Luke, Leia, Vader, and the Great Reveal

In Truce at Bakura, Luke promises Leia that "for now, no one will know that you're related to anyone," that anyone referring to Luke or Vader. Fast forward four years, in Courtship of Princess Leia, Luke identifies himself to Taa Chume and Isolder as "a friend to Leia and Han." In addition, Leia's Jedi potential doesn't seem to be common knowledge - Taa Chume, for all her disdain for the Jedi, wants Leia dead because she's a democratic pacifist, not because she's Force-sensitive. By the Thrawn Trilogy, Leia and Luke's relationship is public knowledge, but their connection to Darth Vader is not. The Noghri recognize them by scent, but Mara doesn't know until the last book. If Mara doesn't know, I'm assuming that Karrde doesn't know either, because I don't think he'd keep something that significant from his own second-in-command, especially knowing that she would be interested. So when is the relationship of Luke, Leia, and Vader revealed? By the Black Fleet Crisis, Leia's parentage is known, at least by the higher-ups in the government. But there's a long time between TTT and BFC. Am I missing something? Or has this (rather significant, IMO) scene been, to use a Buffy the Vampire Slayer term, passported? I would have really liked to see the other characters' reactions to Vader's true identity and Luke's role in the Battle of Endor, and Leia's relationship to them.

 

I would like to see this as well, and I'm actually hoping for this to happen in the forthcoming Shadows of Mindor novel. Or at the very least have a reference to them making the revelation to the leaders of the Rebellion/New Republic.

 

I was always perplexed at how people knew, but neither Luke nor Leia told any one. I hope it is told how people got that knowledge.

 

Don't you think the events of Dark Empire would be conducive to all being revealed?

 

I feel Dark Empire needed a scene where the Emperor reveals himself to the galaxy at large, and then reveals his new apprentice as Vader's son. He succeeds in both scaring the kriff out of the galaxy and ruining Luke's reputation, making it that much harder for him to return to the New Republic fold.

 

I think it's just not something that needed to be told at a press conference.

at the end of ROTJ, 3 people "knew"...and whether Luke spills the beans, or Han makes jokes about sleeping with Luke's sister in the presence of company, or the noghri can't keep their yaps shut about their "Lady Vader"...it's something that eventually comes to the public consciousness.

I think it's simply a matter of not hiding it from the galaxy, but not declaring it either...and for a great many of the sentients of the galaxy, they may never know. (though, obviously everyone on Coruscant knew all about Skywalker lineage by LOTF...but they are pretty close to the source there anyway).

 

That's because of the "prequel" holofilms Voren produced following TDN, though. Same goes for people like Han knowing about Jango's head rolling.

 

Luke revealed that Vader was his father to his students in I, Jedi. Can't say for sure if that scene was originally in Dark Apprentice, though.

Actually, that makes me wonder about Han's threat to rip off Fett's helmet with his head still inside, as well as his comment about how heads are going to roll when Luke activates his lightsaber during the sail barge battle in the ROTJ radio drama.

 

interesting..

 

your'e saying han knows about jango fett. where is this mentioned?

 

LOTF: Revelation

 

I think it was revelations that had Jacen reading newspaper tabloids? As soon as they got a wiff of Vader being Luke & Leia's father they'd be all over that pretty fast. As soon as Luke starts telling people that's going to be all over the holonews stations really really fast.

 

Luke and Leia probably told someone one of the NR higher ups and then someone on one of those Higher Ups political staffs leaked it like in our world. I could see Fey'la trying to use this against them at some point.

 

Yes, but apparently that wasn't the case (at least not on a general-public level) because in I, Jedi, there's a scene where Luke reveals his paternity to his students. I don't recall if the scene is also in the JAT?

But that's the only scene I can remember with anyone making an "announcement". Though at some point between JAT and BFC it must have happened.

 

The sibling reveal seems to be made public very quickly. The parentage reveal seems to hover around the very top levels of government shortly after Bakura as a secret (let's face it -- it would be utterly irresponsible for Leia not to let Mon Mothma know that she's appointing Darth Vader's daughter to be Minister of State) and remain secret through at least 11 ABY. Sometime between then and 16 ABY, it is made public knowledge. We might be able to nail it down by looking at the works in-between there.

 

My own fanon idea is that the truth became public shortly before NJO, acting as a cause for the public and political distrust of the Jedi. Destiny's Way features Omas making a comment about how if Luke wanted power, all he had to do was stand up with his father.

 

So what about Courtship? Isolder and Taa Chume clearly don't know even about the sibling matter. Isolder even wonders how close Leia and Luke really are, and seems faintly jealous. And Taa Chume calls Tenenial a "spoon-bender and aura-reader", but not Leia. I'm not sure even Augwynne or Mother Rell comment on Leia's force-sensitivity. Was Leia and Luke's relationship made public at the same time as the announcement of Leia and Han's engagement? Who knew before that? What exactly did Luke reveal in his Endor debriefing? I'm assuming he was eventually debriefed, since reports of his presence on the Death Star were swirling as early as the day after the battle, and surely High Command would wonder about that.

 

The sibling thing may have been floating around the top level of the NR only, but I just find that hard to believe. I think we're maybe better off saying that Leia's Force-sensitivity just wasn't revealed (it doesn't necessarily follow from being the sibling of a Force-user that a person be FS). Isolder just . . . was jealous that they were close and possibly thought that Luke would be against the marriage and for Han and able to sway Leia. Or he had a dirty mind.

 

Its definitely in Revelation. That book is a bit strange-everyone seems to know about Fett's life and backstory but no one knows that Darth Vader was a Sith.

 

I agree that this has never been fully explored as it aught to be. Another piece of information that has been shared although I can't recall which book, is where Han appeals to Luke to settle something or another with Leia, saying he's the big brother-- to which Luke replies along the lines: Actually, we don't know whose older.

I'm also interested in when they first heard Padme's name as in Dark Nest it didn't come as a great surprise with the recordings. That thread with Padme and R2 was never finished in my opinion.

 

Exactly. He is from Hapes, after all. Which is probably a bastion of inbreeding.

 

That was Heir to the Empire.

 

Here's to continuity.