CT Did Darth Vader know he was arresting his own daughter?

And (in the first ROTJ novelization), "invaded" Luke's consciousness in order to find out why those feelings of concern were there:

He was picking up additional feelings from Luke, now, new crosscurrents of doubt. Remorse, regret, abandonment. Shades of pain. But somehow not directly related to Vader. To others, to ... Endor. Ah, that was it - the Sanctuary Moon where his friends would soon die. Luke would learn soon enough: friendship was different on the dark side. A different thing altogether.
"Give yourself to the dark side, Luke," he entreated. "It is the only way you can save your friends. Yes, your thoughts betray you, son. Your feelings for them are strong, especially for-"
Vader stopped. He sensed something.
Luke withdrew further into shadow. He tried to hide, but there was no way to hide what was in his mind - Leia was in pain. Her agony cried to him now, and his spirit cried with her. He tried to shut it out, to shut it up, but the cry was loud, and he couldn't stifle it, couldn't leave it alone, had to cradle it openly, to give it solace.
Vader's consciousness invaded that private place.
"No!" screamed Luke.
Vader was incredulous. "Sister? Sister!" he bellowed. "Your feelings have now betrayed her too ... Twins!" he roared triumphantly. "Obi-Wan was wise to hide her, but now his failure is complete." His smile was clear to Luke, through the mask, through the shadows, through all the realms of Darkness. "If you will not turn to the Dark Side, then perhaps she will."
This, then, was Luke's breaking point. For Leia was everyone's last, unflagging hope. If Vader turned his twisted, misguided cravings on her ...
"Never!" he screamed.​

 

He didn't know Leia was his daughter until he read the script for Return of the Jedi.

 

Personally, I’ve always thought it was a pretty clumsy retcon.

 

Especially when you consider that the last two movies made a love triangle between HanxLeiaxLuke.

 

Leia was not aware she was force sensitive and had no training so Vader could not sense anything. When Luke was barely trained, he opened his mind to the force and so Vader exclaimed: "The force is strong with this one," and Vader sensed Luke when the Rebel's shuttle arrived at Endor.

 

It is a good "What If". But perhaps Vader got a little lazy with his force sensing ability? He and the Emperor believed the Jedi to be extinct. It wasn't until he felt Obi-Wan on the Death Star that that ability awoke possibly.

 

No, and neither did Lucas.

 

But a lot of those scenes were cut. When you watch the film, Leia shows no interest in Luke other than as a friend. And likewise, Luke doesn't show it for Leia.

 

Why? They feel an attraction to each other before they know objectively that they're siblings. I don't see any reason to delete or mangle that terrific scene in ESB. Can you give some kind of explanation as to how this might work?

 

Yeah...my head canon is that Vader suspected that Leia was his daughter,but sense she was Anakin's desired child sort of speak...meaning in Vader's twisted mind he no right to claim her as he does Luke..

 

Yeah, but that’s the joke in BACK TO THE FUTURE. “Whoa! Wait a minute, Doc! Are you trying to tell me that my mother has got the hots for me?” STAR WARS played it relatively straight until Lucas decided to retcon it.

 

Darth Vader: You cannot hide forever, Luke.
Luke: I will not fight you.
Darth Vader: Give yourself to the Dark Side. It is the only way you can save your friends. Yes, your thoughts betray you. Your feelings for them are strong. Especially for... sister. So, you have a twin sister! Your feelings have now betrayed her, too. Obi-Wan was wise to hide her from me. Now his failure is complete. If you will not turn to the Dark Side... then perhaps she will...
Luke: Never!

This is the first time Vader finds out he has a daughter as well ... TESB Cloud City scene!

 

Yeah, no. That scene is on the DSII.

 

regarding the ESB kiss thing


a better line would have been: LEIA: I know, Somehow I've known since Bespin (when he connected with her through the force)

it would have taken the "ewwness" factor out of the saga, and you could leave the whole ESB kiss scene in.

But as it stands as Anakinfan says "I've always known" makes the scene more creepy than it needed to be.

 

Maybe that's just how they do it on Alderaan? VERY affectionate families.

 

Actually, that was right after Ben talked to Luke, so it's likely Vader sensed Ben/Force, rather than Luke's usage.

LEIA: "I know. Somehow...I've always known."

 

In my opinion, this is exactly why Palpatine dissolved the Senate when he did. With the Senate intact, Alderaan's destruction would have likely turned many who had previously been loyal to Palpatine against him. That would be the moment when the systems would say "enough is enough." Without the Senate, the local systems would no longer have any power over the affairs of the Empire. Regional governors, appointed by and loyal to Palpatine only, had to have complete power or the Empire would have unraveled.

 

Well...IMO...Not necessarily. They definitely would have lost support in some ways, but I'm not sure the Senate had so much sway. It was mostly bureaucracy at that point, anyway. The other thing is that with Leia leaded the Rebellion and being Princess Leia, there was a huge case for Imperial propaganda. Since nobody really witnessed the attack, there was no-one to say that the Empire was or wasn't justified, whether or not the Rebels provoked such an attack, whether the planet was strongly allied with the Rebellion, etc.

I think it was a mixture of not wanting the bureaucracy to turn as well as wanting more direct power to deal with the Rebellion.