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Are there any references from the Original Star Wars movies (before the late 1990s special edition if that matters) that would require Anakin Skywalker to be from Tatooine?

I was surprised that the prequels had him come from Tatooine because if it was Vadar's boy-hood home it seems exceedingly stupid to hide his son there with his blood relatives in close proximity to an old man who shares a last name with Vader's former Jedi Master.

I mean if Vader was able to use the vast resources of the Empire to scatter probe droids over enough systems to get a shot at the Rebel base on Hoth, it seems like he'd be willing to go to the same amount of effort to confirm if his child was born and where he/she might be.

I've seen the arguments trying to explain why Vader would never want to go back to Tatooine, how a planet is still a pretty large place, and how Obi-Wan probably just went by "Old Ben", but when you have an entire galaxy to work with it seems odd to take the risk. So I'm wondering if the real reason we find Anakin on Tatooine is because Lucas had boxed himself in with the original movies.

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    Except that Vader had no reason to believe his unborn children were alive. Although you are specifically asking about the original trilogy canon it can't be ignored at this point that the Emperor told Vader that he had killed his wife. From there Vader likely assumed that he had killed his child(ren). After that his anger and hatred probably left him a bit blind to his personal life.
    – Xantec
    Commented Sep 27, 2011 at 11:54
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    Sometimes the best place to hide something is in plain sight.
    – gnovice
    Commented Sep 27, 2011 at 14:03
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    @Xantec In addition to assuming he had killed his children, Padme's corpse was arranged to appear in the funeral possession as if she was still pregnant, so that furthered the deception.
    – Scott
    Commented Jan 12, 2015 at 19:20
  • Is there any canon evidence that Vader didn't know Luke was alive and living on Tatooine? One might speculate that Vader would have realized Luke would be strong in the force and therefore wanted to train him in the dark side from an early age, but that's not necessarily true. For example, in the movies at least as far as I recall Sith were always trained as adults, not as children, so perhaps that's just Not The Sith Way. Also the reminder of Padme would have been very painful to him.
    – Harry Johnston
    Commented Jan 12, 2015 at 21:35
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    @Xantec We explicitly know he was unaware of Leia until Return of the Jedi; that gives us even more reason to think he was totally unaware of either of them.
    – jpmc26
    Commented Feb 12, 2016 at 7:14

4 Answers 4

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Obi Wan says while explaining to Luke that he had brought his father from [Tatooine]. Now that was the Blu Ray version, but it didn't seem edited in.

Your uncle told you, he didn't hold to your fathers ideals. He thought he should have stayed here and not gotten involved.

This clip is bad, but shows the quote

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    Now of course Obi-Wan could be lying about Anakin being from Tatooine, as he's been know to lie about his history, but that said this is 70s movie canon that suggests Anakin was from "here".
    – Adam Wuerl
    Commented Mar 4, 2012 at 20:43
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One of the things that is alluded to in the books is that several Jedi who escaped the slaughter hid themselves in places where powerful Sith/Dark Jedi had been killed. Yoda, for instance, was hiding on Dagobah because a powerful Sith had been killed there. There was something about the residual power of evil left there that was able to keep the Jedi hidden from the visions of the Emperor and Darth Vader.

The temple on Yavin IV where the Rebels had their base during Episode IV was another such place of evil where a powerful Sith had been killed, which was another reason the Emperor was not able to locate their base.

While there is nothing in canon that I recall, another possibility would be that a powerful Sith had been killed on Tatooine, making it an ideal place for ObiWan to take Luke into hiding.

Another possibility for choosing Tatooine would be that it was not a planet in the Republic or, later, the Empire. It was under the control of the Hutts. That would go a long way towards keeping them hidden from any data source that the Empire might monitor.

And yet another possibility is that Anakin/Darth Vader knew how much ObiWan hated being on Tatooine. He might view it as the last place ObiWan would be likely to go to.

And another theory could be that because of his mother, Tatooine would be a place of bad memories for Anakin. ObiWan might see that as a place where Vader might be reluctant to go to.

And yea, I'm just throwing theories out there. No canon to back up any of them really.

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    I realize this answer doesn't have any solid evidence, but as a reader or viewer, I find this type of logic more compelling than familial ties, given that it's not clear that Lars is actually Luke's uncle. Votes for everyone, but there can be only one [accepted answer].
    – Adam Wuerl
    Commented Sep 28, 2011 at 0:27
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    Also, in the prequels, we see a sith get killed there... Darth Maul. And a Jedi... Qui Gon.
    – aramis
    Commented Sep 30, 2011 at 16:38
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    No, they both die on Naboo, not Tatooine.
    – BBlake
    Commented Sep 30, 2011 at 18:40
  • The hiding part is related to scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/2351/…
    – DavRob60
    Commented Oct 3, 2011 at 16:57
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    Before the Great Decanonization, it was indeed C-canon that Obi-Wan thought Vader would avoid Tatooine. He was told as much by the ghost of Qui-Gon. Also, we know how Owen Lars is "related" to Luke: he is the son of the man who married Luke's grandmother.
    – Ras Morthil
    Commented Sep 12, 2015 at 17:33
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From the original movie, we know Luke was living with his relatives. They also don't seem to have much in the way of cash. It therefore seems likely that they hadn't moved around in some time. It does seem reasonable that Anakin would be from Tatooine, given all of this information.

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    I was coming to write a similar thing, but note that this requires us to believe that the people Luke called "Aunt" and "Uncle" were in fact his relatives. 'Course they spoke of knowing Luke's father which is a plus, and we have no contradictory evidence, so I'm willing to accept it as the least assumption.
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten
    Commented Sep 27, 2011 at 16:26
  • We know from Attack of the Clones that "Uncle Owen" was the son of Cliegg Lars who married Shmi Skywalker. There is no guesswork involved.
    – Ras Morthil
    Commented Sep 12, 2015 at 17:37
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I think you might be missing something with this question: In the original canon--or in the "supplemented" canon, we have no reason for Vader to even know he has a surviving child. Not at first anyway. Remember that in the original first movie, Leia and Vader cross paths within two or three scenes of the beginning. We see them portrayed as Leia Organa and Lord Vader. One, the daughter of a senator, the other, the senator's nemesis, or near enough to it. Ultimately, Leia will be revealed as Luke's sister in the "third" movie, but right now, they give no hint of any relation, even though they obviously know each other. In that case, Vader knows her to be the daughter of Senator Organa, not his own blood. If she ultimately will be known to be likely to be strong in the Force, we see no indication of that idea yet. So..while Vader may suspect something is strange, he may not suspect enough to pursue the matter further as her likely father. As well, when we see Vader recognize a presence he hasn't felt in some time, he seems to do so regarding Obi-Wan Kenobi, not Luke. In fact, in the first movie, Luke and Vader only barely interact; I think the only time they come close together at all is..when they're flying immediately above the Death Star. We DO see them both on the Death Star prior to the escape to the rebel camp, but most of that time, Vader pursues Obi-Wan's presence, so he may not have differentiated Luke being different...yet.

We finally see Luke and Vader duel in the second movie; that's when we learn that Vader is likely Luke's father. Even so, we hadn't learned about Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader being the same person by then; Obi-Wan's statements don't lie about the relationship, but neither do they reveal any more than Obi-Wan can stand. ..You'll recall Luke being immensely displeased with Obi-Wan in the "third" movie when Luke and Obi-Wan meet after Yoda's death. Even mixing the two canons together doesn't precisely present a conflict. Vader knew that Padme was pregnant with his child; he also knows she died because the Emporer told him so and because he can't feel her presence. He does not know though, that she gave birth before she died. That Padme had twins seems to be a surprise to Obi-Wan and Yoda; but by this time, they're already far away from Vader, so he can't sense the presence of two infants who're strong in the Force.

In all, this basically proves that Anakin Skywalker probably didn't think to look on Tatooine for his son because..he doesn't know that he should. He thinks Padme and any child she might've borne are already dead.

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