Forums > Knowledge Bank archive > KB:Why didn't Luke know about lightsabers?
This page is an archive of a community-wide discussion. This page is no longer live. Further comments or questions on this topic should be made in a new Knowledge Bank page rather than here so that this page is preserved as a historic record. Advanced Jedi Training Droid 6 (Talk to my master) 03:48, June 16, 2014 (UTC)
In Obi-Wan Kenobi's house, right after he introduces himself to Luke Skywalker, why doesn't Luke know what a lightsaber is? Lightsabers and the Force were important parts of his galaxy's history, and he seems cluelesss about it all. Even his slave father who lived on the same planet knew about Jedi and lightsabers as a child. - – NoahferferTalk 18:26, January 5, 2014 (UTC)
- Because the Empire systematically purged any notion of Jedi or even the Force itself from the galaxy and its history books, to the point that it was actually illegal to study those subjects. The vast, vast majority of teenagers around that time would have known nothing about the Jedi, except possibly being taught in school that they were traitors to the Old Republic. —MJ— Comlink 18:41, January 5, 2014 (UTC)
- To add to the above I think it's important to note that most in the galaxy were never particularly knowledgeable about the Jedi or the Force. Even Anakin incorrectly refers to Qui-Gon's lightsaber as a "laser sword", which of course it is not. --98.237.224.220 09:33, January 6, 2014 (UTC)
- Also adding to the above, not only did the Emperor purge much/most of the public knowledge about Jedi and suppress study of them in academia, Luke was being raised by Owen Lars, who explicitly wanted to prevent Luke from becoming a Jedi like his father. He probably was never taught by Uncle Owen about the Jedi, and never really learned about them much anywhere else. Telling Luke about legends of Jedi and the Force and lightsabers would not have played to Owen's goal of keeping Luke as a moisture farmer on the outskirts of Anchorhead, Tatooine. --Taelin Thurn (talk) 22:34, January 22, 2014 (UTC)