Why didn't Luke change his name?

[darth_mcbain]

I was wondering about this last night - why is Luke's last name Skywalker? If Obi-Wan took Luke to hide him from his father, and took him to live with Owen and Beru, why wasn't Luke's last name Lars? It is kind of a dead giveaway if they have the same last name - and if it was Obi-Wan's intention of hiding Luke from Vader - seems like a dumb move not to change that name.

Leia was taken to Alderaan to live with Bail Organa, and hence her last name was different - why shouldn't it be the same with Luke?

[ReaperFett]

Why didn't Luke change his name?
He was only a kid! :)


Seriously, I doubt there was only one family of Skywalkers

[darth_mcbain]

I won't disagree with you there - in the galaxy there have to be more than one family of Skywalkers, but just as a precaution, wouldn't it help to change his name? If Vader ever came across the kid (which he did, obviously), he'd take special notice of the fact his last name was Skywalker. That, plus the fact that Luke is strong in the Force, would give Vader a good clue who this punk kid might be...

[ReaperFett]

well, dont Anakin and Owen meet in EP2? I hear they do. So hiding him with someone Vader knew is as bad :)

[Doc Milo]

My take:

From all I can gather (and I guess we won't know for sure until Ep3) Anakin does not know that he has any children at all -- that hiding the children is a precaution in case he ever finds out -- also a precaution so that he doesn't find out (one must assume that he might attempt to keep tabs on Amidala.) So Vader and Palpatine are not actually actively looking for any of Anakin's children.

Also, no one except very few (Obi-Wan, Yoda, Owen and Beru, apparently) know that Vader is indeed Anakin Skywalker -- so it isn't like the name Skywalker is something someone is going to report to authorities.

Leia, on the otherhand, had to change her name. Being the daughter of a Senator from Alderaan puts her in the public eye. If she had the same last name as Anakin, Vader would have made the connection. Since Luke is not in the public eye, and Vader doesn't even know he exists, changing his name is not necessary. Sure, it would make more sense -- be a further precaution, IMO -- but not necessary.

From what I can gather, Vader doesn't find out that he had any offsrping until between ANH and ESB, when he discovers the identity of the pilot -- who he knew first-hand was strong in the Force -- who destroyed the Death Star.

[darth_mcbain]

That sounds plausible, Milo. I agree though - even though Luke is not in the public eye, it wouldn't have hurt to change his name just in case. Kind of like when you're in the witness protection program... :)

[Doc Milo]

That sounds plausible, Milo. I agree though - even though Luke is not in the public eye, it wouldn't have hurt to change his name just in case. Kind of like when you're in the witness protection program...

Kind of -- but not exactly. In the witness protection program, someone may be looking for you :)

[Jedi Master Carr]

That is what I was thinking. I am also wondering if Anakin might not want to go back to Tatooine (I have a feeling his mother will die there) because it brings up too many bad memories.

[JMK]

I think it would have been smarter as a precaution to change his name. It probably wasn't for the sake of the movie-going public. I'd say it's very likely that once Anakin leaves Tatooine in episode 2, he'll vow to never return.

[darth_mcbain]

Hey - it just doesn't have the same ring to it - I'd much rather have a movie hero named Luke Skywalker than Luke Lars... :)

But you're right - from a precautionary standpoint why not change it? Luke was probably only an infant at the time anyway, its not like he would have cared.

[Doc Milo]

Somehow, the idea that Vader may not want to go back to Tatooine because it holds bad memories seems to not fit right with me. I end up saying to myself "Aww, the big bad Sith can't go back to Tatooine...Awww, too many bad memories..." I'd think that, once he becomes Vader, he'd feed off of those bad memories.

Somehow, him not going to Tatooine because of that weakens Vader in my mind.

[sirdizzy]

IMO its because lucas probably didn't think to make vsder lukes father tell after he had writtne the first one

[Starquest aka AndyR]

I think it honestly necessary for a story point of view, which might make it a bit un-realistic, but it just flowed better.
An orphan living with his aunt and uncle.
His father is a large mythical man in his eyes.
Etc...
It wouldn't have done well to be named after his foster parents then being told that he was actually the son of someone else.


From an internal viewpoint. I think that Vader just swears off tatooine, so Ben knows that this is a place that is safe for him to be raised. Its this reasoning that prompts Ben to hide there as well.

I'm sure we will see something that makes sense of all of this in the next two episodes - but it sure is fun to guess!

[darth_mcbain]

Yeah - there are some really good ideas here, but ultimately we'll have to wait for the next two installments to learn why (if we ever do). Incidentally, I asked this to the Jedi Council on the official site - maybe they'll have some light to shed on it (although they've never answered my questions up until this point :cry Maybe they'll get to this one)

I think I have to agree with Milo on this one - maybe Anakin has bad feelings towards Tatooine (the place of his slavery, the place where his Mother is still enslaved - and perhaps where she dies? ), but I don't think he would boycott going to the planet because of that.

[JMK]

Doc, I'm not that knowledgeable about literature, but don't alot of villains have a weakness, something that they're absolutely petrified of? That's why I talk about Anakin never wanting to go back to Tatooine. Maybe I'm waaaaaaaay off my rocker...

[Shawn]

"The best place to hide a letter is on the mantelpiece". :)

[sirdizzy]

well for a planet that is supposedly the farthest point from the center of the galaxy tantoinne has taken very much presence in the movies (i am sure it will be in epii and epiii mking 5 out of 6 movies)

[Doc Milo]

Doc, I'm not that knowledgeable about literature, but don't alot of villains have a weakness, something that they're absolutely petrified of? That's why I talk about Anakin never wanting to go back to Tatooine. Maybe I'm waaaaaaaay off my rocker...

Yes, you can say that -- but Vader's "weakness" is what ultimately leads to his redemption. The love of his son. The fact that there still is some good in him, buried deep; goodness that is brought out by his son. This isn't a weakness in the traditional sense. In literature, the weakness is what leads to the death or destruction of the villian -- the missing scale on a dragon's chest, for example. In Star Wars, Palpatine's over-confidence. It doesn't necessarily have to be something that the person is terrified of.

Also, in the context of Vader and the Sith (and the dark side of the force) fear isn't something that would be a weakness to a Sith. A Sith would feed off fear. "Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering." "Anger, fear, agression, the dark side are they." Once Anakin turns to Vader, he would feed off of fear, sorrow, suffering. Tatooine, in this context, would seem like a place he'd want to go, because those bad memories would fuel his anger, which in turn would make him more powerful in the dark side of the Force.

To me, it's more than likely that it's simply that no one is looking for any offspring -- no one knows they exist. And since Tatooine is "small, out of the way, poor" and a place where people go when they don't want to be noticed, a place that, while significant to the events of the saga, and is a place the Force seems to think is significant, everyone else in the galaxy seems to just rather just leave it alone. It is far from that bright center to the universe.

There doesn't need to be a reason why Anakin doesn't return there as Vader -- Tatooine is insignficant to galactic politics.

(And he had no qualms being in orbit around the place in ANH.)

[Jedieb]

dizzy raises a valid point, the movies we have now weren't perfectly laid out back in 77. I don't believe that Leia and Luke were even siblings in George's eyes back then. The story we know has gone through so many mutations that it's remarkable it holds together as well as it does. There are many things that could have happened that would have changed the story a great deal.

*Obi-Wan could have returned to living form and battled Vader at the end of ROTJ.
*The Vader, Luke, & Obi-Wan confrontation could have taken place over lava.
*There could have been two Death Stars above Endor.
*Only Vader would have died at the end of ROTJ. The Emperor would have survived setting up the 3rd trilogy as a battle between the Emperor and Luke's rebuilt Jedi Order.
*Endor could have been Kashyyk and instead of Ewoks we might have had a planet full of Wookies.
*In TPM, both Anakin and Qui-Gon could have been older.

These are all ideas that GL had in a draft at some point and they oculd have easily made their way onto film. So Luke not changing his name is something that Lucas probably didn't even think was necessary.

What I find interesting is that Luke certainly knows certain facts about his father. Sure his Uncle fed him some lies about his being a navigator on a space freighter, but it sounded as if he at least knew his father's name. Now there may have been a lot of Skywalkers in the galaxy, but how many of them had a dad named Anakin? Wouldn't a 10 year old kid named Skywalker who said his dead dad's name was Anakin raise some eyebrows? Plus, Palpy knew the origin of Anakin home's planet. With all of his information sources, how could he NOT know Luke was Anakin's son? Maybe he did know and he just always kept Luke in reserve as a potential replacement for Luke? Ah the possibilities...

[Jedi Master Carr]

Thats an interesting theory Jedieb and it is quite possible that he knew Luke was there, he might have even known Obi-Wan was there, but I am sure Anakin knew he had no children. As far as him going to back to Tatooine, I think if his mother dies he might as Anakin say he will never return, and then get into a huge fight with his step-brother as far as Vader, he might forget about Tattooine because realize Vader doesn't even consider himself Anakin as he says to Luke in ROTJ, "That name means nothing to me now" or something like that so its possible that he might not even think of going to Tattooine because as you said Doc he has no reason to go there..

[sirdizzy]

i think lucas wrote the 3 movies as he was going not keeping any continuity together except the base concept of the action'

how else would you explain the liplock between brother and sister and luke chasing leia in star wars


he may have thought of making vader lukes father but not finalize it tell he wrote empire


i think the prequels are his way of tieing everything together

[darth_mcbain]

Originally posted by sirdizzy
how else would you explain the liplock between brother and sister and luke chasing leia in star wars


Well that one's easy - neither of them knew they were siblings...

As for Vader being Luke's father, I don't know the detailed history of the early drafts. I had always thought that while Lucas was working out different scenarios in his drafts, they all included Vader being Luke's father, but I could be wrong on that one.

[Jedieb]

Even while making ANH Lucas may have thought of Vader really being Luke's father, but he DID NOT have the idea of Luke and Leia being siblings in place. If I remember right that wasn't finalized until some point in the ROTJ script process. So that would explain the liplock and Luke's obvious attraction towards Leia. Think about someone seeing all 6 episodes for the first time years from now. Those brother/sister kisses are going to gross them out!

[ReturnOfTheCB]

Who knows.....maybe it's alright to have feelings for your hot sister in their universe....

Maybe he's alluding to the Romans :D You know, with the Palpatine thing being Caesar-esque, and all the messed up relations with family.....

[Jedi Master Carr]

Like Commodus it was rumored that he fooled around with his sister:x I think Lucas wasn't sure about the whole Vader thing, I think I heard say he wasn't sure if he was going to do it at first but he went on a limb and decided to chance it.

[JMK]

Hey, who knows, maybe the bro/sis making out will be one of the things he cuts out in the next special editions!

[Jedi Master Carr]

I hope not that scene when Leia kiss Luke in front of Han always makes me laugh, I couldn't see how he could cut it out unless he cut the whole scene out which would be getting rid of some of the funniest lines from TESB.

[darth_mcbain]

Yeah - that scene is definitely funny - I hope it doesn't get cut. Why should it - its not that gross - as far as they knew at the time they weren't related, so why should it be gross to kiss each other? I hope it stays: Luke's expression afterwards where he puts his hands behind his head is priceless, and Han's curt little "Take it easy" gives me a chuckle every time I see it...

[Jedieb]

That entire scene is hilarious. It's one of the best character scenes in the OT. Truly, some of Chewie's best dialogue can be found in that scene. ;)

[sirdizzy]

laugh it up fuzzball, you didn't see us alone in the south passage

why you arogant, scruffy looking, nerf herder

whos scruffy looking

i miss of hit it pretty close to the mark to get her all riled up like that

well i guess you don't know everything about women do you


then every one grimaced and made jokes during the SE

[Jedieb]

Kind of makes you think Lucas hadn't made up his mind about the whole sibling issue doesn't it? I really think he made the decision to make them siblings in the early stages of ROTJ.

[Starquest aka AndyR]

Ahh, its easy to fix in the prequals...
I dont think GL would really do a "birth" scene. It will probably happen off-camera.

Wipe from space into degobah swamp

Yoda: Been taken care of has the child?

Obi-wan: Yes Master.

Yoda: Doubt I sense in you.

Obi-wan: Master, there were two children.

Yoda: Ah. With his uncle the boy is?

Obi-wan: Yes master. And the other is safe within the underground resistance.

Yoda: Good. Sense the dark times ahead I do.

Wipe to credits.

[Jargon Chasseur]

Just reading old posts here, thought I'd chime in.

Maybe Palpatine forbidded Vader from going to Tatooine. That it'd be a sign of weakness to return to his past life. I also see Vader thinking Obi-Wan betrayed him, and that his entire social structure betrayed him, making him never wanting to be Anakin again. Maybe that's what gives Palpatine an "in" to luring him to the darkside.

[JMK]

I think it's going to be a case of Palpatine goading Anakin, telling him that he doesn't need training, and direction (as we see in th trailer) and villifying Obi Wan as well as the entire Jedi Order.