Mon Mothma knew Padme was Leia's mother?

In reading Dark Lord today and seeing that Bail says Padme's pregnancy was something of an open secret (p115) among the senators she was close to like Bail and Mon Mothma, wouldn't Mon Mothma been able to piece together who her mother was? After Endor it is commonly known by many characters of Luke and Leah's father, so after getting that bit of info wouldn't Mon Mothma be able to put two and two together and tell them that their mother was Padme Amidala? I know this never came out until the Swarm War story because it just wasn't envisioned yet but to retcon it what would be a good explanation? That their relationship and very aquitance just wasn't known by Mothma?

 

It does seem odd that she never figured it out-- until you realize who you're talking about. It's Mon Mothma. She ain't exactly the sharpest vibroblade in the drawer, y'know?

 

Padme's pregnancy was known of, but that doesn't mean they knew or even suspected who the father was.

Unless that's suggested, too. I don't think it is, though.

 

I remeber Mon Mothma saying she never understood the connection between the Sith and the Separatist and what role the Sith played in the war. A part of me is hoping that in the forthcoming Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor novel, we see Luke tell Mon Mothma and the other leaders the truth about Vader being his father. After hearing this, she would come to a realization and most likely say something along the lines of, "He knew. Bail knew all along." Should this happen, I think Mon Mothma might be savvy enough to have suspicions that Padmé was their mother. Not know with quantum-armor certainty. Just suspect. And without irrefutable evidence, and considering any potential implications that might accompany the revelation of this fact, she might choose to keep her suspicions to herself until she found evidence to confirm her suspicions.

 

Padme was buried "pregnant", though. So unless she was privvy to the fact that they were together, and the events that transpired on Polis Massa, it could be said she thought the baby died with Padme.

 

EDIT- never mind, stupid question.

 

Gooooood point. Can't believe it didn't occur to me before...

 

yeah. Other than the medical droids, who had their memories wiped, I am sure...how many people in the entire galaxy knew that Luke and Leia were Padme's children? Kenobi, Yoda, Bail Organa, Owen and Beru Lars, but, was anyone else there? It was one of the best kept secrets ever. Especially if you consider how often Bail and Mon Mothma must have interacted over the next 20 years as leaders of the rebellion, and he never let on that Leia was Padme's daughter...

 

Agreed!

And Obi-Wan went and jeapordized it all by letting Beru and Owen give the kid his dad's last name...

 

Well, it was clearly a dopey move on Owen's part, but Obi-Wan should have impressed upon them what an awful, awful idea it would be to raise the kid as their Skywalker nephew.

 

Well Beru and Owen obviously knew Anakin was the father but did they know who the mother was, or that Anakin turned into Vader? There is Beru and Owen's exchange of "He has too much of his father in him. That's what I'm afraid of." But seeing as Obi-wan thought Vader was dead at that point where he gave Luke over to them I don't see why he would have told them. Also it would be nice to see Leia or Luke explore their heritage on Naboo as a side item in an upcoming book, or comic.

 

But on the same token, who knew that Anakin Skywalker was Darth Vader? There are only a handful of people in the galaxy that know that secret too...Its not like Luke was in danger from being turned in by some joe schmoe in Anchorhead or Mos Eisley...Nor was it likely that Darth Vader would ever come back to Tatooine. The only reason he was there in ANH was because thats where they apprehended the Tantive IV. Kenobi knew there was no way Vader would voluntarily return to Tatooine. It was a reasonable gamble. Heck, even when Vader was in Tatooine's orbit, he had no clue Luke was there. He, like everyone else in the entire galaxy but a few, assumed he had no living children. Vader had no reason to be looking for anyone named Skywalker.

 

And in the end, him being named Skywalker was what caused Vader to reconnect with his former identity.

Ol' Obi-Wan knew exactly what he was doing.

 

Well...Darth Vader, did, and a handful of other people.

Is that a reason to advertise his identity? Anakin Skywalker was a galaxy wide celebrity during the Clone Wars...and a kid named Skywalker is living outside Mos Eisley, a city on Skywalker's homeworld.

Reasonable gamble? Were the possible consequence of him being found out worth gambling? What was gained by not changing Luke's last name?

No, but once he heard the name Luke Skywalker he knew precisely who he was dealing with. Lucky for Luke and the entire galaxy, the name never surfaced until Luke blew up the Death Star.

He could have told Luke when the time was right.

The plan worked, in the end, but that doesn't make it the best possible plan. It worked despite Obi-Wan not taking what would seem to be the most obvious precaution.

 

Obi-Wan. Knew. Exactly. What. He. Was. Doing.

 

Owen and Beru probably didnt know about Leia but they had met Padme before and could have assumed.

As to Owen saying he's got to much of his father in him, perhaps he is merely basing that off the fact that Anakin rushed off by himself to rescue his presumebly dead mother from a tribe of Tuskens that 40 farmers went to do and only about 4 came back alive.

 

People who are in contact with Qui-Gon "One With The Force" Jinn are usually able to plan pretty well, I'd think. More powerful than you could possibly imagine, and all that? Merging with the Force would give one a unique talent for prediction, I would think.

 

At least during the post-RotS period, I'm pretty sure Mon Mothma had no clue that Padme's children had survived, and from what I remember of Dark Lord: Rise of Darth Vader, she didn't know who the father had been earlier. While Mothma was co-conspirator with Bail Organa in founding the Rebel Alliance, she wasn't involved with Yoda and Obi-wan like Bail was. And I'm semi-sure she never found out, period, given that by the Dark Nest Trilogy, Luke and Leia were still completely in the dark over who their mother was. If Mon Mothma had ever found out, she probably would've told one of them at least before she died, probably.

And not sure what Beru and Owen Lars were thinking, but letting Luke keep his Skywalker name might be a good thing, as eventually Luke would need to help overthrow/kill his father and the Emperor, and Luke finding out he had been raised under a fake name might not be such a good thing, could lead to identity crisis, or something. Leia, being the secretly adopted daughter of one of the higher profile Senators, couldn't keep the name, but on Tatooine, it doesn't really matter. While Anakin Skywalker was famous, this is Tatooine, so... nothing that big ever happens. Well, aside from fateful encounters, but those are rare.

And Obi-wan was on standby nearby, ready to help rescue Luke if anything random happened (like if Luke got kidnapped or anything). Vader likely would never come back to Tatooine, and after a few years of subjugation, most people probably wouldn't remember the Skywalker name. And if they did, it might be a good thing to be related to the hero Anakin Skywalker. Well, in most cases, except on some planet like Jabiim which was populated by idiots who ended up enslaved.

And maybe Obi-wan was just feeling sentimental. Anakin could've been a great Jedi, so Obi-wan hoped Luke could redeem the Skywalker name. There's Leia too, of course, but even after decades of finding out her biological father, she's never changed her name.

And while there are hundreds of "what ifs" possibilites, honestly, with the Chosen One prophecy still in play, the Force wouldn't let anything too bad happen to Luke (like him being discovered too early).

 

Fine, but I still haven't heard a credible reason for Luke keeping his last name being a good idea.

I'd give Luke more credit than that. Hell I'd give most adopted children more credit than that. What's more, I can't see a hypothetical existential crisis being more important than the possibility of Vader Googling his own name one day and coming across Luke.

Nothing happening on Tatooine is precisely why Anakin Skywalker would be so important a figure there, and why word of some kid with incredible skills and luck somewhere out past Mos Eisley would spread fast.

None of those are reasons why it wouldn't be really, really easy for someone to make a connection. Even if all the pieces weren't put together by some individual, any word reaching the wrong person could have been disastrous.

First of all, I give Obi-Wan more credit than to endanger the galaxy for a sentimental reason. Second of all, he could have just told Luke his real last name later on.

Sure. It worked. But changing his name is the simplest way to help him avoid detection, so why not just take the precaution? Instead, they left him with a big neon sign out in the desert that said "I'M DARTH VADER'S SON." Luckily, no one drove by who knew how to read it.

 

That's one of the nice things about having Qui-Gon around in ghost form, though. Obi-Wan asks, "Do we need to rename the kid? It'd be nice if he could keep his name and feel that connection to his heritage his whole life, but I'd hate for him to get tracked down." Qui-Gon, submerged in the Force, checks for a minute and says, "Nah, don't worry about it. Let him keep the name; it'll all work out."

From an out-of-universe perspective, sure, it's hard to justify, besides saying that Luke was a Skywalker before Vader was and there are just some kinks that come from that. From an in-universe perspective, Qui-Gon makes it not a big deal. And ultimately, IU is all that matters.

 

People, people.

Kenobi had nothing to do with Luke's surname.

Read the New Essential Chronology - Owen gave Luke that surname in memory of Shmi. It's entirely possible Kenobi had no say in anything about the baby Luke after he handed them over.

As far as the neighbours of the Lars knew, Luke was a random orphan adopted by the Lars, and given the name of Owen's dear, departed stepmother.

 

It's possible that Luke chose to call himself Skywalker and that he'd been known as Lars previously.

 

Let's not forget that at the time of ANH, as far as Luke and practically everyone on Tatooine was concerned Anakin Skywalker was a freighter pilot, not a famous jedi knight. If the people there had any inkling as to who Anakin really was, they certainly didn't let it on to Luke, which seems rather odd. My guess is that the people on Tatooine never really heard of Anakin Skywalker.