A diplomatic mission Alderaan... in the Tatooine system? How did Leia expect Vader to believe that?

Alright, based on maps of the galaxy and the implied time it takes to get from Tatooine to Alderaan, and the fact that Alderaan is much closer to Coruscant than Tatooine is, how, exactly did Leia expect to believe Leia's story?

Tatooine, being near the outer edges of the galaxy, is "out of the way" from almost anywhere, so there really seems no reason that they would be passing through there unless they were passing on info or whatever.

Obviously, Vader did not beleive her...but he had no reason to. The logic that they were on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan was very flawed, since they were nowhere near Alderaan.

I know that from a storytelling standpoint, it is a lot easier to say Alderaan and get reference to it out of the way early, but other than that, Leia really only made herself look like a bad liar.

 

Well, she didn't say where they were on a diplomatic mission from, so I figured that Tattooine could be on the Hyperspace route from x to Alderaan. The hyperspace lanes aren't a straight line after all, that's the point of hs travel.

Imperial ships have been known to sit by the hs routes and turn on their tractor beams, to pull ships out of hyperspace.

Extending it further, I suppose it's possible that Vader had parked up near Tattooine for some reason (be it 'business' or personal) and received word from his crew that a known 'rebel' vehicle was approaching through hyperspace. Or they might just have known the ship was coming in advance.

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Leia had to say something, after all. First thing she came to think of? "Blackout" has a point.

 

maybe the tantive left from naboo.

 

Leia probably heard about how stupid and incompetent the Jedi were during Republic days, figured out Vader was once a Jedi, then put two and two together.

 

I don't think it would've mattered what Leia said. Vader would've just killed everyone anyway.

 

Hey JMO.

I guess you can say that at the time ANH came out the logistics of the actual position of systems in the GFFA didn't really exist, so it's just a bit of a continuity error from the 70's.

But, from an in universe perspective I remember there being an explanation for why she was supposedly in that region of the galaxy. Well, aside from having to make a pit stop to have some plans beamed to her.

Unfortunately, I can't remember the reason. Anyone?

 

maybe the tantive left from naboo.

Naboo is closer to Alderaan than Tatooine is.

 

Leia lied about her mission but not her destination. She was going to Tatooine to pick up Obi-Wan and take him to Alderaan to see Bail Organa.

Vader didn't seem at all curious about what they were doing at Tatooine. He probably assumed they went there to evade pursuit, much as Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon once chose Tatooine to hide Padme from the Trade Federation.

Vader had no idea there was anything important on Tatooine, other than his own unhappy memories.

 

The problem is that Tatooine is so out of the way that it would be hard to believe that they were just passing by it on the way. They'd have to take one screwed up hyperspace route to go by it on the way from wherever they were going.

 

Obviously her lie didn't hold up too well, and Vader naturally didn't believe her. Leia is a pretty bad liar, from what it seems.

 

LEIA: We're on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan.

VADER: Then what the Hell ar you doing out here in the Tatooine system?

LEIA: Ummmm... Uhhh... Our pilot's drunk.

VADER: ...

LEIA: Real drunk.

 

Here is a good thread that touches on this topic.

Read EmpressPalpatine's opening post in the thread for a logical argument that Alderaan is in the vicinity of Tatooine.

 

Leia, being a member of the Senate, probably went on diplomatic trips all over the place, even to crapholes like Tatooine. It's a fairly plausible thing for a Senator to do. She had no reason to think that Vader would get suspicious about Tatooine.

OF course, everyone shooting at the Imperial troops might have messed up her credibility when trying to bull****e Vader. After all, weren't they all on the same side?

 

Vader says something about her not being on any mercy mission. What place is worse off than Tatooine?