lives.

 

Obi-Wan killing Luke's father could have been a very compelling story and could have been used by Vader and the Emperor to lure Luke to the Dark Side. Naturally, the revelation that a Jedi Knight he admired had lied to him and killed his father would have caused a great deal of inner conflict for Luke regarding the Dark Side and the Light.

 

Well if Vader was not the father luke would have killed him and that's about it.