CT Were Obi Wan and Yoda right to hide the truth from Luke?

Was it ethical for Obi Wan and Yoda to hide Vader's true identity from Luke, especially considering that they intended for him to confront him eventually? I get that he "wasn't ready" yet in Episode V but when exactly would he be ready? When he strong enough to beat Vader? It seems like they're basically manipulating him into committing fratricide.

 

Yes, Luke needed to be trained in the Jedi Way, and build up his care for others before learning Vader is his Father. Otherwise, its possible Luke would have rushed to see Vader and by extension The Emperor, without hardly any training.

 

Luke already cared for others a great deal. Ben & Yoda wanted him to be more detached and focus more on the big picture. Fortunately, Luke disagreed, which cost him greatly but helped him even more.
As for the initial question, they say they hid it because he wasn't ready to bear the burden, which is probably true. But I agree that they seem to be getting him used to the idea that Ani no longer exists and that Vader needs to die, though Luke found out that wasn't so. It's not an easy thing to think about.
I'd say their motives are somewhat shadowy, and the situation could've been handled better.

 

I think they were ashamed of their role in Ani's turn to the dark side. Obi-Wan especially would not want to inform Luke so that he and Yoda could train Luke without him knowing they were basically training him with the hope of getting rid of his father. Imagine if you had met a complete stranger and are beginning your training as a Jedi, would you want to hear that those who are training you cut off your father's legs and arms and left him to burn? I think not.

 

I don’t think it was shadowy at all. Luke confesses a main reason he wants to be trained as a Jedi, “I want to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi like my father before me.” Kinda hard to tell the kid then, “Uh your dad betrayed the Jedi, murdered Younglings, and became Darth Vader.” It makes sense they waited, and let Vader himself reveal that dark fact.

 

I don't think they were right or ethical. But the will of the Force prevailed and their failings turned out for the best in the end.

Of course the "real" answer is that the whole thing was a massive retcon of the story told in the first movie, and GL was lucky to be able to make it all fit together as well as it did.

 

I know right? Alic Guinness gave these looks, and the way he answered questions in ANH that made it all fit perfectly.

 

Given the circumstances, I'd say it was the right call. Immediately revealing the truth to Luke would likely jeopardise his safety and put him at risk of falling to the dark side. He needed to mature and train before facing the truth.

 

Exactly, I mean is Obi-Wan gonna risk Luke turning to the dark side with the revelation that Vader is his father when he and Master Yoda worked to hard to hide Luke so he wouldn’t be found by The Emperor or Lord Vader? Makes perfect sense they kept the info from Luke.

 

Yes, I would want to know, and I'd like to decide for myself if I want to associate with those strangers. My father wasn't part of my life, and he was a bad person who abused my mother quite badly, so I wouldn't give the slightest fig if someone hacked him to pieces. They could have just told Luke the truth about his father and why they opposed him. Luke, hating the Empire himself, may have understood, and may have taken it much better than they assumed. Giving Luke someone to hate by telling him the enemy murdered his father may have been riskier than telling him the truth.

Anger + hate toward the enemy leads to the dark side.

Your father was a good man who chose an evil path is not a revelation that leads to the dark side.

 

^ Exactly. If anything, Luke would want to know why his father chose to betray the Jedi. Would he turn to the Dark Side? No. It’s just as likely he’d pull a Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and tell himself that he’s not fighting his father, he’s fighting the beast that killed him. Which is kinda what they were hoping Luke would think anyway, only on a literal sense of Dude A killed Dude B rather figuratively of Dude A killed the goodness in himself.

It’s also possible Luke would attempt to do what we already see him do in the movies.

 

it's another one of those mythic tropes : the hero's parentage is a mystery/they've been hidden because they're the son of a god etc.

 

Way too much over thinking on this.

The simple answer is the lies were only meant to cover up the plot hole created by making Darth Vader Luke's father in TESB.

Everything I've seen states that Vader was not Luke's father while ANH was being filmed.

 

Yes, the decision to tell Luke the truth when they deemed it to be appropriate was right.

 

…which has nothing whatsoever to do with the in-universe reality of the complete story, which is what the question of the OP is referring to. Out-of-universe circumstances are 100% irrelevant in that context, as you’re no doubt aware.

 

Nonetheless, it's at least worth mentioning, especially since Lucas has been so heavy-handed in putting out the lie that Star Wars was always "the tragedy of Darth Vader" when Anakin and Vader weren't even the same character in the first film.

As for whether it's justified in-universe... I do suspect it indicates the old Jedi Order perhaps being more flawed than a lot of PT fans would like to admit. (Though still hardly deserving of the genocide that Palpatine engineered.)

 

Retcons are at the heart of Star Wars then.

 

Unlike a lot of Star Wars retcons, this one actually worked well.

The Vader father reveal was one of the greatest moments in SW. The only cost was messing up a little bit of Obi-Wan's speech in ANH.

 

Oh I agree. I just think its funny people hate retcons in SW, when as you just said, we got some great ones.

 

Keeping stuff from your kids until they are an appropriate age is ALWAYS risky. Yes, I know Luke isn't Obi-Wan's son, but the same logic applies.

 

Like the truth about Santa Claus.

 

No, not like that. I'm talking about the appropriate age to discuss with your child how the world actually is.

 

Depends.

Were they ever planning on telling him the truth? if so, when? after he had killed Vader? (which they both wanted Luke to do)

'you just joined the patricide club Luke' *raises glass*

Luke:

 

That he was Darth Vader's dad ?