SPOILER ALERT:
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Luke’s father.
It seems that everyone has a story about how they discovered the terrible truth: Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father. I
I’ve heard stories varying from the range of figuring it out from Robot Chicken, to discovering it in the film itself at young age. Regardless, if you’re a star Wars fan, this is likely the single most shocking revelation the entire Saga.
The following is the tale of how I personally made this terrible discovery.
Growing up, when my family would have to leave back here in the United States, (I grew up overseas) I had the opportunity to spend quite a bit of time at my Aunt and Uncle’s house. My older siblings would often participate in grand and epic water balloon fights that I remember all too well mainly because I was too young to participate in them. I had two cousins in this family, and they were both very much into Star Wars. In fact, a lot of my earliest memories of Star Wars exposure was through these two cousins. I remember playing Star Wars Episode I Racer on their N64, among many other things. Anyway, one day while visiting my Aunt and Uncle’s house, I was given free reign in my cousins room. (Probably a bad idea) He had quite a few amazing collectibles & toys that I occupied myself with. However what caught my fancy was a stack of Star Wars trading cards. I still remember vividly, rifling through them being fascinated by the pictures of different characters, and reading brief summary that described the various aspects of the saga. And, as I’m sure you can guess by now, I came across a card describing Darth Vader and Luke from The Empire Strikes Back.
What’s funny is the fact that I hardly knew anything about the Star Wars films at this time. I just kind of knew what the movies were. I think I may have known some of the main characters and perhaps a very skeletal understanding of the plot, but that was it.
There it was, Luke Skywalker was the son of Darth Vader. Even having not seen the film, I still remember this coming to me as a complete shock. I think I may have been about 10 or 11 years old at this time, and the idea of the ultimate villain being the father of the hero was very striking to me at the time. So yes, when I saw the film a few years later for the first time, I was not surprised at the reveal. However, the resonance of the moment was still intact, and still as compelling to me.
Host of the Star Wars Report podcast, Tech enthusiast, AFROTC. Opinions are my own and do not represent those of… well… other people.
