# Star Wars nitpick: How could Darth Vader know . . .
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-nitpick-how-could-darth-vader-know/304826
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 21, 2005, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-nitpick-how-could-darth-vader-know/304826 "2005-05-21T00:47:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-nitpick-how-could-darth-vader-know/304826/21 "2005-05-22T04:27:35Z")
> [@rocking chair](#):
>
> once he finds out that he has a son… then he has a reason to go against the emp.
Although until the very end of _Jedi_, he doesn’t.
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### Author:  [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-nitpick-how-could-darth-vader-know/304826/22 "2005-05-22T04:35:04Z")
I saw RoTS the other day, and because parents apparenly believed that their toddlers would appreciate the movie as much as they would and that the other members of the audience really didn’t mind their crying, squealing and incredibly loud chatter, I missed something which may have been important.
What were Padme’s dying words? Was it instructions on what to do with the twins?
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### Author:  [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-nitpick-how-could-darth-vader-know/304826/23 "2005-05-22T04:43:51Z")
@Lissa Padme names the children
I think some of us may be giving Vader a bit too much credit. There are probably things he realizes the Emperor lied about pretty soon after he donned the Vader mask. And he definitely knew the Emperor had deliberately deceived him in TESB. By that time though (hell, by the end of Ep. III really) Vader had come to the point where he was lustful of power over almost everything else. I’d say once Padme died there was nothing left in his mind but desire for power. Eventually he planned to overthrow the Emperor, the Emperoro probably knew this as well. That _is_ the way of the Sith and I’d say within a few years Vader was so far gone to the dark side the only thing that could ever bring him back was love for his son Luke, but that couldn’t even become an issue for roughly 20 years.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-nitpick-how-could-darth-vader-know/304826/24 "2005-05-22T04:44:42Z")
> [@Lissa](#):
>
> What were Padme’s dying words?
“There is still good in him. I know it.” I think that was exact.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Kenneth\_Noisewater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Kenneth_Noisewater)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-nitpick-how-could-darth-vader-know/304826/25 "2005-05-22T05:20:17Z")
Thanks. It sounded like mursh mursh murble moo to me.
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### Author:  [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-nitpick-how-could-darth-vader-know/304826/26 "2005-05-22T13:39:54Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#):
>
> For all we know, in the SW universe “Skywalker” is as common a name as “Smith.”
I think you meant … " Skywalker is as common a name as **Sith**", didn’t you?
😉
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### Author:  [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-nitpick-how-could-darth-vader-know/304826/27 "2005-05-22T13:46:21Z")
You didn’t actually miss much.
Padme was half-dead by then and it was hard for everyone to make it out. Which was deliberate
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### Author:  [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-nitpick-how-could-darth-vader-know/304826/28 "2005-05-22T14:17:03Z")
Oh, thanks, I saw it last night and didn’t catch it either, despite the lack of toddlers around us. I have a complaint though:
I’m kind of annoyed that she just lost the will to live and died, despite the babies. It’s romantic and all, but as a formerly pregnant person, all my instincts were yelling “you can’t die for no reason, you’ve got babies to take care of!” I always thought that she would go into hiding on Alderaan with Leia (thus producing fuzzy memories) and die after a year or two.
The Force mother/daughter father/son connection makes about as much sense as anything else Lucas invented halfway through, though. I’ll accept it. Anyhow, as for who knew what when,
I figured the Emperor couldn’t fail to know about Padme’s death, what with the big funeral on his home planet and all, but that the births had been kept secret, to be figured out later.
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-nitpick-how-could-darth-vader-know/304826/29 "2005-05-22T16:57:04Z")
> [@smiling bandit](#):
>
> You didn’t actually miss much.
>
> Padme was half-dead by then and it was hard for everyone to make it out. Which was deliberate
Oh. I guess they’ll clear that up in the next movie.
Wait a minute…
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### Author:  [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2005, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-nitpick-how-could-darth-vader-know/304826/30 "2005-05-23T00:03:24Z")
he was trying to get to luke in esb. luke got away from him.
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### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2005, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-nitpick-how-could-darth-vader-know/304826/31 "2005-05-23T02:49:54Z")
> [@Soapbox Monkey](#):
>
> Vader doesn’t sense Leia for the same reason Luke doesn’t have any Force memories of Padme.
I guess “Force memories” is the new term for “continuity errors.” 🙂
Hey, I’ve got one.
How did Darth Vader know that it was Luke Skywalker who’d blown up the Death Star?
At the beginning of “The Empire Strikes Back” Vader is pursuing Skywalker. But how does he even know who Luke is? It’s not like he had LUKE SKYWALKER’S X-WING printed on the side of his ship.
Of course, I am sure the Empire would have many spies and moles in the Alliance who could sniff that info out… but then how could they possibly not have known the Rebels were on Hoth? There’s no way the Rebels could keep hidden as much as they do if the Empire had a decent spy network… but if they don’t, where did Vader learn about Luke?
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### Author:  [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2005, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-nitpick-how-could-darth-vader-know/304826/32 "2005-05-23T03:39:46Z")
> [@RickJay](#):
>
> I guess “Force memories” is the new term for “continuity errors.” 🙂
>
> Hey, I’ve got one.
>
> How did Darth Vader know that it was Luke Skywalker who’d blown up the Death Star?
There was the big ceremony where Luke & co. got the medals.
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