So I was scrolling through Reddit the other day and saw someone ask: “If Vader had known Leia was his daughter in Episode IV, would he still have gone after her—or tried to turn her to the dark side?” And honestly, that question made me pause.
Think back to the end of Return of the Jedi: when Vader confronts Luke, he warns that if Luke won’t turn, maybe his sister will. That’s the moment Vader realizes the truth about Leia. But what if he had known from the very beginning, back in A New Hope? Would he have treated her any differently? Or would he have tried to twist that same fire and defiance into something darker?
Vader Would Confront Leia Differently If He Knew
From the movie, we know Vader used the interrogation droid in an attempt to force Leia into revealing the location of the Rebel base. However, if he had known she was his daughter, things would likely have played out differently. Instead of relying on pain, Vader might have tried to convince her to embrace the dark side. There still would have been “torture,” but in a very different sense, emotional and psychological rather than purely physical.
We can clearly see how Darth Vader’s interactions shift with Luke before and after he learns the truth. In one of their earliest duels, shown in the canon Star Wars (2015) comic, Vader doesn’t even take Luke seriously. Through their exchange, it’s clear Vader barely acknowledges Luke’s skill with a lightsaber. The fight is completely one-sided — Luke is easily defeated and would have been killed if not for Han and Leia intervening with a stolen AT-AT.
What do you think of Luke's first meeting with Vader?
by inStarWars
But by the time of Return of the Jedi, everything has changed — because by then, Vader already knows Luke is his son. On the forest moon of Endor, he no longer tries to simply crush him in battle. Instead, his approach softens into persuasion. He urges Luke to give in to the dark side, to embrace his power, and even tempts him with the idea of ruling together as father and son against the Emperor.
If we apply this to Leia’s case, the pattern would likely be similar. When she was captured in A New Hope, Vader only saw her as the Princess of Alderaan — and his number one target was recovering the stolen Death Star plans. But if he had already known she was his daughter, that encounter might have been very different. The “interrogation” could have shifted from needles and droids to words of temptation — Vader pressing her not only to reveal the plans, but also to embrace her power and join him in the Empire.
We actually get a glimpse of how this could have happened in the non-canon comic Star Wars Legends 1: Infinities. In that alternate timeline, Luke fails to destroy the Death Star and Leia is captured by the Empire. When Vader realizes she carries the Force, he doesn’t try to shatter her, he tries to shape her. He even gives her Obi-Wan’s old lightsaber, a twisted gift meant to push her toward a new destiny.
Leia’s response is pure rage. She lashes out with the blade, pouring all her grief over Alderaan into furious strikes. Vader allows her to unleash everything, parrying with ease and never striking back—almost like he’s encouraging her anger, testing how far she’ll go. When she finally falters, Vader ends the fight with a single gesture, ripping the weapon from her hands through the Force.
That’s when he makes his real move. Vader tells Leia the Emperor is weak and fading, and that together they could take control of the galaxy. He frames it not as betrayal, but as opportunity: a chance for Leia to use power to bring order and peace on her own terms. And against all odds, his words get through. Leia accepts his offer and begins her training under him, walking a path into darkness.
Bonus: In a Novel, Vader Already Senses Leia’s Power During the Interrogation
So you might be surprised, but during the interrogation scene in A New Hope, Darth Vader actually senses Leia’s strength. The reason? Leia was unconsciously using the Force to resist the interrogation droid.
In the canon novel The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farmboy by Alexandra Bracken, we get a deeper look into this moment. During Leia’s interrogation, it’s described like this:
“There was…power behind each of his words. They nudged at her. They prodded as sharply as any knife. So Leia did the only thing she could—she pulled back. Physically, toward the wall. Mentally, to a place the voice couldn’t find her, a protective blanket that didn’t let any of the darkness nudge through. The freezing pressure on her mind was thrown back. The rumbling voice made a sound of surprise and was quiet for a long moment.”
And then:
“Vader stepped back, watching her as still and silently as any poisonous snake about to strike….. ‘Careful,’ Vader warned. ‘If you continue to resist, soon you will be neither.’”
This scene makes it clear that Leia was drawing on the Force to resist, even if she didn’t realize it herself, and that Vader noticed. His moment of surprise shows that he sensed something unusual about her. Still, at this point his goal wasn’t to recruit her. Leia was a Rebel leader, and all he wanted was the location of the hidden base. Turning her to the dark side wasn’t even on his mind, yet.