# Why did Obi-Wan call Vader "Darth" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 23, 2009, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-obi-wan-call-vader-darth/500698 "2009-06-23T09:20:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-obi-wan-call-vader-darth/500698/21 "2009-06-23T15:49:49Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Because they were passing him off as the son of the other skywalkers… I sense snark here, but it could make sense. Maybe _Skywalker_ is as common on Tattooine as _Lee_ is on Earth. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-obi-wan-call-vader-darth/500698/22 "2009-06-23T16:17:36Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > ..because that’s the social norm, you don’t call the king of Spain “King” you call him “Your majesty”. There’s a difference between the title and the style. In the military people call generals “General” and majors “Major” and captains “Captain.” I know nothing of these earlier prequels of which everyone speaks\*, but is “Darth” that far off from a military rank sorta thing? In an earlier thread where this was brought up, someone mentioned that it was Obi-Wan being dismissive and cutting, and I made the comparison of this to _Law and Order_ former DA Ben Stone’s predilection for calling defendents a withering “sir,” as in, “Yes, sir, and then you chopped her head off.” - No I’m not being snarky as to the quality – I’ve only seen a little of “Phantom Menace” so I’m not really up 'em. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-obi-wan-call-vader-darth/500698/23 "2009-06-23T16:21:28Z")
In the course of the movie, he’s addressed as “Darth Vader”, “Vader”, “Lord Vader”, & “Darth” - obviously Lucas just didn’t think his name would turn out to be a big deal. ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-obi-wan-call-vader-darth/500698/24 "2009-06-23T17:09:35Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > You know, those _other_, no-relation Skywalkers who just happened to leave their boy with Anakin’s half-brother. In the place where Anakin’s mother is buried. On the planet where Anakin was born. I haven’t seen the original trilogy in a while – is the idea of Tattooine being Anakin’s home a prequels-only thing? Because the whole thing is easily explained by the idea that Tattooine is utterly remote. “If there’s a bright center of the universe, this is the planet it’s furthest from.” ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-obi-wan-call-vader-darth/500698/25 "2009-06-23T17:16:26Z")
Vader was unlikely to return to Tatoonie, so it was a pretty good hiding place. ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-obi-wan-call-vader-darth/500698/26 "2009-06-23T17:25:23Z")
I guess you could argue that they never clearly state in the original trilogy whether Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru are maternal or paternal side of the family. If you look at just 4-6, it’s conceivable they are _not_ Own and Beru Skywalker. Further, if you wanted to get really anal, the dialog between the parents “He’s just got too much of his father in him” sounds like they ARE a degree removed from Anakin. Because if it’s a relative, you might say something like “he’s got too much of my/your brother in him.” Course, the prequels blow all that to crap too 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-obi-wan-call-vader-darth/500698/27 "2009-06-23T17:56:06Z")
It sounded a lot classier than, “Only a master of evil, _asshole_!” ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-obi-wan-call-vader-darth/500698/28 "2009-06-23T18:15:09Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > This is one of the lamest Star Wars nitpicks, and that’s saying a lot. Barack Obama’s name is not “president”, but no alarms would go off if you said, “Hello, president.” Well, you would refer to him as President Obama, but only a hick would say “Hello, president” instead of “Hello, **Mr.** President.” ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-obi-wan-call-vader-darth/500698/29 "2009-06-23T18:17:52Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > You know, those _other_, no-relation Skywalkers who just happened to leave their boy with Anakin’s half-brother. In the place where Anakin’s mother is buried. On the planet where Anakin was born. On the planet where his mother was raped and murdered… That he never visited even when she was alive because he hated it so much… Yeah, it makes no sense at all. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-obi-wan-call-vader-darth/500698/30 "2009-06-23T21:25:18Z")
> [@johnspartan](#): > > I guess you could argue that they never clearly state in the original trilogy whether Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru are maternal or paternal side of the family. If you look at just 4-6, it’s conceivable they are _not_ Own and Beru Skywalker. The novelization of Jedi even claimed that Owen Lars was actually Ben Kenobi’s brother, no relation to Vader/Skywalker at all. > [@](#): > > Ben: When your father left, he didn’t know your mother was pregnant. Your mother and I knew he would find out eventually, but we wanted to keep you both as safe as possible. So I took you to live with my brother, Owen, on Tatooine … and your mother took Leia to live as the daughter of Senator Organa on Alderaan. Obviously, a **lot** of that is decanonized by the prequels, but until then, that was all anyone had to go on. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-obi-wan-call-vader-darth/500698/31 "2009-06-23T21:28:33Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > On the planet where his mother was raped and murdered… That he never visited even when she was alive because he hated it so much… > > Yeah, it makes no sense at all. I doubt she was raped. This is Lucas, after all. But yeah, the way you put it, it actually makes sense. Tattooine is probably the last place in creation Vader would ever go. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-obi-wan-call-vader-darth/500698/32 "2009-06-23T21:34:50Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Well, you would refer to him as President Obama, but only a hick would say “Hello, president” instead of “Hello, **Mr.** President.” There are plenty of titles without a prefix like “Mr.,” though: governor, senator, congressman, prime minister, chancellor, etc. I have no problem believing that Kenobi was referring to his former pupil by his hateful but voluntarily-assumed title as a Sith Lord, and thereby reminding him that he’d fallen away from the One True Path of the Jedi. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-obi-wan-call-vader-darth/500698/33 "2009-06-23T22:23:42Z")
You’d think that if he really wanted to piss Vader off, Obi wan would have called him “Annie.” Calling the biggest badass in the galaxy by a girly nickname wouldn’t do much for Vader’s ego. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-obi-wan-call-vader-darth/500698/34 "2009-06-23T22:27:35Z")
> [@Johnny\_Q](#): > > You’d think that if he really wanted to piss Vader off, Obi wan would have called him “Annie.” See, but in the SW universe, Annie is as common a boy’s name as “John” is in ours… ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-obi-wan-call-vader-darth/500698/35 "2009-06-23T22:35:55Z")
This point is one of the items I point to in explaining why the prequels were so bad. All they had to do was put in a line where Kenobi clearly mocked Anakin’s new Sith name to set up the “Darth” use in episode IV, but it clearly never even occurred to them. Example of how hard it would have been: > [@](#): > > **Kenobi** Oh, so you’re a Sith Lord now? So you spend all your time killing Jedi Knights and making everyone call you “Darth”? ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-obi-wan-call-vader-darth/500698/36 "2009-06-23T22:42:13Z")
> [@Johnny\_Q](#): > > You’d think that if he really wanted to piss Vader off, Obi wan would have called him “Annie.” > > Calling the biggest badass in the galaxy by a girly nickname wouldn’t do much for Vader’s ego. How about “Breathy”? ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-obi-wan-call-vader-darth/500698/37 "2009-06-23T23:36:54Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > I don’t think it’s _that_ lame. I’m as big a Star Wars geek as any, and this line sticks out like a sore thumb to me. It can be wanked away, sure, but it’s the only time Darth Vader is ever referred to as Darth, not Vader or Darth Vader. Well, I think it WAS a title back then. I remember reading WAY back that Vader was a “Dark Lord of the Sith”. Seeing as how “Darth” is obviously a contraction of “DARk lord of the siTH”, it is possible that Lucas had that in mind way back before he became Darth Flannel. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-obi-wan-call-vader-darth/500698/38 "2009-06-23T23:40:56Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > On the planet where his mother was raped and murdered… That he never visited even when she was alive because he hated it so much… > > Yeah, it makes no sense at all. …in a galaxy with thousands or millions of inhabited planets. Darth Vader was no longer Anakin Skywalker - this is a huge part of everything through four of the six movies. Why is Darth Vader going to swing by Owen’s farmstead? To discuss the moisture crop? He’s the number two ruler of the First Galactic Empire and has no reason to think he has any relatives (Mom, wife, and unborn children are dead, remember?) so why bother? Besides, even if Anakin Skywalker had some relatives, who cares? Darth Vader didn’t. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-obi-wan-call-vader-darth/500698/39 "2009-06-24T00:59:14Z")
Think of it as being like the Emperor saying to Luke, “So be it, _Jedi_.” As for Shmi being raped, it is sort of implied that that’s what happened to her. Oh, and Owen is Anakin’s step-brother, remember? Owen’s father Clieg, married Shmi Skywalker. And a lot of Tatooine natives had names like Skywalker, Darklighter, Fardreamer, Whitesun, Blyskipper, Goldenfield, Sandskimmer, Starkiller (which was supposed to be Luke’s last name, originally), Windtide, etc. So it’s not like “Skywalker” would have been such an unusual name, or have stood out on Tatooine. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-obi-wan-call-vader-darth/500698/40 "2009-06-24T01:34:40Z")
> [@Johnny\_Q](#): > > You’d think that if he really wanted to piss Vader off, Obi wan would have called him “Annie.” > > Calling the biggest badass in the galaxy by a girly nickname wouldn’t do much for Vader’s ego. Calling him what his beloved and very dead wife called him would be rather stupid, only piss him off. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-obi-wan-call-vader-darth/500698.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-obi-wan-call-vader-darth/500698.md?page=3)