10 Movie Plot Twists That Were Hiding In Plain Sight

Twist: Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father.

Picture it: 1980, you’re seeing The Empire Strikes Back for the first time. When Darth Vader says those iconic words to Luke Skywalker, “No, Luke, I am your father,” your German friend can’t understand why you are so shocked. They say to you, “What? You didn’t know that?” This is because the words “darth vader” roughly translate to “dark father” in German.

Emphasis on the roughlypart. While “vater” with a “t” means “father” in German (and in Dutch “vader” with a “d” does mean “father”), the “dark” part isn’t a straight translation. “Dunkell” means “dark” (and “donker” in Dutch). But you can probably stretch this theory that “Darth Vader” means “dark father” since “darth” and “dark” are nearly homophones.

This theory has been around for decades, and some believe that George Lucas started it himself as a way of making fans believe that he had planned on the reveal of the father-son connection between the Sith Lord and the orphan Skywalker all along. So take this one as being more of a retroactive twist hiding in plain sight.

And don’t forget, in the original Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi doestell Luke that Darth Vader murdered his father, Anakin Skywalker. This too was retconned in Return of the Jedi when Lucas has Kenobi conveniently come back from the dead to tell Luke he was fibbing in the first film.