Obi-Wan Kenobi gave us the closest Darth Vader and Leia have come to interacting in the timeline before A New Hope. On Mapuzo, the Sith Lord and the Aldaraanian Princess, biologically his daughter, are within metres of each other when the former Jedi starts killing people to lure Obi-Wan out of hiding. So, this brings us to our question. Did the biological father and daughter sense each other? Also, it’s like asking why Asajj Ventress wasn’t a Sith. Or whether Palpatine was afraid of Anakin or the Skywalkers as a whole.
We will be diving into Obi-Wan Kenobi spoilers, so you’ve been warned.
Let’s begin from the beginning.
Leia was born in 19BBY on Polis Massa as the second child of Senator Padmé Amidala, minutes after the birth of her twin brother, Luke. Moments after her birth, her mother died, leaving her and Luke orphaned. Their father, Anakin Skywalker, had been seduced to the Dark Side and became Darth Vader.
Grand Master Yoda and Anakin’s former master and best friend, Obi-Wan Kenobi, decided it was best to separate the Skywalker twins. So Leia was sent to Alderaan with Padmé’s friend, Senator Bail Organa, to be raised by him and his wife, Queen Breha, as their heir.
Luke was sent to Tatooine to be raised by his father’s stepbrother, Owen Lars and his wife, Beru.
Bail and Breha always knew that Anakin was Leia’s biological father. They were aware she could’ve been Force-sensitive. They would not allow their daughter to leave Alderaan in fear of the Emperor discovering who she truly was.
Leia And Vader Were In Close Proximity
During the Obi-Wan series, Leia is kidnapped on the orders of the Third Sister to lure the famed Jedi Master out of hiding. Reva discovered a connection between Obi-Wan and Bail as they worked together during the Clone Wars. Fast-forward to Part III of the show, and Ben and Leia are chased by Darth Vader himself.
Before this, Reva had revealed to Obi-Wan that Anakin was alive. How she knows this is unclear. When the Sith lands on Mapuzo, he starts to hurt and kill people to pull his former master out of hiding, which brings us to Leia.
At this time, Leia doesn’t know that she is Force-sensitive, but it seems she is unconsciously using it as she knows Obi-Wan is hiding something from her. What’s more, she instantly realises that he knew her biological mother. She says that she wishes she knew who she was. Now, this tells us a couple of things. The first is that she knows she is adopted. It’s implied in the first episode during her conversation with her cousin, Niano. The second is that even if she sensed something familiar about Vader, she wouldn’t have known what she was feeling.
Vader has no clue that Padmé had given birth and only learns of Luke’s existence after he blows up the Death Star. However, he learns about Leia via his son’s feelings during their confrontations years later. Now, it’s possible that both of them sensed something. However, they were too focused on their respective tasks to pay attention.
Bear in mind that Leia and Vader would come face-to-face a decade later, and nothing was bought up then. There wasn’t even a reference as to how she looked like Padmé. We’re not going to bring in the behind-the-scenes stuff with this, as it’s irrelevant.
Would It Matter If They Had Sensed Each Other?
Given that Leia and Vader were in the same area simultaneously, it’s hard to tell if it would’ve mattered. However, if there was something familiar about it to either one of them, it would’ve been similar to the feeling Ezra had before he learned about the Force from Kanan.
On the other hand, Vader would’ve questioned it, reporting back to Palpatine that he sensed something he didn’t fully understand. It would’ve mattered as Vader didn’t want pieces of his past coming back to bite him.
