CT Did Owen and Beru know who Darth Vader was?

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I can't remember the general consensus. Do Owen and Beru know Anakin became Darth Vader? It puts an entirely different spin on the quote "That's what I'm afraid of" about Luke having too much of his father in him, and I think this is an encouraged interpretation. Thoughts?

 

I doubt he did, unless he acted like Obi-Wan and R2 had, by not letting Luke in on the knowledge that he had about the situation.

Also, if he knew Vader was Luke's father, he most likely would have changed Luke's last name.

 

I was thinking something along those lines. If R2 and Obi-Wan both play ignorant I don't see why Owen couldn't as well.
The scene works in that context IMO, but I'm just speculating.

True. It was supposed to be a tribute naming him that right? Kinda risky...

 

Very good question. I never really gave it any thought.

Now, I don't know how authoritative it is, but the Wookieepedia page for Owen Lars gives a couple of hints, but doesn't come out and say with certainty that Owen and Beru knew that Anakin became Vader.

Here are some quotes from that page:

Fearful of Luke's potential, and distrustful of the outside galaxy, Owen attempted to keep Luke isolated and ignorant of his true parentage.

Fearful of having Luke follow Anakin's path, Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru protected their nephew from his past by telling him that his father, rather than being a Jedi Knight, "was a navigator on a spice freighter". Owen also tried to keep him away from the "crazy old hermit," "Ben" Kenobi.

He told Kenobi he didn't want Luke to make the same mistakes his father did, stating how he felt Anakin should have never left his mother in slavery and gotten involved with the "damned foolish idealistic Jedi crusaders" in the first place.

While those quotes don't explicitly say, I think that Owen and Beru knew who Darth Vader was.

 

Owen definitely hides information from Luke, the aforementioned "navigator" and "crazy old wizard". He definitely wants to keep Luke at home, but why he didn't change Luke's name to Lars is beyond me. Whatever.

Owen says "Obi-Wan Kenobi doesn't exist anymore, he died around the same time as your father". Interesting, but he could think Anakin Skywalker died during the Great Jedi Purge, as most of the galaxy did in the EU.

Beru says Luke "has too much of his father in him" and Owen replies "that's what I'm afraid of". It could be he's afraid Luke will run off to play hero and get himself killed, but maybe he knows Anakin Skywalker turned out to be a bad, bad guy.

I'm not sure, but I think Owen and Beru knew about Vader in some way and I think it's because Obi-Wan told them something. They may not know all the details, but I think they know enough.

 

I always took it that Owen and Beru probably didn't know who Vader really was, but they did "know" (think) that Anakin got killed putting himself in one too many dangerous situations.

 

Along those lines, did R2 know Anakin was Vader? I'm sure he knew that something about him changed when they went to Mustafar, especially after Padme being choked, but did he know that the big guy in the black suit was once Anakin?

 

According to the EU he hacked into the Jedi Temple holorecording system, which implies that he did know.

 

I'd imagine he did.

 

Now that I think about it, it does make sense that R2 would know (without even counting the EU). 3PO's memory got wiped because he knew about all that happened w/ Anakin and why would 3PO know and R2 not know?

 

Lucas has said that the name 'Skywalker' is basically like Smith or Jones in the SW universe.

 

Always kind of odd that R2s memory never got wiped...

Of course its good it didn't but still seems strange that Bail didn't just say have both droids memory wiped - he knows as much as Threepio does

 

R2 knew to keep a secret. 3PO can't be trusted with secrets.

As for Luke's last name: even though Skywalker is a very common last name in the SW universe, the fact that the Lars have a nephew living with them with the last name Skywalker is still very suspicious at best. No matter how common the name is, his name should have either been changed to Lars or whatever Beru's maiden name was.

 

Plus, even if R2 starts blabbing, who's going to understand him? All they'd hear would be "beep bop boop electroraspberry".

 

but a translator like threepio would be programe bound to translate it...

unless they just thought he didn't know as much?

 

Yeah, as soon as R2 started blabbing, C-3PO would be spouting it off in Basic all over town.

 

My take as well. Owen and Beru knew that Anakin got himself killed in Jedi action, that Luke's mother also died, and that the Clone Wars ended with the galaxy in shreds. Whether or not Owen knew the truth about Vader, he had every reason to be protective of Luke and try to stop him from following in his father's footsteps.

Somehow, I can't quite imagine Obi-Wan sitting down with Owen and explaining it all...

 

Even though Anakin became somewhat of a celebrity during the Clone Wars, I'm sure the populace at large just assumed he was killed in the Jedi Purge.

All Owen really knows about Anakin was that he was a hothead who didn't come back to see his mother for 10 years. I imagine Shmi made excuses for him to rationalize it and that would be where Owen gets most of his preconceptions.

 

Of course they knew. Obi-Wan wasn't the sort of person to put them in such massive risk without their knowledge. "Here, have a kid. Where did it come from? SHUT UP!! That's where..."

What I've always wondered, however, is just how well-known Anakin's fall & transformation into Darth Vader was meant to be outside the immediate family & circle of friends, both in the OT & PT eras.

 

I doubt it. Knowing Obi-Wan's penchant for the truth and certain points of views...
Perhaps that's when the story of Luke's father being a Jedi Knight who was killed by Darth Vader got started?

 

I for one don't think they had a clue. I say that because I believe they just thought he was a fighter for the republic and racing around the galaxy was a little bit out of their relm. Being small time farmers on a hot dry planet.

 

I'd like to see that dinner table scene.

I don't know... My guess is that Obi-Wan would not be welcome to talk much to Owen in any case, and that he figured Luke was safe enough. You know, this comes back to the inescapable problem that Luke is "hidden" with his family under the name "Skywalker". But then again, at that point, no one but Yoda, Obi-Wan and Bail & wife knows that Padme's kids were even born. Vader knows not. No one will be hunting them.

Owen and Beru would thus not need to know the whole truth. Maybe it would even be a good idea not to tell Owen, to avoid the chance that he would be even more unwisely scared of Luke and his questionable heritage? Then again, isn't Owen's attitute good protection for Luke?

And after all, it's easy to take the lines in the film to mean that they do know.

Me too. Does anyone else seem to know?

 

I think it was generally unknown ( or else Luke could probably have found it out on his own ).

 

Well, that's a good and simple point.

 

"Anakin died in the Jedi purge. Here is his son."

If he were going to tell the Larsesses the truth about Anakin, wouldn't he spill the beans on his twin sister living the life of luxury on Alderaan as well?

I think the EU says that Obi-Wan was trying to influence Luke and tried to give him a lightsaber at the age of 5 and start his training, but Owen wouldn't allow it. Since he didn't really know Anakin, and what little he did know probably came from his father's knowledge of Shmi (my son is away on Coruscant learning to be a Jedi, blah blah blah), and then he and the wife are dead and oh here's their child please raise it, it's fair to assume they were either told or assumed that Anakin died in the Jedi purge. And Obi-Wan's "certain point of view" may have been born there. Even Yoda tells him "gone is the boy you trained; consumed by Darth Vader".