Here’s Why Luke and Leia Were Separated at Birth

The Star Wars universe is one of the biggest American multimedia franchises nowadays. Since George Lucas first established the lore in the late ’70s, the franchise spawned movies, tv shows, comic books, and video games that feature numerous plot points, and some were crucial for the plot of the entire saga. One of those was the birth of Luke and Leia, twins born shortly before their mother, Padme, passed away. However, they were separated and raised by different people on different planets after their birth. The question is, why were Luke and Leia separated?

Following Anakin Skywalker’s turn to the dark side in Episode III, Padme gave birth to two of their children — Luke and Leia — before she passed away, with Obi-Wan Kenobi witnessing Luke and Leia’s birth and Padme’s death. Master Yoda, Obi-Wan, and Bail Organa agreed that children must stay hidden from the Empire and their father. To cover all the tracks, Padme was buried with an improvised pregnant belly to make it look like she died before the children were born, and Yoda proposed for the children to be separated. Bail Organa and his wife adopted Leia and raised her on Alderaan, while Obi-Wan gave Luke to his uncle Owen Lars on Tatooine.

One of the most important plot points in the Star Wars prequel trilogy was the birth of Luke and Leia in Episode III — Revenge of the Sith, which directly set up the events of the original Star Wars trilogy. While the prequel trilogy received mostly mixed reviews from critics, the fans are still more willing to acknowledge it as a part of the lore than the sequel trilogy, which didn’t sit well with the fans. The original Star Wars trilogy begins two decades after the events of Revenge of the Sith, and it continues the story of Skywalkers.

The prequel trilogy isn’t acclaimed as the original one, but it’s still an important part of the Star Wars lore!

The story of Skywalkers is one of the most known fictional stories of the 20th century, and everything began with the idea and vision of George Lucas in 1977. Although the movie had numerous development problems, the original Star Wars came out like a bolt from the blue, quickly becoming a cultural and global phenomenon.

The original Star Wars movie generated $775.8 million at the box office worldwide. What’s even crazier, when adjusted to the inflation, we’re talking about $3.5 billion! You’ve read it right, more than James Cameron’s Avatar and Avengers: Endgame! One more fun fact, when adjusted to the inflation, the original Star Wars movie is the second highest-grossing movie of all time, behind the legendary classic Gone with the Wind.

The original movie received universal acclaim from critics and audiences, resulting in two sequels and countless fans that even today can say Star Wars created some of their fondest childhood memories. Following the original trilogy’s conclusion in 1983, Lucas started developing the backstory of characters during the ’90s.

After waiting for the computer-generated imagery to advance enough for future Star Wars movies, the production of the first prequel began in 1997. Widely anticipated by fans and media, The Phantom Menace was released in May 1999. Two sequels followed in 2002 and 2005, when the prequel trilogy concluded with Revenge of the Sith, ultimately deemed as the best installment of the trilogy.

Even though it was a commercial success, the prequel trilogy never managed to replicate the phenomenon that the original trilogy was. Still, the prequel trilogy’s story provided some interesting information about Anakin Skywalker’s history, his time as Obi-Wan Kenobi’s student, and his eventual turn to the dark side.

The prequel trilogy also followed his romance with Padme Amidala, which received mostly negative reviews, particularly in Episode II. Well, we admit that part of the story could’ve been handled a lot better, but ultimately it served its purpose; it brought us baby twins Luke and Leia, the main heroes of the original trilogy.

Following Order 66 and Anakin’s turn to the dark side, Obi-Wan had an epic showdown against his former student on the planet Mustafar. Obi-Wan defeated Vader and left him for dead while returning to Padme, who needed a doctor. While Darth Sidious is saving horribly burned Vader from Mustafar, Obi-Wan takes Padme to the planetoid Polis Massa where they regroup with Senator Bail Organa and Master Yoda.

Although she was medically healthy, Padme lost her will to live. She survived long enough to give birth to twins, naming them Luke and Leia, and died saying to Obi-Wan that there’s still good in Anakin.

Following Padme’s death and the rise of the Empire, Organa, Yoda, and Obi-Wan agreed that they’d need to protect the children from their father. To cover all the tracks of their existence, Bail Organa took Leia to raise her with his wife on Alderaan, while Obi-Wan took Luke to Owen Lars and his wife to Tatooine, promising to watch over him until the day comes for Luke to challenge the Emperor for revenge.

At the funeral, Padme was buried with a fake pregnant belly to make it look like she died before the children were born, and Organa ordered for C-3PO and R2D2’s memories to be erased so that nothing could potentially lead the Empire to Luke and Leia’s whereabouts. Although Sidious knew that Yoda and Obi-Wan were still alive, he didn’t deem them a threat to his rule. Obi-Wan exiled himself on Tattooine, while Yoda went to planet Dagobah, where he’ll wait two decades for Luke’s eventual arrival in Empire Strikes Back.

To tell you the truth, while I was writing all this, I got the wish to rewatch the entire Star Wars franchise again. Although the prequel trilogy might not have been as successful as expected at its release, many Star Wars fans eventually embraced it, which cannot be said for Disney’s incoherent sequel trilogy. Regardless of its reviews, one thing the prequel trilogy has over the sequel trilogy is that the story was much better planned across three movies, while the sequel trilogy still looks all over the place, which resulted in Lucasfilm’s hesitation to produce more any Star Wars movies even four years after the Skywalker saga concluded.