When does Vader find out his children are alive?

Mayo Exile · 06-07-2007 01:29PM #1

I am just wondering when does Darth Vader know his children have survived? At the end of episode 3 Amidala is buried on Naboo still seemingly pregnant. In ep. 4 Vader chases Luke down the Death Star trench sensing that "the force is strong with this one" but not knowing he's his son.

Then in ep. 5 Vader is hunting Luke knowing he is his son. So when does he get to know this? Has this story been told yet in any novel or graphic novel? Or has it yet to be told?

The Bollox · 07-07-2007 03:30PM

I assumed that it was the force that eventually let Vader know the truth. I'd say it only came to him as they were fighting

Pigman II · 09-07-2007 08:23PM

Well the answer is fairly simple as to Leia. It's pretty clear Vader didn't even know of her existence right up until the end of ROTJ. Remember this line?

"Sister! So...you have a twin sister. Your feelings have now betrayed her, too. Obi-Wan was wise to hide her from me. Now his failure is complete. If you will not turn to the dark side, then perhaps she will."

So I think that pretty much locks that one down.

==

As to Luke it's not so clear. The opening crawl to ESB states:

"Evading the dreaded Imperial Starfleet, a group of freedom fighters
led by Luke Skywalker has established a new secret base on the remote
ice world of Hoth.
The evil lord Darth Vader, obsessed with finding young Skywalker,
has dispatched thousands of remote probes into the far reaches of
space...

Now that makes it clear that Vader is chasing *someone* but as to who exactly or why exactly he is chasing that remains unclear. Does Vader know the name of the person he is chasing is named Luke Skywalker for instance?

Later during Vaders communication with the Emperor (2004 DVD version) the Emperor says:

"We have a new enemy, the young Rebel who destroyed the Death Star. I have no doubt this boy is the offspring of Anakin Skywalker."

That would seem to be the concrete point on where Vader learnt of his son. However my own take on this scene has always been that Vader already knew what the Emperor was telling him and was just playing dumb. Vader and Palp are basically playing a sith game of Cat and Mouse with each other as they both secretly scheme how to bump the other off thru the use of Luke.

So I guess to answer your question. In my opinionVader found out about Luke sometime between the end of Ep4 and start of Ep5. However if you are to lock it religiously to what we see then we must presume he finds out about Luke during that Hologram scene with the Emperor.

He did however definetly found out about Leia near end of Ep6.

meanmachine3 · 13-07-2007 06:38PM

firstly i agree with pigman. i believe it was when vader was summoned to make contact with the emperor outside the asteroid belt. the emperor uses the phrase "the son of skywalker"
my quickie is did james earl jones voice vader at the end of episode 111 when anakin finds out padame is dead?

The Bollox · 14-07-2007 07:32PM

episode 111? **** me! Lucas has been busy, I was only half expecting another 3, but another 105?

Mayo Exile · 19-07-2007 08:40AM

Thanks for all the info! It would be nice if somebody did a novel or graphic novel on this as its pretty critical to the entire Star Wars storyline.

Ibjiba · 19-07-2007 08:46AM

Good to have this sorted out. I never thought of it, but now in retrospect it is an important piece of the puzzle.

User45701 · 19-07-2007 01:30PM

what i dont get is why thr storyline of episode III was changed so much because i rmemeber when i was very young, ive never been a huge SW fan always liked Star trek more but i have seen the star wars movies, anyway i dont get why Lucas chancged the orginal intended story line from what it was to what he made episode III into.

Without too much detail the orginal would have dealt allot more with cat and mouse/ cloak and dagger none of the main charactors had a clue what was going on type of thing i canbearly remember as it was a VERY long time ago before episode 1 came oout that i read the story.

savemejebus · 27-07-2007 11:41AM

There was a comic/graphic novel storyline on this.

It involved vader torturing a rebellion pilot soon after the destruction of the death star and getting the 'shocking information'.

When does Vader find out his children are alive?

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