I hate to defend bad writing, and I hate even more when fiction feels the need to retroactively try to explain things that don't need it, but here goes anyway.

In the novel Kenobi the Tatooine locals find out his last name and immediately start wondering if he's related to any of the other Kenobis they know in the area. So they do at least give a few paragraphs to pointing out that it's a somewhat common last name.

Then there's "Skywalker," where fans say oh it's a common last name that's why no one batted an eye at it. But I just assume that Luke went by Luke Lars up until the events of ANH.

There's probably something in canon that contradicts that, and the Kenobi novel is no longer canon either, but you know what? It's all made up and I don't care, I just picture it like I want to.

The post assumes that he is even registered. Kenobi is hiding on a backwater desert planet ruled by a crime syndicate. Unless there is some detail in the movies I forgot, I think it is reasonable to assume that he might not even appear in any imperial registry.

You had me at "Sand..." :-P

Nothing in the prequels contradicts the possibility that Anakin Skywalker is kind of a doofus.

We ain't found shit!

One on one Anakin is a goat. In a solo space craft, he is also a great.

But he never got to Jedi Master for lots of reasons and I suspect that part of it is his problem with large complex situations. He can't even keep the Han from getting his peeps and two idiot droids from escaping in front of him while surrounded by his troops

I love the radio dramas. I also love that George Lucas loved NPR so much that he worked with the NPR station near Skywalker Ranch to make it happen.

Are you talking about in A New Hope? They intentionally let them escape so that they could track them back to the rebel base.

Oh yeah... LoL it's been a while since I watched* it

In the novel Kenobi the Tatooine locals find out his last name and immediately start wondering if he's related to any of the other Kenobis they know in the area.

Kenobi is from a grassworld so I don't buy the "common name" thing. Doesn't make sense. In my head cannon he jedi mind tricked people around him into thinking they knew someone with the same last name. If Vader got too close he'd get sent on a bunch of wild goose chases. Also if there were actual Kenobi's Obiwan would be putting them in danger and probably assume a false identity instead.

But I just assume that Luke went by Luke Lars up until the events of ANH.

Unfortunately he must have gone by Skywalker because after ANH Vader sent Boba to hunt the unknown pilot. Which led Boba to Tatooine, where he interrogated people who knew luke, fought him in Obiwans house, and revealed to Vader he had a son via the name Skywalker; which is probably the only reason Vader gave him future chances.

Easily the biggest plot hole in the entire star wars universe.

poor Tim Russ

Between ANH and ESB Vader sent Boba to hunt down the pilot that destroyed the death star. This led Boba to Tatooine, where he investigated/interrogated people who knew Luke and eventually found/fought him at Obiwans house.

Boba returned to Vader with only 1 thing. The name Skywalker. This is what revealed to Vader he had a son, and after dueling Luke, a daughter as well.

...

As far as Kenobis name... My head cannon is that he mind tricked people into thinking they knew someone to send vader on a wild goose chase. Obiwan would use a false name instead of putting innocent people with the same last name in danger.

I love that George Lucas was in it for the love of the game. He's a true artist.

edit: fuck me he's pro AI in movies.

People love to shit on his creative decisions in the prequels... but at least he wasn't making them for the vapid commercially driven motivations infecting everything now a days.

Dude was passionate about making cool movies in new ways; and he succeeded.

I don't think it makes any sense to debate what makes sense in a fictional universe.

Unfortunately he must have gone by Skywalker because

I mean, you could just...ignore all that. I never read that particular part of the EU so I just don't consider it.

Love of the game and the toy rights.

Maybe I am stupid, but I don't understand what this has to do with Kenobi's name or him being registered. He is already dead at that point and had revealed himself to Vader beforehand.

TBF they made some really cool toys. Like the "extending nested plastic sword" for lightsabers. All the lego sets. The video games. I played the crap out of OT side scrollers. The Star Wars trading cards predate Pokémon.

The movies are one thing, but in the Clone Wars TV series Anakin was a reasonably competent general.

Bruh the moves are barely canon any more. A good explanation is a good explanation.

Darth Vader never once in all those years went to have Thanksgiving Dinner with his half brother.

Think of what good for the Empire would have occured.

Anakin's lowest point was when he was written by George Lucas, unfortunately. Other writers made him shine.

I mean the empire hunted down every Jedi, you'd think they could hunt down every Skywalker and every Kenobi as well

That's why I choose to believe Luke went by Lars, and just sort of ignore the fact that they knew Ben's last name.

So, the storyline on "every last Jedi" gets soft around the edges with all the EU material. Because everyone wants to write a book or do a game or whatever about "the OTHER other last Jedi". And then you've got to explain Joruus C’baoth. And nobody wanted to see Ahsoka Tano die. And they resurrect Darth Maul at some point. And and and...

This means you get a bunch of hand-waving explanations for why this or that professionally trained force user doesn't fall under Yoda's strict categorization of "Jedi", at the moment he says the thing to Luke Skywalker in the Third Movie. And, along the way, it carves out a bunch of caveats and exceptions for why Darth Vader didn't quite get them all.

Frankly, I think it's enough to say the galaxy is big and Tatooine is very remote and the Empire doesn't have a ton to fear from a Jedi survivor who kept his head down for twenty years.

Luke went by Luke Lars up until the events of ANH.

Wormie Lars.

I like that the existence of a space registry implies the existence of a space DMV

This makes me think about property records in Somalia over the past 30 years or so.

I just assume Darth Vader is generally disconnected from his past life as Anikin Skywalker, and specifically has some serious emotional blockage around Tatooine and avoids thinking of place because of some bad things that happened there in the past.

He wasn't his half brother, he would've been a step brother, wouldn't he?

Also the Lars family always over-cooks the turkey and Owen is always saying some racist bullshit about sand people at the dinner table every fucking year.

How did that plan work out?

Hes just an old wizard, so hes cool

I thought Shimi was mother to Darth and Owen but I may be wrong. I suppose probably not since it was only like 5 years or something when he went back.

"Oh so these rags you wear are some kind of disguise?"

"Oh no, these are the typical robes of a Jedi. All Jedi dress like this."

No spoilers!

It leaves a bitter taste that the blockbuster Fantasy need to have writing that falls apart the moment you look slightly deeper into it (Star Wars and Harry Potter come to mind).

Only in the US (that I know of) is the DMV coupled with ID cards.

Kenobi could just be a common name, like looking for a John Smith. Also, with multiple planets full of people, there could be thousands of 'Kenobi,' even if the name is not common.

You bring up one of my annoyances with Lucas. It's clear, when re-watching Jedi that Luke's black attire is intended to be the dress of a Jedi, indicating that he's finally made it as a full-fledged Jedi knight. And if you look at both Kenobi and Yoda, they are wearing some kind of brown colored shirt under their busted robes that has a similar collar like what Luke is wearing in Jedi. So, like, the robes are covering a Jedi uniform, but are not themselves actual Jedi dress.

By the prequels, Lucas has completely forgotten this and makes Kenobi and Yoda look like they're stupid. And Vader too, for that matter. But, the bright side is that wonderful blue drip that Ben is rocking in the Kenobi series might not have happened, so... trade off?

If they would just have combed the desert.

They ain't found shit!

He never expected to make 3 movies, much less 6. The original footage was a mess till his first wife re-cut it for him. He was so green when he started, as he moved along he changed him mind on how he wanted things to look/work so strongly that he went back and edited the crap out of it all. Most of our love for the series is based on how good she handled ANH, how well he managed to direct the actors, and how well the actors did themselves for being green themselves. His story for it all was pretty consistently inconsistent :)

Lucas is a just a shit writer. Great world builder. But terrible at executing that vision into a coherent screenplay. All his great works are co-written with someone else or Lucas only wrote the story and an other writer turned that into the screenplay. The only good movie where he was the only writer is A New Hope but that one was basically saved in the editing room by his ex wife. It’s no wonder that she won an Oscar for editing that movie.

The Prequels is when he got full creative control. Besides directing and production, he also wrote the screenplays by himself and was more deeply involved in the editing. He was constantly in the editing room giving notes to the editor. And it just shows, the Prequels are his worst movies.

And existence of a Database Administrator tasked with TRACKING AN ENTIRE GALAXY'S WORTH OF SETTLEMENTS.

Dwight: sigh, no it's marijuana.

I can appreciate a little fun pointing out inconsistencies while still understanding the movies would be considerably worse if the writers spent any effort trying to prevent Lemmy inconsistency memers.

Sounds about right given how Sidious basically tortured his apprentices and used their most painful memories to trigger emotions that would strengthen their connection to the dark side.