PT Why didn't Yoda take the twins with him to Dagobah to be Trained as Jedi from Birth?

That's a fair point, to an extent. It is true that Anakin was not trained. But it's not like Qui-Gon sought him out after sensing a power within him; that doesn't make sense. To seek him out one would have to know something about him in the first place. Events in the film played out in a different way. The group didn't come to Tatooine because of Anakin, no one sensed him from across the stars, and Qui-Gon didn't even seem to sense anything special from Anakin when the latter first appeared. Or if he did, he didn't show it. It is only after Qui-Gon has learned about the podracing ( which is kind of a red flag ), and the droid-building, and has spent significant time around Anakin, that he seems to really focus on him.

I suppose we could say that the real key to keeping Luke and Leia hidden was to make sure they didn't get involved in any podracing. Strict parents and all that.

 

Didn't seem to work that well in Luke's case- he managed to garner a reputation (at least amongst his friends) as "the best bush pilot in the Outer Rim Territories"- which is how Biggs describes him to Red Leader.

 

A few things about that: [Spoiler-Alert if you've never seen The Clone Wars]

1. In The Clone Wars cartoon/movie adaptation that led to The Clone Wars series, Anakin was sent to rescue Jabba’s kid and in this episode he fought the idea of having to go back to Tatooine. Later in Clone Wars in the Season 3 episode “Kidnapped” Anakin looked as if he would have killed the Zygerrian slaver, because Anakin was reminded of his and Shmi’s life of captivity on Tatooine. In Phantom Menace it's Tatooine where he met Amidala which ended in Revenge of the Sith with the Emperor forcing him to realize that she had perished. Anakin didn’t like Tatooine, and there was never a reason presented as to why he’d want to go back to the planet. Also, The Clone Wars is considered official George Lucas canon, so that's why this is relevant.

2. Neither Darth Vader nor the Emperor knew that Luke and Leia had been born. It wasn’t until The Empire Strike Back that, well this happened:

Vader: “What is thy bidding, my Master?”
Emperor: “There is a great disturbance in the Force.”
Vader: “I have felt it.”
Emperor: “We have a new enemy, the young Rebel who destroyed the Death Star. I have no doubt this boy is the offspring of Anakin Skywalker.”
Vader: “How is that possible?”
Emperor: “Search your feelings, Lord Vader. You will know it to be true. He could destroy us.”

3. Obi-Wan stayed to watch over Luke and might have trained him earlier, but Owen Lars didn’t like Luke around Obi-Wan as witnessed in A New Hope. Obi-Wan wasn’t the type of person to just snatch up Luke from his new family.

4. In Revenge of the Sith, Yoda began to realize that the Jedi were too set in their traditions (as Qui-Gon had always said) so he didn’t want to take the children and force them into a life of training.

5. Had they taken them as children both Yoda and Obi-Wan knew that if they were caught that Luke and Leia would suffer the consequences with them, and after all Luke and Leia were later revealed as "the last hope".

 

Actually, that's not true. Qui-Gon had suspected that Anakin might be strong with the Force when he learned that the nine year-old participated in pod races. And humans lacked the reflexes to participate in pod races, unless one had Force potential. Just to make sure, Qui-Gon tested Anakin's blood and discovered that the latter had a higher midichlorian count than even Yoda. Anakin's victory in the pod race merely confirmed his suspicions.

 

about the original posters question.

I went back over the thread to see what everyone was posting and though many here do not like or pay attention to the Expanded Universe the reason they put the twins were they did is actually explained in the novel Dark Lord.

Obi-wan and Yoda thought Anakin was dead till about 7-8 month after ROTS. The book Dark Lord: Rise of Lord Vader by James Lucerno takes place from 4 months after ROTS to about 8 months after. Lucas was more involved with this book along with the ROTS novel and the Book Labyrinth of Evil then he is normally with EU works.

The Last Chapter of Dark Lord is centered around Ben Kenobi. He is in Anchorhead's cantina drinking water and catching up on news. Anchorhead has a Holonet transiever(the next nearest one would be Mos Eisley), He sees a news report in which the Emperor Introduces Vader to the Senate. Obi-wan essentially has a panic attack. They put Luke on Tatooine and Leia on Alderann not to Hide them but because Yoda decided that the whole monastic, no family rules of the Jedi order did not work. Yoda wanted Luke and Leia to grow up in families. They are split up so as not to attract attention, maybe keeping them together would increase the chance they would start using the force earlier, and really Yoda can't really say no to Bail's request for Leia after all Bail has risked . Jinns ghost contacts Obi-wan and calms him down as he says that Vader and the Emperor think the child died with Padme and Vader has no intention of ever stepping foot on either Naboo or Tatooine because he is afraid of what the feelings of being there will bring up. There is the issue of what would have happened if Luke actually was able to send his application to the Academy. I am willing to bet Luke remained undocumented so that is the reason why Owen Lars keeps finding ways to put off Luke leaving.

Leia as a senator can be addressed as she was not actively using the force and she had little to no contact with Vader or the Emperor even as a Senator. Leia would have become a Senator a year or two before A New Hope and by that time the Emperor was in near seculsion all the time, he would not have attended Senate meetings anyway he is in his Late eighties at this point. Vader would have even less to do with the senate.

All this is based on EU material and I know there are those that will not except the Eu explainations

 

They needed to hide the twins where the sith wouldnt expect.

 

The book "I, Jedi" has a piece on this, in which Corran Horn speculates as to why Luke would've been allowed to keep his last name. He suggests that Obi-Wan's original plan was to lure Vader into a trap. I think that that's reasonable. The logic isn't foolproof, but it's good enough:

-Vader discovers Luke's existence on Tatooine
-He goes to investigate. However, I think it's very likely he would come alone, not wishing to expose his son to the Emperor before seeing/meeting him, and he definitely would want to take Luke alive.
-Vader is now alone and off-balance. Obi-Wan ambushes him. He's beaten him once, and he stands a fair chance of beating him again. Yoda meanwhile, doesn't go with Luke/take Luke and Leia, because he's learning how to become a force ghost, which is invaluable. It means they can preserve Jedi knowledge.
-Alternatively, Vader never discovers Luke, and events play out the way they did in the films.
-Worst case scenario, they still have Leia. I doubt Yoda or Obi-Wan foresaw the extent to which Leia became involved in the Rebellion, so they probably think she's safe with Bail.

 

I believe it's as simple as the idea of the surname Skywalker being the Smith of the GFFA. Pretty sure even George said it's a common name

Aside from Luceno's novel mentioning the motives for having Luke and Leia raised in family environments, there are assumptions that can be drawn and arguably must be seeing as that novel is ambiguously canon at this point. Even if both were raised on Dagobah and trained from birth, it's possible that the presence of Yoda and the twins would have attracted enough attention to warrant a search
Aside from that.... really, just imagine living your entire life on a swamp planet with no one to be there other than a tiny green dude who doesn't even speak proper English

 

I never liked that idea. I never saw Obi-Wan as being callous or ruthless enough to risk Luke just to try and get Vader.

Personally I always thought Obi-Wan did it for a far simpler and more personal reason - to honour the father.
The boy who "gave without thought of reward". The good friend who fought by his side for so many years. The brother that he loved.
It may not be logical or safe, but when do emotions take these factors into account?
Besides isn't part of the reason that Obi-Wan stays on Tatooine, is to watch over Luke if any danger arises?


As to idea people have that Tatooine is the obvious place to look if you think that Anakin's child is alive.
It is Padme's child as well as Anakin's.
Given the fact they took Padme back to Naboo, back to her family. Wouldn't anyone looking Padme's child begin there?


Going back to the OP, as to why didnt Yoda take the twins to train I think there is one fundamentally simple reason why he didn't.
That idea would never occur to him.
How could Yoda know whether Luke and/or Leia would want to be a Jedi?
In the movies Anakin chooses to become a Jedi. Luke chooses to become a Jedi.
This to me is one of the fundamental concepts for the Jedi - you have to make that conscious choice to become a Jedi. If Yoda simply takes the twins and begins training them, what choice do they have in the matter?
At best you are turning them into conscripts, at worse slaves. They would cease to be Luke and Leia and they just become weapons.
That would be so completely alien to any Jedi as to border on the abhorrent.

 

This is clearly disproven in canon, where the Jedi take children almost from birth. Anakin is too old, and he's like 9.

 

In the EU, they say that many Force users in one place together would attract the Emperor's attention.

 

" Change Nappies? Do this I will not, Jedi Master I am not nursemaid!"

Seriously I do wonder why Obi Wan did not at least take Luke as his son.

As to waiting for the children to choose, well the Jedi Younglings hardly have the choice given they are taken as very young children. I doubt a two year old has much choice. Ironically the suggestion of turning them into slaves or conscripts is exactly what happens to the majority of the Old Republic Jedi order.

 

I think Yoda didn't do that 1. Because he realised the Old Order was flawed way too late and 2. Because it he likely realised the good odds that Vader or Sidious would sense the twins and potentially herald all three's slaughter.

 

Come on guys....Dagobah is nowhere to raise a child.

 

It has probably been addressed already, but the reason Vader wasn't looking of his child (remember, he was only aware of there being one), was that he thought it died together with Padmé. In fact, during the funeral procession we get a close-up panning down from Padmé's face, to her *pregnant* belly, to the Japor Snippet.

So the Jedi made sure deceased Padmé still appeared pregnant. Hence why there is no real reason to check the Lars Homestead for a possible offspring. Him taking his place next to Palpatine and Tarkin on the bridge shows that Vader now gave up all ties to his former self.

 

My choice is to believe that Yoda, on some intuitive level, knew the way the Jedi were doing things for a thousand years/generations was wrong, and just let nature run its course and let them manifest organically. "When the time is right..."

 

Well Luke and Leia were on board the DS together and Vader never sensed any more force power other than a presence he has not felt since. That being Obi Wan's. When Vader first feels the force in Luke is during the trench run when Luke switches off his targeting computer and taps into the force to shoot into the reactor. It has a lot to do when one taps into the force for it to be felt by other force users. Like how Vader never sensed Leia as being able to use the force in ANH. Point being is she had never tapped or manipulated the force in anyway at that point. I guess Obi Wan maybe learned a way to mask his force powers to not be found on Tattooine so that Vader never sensed his presence while in orbit? Or Vader's sense weren't attuned that well? Or how Vader sensed Luke while in the shuttle to Endor, while the emperor couldn't while being on the DS closely near by? Jedi or Sith being able to sense ones presence seems to not be a perfect science it seems.

 

So they´re not too much influenced by Jedi dogma.

 

It can be extrapolated or inferred from the film that Qui was guided to that dust rock by the Force so he'd find Ani. I think receptiveness to the concept varies depending how one views faith. Doesn't mean it isn't indicated or implied.

 

I agree, why isolate the twins on some swamp planet they can never leave? Then they would end up mating with each other. Its just twisted to think them being raised with Yoda is ok.

On another note, it seems Leia has meet both Vader and Tarkin prior to being captured. I hope they explore some of that in Rebels. How does Leia know Vader and Tarkin? Was Bail involved?

 

Why didn't Yoda take the twins with him to Dagobah to be Trained as Jedi from Birth?

1) If the Emporer and Darth Vader made more of an effort to find Yoda, and actually did, there goes both of the twins as well.
2) The twins in general were to be kept seperate, so if one was discovered, the other was still safe.
3) Bail wished to adopt Leia, and Luke did have extended family he could return to. (Though, not the smartest choice incase DV ever wanted to kill any remainder of Anakin Skywalker's life.)
4) I'm guessing they wanted to try and give Luke a normal life before the weight of the universe rested upon his shoulders.

 

It is very weird how little force powers manifested in Luke and Leia when compared to Anakin and Ezra (or why they were not trained). Of course, this is all hindsight, but I believe that the only possible explanation is that Yoda and Obi-Wan never actually intended the kids to outfight Vader, but to redeem him. They told Luke what he needed to here as a final test into Knighthood and things played out well.

 

Except when Luke told Obi-Wan he wasn't willing to kill Vader, Obi-Wan was quite disappointed and conceded that the Emperor had already won.

 

Like I said they told him what he needed to hear in order to determine his that he didn't make the same mistake as the old Jedi (obeying orders vs the force).

 

Huh? Obi-Wan essentially told him that Vader was pure evil, and that he needed to die.