Star Wars: Did Darth Vader Always Know He Had Kids?

He might've been a feared and powerful Sith Lord, but the biggest struggle of Darth Vader (aka Anakin Skywalker) was trying to keep tabs on his own kids. Only in "The Empire Strikes Back" was it revealed that Vader had been clued in on who the plucky youngster who destroyed the Death Star really was, leading to the iconic sequence that Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) deemed "not true" and "impossible." From there, it was a son's mission to bring his father back from the dark side before death, redeeming Anakin and saving the galaxy for a short while.

But how long did Vader know he was a father, and more importantly, did he know he was for two children kept in hiding for so long? Well, as it turns out, through lore beyond the original trilogy, a valiant effort was made to keep the Skywalker twins out of harm's way. These tactics went beyond just splitting them up to live their lives in secret, leading Vader, in his all-knowing power, to get only part of the story. Incredibly, it wasn't a smart Jedi Knight that played the most crucial role in keeping this all hush-hush, and it wasn't a pair of surrogate parents that kept Vader at bay for so long. It was the skill and will of one brave rebel who took the truth to his grave.

While Vader discovered he had a son early on, it wasn't until "Return of the Jedi" that he learned his twin daughter, Leia, also survived. That was a secret that some kept to their graves, including a lesser-known "Star Wars" hero by the name of Commodex Tahn. This Naboo-based legend was the mortician appointed to treat Padmé Amidala's body following her death. Appearing in Darth Vader's own comic run, Tahn altered the body to suggest that Amidala's children died with her. Of course, this wasn't the case, and after uncovering Luke's existence, Vader sent his associate Doctor Aphra to track down more info, leading her to Tahn's door 20 years later.

Even though he was interrogated and tortured for information about Luke, Tahn never revealed the missing twin, holding onto the truth until his last breath. As a result, Vader was kept in the dark for years until his death. While other, more high-profile, "Star Wars" characters did their part to keep Vader's past a secret (namely, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Bail Organa), this courageous mortician was the one who stopped Vader from learning the truth earlier and doing more damage than he already did.