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What if Uncle Owen allowed Luke to attend the Academy? Would there be some type of alert system to the name "Skywalker?" Or Luke's flying skills and force sensitivity brought him to the attention of some Dark Side user and then to Vader and the Emperor?

Well, the Dark Jedi Master Jerec (presumably) routinely attended passing out parades on Cardia, and noticed Kyle Katarn there. Soldier for the Emperor, so it's possible that some dark-sider would find out about Luke in a similar manner.

NecronLord wrote:Well, the Dark Jedi Master Jerec (presumably) routinely attended passing out parades on Cardia, and noticed Kyle Katarn there. Soldier for the Emperor, so it's possible that some dark-sider would find out about Luke in a similar manner.

Did Jerec know Vader's real name? And if so, would he have handed Skywalker over to the Emperor and Vader or used him for himself.

I'm willing to bet the Skywalker name would have sent up the flags, once Luke was away from Tantooine. It can't be that common of a name.

The fact one Anakin Skywalker was a hero of the Republic in its final days would probably prompt questions:

"Hey, you're that 'Skywalker' kid, right?"
"Yeah. What's up?"
"You related to Anakin Skywalker?"
"Uh, yeah. He was my dad, before he was killed in the Clone Wars."
"Omigawd, you're the son of Anakin Skywalker?!"

... (several weeks pass; the news spreads like wildfire) ...

"No, Luke; I am your father."

I'm guessing it just gets spread by word of mouth up the chain of command in casual conversation.

Besides, is it possible that Obi-Wan will intervene to prevent Luke from going to the Academy?

Trytostaydead wrote:Did Jerec know Vader's real name? And if so, would he have handed Skywalker over to the Emperor and Vader or used him for himself.

Jerec was a Jedi Master at the time of the Clone Wars (Admittedly one who said 'fuck off, I ain't fightin' a war). He undoubtably knows who Anakin Skywalker was. Whether he knows Vader's secret identity is a different matter. That said, he does seem to be a popular candidate for second-closest fallen jedi to the Emperor, IIRC.

Surlethe wrote:Besides, is it possible that Obi-Wan will intervene to prevent Luke from going to the Academy?

I'd imagine it was possible that once Obi-Wan found out that Vader was still alive, he let Owen in on Vader's identity, and warned him about the danger of letting anyone find out. Would help explain why Owen kept stalling Luke beyond him just needing an extra hand on the farm.

Civil War Man wrote:

Surlethe wrote:Besides, is it possible that Obi-Wan will intervene to prevent Luke from going to the Academy?

I'd imagine it was possible that once Obi-Wan found out that Vader was still alive, he let Owen in on Vader's identity, and warned him about the danger of letting anyone find out. Would help explain why Owen kept stalling Luke beyond him just needing an extra hand on the farm.

Thats really the best explanation and what I was thinking. In all seriousness, With obi-one being right next door, it seems logical he would have said "Whatever you do, DON"T let Luke gop anywhere near the Empeir"

Even if he wasn't found out as being force-sensitive by Dark Jedi or Vader, his flying ability alone would almost certainly attract the attention of higher-level figures in the Empire. It's easy to imagine him being assigned to an elite fighter squadron, assuming of course that news of a 'Skywalker' doesn't reach Vader first.

I'd say the real question is what would Vader's and Palpatine's reactions be. Would Palpatine try to simply kill Luke, sequester him from Vader for training, or something else? Would Vader try to secretly train Luke to help him overthrow the Emperor?

Civil War Man wrote:

Surlethe wrote:Besides, is it possible that Obi-Wan will intervene to prevent Luke from going to the Academy?

I'd imagine it was possible that once Obi-Wan found out that Vader was still alive, he let Owen in on Vader's identity, and warned him about the danger of letting anyone find out. Would help explain why Owen kept stalling Luke beyond him just needing an extra hand on the farm.

That and it did seem like Owen was genuinely fearful that Luke would follow the path of his father. It always seemed to me that Owen was always making up excuses to keep him on the farm and out of the lure of adventure.

Guardsman Bass wrote:
I'd say the real question is what would Vader's and Palpatine's reactions be. Would Palpatine try to simply kill Luke, sequester him from Vader for training, or something else? Would Vader try to secretly train Luke to help him overthrow the Emperor?

I'd guess Palpatine would probably try to take Skywalker as his new apprentice. His father was not the man he once was, no pun intended. At least according to the prequel sources. Stupid midichlorians.

Trytostaydead wrote:

Guardsman Bass wrote:
I'd say the real question is what would Vader's and Palpatine's reactions be. Would Palpatine try to simply kill Luke, sequester him from Vader for training, or something else? Would Vader try to secretly train Luke to help him overthrow the Emperor?

I'd guess Palpatine would probably try to take Skywalker as his new apprentice. His father was not the man he once was, no pun intended. At least according to the prequel sources. Stupid midichlorians.

Dark Lord retcons that, implying that Vader still has his full power. I actually don't like that, since Anakin becoming a pathetic cyborg husk living in a mobile iron lung is just so thematically satisfying.

... Well, at least it states he is living in constant pain in a mobile iron lung, so that's alright.

I refuse to believe any nonsense that Darth Vader is somehow crippled. I mean my god. He's DARTH VADER! He's THE supervillian to so many people. We've seen him fight and jump and wax on wax off on screen with ease.
In constant pain? Yes. Ugly as hell? Yep. His mind in a pit of anger and despair? You betcha. But Vader weak? Never.
I just get annoyed by people saying that pre-lava bath Anakin could walk up to Palpatine, kill him with ease and become Emperor right away.

Anyway, on Owen and Luke. I'm sure that Owen found out about Anakin turning to the Dark Side and fighting Obi-Wan. Surely Obi-Wan would've had to tell him the truth. It's not like he could've said "Oh.. uh, right. Anakin and Padme are both dead but I won't tell you why and I'm bringing their son here to grow up in Planet Nowhereine as a friggin moisture farmer."
Whether or not he knew that Anakin was the evil dude in the black suit crushing everything in the galaxy with his iron fist is less clear. I personally think he didn't, and that he wanted Luke to stay on Tatooine so he wouldn't become a Jedi and corrupt himself like his father did.

I always thought it odd that Luke was raised to think that his farther was a navigator on a spice frigate when its clearly shown that Anakin Skywalker was both a senior Jedi (youngest ever on the council!) and war leader, with Obiwan calling him the Jedi "poster boy" in RotS, also his close relationship to Palpy would get him a lot of media attention in my opinion.

I know that Tatooine is out of the way but with galaxy wide instant communication and travel news would even reach this planet so either Luke assumed he was a different Skywalker or was just dumb.
Or Palpys rewrite of history post declaration of Empire was really good.

Darth Tanner wrote:I always thought it odd that Luke was raised to think that his farther was a navigator on a spice frigate when its clearly shown that Anakin Skywalker was both a senior Jedi (youngest ever on the council!) and war leader, with Obiwan calling him the Jedi "poster boy" in RotS, also his close relationship to Palpy would get him a lot of media attention in my opinion.

I know that Tatooine is out of the way but with galaxy wide instant communication and travel news would even reach this planet so either Luke assumed he was a different Skywalker or was just dumb.
Or Palpys rewrite of history post declaration of Empire was really good.

The Clone wars doesn't appear to have been a popular era of galactic history, at least judging by the old EU. Its normally associated with clones as causing vast destruction and evil Jedi(Zahn).
I can't recall the name of the text, but one of the older EU sources on stormtroopers, prior to KJA ursurpation of the Star Wars Chancellor stated that the Emperor may be using clones for his stormtroopers corps and the context of the text made it eerie and forbidden.

Its possible that the Clone Wars had been so vilified that a lot of myths and counter-culture had been built up around it and that Skywalker just didn't associate Anakin skywalker, Jedi hero with Anakin skywalker, navigator.

After all, we do know that the Emperor suppressed most information of the Jedi Order and twisted the public perception of the Order.

I guess the closest analogies would be WW1 and how the post-war backlash changed perceptions about the British leadership and military sucess/failure.

Ye theres a lot of that in the X-Wing books with Corran and Wedge visiting the Imperial Museum. Also I always assumed that the bad public image of clones (slaughtering the wookies for example) was why the conflict was called the clones wars, as wars are usually named about what you are fighting against rather than what you are fighting with (Zulu war, Vietnam war, Korean War)

Did Palpy try to blame the actions of the clones on the Jedi then? they were the public commanders of them afterall so it would make sence for damaging the public image of both jedi and clones (justification for large scale enlistment)

Also did Palpy make it public knowledge that Vader was Anakin? it would be pretty difficult to explain to the galaxy (at least the educated bits) how Palps close friend and student just disapeared at the exact time Vader appears.

Just FYI-- it's most likely Luke was planning to attend the academy on Presfelbt IV, not Carida, since that's the one Biggs went to.

Although it's implied Tank went to Carida, so...

000 wrote:Just FYI-- it's most likely Luke was planning to attend the academy on Presfelbt IV, not Carida, since that's the one Biggs went to.

Although it's implied Tank went to Carida, so...

Sunber also became a commissioned officer in the Imperial Army, whereas Darklighter became an officer in the merchant navy, not the Imperial Navy (he and Klivian became first and second mates on board an armed merchantman). Even if Darklighter had joined the Navy (as his classmate, Celchu, had done), he could not have gone to the same academy as an Army officer candidate.

Also, Jerec almost certainly knew of Vader's former life as Anakin Skywalker. He was widely regarded as a likely candidate to be Vader's replacement if something should happen to the Dark Lord of the Sith, and the knowledge was apparently common enough among the Empire's upper class that the Prince Xizor of Falleen knew of it, despite not even being a dark side hierarch. Surely no one can realistically think a dandified courtier could rank more highly than hierarchs like Jerec, Kadann, Tremayne, and the Lord Hethrir, or cultists like Pestage.

Publius wrote:Sunber also became a commissioned officer in the Imperial Army, whereas Darklighter became an officer in the merchant navy, not the Imperial Navy (he and Klivian became first and second mates on board an armed merchantman). Even if Darklighter had joined the Navy (as his classmate, Celchu, had done), he could not have gone to the same academy as an Army officer candidate.

Darklighter and Klivian actually did join the navy, according to Darklighter (which, granted, is pretty much grounded in questionable continuity). It's also possible that Sunber was an officer in the Stormtrooper Corps-- I realize that were that the case he should be wearing armor, but it's difficult to rationalize why he leads Stormtroopers almost exclusively if he's an Army officer.

In any case, Carida must have had multiple academies, since both Solo and Fel attended it and became naval aviators upon graduation.

Well, Darklighter and Tycho were trained by Baron Fel himself and flew TIEs. So, they are Imperial Navy pilots.

Likely Carida had a huge academy campus that ecompassed a huge area.

000 wrote:Darklighter and Klivian actually did join the navy, according to Darklighter (which, granted, is pretty much grounded in questionable continuity).

Darklighter and Klivian were first and second mates on board Rand Ecliptic. First and second mate are not Naval ranks or positions, but they are standard parts of the chain of command on board merchant ships. The Star Wars Encyclopedia states that "the Academy" mentioned in A New Hope has for millennia "turned unseasoned youths into highly trained members of the Exploration, Military, and Merchant Services." This is obviously the same Academy attended by Darklighter, because in the novelization he and Skywalker -- who had applied to the Academy and been accepted, but was forced to defer his admission -- make very clear that graduation from the Academy does not result in commission in the Imperial Navy. Even though Darklighter states that he was commissioned, in practically the same breath he tells Skywalker, "I'm not going to wait for the Empire to conscript me into its service." Skywalker replies matter of factly, "I won't be drafted into the starfleet, that's for sure," despite holding fast to his plans to attend the Academy.

Certainly, the training at the Academy seen in "Darklighter" appears to be very Navy-centric, but this is closely tied to Darklighter's conversation with Skywalker. The Empire was engaging in a devious game of bait-and-switch with midshipmen intending to join the merchant navy; it gave them more or less the same training as Navy midshipmen -- including training on Navy-grade combat equipment -- and then shunted them off into the merchant navy, where they served on armed merchantmen virtually indistinguishable from ships in commission in the Imperial Starfleet, wearing Navy-style uniforms and piloting Navy-grade starfighters. It was only a matter of time before these Navy-trained merchant mariners were impressed into the Navy directly, already trained and experienced -- but not at the Navy's expense. The Star Wars Encyclopedia notes that "under Emperor Palpatine, the Academy slowly became a training ground for Imperial officers."

"In the Empire's Service" and "The Making of Baron Fel" establish that CAPT Soontir Fel (a Space Warfare Officer and Naval Aviator; late Baron Fel of the Empire)was an instructor at the Imperial Naval Academy at Prefsbelt IV, and also claim that he taught Biggs Darklighter, Derek Klivian, and Tycho Celchu (of these, only Celchu became a Naval Aviator; Darklighter and Klivian were maritime officers trained in space combat maneuvering). Since Klivian and Celchu specifically state in "In the Empire's Service" that they were students at Prefsbelt IV when Fel was their instructor, this indicates any of a number of things. It is possible that there is a Naval Academy and a Space Academy on Prefsbelt IV, and they conduct a large amount of cross-training to the point that they have more or less a single shared regiment of midshipmen; alternatively, Darklighter and Klivian may have been taking exchange classes, or Fel may have been a visiting professor.

Consistent with the Star Wars Encyclopedia's claim that the Academy was being used to train Imperial Naval officers despite not being a Naval institution, "Darklighter" shows an increasingly militaristic merchant navy, wearing Navy-style uniforms, operating Navy-grade combat equipment (including TIE/ln space superiority starfighters), undertaking armed patrols of space, and engaging pirates and armed insurgents; when Darklighter arrived at the Academy, he discovered that "the Emperor’s in charge, and he runs the academies." The Academy's instructors and the members of the regiment of midshipmen wore Imperial uniforms and trained on Imperial equipment, and were expressly encouraged to identify themselves as Imperial rather than commercial officers. The entire training experience was very similar to outright Naval training, and it seems likely that this was done so that merchant navy officers would have many of the same skills and qualifications as their Naval counterparts, making it far easier for them to be impressed and integrated into the Navy. Despite Darklighter's and Skywalker's stated intent to avoid impressment, it seems that the merchant navy was actively being used by the Imperial State as a sort of bait-and-switch trick.

000 wrote: It's also possible that Sunber was an officer in the Stormtrooper Corps-- I realize that were that the case he should be wearing armor, but it's difficult to rationalize why he leads Stormtroopers almost exclusively if he's an Army officer.

It is possible, but unlikely. For one thing, The Visual Dictionary states that "in non-combat situations, stormtrooper officers wear distinctive black tunics and caps," while Sunber wears the same Working Olive uniform common among Army and Navy officers. Also, Rules of Engagement: The Rebel SpecForce Handbook indicates that it is common for stormtroopers to be placed at the Army's disposal, and also notes that the Imperial Marines lack artillery and armored cavalry.

In any case, Carida must have had multiple academies, since both Solo and Fel attended it and became naval aviators upon graduation.

Soldier for the Empire states that the Military Academy at Carida "took up less than one-tenth" of Imperial Military Training Base Carida, and "When the Desert Wind Turns: The Stormtrooper's Tale" mentions that Carida Basic Military Training was also conducted on the base. "Carida: Heavy Duty, Part 2: Boot Camp" shows that even students on track to be Naval Aviators were obligated to go through "boot camp with the first-year stormtrooper cadets." You are quite right, Carida was home to more than merely the Cliffside stormtrooper factory.

Well, whether there was a retcon or not, the good Darklighter was posted aboard a ship that looked like some variant of the Acclaimator and its duties were more on patrol and customs duty. Darklighter and Biggs engaged in a mutiny that was led by one of the future Rogues on the ship.

That was in one of the Empire comic issues, which I noted you neglected to mention.

Fingolfin_Noldor wrote:Well, whether there was a retcon or not, the good Darklighter was posted aboard a ship that looked like some variant of the Acclaimator and its duties were more on patrol and customs duty. Darklighter and Biggs engaged in a mutiny that was led by one of the future Rogues on the ship.

That was in one of the Empire comic issues, which I noted you neglected to mention.

Would that happen to be the story appearing in issues 8, 9, 12, and 15? That is, of course, the story entitled "Darklighter." Perhaps you would be so kind as to re-read the following paragraph:

Publius wrote:Certainly, the training at the Academy seen in "Darklighter" appears to be very Navy-centric, but this is closely tied to Darklighter's conversation with Skywalker. The Empire was engaging in a devious game of bait-and-switch with midshipmen intending to join the merchant navy; it gave them more or less the same training as Navy midshipmen -- including training on Navy-grade combat equipment -- and then shunted them off into the merchant navy, where they served on armed merchantmen virtually indistinguishable from ships in commission in the Imperial Starfleet, wearing Navy-style uniforms and piloting Navy-grade starfighters. It was only a matter of time before these Navy-trained merchant mariners were impressed into the Navy directly, already trained and experienced -- but not at the Navy's expense. The Star Wars Encyclopedia notes that "under Emperor Palpatine, the Academy slowly became a training ground for Imperial officers."

And also the following paragraph:

Publius wrote:Consistent with the Star Wars Encyclopedia's claim that the Academy was being used to train Imperial Naval officers despite not being a Naval institution, "Darklighter" shows an increasingly militaristic merchant navy, wearing Navy-style uniforms, operating Navy-grade combat equipment (including TIE/ln space superiority starfighters), undertaking armed patrols of space, and engaging pirates and armed insurgents; when Darklighter arrived at the Academy, he discovered that "the Emperor’s in charge, and he runs the academies." The Academy's instructors and the members of the regiment of midshipmen wore Imperial uniforms and trained on Imperial equipment, and were expressly encouraged to identify themselves as Imperial rather than commercial officers. The entire training experience was very similar to outright Naval training, and it seems likely that this was done so that merchant navy officers would have many of the same skills and qualifications as their Naval counterparts, making it far easier for them to be impressed and integrated into the Navy. Despite Darklighter's and Skywalker's stated intent to avoid impressment, it seems that the merchant navy was actively being used by the Imperial State as a sort of bait-and-switch trick.

You might notice, sir, that the story "Darklighter" -- the very same story that was published in issues 8, 9, 12, and 15 of Empire -- is mentioned in both. You might further notice that the first paragraph describes "armed merchantmen virtually indistinguishable from ships in commission in the Imperial Starfleet," which seems to be a pretty fair description of what you call "some variant of an Acclaimator (sic)." You might further notice that the second paragraph mentions "Navy-grade combat equipment (including TIE/ln space superiority starfighters" and "undertaking armed patrols of space."

You may retract your incorrect statement at your leisure, sir.

I would retract the last statement, but then, the ship that Darklighter was posted to wasn't a merchantship, but an armed patrol vessel, not a merchantship. The ship's role was patrol, not transport.

So is the merchant navy one that is strictly a navy of armed merchant ships similar to those in WWII, or are you talking about the patrol arm of the Imperial navy?

Publius: Thanks for the information/corrections on Stormtroopers and Carida.

Regarding Klivian and Darklighter's education, though, Darklighter makes it very clear that the two join the Imperial Navy proper. I realize this contradicts older canon, but it doesn't change what the comics depict.