Father’s Day by Way of Star Wars

Happy Father’s Day to my dad, and a great big happy Father’s Day to all the other dads who voluntarily step up and take care of their kids.

No, not you.  You’re a whiner with a malfunctioning respirator.  I mean these folks:

 

That’s right.  Uncle Ben and Aunt Beru.  They are the real parents here.

Think about this for a second.  Even though they’re young kids themselves, they decide to become foster parents.

Although they seem to have that Jedi fashion sense.

These two poor as dirt kids take a whiny newborn (seems to be a Skywalker trait) who is almost certainly going to be wanted by the terrifying second in command of the galaxy

Just because.

Taking care of foster kids sure lets you rake in the bucks.

What about Anakin, then, right?  What about that DNA component?  Isn’t Anakin/Darth Vader the “real” parent of Luke Skywalker?

Ben and Beru were Luke’s real parents.  Every good impulse of Luke’s, every bit of discipline and compassion?  Learned from his real parents, whose sacrifice meant far more than that idiot in a rebreather mask.

Yes, it meant more.  Because Darth’s eventual turning against the Emperor is guilt and selfishness

Anakin first tries to use Luke against the Emperor.  Then when that fails, Anakin only turns against the Emperor as he realizes that he’s going to lose.  Sure, the Emperor is letting Darth live now, but he’ll realize soon enough that Darth is a liability.  And at that point, realizing that he is lost, Darth tries to salvage the last thing he can:  Anakin’s legacy.

You already have, Luke. You were right. You were right about me. Tell your sister… you were right…”

Yup, Anakin wants forgiveness from his kid and for his legacy to be redeemed. 

Which makes him a horrible parent.  Parents do things for their kids… because their kids.

Let’s contrast the selfish Skywalker with Ben and Beru.

They didn’t get the cool times with big glowy swords that went vrroozzm. 

They changed diapers.  Dealt with teething.  And probably homework and pranks, and we know they had to put up with some good-old teenage crap.

And all the while, they knew they’d have to give their lives for this kid.

They had to know that someday, good old Annie, the guy who slaughtered an entire tribe of sandpeople and oh yeah a bunch of kids would be somewhat… miffed… if he ever came looking for his son.

They had to know that this scene was an inevitability.

No matter why the stormtroopers were there, Ben and Beru knew what was really at stake.  They gave up their lives to protect a kid they adopted.  They would never know if he survived, if he even knew that they died for him.

But they did it anyway.

Ben and Beru are the real parents of Luke Skywalker, no matter what the results on Maury would say.

The wrong reaction

Because if you have to be told that you have to be a father, you don’t deserve to be one, no matter what the DNA test says.