I saw ESB when I was 4 years old. I don't remember watching watching the scene where Darth Vader may have been his real father. I did not find out about it until the late 80's when I heard about who really was Luke Skywalker's father . I must of fallen asleep at the theater in 1980 .

 

I don't remember the moment, but at the time I was devouring Starlog magazine, and I am pretty sure this was spoiled well before I saw the movie.

 

I was 10 or 11. A lot of my friends at the time thought Vader was lying, we thought there was no way Obi wan would lie to Luke.

 

Technically, one could argue that Ben was telling the truth......from a certain point of view

 

that's what all liars say

 

Obviously, it was a retcon, but we're lucky that Alec Guinness was portraying Obi-Wan as being hesitant when he told Luke that Vader had killed his father in ANH. Otherwise, the retcon wouldn't have worked. Due to the prequels, I'm certain that, in-universe, Obi-Wan was thinking of what Yoda said: "The boy you trained, gone he is...consumed by Darth Vader." Obi-Wan had probably considered this situation years advance, and he elected, in his mind, to spare Luke from the truth because he didn't believe he could handle it. Yoda either advised him to do so, or Yoda went along with it after being told by Obi-Wan's Force ghost. Of course, a deleted scene from ROTJ depicts Yoda saying that Obi-Wan would have told Luke long ago if Yoda had not forbidden him to do so.

 

I've kind of always known. I was born in 1985, my mom was 17 in 1977 and a massive Star Wars fan. I scooted around in a Darth Vader romper as a baby, and had my mom's Star Wars bedsheets on my bed when I got closer to kindergarten age. Star Wars was my bedtime stories; I would point to the characters on the sheets and my mom would tell me stories about them, and the detail of Luke and Leia's parentage was definitely a part of them. I didn't end up actually seeing the movies themselves until I was 10, when the THX VHS box set came out.

 

My father took me to the movies on Star Wars when I was 5 years old. I remember because Tazos (such tokens) from Star Wars were added in packs of chips.
I liked the film, but I did not understand much of it.

 

I remember going into Empire the big question was who would win the princess. Then I saw the poster and was like "it's Han." I thought it would be Luke. Ignorance is bliss.

 

Between the age of 5 and 7.

 

I was born a year after ESB came out in theaters. Also my parents weren't "big on sequels," saying that ANH should've been the only SW film released, and the rest were just a cash grab. (Imagine how they feel about films THESE days!!) So, I didn't even really sit thru ESB all the way non stop until I was in about 6th grade, around the time they were released on VHS. I saw ROTJ before ESB actually!! So for me the whole Vader father reveal was not really revealed to me, it was more just...something I knew.

Anyways, I didn't really start to become the fan I am now until the PT started coming out-when I was in college, and becoming more interested in movies....

 

6 years old, summer 1980

 

I was six. I remember being so happy for Luke and not understanding why he screamed and then jumped. I was even upset with him, because I immediately liked Vader very much. It's still funny to remember my reaction.

 

I was six in 1980 when TESB was released, but I don't remember the revelation because I was on the floor in the cinema amongst the popcorn and cigarette ends crying my eyes out because I thought they had killed Han Solo.

Slightly relevant side point: I remember seeing a trailer for ROTJ in 1983 and seeing a clip of Han Solo throwing the scout rider against the tree on Endor. I look back now and think that this was quite a spoiler, as many people at the time thought that was it for Han, and didn't expect him to return.

 

I was born in the 90s so the revelation had become a staple of pop culture then and constantly parodied to death by then. So, I was sort of aware of the reveal through osmosis even before seeing Empire Strikes Back.


This sort of revealed the twist to me.

 

That's why I always think it's odd when people say, "You have to watch the films in release order, otherwise it ruins the surprise!" There really can't be many people who don't already know about it. Then again, I did lend the DVDs to a friend one time, and she had never seen any SW movies before, and did not know about Luke and Vader's relationship. It didn't impress her much, though, when she found out (I asked her, "Did you watch Empire yet?" "Yeah, last night." "Were you surprised?" "About what?" "About what Vader told Luke?" "Oh yeah, that. That was okay.")

Anyway, as for me, I was 6 when ESB was released. I was pretty convinced Vader was just trying to trick Luke, but a part of me thought he MIGHT be telling the truth. That was before internet spoilers, so I didn't know for sure until I saw ROTJ.

 

9 years old,June 1980.

 

Interesting. I don't know why Lucas ever edited Palpatine's scream and put it in Luke's mouth for TESB. Glad he got rid of that.

Yeah, Vader is a fascinating character. This is also true in Legends and the Disney Canon. He's brutal, but I recently saw that he attracted Space Harley Quinn.

 

Lord Vader attracts women, that's for sure. But the character from that comic is terrible... Unfortunately, any abnormal milord is also attractive...

 

She was terrible. She came off like those weird YouTube members who were in love with his breathing.

I'm not even a straight woman, and Vader intrigues me. Lol.

 

I was seven. I actually saw bits of 'Return of the Jedi' a few years before seeing 'Empire' so I think I sort of knew although I can't really remember...

 

The Special Edition giveth and the Special Edition taketh away. Cursed be the name of the Special Edition.

SW is a vampire franchise. So many of its best ideas (and some of its not-so-good ones) came from other stories. I don't remember if it was Ebert or another critic who called it a film pastiche.

 

Arguably, Vader's revelation was one of the major reasons that he became the most interesting Star Wars character for many. He's a complex, traumatized individual.

 

I was 9 back in 1980