"Obi-Wan was wise to hide her from me..."

Watching ROTJ I just realised that Vader's revelation about Luke having a sister never actually told him who his sister is; meaning he doesn't know it's Leia.

Now his argument about "If you won't turn to the Dark Side, perhapsshe will..." rather ineffectual since he has no freakin' clue how to find her.

As a further note "Obi-Wan was wise to hide her from me..." seems eerie because it implies Obi-Wan did not hide Luke from him, only Leia. It's long been asked when/how Vader found out about Luke - but it doesn't seem possible that any time during the 20 year gap Vader would've gotten a phone call "Hi Anakin, it's me, remember Obi-Wan? Anyways yeah, just gotta tell you, you have a son...I haven't told him yet though, I'll leave that for you to sort out"...

I always assumed Vader thought Obi-Wan was dead up until he arrived on the Death Star in ANH, but it's actually Tarkin who says that and Vader disagrees; perhaps he's had contact with Obi-Wan and just not told any of his Imperial friends about it?

Vader knows he has a son, but doesn't know he also has a daughter - he finds out some time prior to ESB that Luke is that son - but doesn't seem to realise that in the ANH death star trench while force-probing him.

I'm stumped, offer me some theories

 

This is the way I see it:

Darth Vader thought Obi-Wan was dead, until he sensed him on the Death Star in ANH.

The reason Vader said just leia instead of Luke and Leia is that Luke had obviously met Vader in all three films. On top of that keep in mind that Anakin thought there was one baby, not two. He probably thought Luke was his only child, until he felt leia's presence.

 

Yes, but what's bothering me is that he's implying Obi-Wan didn't hide Luke from him - which would mean he told Vader about the whole son thing some time after ROTS

And there's the whole question of "If not from Obi-Wan, then who...only Obi-Wan, Bail and Yoda knew about Luke"

 

I'll probably respond out of order of your questions, but that's my quirky train of thought for you.

I think Anakin/Vader knew Obi-wan didn't die because he is strong with the Force. Like Yoda felt when the Jedi were being killed, Anakin would also know that his mentor had not been.

We now know from "EIII" that Anakin was fully aware of Padme's pregnancy. He just never found out about her having twins. So he knew about one child. They refer to a "child" in "EIII," not children or twins. It's a surpise when they're born.

Leia was a surprise. He only figured out about her when Luke let his feelings for her cloud his vision when he was fighting Vader.

Luke was staying with his family (we met them in "EII"), hence, he got the last name Skywalker. Anakin had no doubt about him being his son when he showed up like that. All the clues were there. The fact that Luke looks like him, has the same last name, and is training to be a Jedi.

Make any sort of sense?

 

Vader knew that is was Luke who destroyed the Death Star from a captured rebel before TESB.

Vader didn't think Obi-Wan was dead, just in hiding.

Tarken wasn't 100% sure he was dead. Tarkin just rationalized that Obi-Wan must be dead from old age or from some other outside reason because they haven't heard of him since the events of ROTS.

 

Vader did not know he had a child until ESB, bottom line.---he knew a kid who was strong with the force destroyed the deathstar, then the name Skywalker got out from the heroic feat, and he was obsessed with finding Skywalker in ESB, to verify who this boy is. Likely between ANH and ESB, Vader began to think it may be his son, and he began to plot against the Emporer to rule the Galaxy as Father and Son.

He thought he had killed Padme(just as the Emperer told him), which he would also likely assume the baby was killed also.

Also the line "Obi was right to hide her from me", is just a statement about hiding her also. Nothing more.

In ROTS, it is clearly being covered up that anyone was born. When Padme is being paraded at her funeral, she still has a "belly" sorry not sure what right term would be, but she still looks pregnant, as if the Bay died within her when she died.

There is also no way that Obi and Vader have been in contact. Obi and Yoda are in hiding, Vader would have wanted to hunt them down and kill them as he is truly evil and hates them both(we know Obi for sure). On the Death Star in ANH, he likely assumed Obi may have died, maybe not, but then he sensed him and new he was still alive, out of hiding, ie "you should not have come back"

 

Shouldn't Vader have been able to sense Leia when they captured her in ANH? He also should have been able to sense the force in her like in Luke when he was blowing up the Death Star.

 

Not really, he sensed Luke, because Luke was using the Force.

Leia never used the Force or had even the slightest training in the Force, therefore he did not sense the Force in her.

 

I agree 100% with Doc10. I was about to say all those things.


RotS made it clear that they hid Luke - somewhere where he cannot be sensed.
I guess they never change his name because they expect, if not plan, a confrontation between Luke and Vader.
ANH is far less a series of coincidences than it seemed before.

 

I was under the impression that all of the stuff Vader was saying was little more than big talk meant to lure Luke out of hiding. Vader wanted luke out in the open so he could face him - course, it all went pear-shaped when Vader realises that he simply couldn't handle Luke when he's got rage on his side.

 

Vader thought his kids died when Padme died, so he didn't know he had ANY children. Evidence: the Emporer tells him Anakin Skywaler has offspring...

'How can this be possible.'

I assumed Vader knew about Luke's sister because Yoda told him and Vader could sense the knowledge in Luke.

 

I agree with Sarlacc_Salesman, RotS shows that Padme is buried looking pregnant, so Vader assumed she died and the child died with her. He never knew that there were two.

Vader discovers Luke is his son when Palps tells him, "The Son of Skywalker must not become a Jedi." The Emperor figured it out, but Vader was probably in denial.

His comment about Leia later in RotJ, reflected the fact that Obi-wan had either meant for him to find out about Luke, which I doubt because of the "but now his failure is complete." line, he's referring to the fact that Obi-wan partially failed when he discovered Luke, but he totally failed when to hide either child when he discovered that he had a daughter too, Leia.

 

So it's your belief that the Emperor is who informed Vader about Luke? Do we have any idea how the Emperor knows? Bail must have talked?

 

Palps didn't know until during TESB
Vader learned shortly after ANH - he just pretended to be surprised