There’s a possible plot hole with hiding Luke in Tattooine. Why hide Luke in Vader’s former home planet in the home of his step brother where his mother used to live. Isn’t it a bit like someone in witness protection program hiding in his cousin’s house?

I guess Jabba must have been a pretty powerful “human being”. The trade federation never had access Tattooine (which is why they chose to temporarily hide there in ep I), the old republic had no influence there (which is why you could have slaves there), AND it must have been relatively free from the Empire’s grip. Cause for Obi Wan and Yoda to put Luke with Anakin’s quasi family in his former home planet, they must have relied on the control of Jabba. Better to be in a planet under Jabba’s wing than one where the Empire would have 110% access to, since Jabba would never be looking for Luke.

Ok. But why did you call Jabba a "human being"?

it was a joke ... remember Han's line to Jabba in Star Wars SE

Don't you know the Hutts are gangsters. Duh.

I think the answer is pretty obvious here. Darth Vader did not know his kid(s) survived. He thinks they are dead. He only becomes aware of Luke because 1) he sees how strong the force is in him during ANH and 2)Palpy tells him that Luke is his son in ESB.

Why would he look for his son on Tatooine if he didn't even know of his existance. Not to mention that Owen isn't even a true Skywalker and is just a lowly farmer.

Vader realizes that Luke is his son before ESB, that's why he's pursuing Luke with everything he got. There's a discussion on how Vader got the information on Luke's identity somewhere on this forum. But besides that, I think the explanation is quite accurate.

Tatooine is on the far reaches of the galaxy, and ignored by the Republic/Empire. In addition, I would think that it would be the LAST place that Vader would ever want to go... bad memories, and not exactly a tourist attraction.

Coupled with the fact that Vader has no clue that he has a son, I think hiding Luke there seems to make a good amount of sense.

It has bad memories for him. It's where he was born anakin, it was where he was a slave and it's where his mother was killed. I'm sure visiting tatooine would be a terrible reminder of who he used to be. That's why he would never go there and considering the empire has very little reach there (just enough to drop a hand full of storm troopers) they have no real business there. So Jabba bask in that freedom to run his business.

but if the dark side of the force comes through fear and agression, wouldn't it be the perfect place for Vader to frequently visit?

There's just some topics that he doesn't touch.

I think Vader would fear that place and aggressively avoid it. Remember, Anakin didn't turn just because he's an a-hole, he just wanted power. Palpatine is a truly evil person, Anakin sorta got suckered into the whole thing, but didn't back out when he realized how deep he was.

Remember, in the OT, it's the only planet he goes down to personally. Hoth, Bespin and Endor he all goes down to.

Exactly. Hide him in the LAST place he would ever look.

Tattooine is free from all those organizations due to it's location. it's out on the edge of the galaxy, while coruscant is close to the center so the two gov'ts just never extended resources out that far to exert control. plus it's a desert with not much in the way of resources
the hutts moved in due to it's location. being far from the center of gov't allowed for criminal activity to go on unmolested by police/military forces
the deleted luke/biggs scenes go into this a bit more too and mention that eventually the empire will extend its regulation to tatooine and owen will become just a slave to their (empire's) taxation
biggs also mentions not waiting to be drafted into service, which helps support the idea that not all stormtroopers are clones
cutscene video is here
http://www.starwarscutscenes.com/episode4/Biggs.html

Organizations? Jabba? Gangsters? You guys are making this 100x more complicated than it is.


Exactly!! You can't be looking for someone who you don't know exists. The only ones who know about Luke's identity are Yoda, Kenobi, Organa, R2-D2, and the Lars family. All can keep a secret.


And just to be clear, even if he knew his offspring survived, he still would only have been looking for 1.

The fact that Padme carried twins was not known until the medical droid announced it during Padme's labor.

Anakin has NO CLUE there were 2 until ROTJ.

but, do the good guys know that vader and palpatine think the kid wasn't born?

The answer is yes but it doesn't matter either way. There is no big manhunt to find Luke in ANH. Therefore, Vader did not know of his existance.

Obviously they do. They kept it a secret so they know the Emperor and Vader don't know. And in ROTJ when Vader finds out about Leia he says "Obi Wan did a good job hiding her from me all these years" (or something to that effect).

Yes. Padme was specifically left "pregnant looking" when buried.

I agree. The stories of the PT and OT mirror each other in that the Jedi take a page right from the Sith, as far as the rule of two goes.

PT: Last 2 Sith hidden
OT: Last 2 Jedi hidden

Sometimes the best place to hide something is in the most obvious place. Vader will probably not think to go back to Tatooine and who would guess Bail has Leia on Alderaan?

Holy crap... I can't believe that I didn't notice that symmetry. Cool!


Plus, one of the Sith (Palpatine) was hidden in "plain sight" -- the Senate.
And one of Anakin's kids (Leia) was hidden in "plain sight" -- the Senate.

Most excellent.

Isn't "last 2" a little superfluous when talking about the Sith? weren't there always just two? A master and an apprentice?

For the past 1000 years, yes... but before that there were bunches of Sith.

But were there really just 2 sith? Where does Maul fit in? Dooku seems like he has been around a while, not just popped up after TPM.

Perhaps Dooku wasn’t an apprentice before Maul?

Also, Obi Wan and Yoda weren’t necessarily the last 2 Jedi. Maybe the last 2 well known Jedi. But there were more through out the galaxy.

Dooku was a Jedi when Darth Maul was around. He was just disgruntled with the council and left the order.

The EU stuff (mentioned in other threads here) says he went off with the intention of destroying Sidious, but ended up turning to the dark side and becoming his new apprentice.