star wars - Why did Obi Wan tell Luke his father wanted him to have his lightsaber?

In Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi makes a comment about Anakin's lightsaber that seems completely contradictory with the prequels.

BEN: I have something here for you. Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough, but your uncle wouldn't allow it. He feared you might follow old Obi-Wan on some damned-fool idealistic crusade like your father did.

As we see in the prequels, Anakin never said anything of the sort. On the contrary, Obi-Wan took his lightsaber away from his burning, screaming corpse. And Anakin hid his unborn children from Obi-Wan, meaning he would have never shared his ambitions for their lives with him. Unlike other "half-truths" Obi-Wan tells, this just seems like a blatant lie.

Obviously the out-of-universe answer is that Lucas' claim that he always knew Vader was Luke's father is complete BS. But is there a canon answer for this discrepancy?

I'll accept answers from lower canon sources (Legends) as well, but I'd prefer answers from the Disney-approved canon.

Answer

I don't believe there is any official explanation for this. However, I believe there is a possibility that there isn't actually any contradiction here. If we assume a few things were said off-screen (to avoid redundancy, accelerate the plot, etc.) then we can reconcile the seeming inconsistency.

Off-screen interactions:

After learning Padme was pregnant, Anakin told her that he hoped for a son and that one day he'd like to give his own lightsaber to his son when he was old enough.

Padme relayed this information to Obi-Wan when she was giving birth to the twins.

When Obi-Wan brought Luke to his aunt and uncle he conveyed the same message.

Uncle Owen, however, wouldn't allow it as he was afraid Luke might be tempted to get involved in Kenobi's "idealistic crusade" like Anakin did.

So what Kenobi said could still be true... from a certain point of view.

In the absence of any official answer, I believe this is the best answer we have if we are to reconcile the seeming inconsistency.

Comments

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