I don’t even remember the first time I watched “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.” I cannot recall a time when I did not know the story of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), and Han Solo (Harrison Ford) on their quest to save the galaxy from the evil Darth Vader. It feels like the movie was always on repeat when I was a kid, a constant companion.
Yes, this means a love of Star Wars was indoctrinated in me at an early age, but it also means I have spent a lot of time thinking about “A New Hope” and Luke’s life on Tatooine with his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru (Phil Brown and Shelagh Fraser, respectively), in the shadow of protection of Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness). And I have some questions! Not about the central plot, which has been dissected more times than I can count, but about lots of pieces of the world-building that have never quite made sense to me or ever been fully explained.
Thankfully, the new Disney+ Star Wars series “Obi-Wan Kenobi” is visiting this exact setting, nine years earlier. Things are a little different – Ewan McGregor, Joel Edgerton, and Bonnie Piesse will be Obi-Wan, Owen, and Beru – but I’m hoping that I will get some answers to the many, many questions I have nurtured in my heart since watching “A New Hope” as a kid in my grandparents’ basement for the 10th time. Let’s break it down before “Obi-Wan Kenobi” begins on May 27.
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What Is a Moisture Farm?
In “A New Hope,” we learn that Luke and his aunt and uncle run a moisture farm. They never come out and say what exactly a moisture farm is, though. Presumably, since they live in the desert on a planet that’s mostly desert, the farm equipment pulls moisture from the air to slowly create water. I always assumed that water was the crop – they harvested and then sold the water. But Luke also argues with his uncle about his obligations during the harvest season. Why would water have a harvest time? Wouldn’t they just be pulling it out of the air continuously? So then I wondered if they use the water to grow crops, but we also don’t see any crops at their homestead, besides some vegetables Aunt Beru cooks with. I just want some clarity about what goes on at the moisture farm.
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How Much Did Luke Know Obi-Wan Before "A New Hope"?
When Luke hears R2-D2’s prerecorded message from Princess Leia, he clocks that she’s looking for Obi-Wan Kenobi. He doesn’t know an Obi-Wan, but he does know a Ben Kenobi, who he calls a “strange, old hermit,” and he brings R2-D2 and C-3PO to meet him. Turns out, Ben is Obi-Wan’s secret identity.
But why does Luke know Ben? Other movies have established that Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru know that Obi-Wan is a Jedi Master, he was friends with Luke’s father, and that they need to keep Luke hidden from Darth Vader. But Uncle Owen and Obi-Wan don’t seem to get along, and Uncle Owen calls him a “crazy old man” when Luke brings him up. Under what circumstances has Luke met Ben before?
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Was "Ben" a Good Secret Identity For Obi-Wan?
Personally, if I was in hiding from an evil empire, I would change my first and last name. That’s just me though! “Ben Kenobi” doesn’t seem like the best alias to hide the fact that you’re really Obi-Wan Kenobi, but maybe there’s a good reason I’m missing. Are there a ton of them running around a galaxy far, far away? Can’t wait to find out.
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Who Is Aunt Beru?
Aunt Beru has a small handful of lines before Stormtroopers kill her and Uncle Owen off camera, and most of them consist of her calling Luke’s name. Despite this lack of screen time, I have always been obsessed with her. What was Aunt Beru’s life as a young girl? How did she meet Uncle Owen? How did they fall in love? Are they in love?
In a “A New Hope,” Uncle Owen tries to keep Luke away from Obi-Wan, and thus the path that would lead him to the Jedi. Aunt Beru gives her husband loaded looks, but she doesn’t intervene. But when Owen and Luke get into a fight about Luke staying on at the farm for another season, she defends Luke and his goals.
“Luke’s just not a farmer, Owen,” she says. “He has too much of his father in him.” And she does not mean that as a bad thing.
Was Beru always the one to defend Luke? Does she want him to find his destiny as a Jedi? Was she loving and kind to Luke as he grew up in what seems like a pretty lonely environment? I hope we’ll finally find out.
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What Was Uncle Owen's Plan, Exactly?
Like I said, Uncle Owen was very against Luke meeting Obi-Wan, learning about the Jedi, learning about his father, and becoming a Jedi. It’s pretty understandable – the Jedi have brought the Skywalker family a lot of grief. But how, exactly, did Owen think he was going to be able to do that forever? Did he really think he could keep Luke away from his family’s past? Or was he always waiting for the day Obi-Wan came down from the mountains and declared it was time to go?
