Man, I haven’t written one of these in a long time. But I’ve had lots of time alone to think and write silly stuff so why not share?
I’ve been reading about the original drafts of the Star Wars trilogy. The thought that came to my mind is: What if George didn’t keep changing his mind?
In Star Wars, Obi-Wan talks of Darth Vader and Luke’s father as two separate people. In the original draft of The Empire Strikes Back by Leigh Brackett (still just called “Star Wars Sequel”), Luke sees his father as a Force ghost while on the bog planet (it didn’t have a name yet). When Luke confronts Vader later in the script, Vader is NOT his father.
In interviews, Gary Kurtz has said that in the original plans for the third movie, the Emperor survives and escapes (presumably he wasn’t thrown down a giant pit in this pitch). In the next trilogy, Luke goes in search of “the other,” his sister, who is not Leia. So the Emperor is still alive and Luke needs help from a powerful female Jedi to take him down…this sounds eerily close to Rise of Skywalker.
But Kurtz and Lucas went their separate ways, and Lucas decided that he wanted to leave Star Wars behind for a while and tried to wrap things up as neatly as he could. He’d committed to there being another hope and that she’d be Luke’s sister (even though nothing we see in Empire makes this have to be the case). If Luke was going to have a sister, it would need to be someone we already knew…and that could only be Leia. No matter how weird that turns out to be.
So what if George didn’t change his mind? What if Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker were two separate people and Luke and Leia weren’t siblings? I won’t argue that making Darth Vader be Luke’s father is a great addition to the story but Luke and Leia being brother and sister is just awkward.
Because it’s fun, I’ve come up with my own story. I’m not saying I’m FIXING Star Wars. I’m just playing around with it.
First things first. Darth is not a title in my version. It’s a name, just like Dave or Bob. That means there’s no such thing as Darth Sidious or Darth Tyrannus. I’ve always felt those names were silly. Apparently Maul just added Darth to his real name, so I say he can drop it just as easily and simply be Maul. Oh, and the rule of two? Let’s toss that too. It felt like George just wanted a reason for there not to be a ton of Sith walking around and decided to just make it a rule. Well maybe there aren’t a lot of Sith around because they’re careful not to attract too much attention to themselves until they’re ready to reveal themselves again. That’s simple enough and makes enough sense that you don’t question it. It feels like Lucasfilm tries its best to stretch this “rule” anyway. Dooku has an apprentice, oh but she’s not really a Sith. In The Force Unleashed, Vader gets an apprentice, but hey, he’s not a Sith either, because reasons.
Next, let’s age Anakin a bit so that he and Padme are the same age when we meet him so it makes a little more sense that they could be a couple. While we’re at it, let’s say he’s not an immaculate conception from Tatooine. Being created by the Force does not serve the story in any important way and the galaxy is a big place so why does everything of importance happen on this one backwater planet? Oh, and Anakin didn’t build C-3P0. Too coincidental.
Finally, let’s not have the Jedi be anti-love. The Jedi may not ENCOURAGE it, but they can love and marry just like anybody else. So Anakin and Padme are openly married and nobody has a problem with it. I think the Jedi would be smart enough to have counselors to help them work through their emotions than just decide not to have them. You want to feel sympathy for the Jedi when they fall, not that they had it coming because they’re yutzes.
With these changes in mind, The Phantom Menace can happen pretty much as we see in the movie up until Amidala’s starship breaks through the blockade. They don’t end up on Tatooine, but another planet, let’s call it Otheria because I can’t think of a better name just now. Shmi Skywalker and Cliegg Lars are widows who married and live with their sons, Anakin and Owen who are step-brothers. Anakin is instantly smitten with Padme and offers to help them. Owen, the practical one, doesn’t think they should get involved, but somehow they both do. The rest of The Phantom Menace can play out mostly like in the movie, only Yoda’s last line is “In twos they come. A master and an apprentice.” This turns out to be quite enough excitement for Owen who decides to go back home to be with his girlfriend Beru.
Attack of the Clones. I already said we’ve dropped the secret romance. There have been sparks between Anakin and Padme since they met. When Anakin comes back into her life after years of training, the sparks are still there. The rest of the movie works well enough but instead of hiding on Naboo, Anakin and Padme hide with Anakin’s family on Otheria where he learns something has happened to his mother. While trying to help her, they rescue a young fellow named Darth Vader who’s strong in the Force, but wild and untrained. He’s likable though and Anakin feels Darth can be of help. So Darth goes with them when they they try to save Obi-Wan. After the battle on Geonosis, the Jedi are concerned about Vader and assign Obi-Wan to be his master since he did such a great job with Anakin and they promote Anakin to the title of Jedi Knight. Owen really disapproves of Anakin becoming involved with the Clone Wars. We need more interaction between Owen and Anakin for Obi-Wan’s words in Star Wars about Owen’s opinions to have any weight.
In Clone Wars, Anakin gains his apprentice, Ahsoka and they get into many wild scrapes with Obi-Wan and Darth. Darth and Anakin are thick as thieves. They’re even sometimes confused for one another until Darth is wounded in one adventure and has to start wearing a mask to help him breathe.
Okay, Revenge of the Sith…this is where the rubber meets the road. Palpatine has been subtly trying to seduce Anakin AND Darth to the dark side of the Force. Darth is starting to piece things together and is starting to become dangerous so Palpatine plants the idea in Anakin’s mind that Darth is trying to steal Padme away from him. Anakin and Darth fight and Darth is killed. Anakin’s turn towards the dark side has started.
Palpatine convinces his new disciple that “Anakin” was weak and should be done away with. So Anakin decides to take his fallen friend’s name. In his mind, “Darth Vader” will be Palpatine’s servant and do unspeakable evil in Palpatine’s name. When the time is right, Darth Vader will kill Palpatine and then virtuous Anakin will come back and “save the galaxy from Darth Vader’s evil.” The man that was Anakin Skywalker is no longer recognizable. So far as everybody knows, Darth Vader betrayed Anakin Skywalker by trying to steal Padme away and then murdered Anakin when Anakin came to confront him. Anakin’s proudest moment is that he even manages to convince Obi-Wan of his deception when they confront each other on Mustafar. The Emperor doesn’t conveniently arrive after the battle. Obi-Wan is besting “Vader” but then the clones come out and he’s forced to retreat so they’re right on hand to rescue him after he falls.
Anakin didn’t know that Padme is pregnant with his children. Worried for her safety, Obi-Wan helps Padme escape and they both decide that Anakin’s children must be separated. Obi-Wan brings Luke to be raised by Owen and Beru. He asks Owen to leave his life on Otheria to become a moisture farmer on Tatooine to help keep Luke safe. Owen accepts and decides to do his best to make sure Luke doesn’t follow in his father’s footsteps.
When Obi-Wan tells Luke that Vader betrayed and murdered his father, it’s because that’s the truth he knows. It’s only in the last moment before he’s struck down on the Death Star that Obi-Wan senses the truth. You shouldn’t have to have your characters act oddly to preserve a plot twist. If Obi-Wan knew that Darth Vader was Anakin Skywalker, you’d think he’d call him by his real name when they meet on the Death Star. Or, that he’d put a little stink on the name Darth when he says it. He doesn’t acknowledge it so it makes more sense that he just doesn’t know.
You’d think that Luke would want to learn more about the man who murdered his father, in case they should ever meet. Records can be doctored, but the Clone Wars were big and involved many worlds. Luke might meet somebody who served in the Clone Wars and wouldn’t Luke naturally ask about Darth Vader or Anakin Skywalker? Wouldn’t it be weird that Obi-Wan only ever had one padawan, Anakin Skywalker? Who’s Darth Vader then?
Obi-Wan doesn’t tell Luke as a Force spirit because Luke’s not ready. Just like it’s not time to tell him about his sister yet. When Luke confronts Vader on Cloud City, Vader confesses that he’s Luke’s father but he does not say he’s Anakin Skywalker.
Padme took the other twin with her to go into hiding. We don’t see them in the original trilogy. At the end of Return of the Jedi, Luke realizes he tried to stop the Emperor on his own and failed. He needs help and goes off in search of his mother and sister. And just to get a rise out of the haters, I’m going to say the other twin’s name is Rey. Because why not? Or hey! Who says Vader was redeemed? Maybe he stayed on the Dark Side and Luke got out by the skin of his teeth and realizes that he needs his sister’s help in redeeming him? So off we go to Episode VII, The Lost Skywalker.
So there you have it, my take on the story. I could come up with a whole different Clone Wars that fits more with what we thought when we were younger, but I tried to make minimal changes to the events of the Clone Wars as they’re told in the movies. The story would be much smoother if I didn’t keep the twist of Darth Vader being Luke’s father, but that’s a key Star Wars moment. The idea is just to keep everything coherent without having to rely on “a certain point of view” to make things make sense.
Have a good week all! Stay safe!