CT What would've happened if the Rebels had made it to Obi Wan before being attacked?

the imperial academy? biggs said he went there but that he was leaving to join the rebels. luke would have been tie fighter pilot number 1,222,300.

 

Most likely, which would have been bad for the good guys. An unattended Skywalker falling into imperial/Sith hands ripe for the picking would not be good.

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luke would have been this guy.

 

Luke's a better pilot than that. Anyways once Palpatine , Vader or anyone who remembers the Skywalker name, he would have probably been put on the fast track to learning to use the dark side.

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I always thought Obi-Wan was never part of the original plan and had the Rebels not been attacked there would have been no reason for Leia to contact him. The only reason Leia reached out to Obi-Wan was strictly because they were being attacked, Leia knowing that Obi-Wan would find some way to continue the mission to take the Death Star plans to Alderaan or Yavin. And that Obi-Wan became involved after discovering what happened and realizing the importance of the mission. It was only after the chance meeting with Luke that Obi-Wan tried to get Luke involved, since R2 would have found Obi-Wan regardless of whether or not he came into contact with Luke, Owen, and Beru. Finally, it was the death of Owen and Beru that sealed the deal for Luke to become involved. And the story goes from there.

This was always my understanding of the sequence. Is that not correct?

 

Problem is - Leia's ship, after getting the plans, ends up above Tatooine. Why be there, if they weren't trying to contact Obi-Wan specifically?

I suppose that Vader's ship could have chased her through several systems, with her eventually deciding to make for Tatooine - but that seems like an overcomplication.

 

The same thing basically would have happened, except that Luke and Leia would have been reunited much earlier under the guidance of Obi-Wan and they would have gone straight to Alderaan or Yavin IV.

It would have been pretty boring and you couldn't really make a movie out of that.

 

I think she was always heading for Tattooine to pick up Obi-Wan. I can't remember her speech verbatim, but she says "My mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed" and "You served my father in the Clone Wars, he begs you to help him now" which suggests to me that Bail was panicked about the Death Star and finally thought "We need to act! Bring in Obi-Wan!" and sent Leia to get him.Possibly they'd reach out to Yoda later as well.

 

As with "what if's," the further we get from the changed point, the less clear things become. Here's how I see things could playing out:

-Obi-Wan agree's to go with Leia.
-First, he goes (alone) to get Luke. Owen refuses to let Luke go, Obi-Wan pushes the issue, telling Luke that he knew his father and mother and gave him to the Larses to raise, and that his (Luke's) destiny is to "follow in his father's footsteps." Luke vacillates, Owen is dead-set against it, but Luke eventually choses to go with Obi-Wan. Luke and Leia are not told at this point that they are related or about Anakin/Vader.
-Obi-Wan, Bail, Dodonna, etc. confer and plan, analyze the DS weaknesses, and orchestrate an assault. Obi-Wan would probably not think either of the twins ready to be part of the assault (his comment to Luke that he's become a good pilot notwithstanding), as they are too valuable and not yet ready. Han Solo out of the picture (he finds another job, pays off Jabba, and continues to smuggle/pirate, perhaps meets a bad end).
-The rebel attack on the DS fails. The pilots can't get past the DS defenses and Darth Vader, and can't hit the port with only targeting computers and without the force. (Darth Vader is on the DS because the Emperor wants to keep an eye on Tarkin, and oversee it's completion and becoming fully operational).

(Here's where things keep getting more and more hazy, where things could go anywhere)

-Leia is sent to train with Yoda on Dagobah, and finds it initially difficult to calm her temper and commit to the Jedi way. Obi-Wan trains Luke in a more active master-and-apprentice style (trying to stay under the Empire's radar, doing hit-and-run missions such as invading Imperial outposts and freeing prisoners--but keeping a low profile).
-The rebellion is less organized and more on-the-run, as the major victory of taking out the DS didn't happen.
-Luke and Leia are told that they are related. Between missions, Obi-Wan, Luke, Yoda, and Leia get together on Dagobah to confer. Yoda and Leia stay on Dagobah and train.
-The Empire strengthens its hold on the galaxy with the DS and smaller rebel presence. Word of Obi-Wan and Luke eventually makes it to the Emperor and Vader. The Emperor tells Vader to destroy Luke, but Vader argues that he could be a valuable asset if he could be turned, etc.
-Luke, Leia, etc. have some contact and adventures with the rebels, but they are not as involved as we see in the films.
-Vader, after long pursuit, hunts down and/or forces a confrontation with Obi-Wan and Luke. Obi-Wan is killed, Luke escapes after being tempted by the dark side and told "I am your father." Luke is occasionally led by the spirit of Obi-Wan.
-Luke confronts Yoda (now dying) about the information, which he confirms. He tells Leia and Luke that they need to confront Vader and the Emperor. Both leave.

(Shakier and shakier)

-Both Luke and Leia, trained to be Jedi knights, surrender to Vader and are brought by him (who immediately senses that they are both his children) to the Emperor (on Coruscant rather than DS2). The Emperor plays the twins off of each other in an effort to turn one to the dark side. When they won't kill each other or their father, he tries to play on their compassion and starts killing one of them (who is momentarily incapacitated), the other intervenes only to become the target of the Emperor's murderous intent. As in RotJ, Vader/Anakin has a crisis of conscience, and destroys the Emperor. Both Sith die. The twins leave with plans to start a new (and possibly changed) Jedi order. Galaxy celebrates.

 

My proposal isn't as interesting or dramatic as what we got in 4, 5, 6, but things could still have played out in similar ways and with similar ends.

 

What would've happened if the Rebels had made it to Obi Wan before being attacked?
I don't think it would change all that much, except Owen and Beru would give a bit of a fight to Obi Wan. He still would've seen this as the sign from the force that it was time to start taking the Empire down, and he knew Luke was vital in this. Actually, he knew the Skywalker family was vital to this. So, maybe he would've seen Leia coming to him as a sign to start training her as a Jedi.

 

Well, from a deleted scene, we saw Luke was watching the battle through binoculars. So, let's assume the Tantive IV escaped. It would most likely still be damaged, probably leaving a smoke trail in atmosphere. We know Luke is curious, and since he was watching it he'd probably follow it the where it lands (he went to go spy on Sand People after all).

They'd probably land near Obi-wan, and Leia would meet him personally. Obi-wan would most likely sense Luke nearby and tell him to come out of hiding. Imperial scouts would soon make their way to his hut, where they will get back on their ship and fly off. Luke having to go with them, in fear of being caught by Imperials with rebels. They'd land on the outskirts of Mos Eisley, and walk to the space port. From here, it plays out like The Phantom Menace, but no pod-racing. A good portion of the crew is still on the damaged ship, and the imperials catch up and kill all aboard. Leia, Obi-wan, Luke, and the droids make camp in an abandoned apartment. In here, we have Obi-wan give Luke Anakin's Lightsaber.

When everyone is asleep, Luke tries to communicate with his family to let them know he's okay. Obi-wan see's this and shuts it off immediately, in fear of being tracked. They head to the cantina the next day, get Han solo to fly them like what originally happened. They set a time to meet up, and Luke decides to go back to his home in between that to get some supplies. Luke gets in his speeder and goes home to find the farm burned due to the signal being traced. His family is dead, and he's sad. He makes his way back to the space port, but is tracked by some probes. The imperials show up and the rest plays off similarly in the movie, but some slight changes. They head to Alderaan for Bail Organa. Death Star there. Deactivate shield generator together. Vader shows up, they run off except obi-wan. Obi-wan dies. Then the rest plays out just like the movie.


I spent way too much time typing that.

 

i never thought of this, but why were they heading that way? i always thought she sent the plans to him because they were under attack. Why would she go there to give him the plans, to then have him try and get to Alderaan?

 

I don't see that happening. If Obi-Wan had received a summons from Bail Organa via Leia without Luke, I think he would have departed for Alderaan on his own.

Luke wasn't spying on the Tuskens. He was looking for R2-D2.

 

I don't know...Based on what Leia says in R2's holotransmission, Leia came to Tattooine on a mission specifically to bring Obi-Wan to Alderaan. If she hadn't sent the message thru R2, I imagine she would've contacted him anyways there at some point. I interpret that whole idea as this being the "right time" that Yoda spoke of at the end of ROTS. With these Death Star plans, they were going to get Obi Wan (and maybe Yoda) and bring them with them so that they could begin retaking the galaxy from the Empire. Kind of "the time is right to make our big move" sort of thing.

But then the plan failed, as Darth Vader found out about the plans being stolen...

I think that things may have played out differently, but still would've had ultimately the same end result if they did get to Obi-wan. Obi-Wan and Yoda might have even saw fit to get Luke and convince him to come with them somehow, since they already believed him to be crucial to their success. Maybe they would've tried doing it themselves first, then realized they needed Luke?

An interesting idea here. I always liked thinking about what would happen if certain things went differently or did/didn't happen.

 

Okay, so I re-watched the scene. And Leia does distinctly say that her mission to bring Obi-Wan to Alderaan has failed due to her ship being attacked.

I think the reason I had thought Obi-Wan was never part of the plan was because of his reaction to it all. He seems like he is completely in the dark about everything that is going on. Leia even says that she regrets that she is unable to present her father's request to Obi-Wan in person. I get the impression now that they were just going to drop in on Obi-Wan unannounced and present to him what is all going on.

Another thing I noticed when I watched the scene is that Obi-Wan certainly expected to see Luke at some point. Upon their chance meeting, Obi-Wan gave Luke his lightsaber that he had obviously been holding on to for some time and intended to give to Luke at some point. Obi-Wan further explaining to Luke that his father always wanted him to have it when he was old enough but that his uncle wouldn't allow it, half jokingly saying that Uncle Owen feared that Luke would follow Obi-Wan "on some damn fool idealistic crusade" like his father did. Given that, I do think there was a specific intent on Obi-Wan's part to eventually make contact with Luke. And I highly doubt Obi-Wan would ever even consider giving somebody a lightsaber and not follow through with training that person on how to use it.

So, what would have happened if the Rebels had made it to Obi-Wan before being attacked:

Eventually Leia would have made in person contact with Obi-Wan and given him basically the same speech she did in her recording. Obi-Wan would have decided to go along, but before leaving he would have contacted Uncle Owen and convinced him that it is Luke's destiny to become a part of this. Since Uncle Owen was ready to let go of Luke and allow him to attend the academy in the following year, it would not be much of a stretch for Owen and Beru to decide that it is in Luke's best interest that he leave now in the hands of a trusted and proven Jedi, regardless of Owen's personal feelings towards Obi-Wan and considering that Beru had already expressed her approval of Luke's ambitions and need to pursue them. Owen would have complained that he had no more help on the farm, to which Leia would have replied by providing Owen with additional workers to assist him during the harvest, forcing Owen to begrudgingly give the approval for Luke to leave. Luke would have accepted the opportunity in a similar manner that would parallel Qui Gon coming to get Anakin in TPM. A scene then showing Obi-Wan and Owen presenting Luke his lightsaber would have been in order, with stern final warnings from Owen to both Luke and Obi-Wan about...something. And since their transport is in order, they would have all left to Alderaan, and later to Yavin, and planned the Death Star attack accordingly.

So really, not a whole lot would change in the grand scheme of things.

All the minor details and everything else is up in the air. Would they have ever met Han Solo or Chewbacca (or Lando and go to Cloud City for that matter)? Would R2 and 3PO have the same personal relationships with Luke? Would Alderaan have still been blown up? Would Ben still be alive? How would Yoda get involved? What other measures would Tarkin have taken to find the Rebels? There's no way to know, we could write questions and scenarios for days.

But regarding the initial sequence, I think it would have played out similarly to what actually happened in the film and that Luke would have been involved and the entire saga would have happened the way it did without much changing except for character involvement and certain events that didn't need to happen in the first place.

Somehow, Luke would have still found out Vader is his father.