Did Obi-Wan know about Leia?

I've been watching Empire, and there is a line that makes me think he didn't know about her.

As Luke leaves Dagobah,
Obi-Wan: That boy is our last hope.
Yoda: No, there is another.

The scene changes, to Luke flying away. At which point, Obi-Wan and Yoda could have had a discussion about the fact that she exists. I haven't watched Jedi yet, to determine this.

 

If you want to believe he did, then he did.

 

He did know about Leia.

 

maybe because she was a politician, Obi-Wan never thought she'd take the time to learn about the force

 

There's a discussion on this in 3SA. The consensus is that he DID know about Leia, but didn't consider her able to fulfil Luke's destiny. This is shown by the fact that in ROTJ, he says again (this time to Luke) "You were our last hope", then Luke says "Yoda spoke of another"

 

I believe Ben knew about Leia. I just think he did not believe that Leia had what it took to be a Jedi. Out of the two siblings, Luke had the best chance not to fall to the "Dark side". Leia had her planet destroyed, and had been fighting before ANH. Luke only had his aunt and uncle murdered, so out of the two of them, I'd say that Luke had the best shot of using his powers for "good" and not for "evil".

 

I believe Obi-Wan Kenobi knew about Leia, but he didn't view her as a Jedi. Perhaps he saw her as a politician, the same as her mother. And I don't think he chose not to train her minutes before A New Hope, it would make no sense. I believe Obi-Wan chose who to train to redeem Anakin when they were born, or before the twins were split. Leia had memory of her mother, Leia hated the Empire and Darth Vader, Leia was a politician--which Kenobi never trusted to begin with. Luke on the other hand never knew his father and his mother, he never faced the tyrany of the empire and his parents were murdered because of 2 droids. Luke was more suceptible to fall than Leia, from my point of view. Having no parents, losing the ones he considered parents, losing his mentor, and then finding out his father was Darth Vader; he could've turned easier since Anakin was Vader, and it was visible that Vader did not wish to kill him. He could have simply given up and reunite with what was left of his father. Lucky for the Galaxy, he did not.

 

Errant is right on. Too much anger in Leia compared to Luke. Look at her the whole time - complaining, battling, using whatever she has to get what is needed. She's a fiery little princess.


Then look at naive little Luke, growing up a good little boy on the farm who only wants to get off the sand rock. He's obediant and does his jobs when asked by his ol' uncle.

 

Kenobi - "Then the Emperor has already won. You were our only hope."
Luke - "Yoda spoke of another."
Kenobi - "The other spoke of is your twin sister."

The big thing about this debate is remember that Obi-Wan told Luke in ROTJ that he was still their only hope despite acknowledging that he had a twin sister. What that tells me is that Yoda and Obi-Wan didn't agree about Leia's Jedi potential, which wouldn't be the first time they had a disagreement (refer to TPM).

 

VADER: Obi-Wan was wise to hide her from me.

Obi-Wan knew about her. But, if there is still speculation, I suppose it will be cleared up in EP III when we see obi-Wan separating them.

 

Another question would be, in ANH, how come Ben didn't tell Luke he had a twin sister when he was telling Luke about his father in his hut?

 

Maybe because he was about to go on a mission rescuing her. Too much emotional stuff (a la Anakin). Or because Obi Wan is one big liar.

 

Right on QuiGonHrafn.

Anyway...
To many new things to take in on one day.

Luke just found out that his dad was a jedi and was killed by Vader(from Obi's POV anyway), also that his uncle didn't like Anakin very much and lied to Luke about him. Plus he didn't need to know, Ben also knew that Luke would eventually have to face Vader. If Luke knew that he had a sister Vader would have done what he did in ROTJ, only in ESB and I think Luke probably would have turned more easily. If he lost it in ROTJ he would have really lost it in ESB.

 

Once E3 comes out then that mystery will be revealed. But even before reading spoilers, I believed that Obi-wan did know about Leia. He just didn't want to say anything because of the whole "Luke and Leia not knowing they were twins" thing.

 

"I just think he did not believe that Leia had what it took to be a Jedi."

Yeah, Ben sure is a manchauvinistic pig!

 

Obi-Wan knew about Leia; from RotJ..

Obi-Wan: "the other he spoke of is your twin sister...to protect you both from the Emperor, you were hidden from your father when you were born"
Luke: "Leia! Leia is my sister"
Obi-Wan: "Your insight serves you well..."

Obi-Wan knew that Luke had a twin sister, hidden from Vader, and that it was Leia. We'll find out more details in E3, but the assumption based on the CT (by me and several others I know on and off the boards) has been that Ben took Luke to Tatooine.

Obi-Wan chose in the beginning to have Luke ready to be trained as a Jedi when the time came, which is why he lived near Luke. IMO, he did not choose based on gender - he certainly knew female Jedi himself (Depa Billaba, Adi Gallia, Yaddle...). Rather, I think he sensed something in Luke when he was born that he would be the right person for the job. In which case he may have waited until after the birth to decide who to hide where. But to know more about that we'll have to wait until May 2005.

 

He knew about her but he thought Luke was the only one who could be Jedi trained but Yoda later corrected him on saying Liea is also able to be Jedi trained as well.

 

VADER: Obi-Wan was wise to hide her from me.

Vader assumed Obi-Wan hid her. He didn't know that Yoda was still alive, too. That is not proof that Obi-Wan knew about Leia. Probably he did, and didn't considder her to be a hope because she was so jaded and battle-hardened.

Luke could have been chosen not because he had greater power (though it seems that he does), but because Obi-Wan thought a son would have a greater connection to Vader than a daughter would. A father-son bond is greatly different than a father-daughter bond. Obi-Wan knew that Vader would want to bring Luke to his side to overthrow the Emperor. He also knew that, while a daughter might emotionally sway Vader to come back (little girls have that effect on their daddies ), it would be Luke that Vader would want to have join him, thus getting close enough to him to maybe reach the good in him. I think it was a major gamble on Obi-Wan's part, and it paid off.