Owen Lars and Anakin Skywalker

[Buried Alien]

In STAR WARS IV: A NEW HOPE, Owen Lars famously responded to his wife Beru's remarks that Luke Skywalker had "too much of his father in him" with "That's what I'm afraid of."

There is nothing to suggest that Owen ever learned that his half-brother, the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, had become Darth Vader. Still, what do you believe Owen actually meant? Was he afraid that Luke would get himself killed (as Owen told Luke, and maybe even believed himself) or that Luke would fall to the Dark Side as Anakin had and become an agent of evil?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Starter Set]

Well, with Obi-Wan dropping a baby on his door Owen must have guessed that something went really wrong with Anakin. Maybe he thought he was a screw up and didn't want for Luke to follow that loser path. (from his point of view)

Don't think that Owen ever knew about Vader real identity.

[SuperiorIronman]

Nothing suggests he knew anything about Darth Vader's identity but he probably knew something about the Tusken camp Anakin slaughtered given what happened to Shimi, or would have at least some idea of Anakin's exploits that he wouldn't want Luke doing since Anakin was not only emotional, but a daredevil.

Considering he met Anakin under less than stellar circumstances, he's likely not wanting Luke to end up the same way.

[The Whovian]

There's no facts to prove one way or the other, but I would think that Kenobi told him some (maybe not all) of the truth of his father. Kind of how he told Luke that Vader killed his father. Metaphorically speaking, he did. So something along those lines.

[Frontier]

It could be that he didn't want Luke to end up like his father, as in going on to become a Jedi and ending up dead as far as Owen was aware.

[WebLurker]

I'd always assumes that post-ESB, Owen was thinking of how Anakin become Vader, however the Star Wars ongoing comics seem to suggest that Owen was thinking about how Anakin ostensibly got killed in Order 66.

[ChrisIII]

Joel Edgerton has expressed interesting in reprising Owen for an Obi-Wan movie, so maybe we'll find out.

Interesting fact- the Return of the Jedi novel has a somewhat different version of the prequel story, with Owen in fact being Obi-Wan's brother who he entrusted with Luke (This was possibly based on a deleted scene). However AOTC and ROTS pretty much totally retconned that.

[Carabas]

In STAR WARS IV: A NEW HOPE, Owen Lars famously responded to his wife Beru's remarks that Luke Skywalker had "too much of his father in him" with "That's what I'm afraid of."

There is nothing to suggest that Owen ever learned that his half-brother, the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, had become Darth Vader. Still, what do you believe Owen actually meant? Was he afraid that Luke would get himself killed (as Owen told Luke, and maybe even believed himself) or that Luke would fall to the Dark Side as Anakin had and become an agent of evil?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

It seems likely Lucas didn't even know Anakin was Vader when he wrote that. The likely meaning is that Owen didn't want Luke to go get himself killed like his father.

[Taral-DLOS]

My impression is a bit simpler. Owen's opinion is that people should work hard, keep their head down, be responsible, don't go on adventures, etc. He knows Anakin left his mother, went off on adventures, and was ultimately lost for it. He sees that Luke is a bit of a hothead and wants to leave and go on adventures. He's seeing another person about to go on a path he sees as leading to only trouble.

[Rimmer]

the thing that always strikes me is this: Why did Obi-Wan take the baby to the one pseudo relative that Anakin has, knowing full well that Anakin is alive? Was it just the whole "He thinks the kids are dead, so he has no reason to come back here" thought process?

My main point is also why keep Luke's name "Skywalker" full knowing that Anakin is out there still. if you're trying to hide a child, send him off to be adopted by someone else with at least a different last name, like Leia and the Organas.

Now I realize that this is probably due to Lucas not knowing how things would end until later, etc... but still it strikes me that Obi-Wan would have wanted Luke to be hidden and be named "Luke Smith" or something

[Starter Set]

the Return of the Jedi novel has a somewhat different version of the prequel story, with Owen in fact being Obi-Wan's brother who he entrusted with Luke

Makes more sense. (if Ben never talked about his bro to anyone in the jedi order, which is a conceivable scenario considering the "we don't talk about our pre-jedi lives" unspoken rule they seem to have)

[BeastieRunner]

the thing that always strikes me is this: Why did Obi-Wan take the baby to the one pseudo relative that Anakin has, knowing full well that Anakin is alive? Was it just the whole "He thinks the kids are dead, so he has no reason to come back here" thought process?

My main point is also why keep Luke's name "Skywalker" full knowing that Anakin is out there still. if you're trying to hide a child, send him off to be adopted by someone else with at least a different last name, like Leia and the Organas.

Now I realize that this is probably due to Lucas not knowing how things would end until later, etc... but still it strikes me that Obi-Wan would have wanted Luke to be hidden and be named "Luke Smith" or something

I think it made more sense for Leia to have a name change, not Luke. Yes he's hiding on Anakin's home planet but maybe Obi Wan was hoping some day Anakin would come back home and see his son and hopefully turn him. And if that failed, use Luke as bait to finally destroy Darth. But as we know, things played out differently.

Leia being the backup if that failed.

[Carabas]

I think it made more sense for Leia to have a name change, not Luke. Yes he's hiding on Anakin's home planet but maybe Obi Wan was hoping some day Anakin would come back home and see his son and hopefully turn him. And if that failed, use Luke as bait to finally destroy Darth. But as we know, things played out differently.

Leia being the backup if that failed.

I'm thinking that back in 1976, George Lucas did not have a clue that Vader was Luke's dad, or that Vader had even heard of Tatooine.

[SuperiorIronman]

the thing that always strikes me is this: Why did Obi-Wan take the baby to the one pseudo relative that Anakin has, knowing full well that Anakin is alive? Was it just the whole "He thinks the kids are dead, so he has no reason to come back here" thought process?

My main point is also why keep Luke's name "Skywalker" full knowing that Anakin is out there still. if you're trying to hide a child, send him off to be adopted by someone else with at least a different last name, like Leia and the Organas.

Now I realize that this is probably due to Lucas not knowing how things would end until later, etc... but still it strikes me that Obi-Wan would have wanted Luke to be hidden and be named "Luke Smith" or something

Obi Wan had no idea Vader was still alive as of Mustafar. He probably figured it out when Darth Vader returned in the armor, but we just don't know how long the time frame was between Obi Wan delivering Luke to the Lars household and Darth Vader making his first public appearance that Obi Wan would've known about. Otherwise if Anakin was dead, the only one your hiding Luke from is Palpatine and Luke had aspirations of the Imperial academy. So either Luke wouldn't become a Jedi or would go into the Empire anyways so it's not like Palpatine would bother. Not to mention that Palpatine probably isn't afraid of one untrained Jedi (and he isn't in ROTJ) so Luke is just beneath Palpatine's notice.

In the OT it was never stated Darth Vader didn't know, just that he never revealed that information to Luke until Cloud City. As far as the original trilogy is concerned, Darth Vader could've known he had a son, but didn't take an interest in him until sometime after A new hope (the Obi Wan protection came later so coincidentally he knew Anakin and lived nearby to Luke). So in the OT context, Vader just didn't care enough to contact him and Vader never sought out Obi Wan, or just didn't find him until the Death Star. So OT Vader is a bad parent who only takes an interest in his son when he starts breaking his dad's stuff.

When the prequels came around Vader was under the impression he killed Padme which by extension killed his children since Padme certainly didn't give birth on Mustafar. Vader was under the impression he killed his kids and so wouldn't actively look for them until someone claiming to be his son had the same last name, and was briefly taken under Obi Wan's tutelage. Vader simply didn't return to his homeworld until the Death Star incident and wouldn't before then due to all the terrible things that happened there and how much he didn't like it. Sand, storms, sand storms, and Tusken raiders, his mother dying in his arms because of the locals, and the fact that he does have extended family there and wanted to remove the Anakin aspects of him so at the end of it all Vader wouldn't visit.
As well as his mother was a Skywalker so even if he did know about his extended family there are other Skywalkers since Shimi had to come from somewhere. More Skywalkers settling on a place Anakin would never want to visit and he would be more than happy to leave them alone.

Edit- Luke having a sister was an idea running during the production of Empire strikes back. Leia just wouldn't be it until ROTJ and thus that really is the clumsiest retcon in the OT. Luke being Vader's son was finalized by Lucas during the early drafts of ESB which started shortly after Star War's success. The name change with Leia was truly unplanned from the start as Vader being Luke's father simply relied on Obi Wan not providing context for Darth Vader's name change and Obi Wan wanting Luke to see the good parts of his father and not the bad. That's not uncommon for someone to lie or tell a half truth about a parent who isn't the best.

[Zero Hunter]

That would be my take on it. Obi Wan had no idea Anakin survived their battle until much latter. So when he dropped off Luke he probably told Lars that Anakin had fallen to the dark side and had helped destroy the Jedi Order and he had been forced to kill him. Between hearing that and knowing what Anakin had done to that entire tusken raider village Lars probably never had a real high opinion of Anakin.