I just came across something interesting—Darth Vader actually hired a fake Obi-Wan Kenobi to do his bidding. Yes, you read that right. After the Battle of Yavin, Vader finally learned the name of the Rebel pilot who destroyed the Death Star: Skywalker. That revelation sent him down a path of obsession, determined to track down his son. But in one of the strangest moves he ever made, he didn’t just send bounty hunters or Imperial agents—he hired someone to impersonate Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Here’s the wild story of how Vader used a fake Obi-Wan to capture Luke Skywalker.
Vader’s Plan to Hire a Fake Obi-Wan Kenobi
After the Battle of Yavin, Luke Skywalker became the most famous name among the Rebellion. As the pilot who destroyed the Death Star, he was celebrated as a hero across the galaxy. But while the Rebels saw him as a symbol of hope, Darth Vader saw something else—his last name.
In The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader, we see the exact moment Vader learns the pilot’s identity. While overseeing the construction of his Super Star Destroyer, the Executor, he couldn’t shake the name Skywalker from his mind. The book describes Vader’s thoughts:
“Even while inspecting his nearly completed flagship, the Super Star Destroyer Executor, at the Starship Yards of Fondor, Vader could not get Luke Skywalker out of his mind. He silently chewed on the name and considered the fact that the boy had been born three years after the death of Shmi Skywalker. To the best of his knowledge, Anakin Skywalker had been his mother’s only living blood relative.”
Vader became obsessed with Luke, desperate to uncover the truth. Was he Obi-Wan’s son? If so, why was he named Skywalker and raised by the Lars family? Or had Obi-Wan merely trained him? The book captures his internal struggle:
“He is… an opportunity. As strong with the Force as he may be, he is an opportunity… an opportunity for even greater power. But who is he? Who were his parents? Could he have been Obi-Wan’s son? But then, why was he named Skywalker and raised by the Lars family? Or was he merely trained by Obi-Wan?”
Determined to lure Luke out and uncover the truth, Vader devised several schemes—one of the strangest being hiring an actor to impersonate Obi-Wan Kenobi. The idea was to use Luke’s connection to his former mentor against him, drawing him into a trap.
But there was one major flaw—Luke had witnessed Obi-Wan’s death firsthand. He saw Vader strike Kenobi down aboard the Death Star, so there was no way he would believe that Obi-Wan had somehow returned. As expected, the plan completely backfired. The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader confirms this, stating:
“Unfortunately, Luke saw through the ruse and escaped.”
But Why Did Vader Need a Fake Obi-Wan?
Through The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader, we know that Vader went as far as hiring someone to impersonate Obi-Wan Kenobi in an attempt to lure Luke out—or at the very least, capture him. Vader was desperate to confront Luke about his last name, Skywalker, and uncover the truth.
But why did he think a fake Obi-Wan would work?
The answer seems obvious. At this point, Vader was still unsure of who Luke really was. He suspected Luke might be Obi-Wan’s son and knew for certain that Obi-Wan had trained him in the Jedi ways. As a former Jedi himself, Vader understood one of the greatest weaknesses of the Jedi—their bond with their masters. If Luke truly was Obi-Wan’s son, then using a fake Kenobi would be the perfect way to draw him out.
We’ve seen this kind of weakness in Luke before. In Return of the Jedi, Palpatine himself pointed out that Luke’s greatest vulnerability was his attachment to his friends. Vader likely believed the same strategy could work with Luke’s connection to Obi-Wan. If Luke still held onto his mentor’s memory, then the mere presence of a “returned” Obi-Wan could easily be enough to lure him in.
But why Obi-Wan and not someone else? Simple—there was no one else. At the start of A New Hope, Luke lost his aunt and uncle when stormtroopers wiped out the Lars homestead. With his only family gone, Ben Kenobi became the closest thing he had to a guiding figure. That made Obi-Wan the best choice for Vader’s deception. If anyone could have drawn Luke out, it was Ben Kenobi.