What if Obi Wan Killed Luke's Father?

"I am your father" is pivotal to the entire saga.. I believe the saga, and the prequil trilogy in particular, would have been great (great-er?) if we had the dialog "Obi Wan killed your father...."

Think of it... What if Anakin wasn't Vader? What if the prequil was the story of three good friends and Jedi: Luke's Father, Vader, and Obi Wan; and about how Vader and Luke's father chose loyalty to the up-and-coming-emperor while Obi Wan sided with the Jedi... About how Obi Wan ends up defeating both of his friends only to lose the war; about how Vader hates Obi Wan not just because he put him the suit but also because he killed his best friend and put his loyalty to the order over his loyalty to his friends....

Man... I'm getting goosebumps.

So assuming ANH was unchanged, and the ESB was not changed EXCEPT for the one line; what would the major plot points be for the other movies (OT and PT)?

 

[image=http://museumoftolerance.info/albums/Macros/whoa.jpg]

woah!

 

Does the classic exchange now become this:

VADER:: Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father!
LUKE: He told me enough, he told me you killed him!
VADER:: No Luke, Obi-Wan killed your father!


If so, how does Luke respond to that? Does he return to Dagobah, kill Yoda, and then join the Emporer and Vader?

 

What would be even better is if Vader was some sadistic monster murdered Anakin raped Padme and tried to kill Obi-Wan

 

Actually, if you think about it, Obi-Wan TRIED to kill Anakin, because he had become a Sith Lord. He just didn't have it in him to kill Anakin at the end of their duel.

 

Yeah, he probably thought Anakin would die anyway, considering his condition. He wouldn't have survived too long if Palpatine didn't pick him up.

Good question. Since Obi-Wan is already dead by that point, revenge seems out of the question so yeah, he probably would be so angry as to turn to the Dark Side anyway.

 

That's a difficult question, but IMO the PT and the OT would lose in quality.

First of all, as GL stated it, is Star Wars about the fate of Anakin Skywalker. If he had died in Episode 3, there would have been no sense for GL to do the Episodes 4 to 6.

But let us leave this statement out and consider the death of Anakin as a storyline.
Vader and Anakin should be friends, do I get this right? And both tend to the Dark Side of the Force? Are either Obi-Wan's apprentices in the Force? That would be a problem (but not a big one) because Jedi Master have only one student. That is changed only in the EU by Luke Skywalker because of the lack of Jedi Master.

If Anakin Skywalker really died in Episode 3, there would be a big gap between the PT and the OT, because a very strong link is missing: the conflict between father and son. You would only have the lie of Obi-Wan. Another lie.

Now let's go further. If Obi-Wan teaches Vader and Anakin, and both fall to the Dark Side, wouldn't that mean that Obi-Wan is a terrible bad teacher? I think he would think more than twice if he should teach Luke.

If we get to ANH, there are also some lines who have to be changed, because Obi-Wan explains to Luke that Vader killed his father, otherwise it would mean that Obi-Wan is a big liar. He can't do so many things completely wrong, the consequence would be that he is no good for hero. With Vader being Anakin's friend and Obi-Wan kill him (or seemingly both) Obi-Wan stands there pretty bad. Would he still be a good guy or just plain stupid? Stuff for insanity, huh?

IMO, ROTJ would have to suffer from a terrible loss: The strong connection between father and son. Hm, I think that loss would also strongly influence TESB, because of several reasons:

1. Luke is the offspring of the most feared man in the galaxy.
2. The enemy he fought acrimoniously and he lost a hand to is his father.
3. Vader asks Luke to join the Dark Side and reign the galaxy with him together as father and son.
4. Anakin fell to the Dark Side. Is Luke also tending to the Dark Side?

Those are four big shocks expressed in one sentence: "Luke, I am your father!"
Now, if you have Obi-Wan killed Anakin and wounded Vader severely, I can't imagine more than just another lie, and that's quite weak in my opinion. Luke and Vader would have absolutely no relationship.

Now that Vader would be just Anakin's friend, ROTJ wouldn't be good for the big final of the Saga. You can't have a happy end, because that's where good triumphs over evil, and that is impossible without a strong link between Vader and Luke. In ROTJ, Luke believes that there is still good in his father, and he tries anything to save his father. What would there be if Vader wasn't Luke's father? Nothing.
And then there is the showdown in the throne room on the Death Star. I guess in the actual ROTJ, the despair of Luke in the throne room is a great benefit, especially as Vader changes loyalty. There would be clearly nothing for dramatic conflict in that lightsaber duel, and what reason would there be for Vader to save Luke from the Emperor? Luke wouldn't have tried to save Vader from the Dark Side if he had survived the final encounter with the Emperor, and the scene where Luke takes away Vader's mask would have no drama and make no sense.
Did you have a look in the Jedi Council Census? The death scene of Anakin/Vader in the throne room is the clear favourite of the Star Wars fans. Mine is where Vader throws the Emperor down the reactor shaft. Do you want to take them away?

My conclusion: Star Wars can only lose if Anakin dies in Episode 3.

 

"Vader murdered your father" would still be a point of view; the weight of responsibility of Luke's father turning to the dark side could still fall on Vader.

They don't both have to be Obi Wan's apprentice; Obi Wan says they were good friends and both jedi knights; let's put them as peers with Vader as the younger fellow.

LUKE
He told me enough! He told me you killed him.

VADER
No. Obi Wan killed your father.

Shocked, Luke looks at Vader in utter disbelief.

LUKE
No. No. That's not true!
That's impossible!

VADER
Search your feelings. Am I lying to you now? Anakin Skywalker, your father, was my greatest friend.
It was Obi Wan who betrayed us.

LUKE
No! No! No!

VADER
Luke. You can destroy the Emperor.
He has foreseen this. Come with me and I will tell you the truth about your father.

Join me just as your father did, to rule the galaxy together. Come with me. It is the
only way.

 

Then I'm very sure that ROTJ must follow a completely different storyline that I'm not able to figure out now. What would you imagine? Vader returning to the Light Side only for the son of his friend, not even being a relative, seems quite impossible to me. And a little senseless.

For me there isn't a plausible answer why Luke should join the former friend of his father. He has no emotional connection to that evil, old man, so why should he trust him? I think he would persecute him even harder because he made his father fall to the Dark Side and forced Obi-Wan to kill him.

 

That sounds much more presuasive. If Vader tried to say that, maybe Luke would follow him.
All in all, Obi-Wan did a terrible thing by throwing Anakin into lava.

 

luke would lose his respect for obi-wan.

 

I thought it over, and I think it sounds great for an AU fanfiction. Why don't you try that?

 

As far as Obi-Wan knew, Anakin was as good as dead. Had Palpatine not shown up, ol' Skywalker would be one with the pile of dirt. Of course, Obi-Wan probably thought that Palpatine was dead, seeing as Yoda went to pay him a visit.

 

That would be such a cool twist. Luke finding out that Obi-wan, the man he'd respected and looked up to so much, killed the father he has always long to have meat from the man tha Obi-wan told him was the one that killed his father.

Well actually that of Vader killing Anakin would be true "From a certain point of view." because it was Vader who made Anakin fall to the darkside and cease to be the good man he had once been. So Vader might not have killed Anakin's person but his good self, his real self, the self I supose Luke would want to know. So both Obi-wan and Vader would be responsible for Luke's father's death. Vader killed the spirit. Obi-wan killed the body.

EDIT- I completely agree with Grillbu_Fett. You should try and write this as a AU. If you do make sure to let me know.

 

He did...
...from a certain point of view.