Why does Obi Wan hide Luke on Tatooine?

[Sio Bibbles Taint]

If we are to believe the rumors surrounding episode 2. Owen is Anakin's step brother, wouldn't this be one of the first places that Vader would look for his son????
This might have been posted before, but I'm new...

[Jedi Master Carr]

Good Question. First off he didn't know he had any children so he wasn't looking for them. As far as Tatooine it was an out of the place but also it holds much pain for Anakin which will be explained in the next film, I think he will see his mother die and never want to return to the planet.

[Cat Van Derveld]

if only he would have used Trojan ,than there wouldn't have been a threat to Vader,lol.

[Doc Milo]

I think the fact that he doesn't know he has children and thus isn't looking for them is the best answer -- because even if Vader doesn't want to return to Tatooine because it holds too much pain, what's to stop the Emperor from searching it? What's to stop the Emperor or Vader from making contact with the underworld (the Hutts) and offering a 'reward' for any information leading to the capture of Anakin Skywalker's children? Thus, the name Skywalker on Tatooine would end up ringing bells, and Vader could then just send a bunch of troops to bring the boy to Coruscant.

But since Vader doesn't know that he has children, the son of some fallen hero Jedi (the rest of the galaxy thinks this hero Jedi is dead; they don't know that Anakin is Darth Vader) will be meaningless information. Might be information that is tucked away in the Hutts memory in case it becomes important later on, but it wouldn't be information the Hutts would just volunteer to anyone.

Plus, I've never liked the speculation that Tatooine would hold too much pain for Vader to return to. He had no qualms about chasing Leia's Blocakade Runner into orbit around Tatooine. And it just seems to me that a Sith would feed off pain, even if it is his own personal pain. That explanation always brings the thought to my mind: "Ohhh, Big Bad Sith Lord doesn't want to go to Tatooine. Too painful. His mama died there. Ohhh, ain't that a pity." (In a mocking tone of voice.) That would just reduce the "fear" factor that Vader personifies, IMO.

[Sio Bibbles Taint]

But doesn't Vader know of Luke's existance based on what we've seen in the original trilogys? He tells Luke during the duel in ROTJ that Obi-Wan was wise to hide her from him, and even Obi Wan says Leia was safetly hidden. If he didn't know about Luke being his son until thier first confrontation then he must have sensed something from Luke to tip him off. If this is true though why didn't he sense something from Leia when he was torturing her on the Tantive IV during ANH?

[Jedi Master Kyle]

1 reason may be that Leia is simply not as strong as Luke in the force. Also, Lucas may not have planned to make Luke and Leia siblings at that point. I'd belive the latter because I doubt that he's into the incest thing. I mean, who would make 2 siblings long for each other and kiss all the time? In Jedi, Vader tells Luke that Obi Wan was wise to hide Leia because he was probing Luke's mind, that's how he found out about her. Vader blamed everything on Obi Wan anyway....

[Doc Milo]

Well, Luke was the pilot that blew up the Death Star. And his name is Skywalker. When Vader is chasing Luke down the trench, he comments: "The Force is stron in this one."

As soon as Vader, in between ANH and ESB, discovers the identity of the pilot who was strong in the Force that blew up the Death Star -- discovers that the name of that pilot it Skywalker -- it would not be too tough to put it all together at all. It would really have very little to do with anything Vader sensed about Luke during their first duel together in ESB. Vader would know that he is Luke's father long before that. But he doesn't know that he is a father at all until after the Death Star is destroyed in ANH and he discovers who the pilot is that destroyed it.

[Sio Bibbles Taint]

I guess you guys r right. i just assumed he knew about Luke before>

[PropReplicator]

I agree, I don't think Vader should have a clue about his children until Episode V.

UNLESS, he hires someone to kill Amidala while she is pregnant, and he thinks that person succeeded.

[Doc Milo]

According to the novelization of RotJ, and take it for what it's worth, for I know it can be changed if Lucas so wishes (I just assume the information in it is true until contradicted) Anakin left before he knew Amidala was pregnant -- thus never knows that she was pregnant...

[xx Kyiang Sunrider xx]

I think Amidala hide before Luke and Leia were born

[Darth Hez]

I agree, that Vader didn't know about Luke until ANH/ESB is the best theory. Once Luke became part of the rebellion though (and I'm sure the empire had a good enough spy network to get names of rebel leaders), its only a matter of time before the name "Skywalker" got back to Vader. And thats a bit of a heavy hint, and with a little more work by the spies (that he carries a lightsaber etc), it wouldn't take Sherlock Holmes to come to the obvious conclusion.