Question: When the Emperor says that Luke is the offspring of Anakin Skywalker, is Darth Vader genuinely surprised, or is he pretending? If he is surprised, why was he already focused on finding Luke before the Emperor told him this? He was talking about Luke in particular before the Rebel base was found on Hoth.
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
1 answered question since 25 Mar '25, 05:01
Directed by: Irvin Kershner
Starring: Harrison Ford, Frank Oz, James Earl Jones, Mark Hamill, Alec Guinness, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Billy Dee Williams, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, David Prowse
Genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-fi, Star Wars, Thriller
Visible crew/equipment: When C-3PO is on the conveyor belt, if you look in the reflection in his head you can see the camera crew. (01:26:40)
Trivia: The Special Edition covers of Return of the Jedi and Empire Strikes Back are wrong. The picture of the Emperor on ESB cover is from 'ROTJ', and the lightsaber duel between Luke and Vader on the cover of ROTJ is taken from 'ESB' (notice Luke is in his fighter pilot suit, and Vader is fighting him one-handed)
Question: Is there any reason why Luke believes what Darth Vader says when he tells him that he is his father?
Answer: The vision Luke sees in the cave on Dagobah is a clue to this. Luke is realizing he has a lot more in common with Darth Vader than the idealized father he'd always imagined. When Vader tells him he's his father, Luke doesn't want to believe it, but he simply can't deny that it feels much more true that his father would be someone passionate and reckless like himself rather than someone who exemplifies a noble Jedi, which feels like an obvious myth in hindsight.
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Answer: Vader did sense the Force within Luke, but didn't know he was his son. The Emperor stating specifically that he is Anakin's offspring, and not Vader's (who are the same person after all), shows the Emperor tries his best not to link Vader to his own past. Vader himself clearly tries to do the same after finding out, but fails at the end.
lionhead