CT Why is Vader not able to "feel" that Leia is his daughter?

I have often wondered why Vader, as powerful as he is, does not realize that Leia is his daughter in "A New Hope". I know later on,in Empire Strikes Back I believe, he realizes but why not sooner. Is it because Leia has not really discovered the force yet? Or because he simply didn't know he had kids? Or is it because the force is so strong in Leia he can't see through it. However, if that's the case why didnt he notice the force itself. What does everyone else think?

 

She wasn't his daughter until ROTJ.

That's the way I see it.

 

Because ROTJ hadn't been written yet.

 

I go along with the facts that Vader was unaware he even had a daughter and with him devoting most of his energy into finding the DS plans any 'feeling' he got from meeting Leia would have just been brushed aside.
Leia's knowledge of the force was so limited I doubt she would have given off much anyway

 

Because when Lucas wrote SW in 1977 nobody was related.

 

Well, apart from the reason everyone else has brought up, in-universe it might have something to do with the fact that she wasn't aware of it either, so she wasn't hiding anything. Like the old saying goes, "what you don't know, they can't beat out of you."

 

Don't forget, he hadn't realized Luke was his son in ANH either- even when he knew 'the Force is strong with this one'. He had no idea.

Despite the fact that, yes, a lot of these relationships were not even pen to page yet, an in-universe explanation could be that he wouldn't dare out his kids. If the Emperor became aware of them, it would alter Vader's purpose of using them to eventually take down the Emperor. Once Vader knew of Luke, that was his motivating factor in his obsession to find him. He told the Emperor a half truth- yes, he did want to turn him to the dark side- but not to be an ally of the Emperor, rather to use him to take Palps outta the picture. Of course, Palpy was seeing the same opportunity to replace Vader. Oh those crazy Siths are one dysfunctional bunch.

 

In my headcanon, in ANH nobody knows anybody's related to anybody, reflecting the headspace of GL at the time as Carbon1985 suggested. It's almost like one of those Shakespearean comedies where everybody's confused all the time.

I also firmly believe that Vader did not know his children survived. In fact, he didn't even know he had children in the plural. After he began to sense it pre-ESB, the fact was confirmed to him in that scene where the Emperor contacts him.

 

That's pretty much the approach The Rise & Fall of Darth Vader takes- that he believed his child died with Padme- and it was the Emperor that convinced him otherwise.

In the RoTS novel they both seem to think it's one child Padme has.

 

Because he knew that the twins died with Padmé and he thought he had just one kid.
But really, it's because Leia and Vader weren't related until ROTJ

 

Because, George Lucas.

 

This seriously needs a thread for each movie because the context is different in 1977, 1980, 1983 & 2005. This is who I have always said there should be a SW'77 forum, OOT forum & OT-SE forum because this is not a topic that should even come to mind in a SW'77 forum.

 

Because the suit, uh, interferes, uh, with the midi-chlorians that, uh, would detect, uh, that Leia is his, uh, daughter.

 

Well....there you go. JJ, take note.

 

My take is he did know it was his daughter or at least had a feeling that they had some type of connection.

Ignoring the real-world reasons, here is my in-universe explanation:

In a ANH, Vader sensed (but didn't know) that Leia might have some sort of connection to him. That's why he prevented her from being executed and that's, in part, why he let Luke and Leia escape from the Death Star. He wanted her to live, if possible, so that he could figure out why he sensed a connection to her. Then, when ESB comes around, Vader again senses a strange connection to Leia, and that's why he changes the deal with Lando and orders her to be taken to his Star Destroyer. Then by ROTJ, Vader has pretty much figured it out, and when he senses Luke thinking about Leia, Vader lies and acts like he's learning it for the first time, saying "So, you have a twin sister. Now your thoughts have betrayed her too" only because he wants to goad Luke into fighting him in anger.

I know this contradicts the books, but for me, it's the best way to make sense of the situation so that it isn't self-contradictory.

 

The real answer for this question is

Vader was threatened by Aliens so he pretended not to know that Leia was his daughter

 

When did Vader stop her execution? Didn't he order he execution and then Luke and Han saved her from the prison? The reasoning behind him changing the Lando deal is pretty plausible though. Although the most logical reason was because she was a rebel leader with valuable information. He could torture more info from her just like in ANH.

 

I think that is the most reasonable answer

 

Maybe I'm remembering wrong, but Tarkin says something about executing her, and then Vader, after saying that he senses Obi-Wan, says something like, "Maybe she'll be of some use to us after all." So, again, if I'm remembering right, he's basically saying, "Let's not kill yet." But according to my rewrite of it, Vader is really saying that they shouldn't kill her because he thinks she may be his daughter.

 

Actually he says "She may yet be of some use to use" after the Falcon is tractored in:

"They must be trying to return the stolen plans to the princess. She may yet be of some use to us". Then he goes down, is told no-one is aboard, and says "I sense something- a presence I've not felt since..." and walks out. Next scene, he tells Tarkin "He is here."

After Vader leaves the vicinity of the Falcon, and the gang have gotten disguises, and gotten to a terminal to find out the way to the tractor beam generator, Artoo continues to hack the systems of the Death Star- and finds out that Princess Leia is "scheduled to be terminated"

 

Thanks for the correction. Yeah, I just stuck in the blu ray and saw my mistake. An imperial officer comes in and says that they've just captured a ship that has the same markings that blasted its way out of Tantooine. Vader says that they must be trying to return the plans to the princess. Then he concludes, "She may yet be of some use to us," preventing her execution.

 

It's left a little unclear as to whether he has, actually, prevented her execution, or just delayed it, from Tarkin's "Terminate her immediately" to "terminate her on the normal schedule".

That said, he might have suspended it indefinitely, but left the "Scheduled to be terminated" bit in the computer as bait- suspecting that, even if he hasn't found them, there are people aboard who will try and rescue her.

Given that Tarkin says "I'm taking an awful risk, Vader, This had better work" it does seem that at least some of the escape was according to Vader's plan, even if it's not clear how much he intervened- maybe he simply didn't send a full complement of TIEs out, but only four.

Vader doesn't seem at all bothered by Leia's ship heading straight for Yavin, and them going straight after Yavin to destroy it, with Leia probably still there. He says "This will be a day long remembered- it has seen the end of Kenobi, it will soon see the end of the Rebellion"

 

The only reason Vader knew that Luke was his son, was because once he learned the name of the "hero" who blew up the Death Star . . . Luke SKYWALKER, he knew he had a son.

 

Hmm, very interesting. The question remains though, why did Vader just go after Luke to get him to join him instead of getting both Luke and Leia? Perhaps he figured that he only could get one, and he chose Luke because of his abilities with the force.

Anyways, I'm not sure where I stand on this debate. I feel like Vader didn't know, after all he didn't seem to mind killing Leia on Yavin. I guess it's one of the mysteries of Star Wars.