CT What was your reaction when you knew Darth Vader was Luke's father?

Unfortunatley for me, Dath Vader being the father of Luke was already an universally known fact when i was born , i knew he was Luke's father even before watching the movies because i got spoiled by the media,so i never got to fully experience the moment.

 

I immediately thought Vader was lying. He was the "bad guy," so of course he was lying.
Then I found out in ROTJ that he was telling him the truth, and the Jedi had lied (or omitted, same thing IMO), which didn't make sense to me because they were the "good guys"
I was younger than 10, so maybe that's why LOL

 

Never had the pleasure. The film had been out for 20 years by the time I saw it. And it's impossible not to know that Vader was Luke's father.

 

I feel your guys pain. Its the pain we all share.

 

Honestly I don't remember. Though I think I probably thought he was lying.

 

I wasn't alive back then. But I can only imagine the shock the fans felt when it was revealed.

 

Oddly enough, I don't remember (I was only six years old). I think I was more horrified by Luke getting his hand cut off.

 

I don't think it was a big thing for me, to be honest. I probably just thought "He's Luke's father? Neat."

 

I was very surprised, but I do not remember anything past that. It's been 35 years.

 

The film had already been out for over 30 years at that point so I already knew it.

But because the plot twist was done so well (the lead up, the fight, etc.) I reacted like this:

 

i don't really remember my reaction . it didn't scar me at apparently .

 

Born in 91 and saw ESB in mid to late 90's and didn't know about Vader reveal yet.
Probably didn't believe it since Vader was the bad guy.

 

I thought it was cool. Began my path of realisation that labels like hero and villain are silly.

 

Well I was told that twist by my father as a last ditch attempt from him to make me watch Star Wars. When it was revealed that the main antagonist was the protagonist's father in this 'dark vs light sci-fantasy saga', I was immediately flooded by possible interesting familial dynamics and temptation angles the saga might take. I thought the twist was a sign Star Wars wasn't going into a typical 'good guys born good staying good & evil guys born evil staying evil' fantasy trend if the founder had the guts to show people from different sides from the same lineage. I did guess that Vader would try to bring his son to his side and thus offer more complex relationships than the usual 'A from X side tries to kill B from Y side'.

So yeah, the twist made my 'Pigs will fly when I decide to watch this Star Wars crap' turn into a 'I will go nuts if I don't watch this!!'. Thank you, twist.

 

Before the film hit theatres my family took a trip to visit relatives. There in a store was the novelization of ROTJ. I tried to just read the first page and stop. Right, and a heroine addict can just stop. I tried to stop at the first chapter. Nope. Kept going and read the whole thing. The passage is "Your father he is," he said simply. I did stop for a moment and was utterly thrilled. FYI the book spoiled nothing, it made me wish to see the film even more.

 

My father ruined it for me by figuring it out during episode four. I saw later that Lucas didn't even have that planned but it must have been an obvious plot choice, I dunno. He knew Luke and Leia were going to turn out to be brother and sister too.
I always just assumed my father worked for the dark side too so was privy to this info.

 

My imagination largely influenced what I knew of Star Wars when I saw The Empire Strikes Back as a four-year-old. I just watched everything without really comprehending it and I have no idea what I was told by other kids before I saw it.

 

I thought he was lying but that's all I remember-I saw it in June 1980 when I was 9.

 

I saw it on screen in 1980 at age 9. That was definitely a big moment. But I don't remember being that shocked, although it's so far away now that it's really hard to tell exactly.

I was more impressed and shocked by Han Solo's carbon-freezing and that whole sequence actually, especially the shot when the encasement suddenly bangs to the floor and reveals itself.

I thought Vader was telling the truth to Luke ("Search your feelings, you will know it to be true").

 

Unfortunately, I had read a movie review in the local paper before seeing the movie, and the SOB spilled the beans. Of course, I thought "no way" but not at the theater.

 

Can't recall when I found out. What I do remember is that only two scenes in the OT really affected me when I was little--Yoda's death and that one Ewok's death. Luke getting his hand chopped off, nearly falling to his death, etc. was all standard action.

 

GL spoiled it for me! When they released the OOT on VHS in 1995, there were interviews with Leonard Maltin at the beginning of each film. In the ESB one, they both discussed Vader being Luke's father. It's too bad they couldn't have put those interviews after the films.

 

Well, I had that revelation pretty much spoiled for me from the get-go. I think I was only watching ANH for the second time ever, when my older brother announced (during the scene when we first see Vader come through the doors of Leia's ship) "These movies are sooo great. Things are never what you think! Like, that's Luke's *father*!!!"

So, to answer your question, I think my exact reaction was this: "What?!" *grows skeptical* "No way. He's not. You're *teasing*!!!" (Pretty much Luke's reaction, but through the eyes of a five-year-old).

That's what you get when your brother was old enough to have seen ESB in the theater a few years earlier, and you were not. *sigh*