I’ll admit I’m not the most dedicated Star Wars fan. In fact, the last time I saw Star Wars was in 1977. But as I recall, Leia sent R2D2 to Tatooine with the message “Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope” - said message being intercepted by Luke Skywalker and off we went.
So back when the whole thing started, Leia already knew Obi Wan Kenobi 1) had been a major figure in the resistance against the Empire; and 2) was living on Tattoine. She may also have known that R2D2 had known Kenobi in the past, but that could have just been one of the mind-boggling coincidences that litter the series.
But if Leia knew enough to ask Obi Wan Kenobi for help and where to send the message, she must have been told something of his history. Didn’t it ever get mentioned that the biggest event in his life had been teaching a young Jedi named Anakin Skywalker, who was now Darth Vader the strongest opponent of the resistance. And when Leia met Luke Skywalker a few weeks later, didn’t she ever think “Hmmm, Skywalker, that’s an unusual name. Where have I heard it before?”
Did Leia know she had a twin brother? Did she know they had been seperated and he had been sent to Tattoine with Kenobi?
I won’t even get in to the whole thing about Leia “remembering” her mother.
Remember, Leia’s adoptive dad was Bail Organa (he’s played by Jimmy Smits in the prequels), who worked with and saved Obi Wan during the last battle, and who was there to immediately claim baby Leia. He’s also a big figure for the rebellion. I doubt, however, that he said much more than that to Leia. “Oh yeah, if you ever get into trouble, look for Obi Wan Kenobi. I’ve fought and worked with him before; he’s a good man” - that sort of thing.
Obi Wan doesn’t know if he wants to let Luke in on the whole deal here so he plays dumb.
When C-3PO is getting the oil bath he tells Luke they were on a starship. Luke gets excited and starts asking questions. R2 says something, and 3P0 clams up before saying anything about being attacked by Storm Troopers.
Maybe Obi Wan was playing cool and keeping his recognition of R2 under his hat?
Also, wasn’t R2D2 realy just a model of droid (cf. R5D4), so that just seeing an R2 unit didn’t necessarily mean you were seeing the same R2 unit from back in the day?
So, if Princess Leia got the whole saga from R2D2, you’d think she’d have put the “Whoa, guy, we’re related!” thing to Luke when he started getting all misty-eyed around her.
Only seventeen or eighteen years had passed. I still remember the names and accessories of my GI Joes from thirty-five years ago. Shirley, Obi Wan have at least remembered owning an R2 unit, even if the probability against it being the same one were astronomical.
Maybe R2D2 was owned by the Jedi. Maybe he was being coy. Maybe Lucas just wanted to include some familar faces in the prequels.
No matter what, it seems like Kenobi could have pulled Luke aside and said, “Luke, I can’t tell you why. But you absolutely DO NOT want to tap that ass!”
He didn’t own R2. R2 was Padme’s, although Anakin also used him. And in any event, any droid he used would probably be the property of the Republic or the Jedi Order, he wouldn’t own him any more than a soldier owns his tank.
So what he said was true, from a certain point of view.
Hard to tell. He could have been part of her personal holdings. Bail Organa (who himself must have been some kind of nobility, given that his adopted daughter is a princess) certainly didn’t make an effort to return him to Naboo. I’m not going to try to figure out a government that elects a teenage queen to a limited term, anyway.
The knowledge that Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader was not common knowledge - probably the last few Jedi had figured it out, but most people who even knew that Anakin had betrayed the Jedi thought he’d died in the lava. Darth Vader was pretty much a guy with a mysterious past that suddenly showed up as the Emperor’s right hand man - and nobody was going to ask Palpatine where this guy came from.
If Leia had heard of him, the conversation probably wouldn’t have gone further than:
Leia: Are you related to Anakin Skywalker? He fought with my father in the Clone Wars.
Luke: Yes, he was my father but died before I was born. I never met the guy.
Leia: OK.
Both of 'em knew they were adopted, but neither was alerted to the existence of a twin sibling. Why they never noticed that they shared the same birthday during the few years between New Hope and Return of the Jedi is probably a better question.
Do they even observe birthdays in “a galaxy far, far away?” I’m pretty sure Obi-wan wouldn’t have made a big deal about when Luke was born when he took the baby to Uncle Lars. If anything, they probably observed the anniversary of his birth on the day he arrived at their hole in the ground.
Otherwise, I think Snickers has the right idea. And UncleRojelio.
