Hiding Luke

Owen and Beru notice a few flaws in Obi-Wan's plan

The sun was setting over the Tatooine desert as Obi-Wan Kenobi approached on his eopie, its long snout sniffing the dry air. He moved slowly, as in his arms was a very precious cargo: a small, infant boy.

Outside the farm, he saw a man and woman standing there: Owen and Beru Lars. Obi-Wan carefully got down from the eopie, cradling the infant all the while. He then approached the young couple and held out the child. “Here he is: Luke Skywalker.”

Beru smiled and reached out to hold him, and without thinking, Obi-Wan pulled Luke back into his chest. He needed to keep this child safe. He needed to make sure these people understood. “The most important thing,” he told them, “is that his father doesn’t find him — doesn’t even know he exists. This is so important, we’ve even separated him from his twin sister. Do you understand?”

Owen shook his head. “No.”

Obi-Wan furrowed his brow. “What do you mean no?”

“We’re talking about Anakin Skywalker, right?” Owen asked. “That’s the father we’re trying to hide this Luke from, correct?”

“He goes by Darth Vader now,” Obi-Wan said. “The Anakin Skywalker you knew is no more.”

“Well, I didn’t really know him very well,” Owen stated. “And what I did know of him was slaughtering a bunch of sand people, so the evil Sith lord thing isn’t a huge stretch in my mind, but that’s not the issue here. I mean, you’re saying you need to hide this Luke kid from his father — and I get that — but being that I’m his father’s only family in the entire galaxy, aren’t I the last person you should hide him with? I mean, don’t you want a bit more separation from his father than that?”

Obi-Wan shrugged. “I couldn’t think of anyone else to give him to.”

“No one else?”

“I’m a Jedi, and we’re not allowed to form attachments,” Obi-Wan explained. “So I don’t have a lot of friends. And pretty much everyone I did know was killed in Order 66 — except Yoda. But he lives on this swamp planet, and it smells there. I didn’t want to go there.”

Owen tried to process this. “Okay. I guess we’ll take the baby then. We’ll just pretend he’s ours.”

Obi-Wan shook his head. “No. And name him ‘Luke Lars’? That’s a terrible name. Keep his name as Luke Skywalker; it’s an awesome name. Make it clear you’re his aunt and uncle and his real parents are someone else.”

“Then won’t he go looking for his father?”

“Say he’s dead,” Obi-Wan suggested. “That will put an end to it.”

“He’s going to have a lot of questions about that,” Owen stated.

“If he does, one day he can search me out, and I’ll answer his questions,” Obi-Wan said. “I’m going to stay nearby.”

Owen’s jaw dropped. “You’re going to stay nearby?! Don’t you have the entire Empire trying to hunt you down... including his father who you’re trying to keep him away from?”

Obi-Wan shrugged. “He’s not going to look here.”

“He’s not going to look here — his home planet he met you on?” Owen rubbed his temples. “So, to summarize, you want to hide this baby from his father — and that’s so important you’re separating him from his twin sister — but the way you’re hiding him is with his father's only family on his father’s home planet while he keeps his father’s last name. And the whole time, you’ll be right next door with the entire evil galactic Empire looking for you —including the kid’s father?”

Obi-Wan thought about this. “I know: I’ll change my name. Instead of ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi,’ I’ll be ‘Ben Kenobi.’ Then if anyone is looking for me, people will be like, ‘Oh. We don’t know any Obi-Wan Kenobi, just a Ben Kenobi. That same last names are probably a coincidence.”

Owen just stared dumbfounded at Obi-Wan. Finally, Beru spoke up. “Are you an idiot or something?”

Obi-Wan smiled knowingly. “Who is more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows him?”

“No matter how we answer that,” Owen said, “you’re stating you’re a fool.”

Obi-Wan nodded. “That’s true... from a certain point of view.”

Owen just stared at Obi-Wan. Finally, Beru reached out to Obi-Wan. “We better take that kid now.”

* * * *

It was many years later, and Luke Skywalker had grown up to be quite a help on the farm, though the boy always seemed anxious for greater things. They had just purchased some droids from the jawas to help on the farm (one of the droids feeling vaguely familiar to Owen) when one day during breakfast, Luke said, “I think that old R2 unit we got is stolen. It had a message on it that mentioned Obi-Wan Kenobi. Do you think they could have meant Ben?”

With a ferociousness that surprised even himself, Owen grabbed Luke and yelled, “Stay away from him! He’s crazy!”