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sunnyskywalkerBecause I'm lazy busy, I'm crossposting an entry from my starwars.com blog here.
This thought came out of a combination of my entry on the Skywalkers and the Sand People, where I speculated that Owen and Beru might have realized Luke was in trouble before they got killed, and a point in sompeetalay's recent entry about the differences between the novelization and the movie of A New Hope.
Sompeetalay reports that in the novelization, Vader says, "Inform her father and the Senate that all aboard were killed." In the movie, he just said "the Senate," but that doesn't mean her father didn't find out. Surely the Viceroy of Alderaan would be informed if the senator representing his planet was killed, especially if it was his daughter - and if Vader wanted him to know that he knew about their Rebel dealings. Even if the Empire didn't inform Bail directly, someone probably would have called him, right? "Bail, so sorry to hear about your loss*... what? you haven't heard? Oh, dear..."
The question is whether he had time to hear before the Death Star arrived at Alderaan, and I think he definitely did. It was at least one Tatooine day, after all. That seems like plenty.
This means that Bail spent the last day of his life grieving for his daughter, probably kicking himself for putting her in danger, feeling like he'd failed the Jedi, etc. And maybe worrying that it was a lie and she wasn't dead but suffering terribly in an interrogation cell - as she in fact was.
Whoever it was that said that ANH is actually darker than ESB when you start pulling it apart might be right after all. The more I look at it, the more tragic the movie appears. Is it really just the end (and the editing) that makes it feel "lighter?"
*Translation: I'm a friend/Rebel spy/someone who wants to be buddies when the next election comes up/whatever.
This thought came out of a combination of my entry on the Skywalkers and the Sand People, where I speculated that Owen and Beru might have realized Luke was in trouble before they got killed, and a point in sompeetalay's recent entry about the differences between the novelization and the movie of A New Hope.
Sompeetalay reports that in the novelization, Vader says, "Inform her father and the Senate that all aboard were killed." In the movie, he just said "the Senate," but that doesn't mean her father didn't find out. Surely the Viceroy of Alderaan would be informed if the senator representing his planet was killed, especially if it was his daughter - and if Vader wanted him to know that he knew about their Rebel dealings. Even if the Empire didn't inform Bail directly, someone probably would have called him, right? "Bail, so sorry to hear about your loss*... what? you haven't heard? Oh, dear..."
The question is whether he had time to hear before the Death Star arrived at Alderaan, and I think he definitely did. It was at least one Tatooine day, after all. That seems like plenty.
This means that Bail spent the last day of his life grieving for his daughter, probably kicking himself for putting her in danger, feeling like he'd failed the Jedi, etc. And maybe worrying that it was a lie and she wasn't dead but suffering terribly in an interrogation cell - as she in fact was.
Whoever it was that said that ANH is actually darker than ESB when you start pulling it apart might be right after all. The more I look at it, the more tragic the movie appears. Is it really just the end (and the editing) that makes it feel "lighter?"
*Translation: I'm a friend/Rebel spy/someone who wants to be buddies when the next election comes up/whatever.
