Beru and Owen would have to know something. Luke Skywalker was in good hands. Master Yoda was right to place him with Owen and Beru Lars, Anakin Skywalker’s stepbrother and sister-in-law. But, did the couple ask questions of Obi-Wan Kenobi as to how Anakin suddenly had a son that he was unable to raise?
That’s what we’re about to talk about, and believe us when we say we’ve been asking this question. It wasn’t until Alex and Mollie of Star Wars Explained spoke about this during their recent Q&A session that we decided to give our take on this. Before we jump into our theory, we stress that this post contains potential spoilers for Obi-Wan Kenobi.
What Did Obi-Wan Tell Owen And Beru Happened To Anakin?
At the end of Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan takes a newborn Luke to the Lars Homestead on Tatooine, where Beru greets him. The handoff takes place under the watchful gaze of Owen, who stands nearby. It’s hard to know what the offscreen conversation would’ve been.
Could it have been as easy as Obi-Wan calling Owen and Beru to tell them that they have an orphaned infant nephew? It’s unclear what the couple were told, but the lead-in was probably that Anakin was dead. More or less, this was technically correct, as the man that the Larses had met three years earlier had died on the banks of Mustafar.
Now, we have to point out that by the time of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Obi-Wan likely doesn’t know that Anakin is still alive. His former apprentice burned to a crisp that day, as far as he is aware. So, how will he react when he discovers that Vader didn’t die? More importantly, what’s he going to tell Owen and Beru? Will he choose to say something so they can keep their nephew even safer than before? Or will he say nothing? Do we think they know at ANY point that Anakin is Vader? Unlikely.
Given there is not enough information to know for sure, we can take a guess based on previous dialogue.
What The Larses Mention
So, the full trailer for the series dropped on May 4, and there was a tense confrontation between Owen and Obi-Wan. First, the moisture farmer tells the former Jedi to leave his family alone. Kenobi then insists that Luke needs to be trained. Owen then takes a verbal swipe at him by saying, “Like you did his father?”
Now, this tells us something. Owen (and Beru) know that Obi-Wan was Anakin’s teacher and at some point, Skywalker was “killed.” If we had to guess, this is as far as it goes. However, Owen is more protective of Luke because it is likely due to a potential promise he made to Shmi’s grave to not give up on her grandson.
Jumping ahead to the events of A New Hope which take place almost a decade later, Owen and Beru have a short conversation where Beru remarks, “He [Luke] has too much of his father in him.” Her husband then responds, “That’s what worries me.”
This means a couple of things also. First, they do likely have some clue about Anakin’s fate, but not the whole truth surrounding the matter. Though, do they know Padmé is Luke’s mother? That’s a whole other question.
