I watched the movies in chronological release date order instead of episodic because I wanted to experience it the way that so many other fans had (plus I was told that after watching the amazing lightsaber battles of episode I-III, episode IV-VI would seem really anticlimactic).
So the whole time I'm watching these characters and thinking about how whiny Luke sounds, how funny Han is, and how badass and brave Leia is and I'm enjoying it. But when you first watch Star Wars, it's alot to take in. There are alot of new names to learn and new places and races and objects that are brand new. So sometimes when you hear a name spoken and you don't know much about the name, you just kind of let it go in one ear and out the other.
When the scene where Darth Sidious is telling Darth Vader that Luke is the child of Anakin Skywalker came about, I didn't think twice about it. Anakin was only mentioned once by Obi-Wan as being a great Jedi Knight. And the way Sidious said it, "He is the child of Anakin Skywalker" while talking directly to Vader, why would you say it like that if Vader was Anakin? (I of course know the answer to this now, but before learning about how you relinquish your former self when you turn to the dark side, this just didn't make sense).
So I of course made up my own scenario in my head to explain how Darth Vader was Luke's father. Here's how it happened in my mind: Darth Vader had a love affair in his younger days, the girl got pregnant and Vader was not allowed to/didn't want to care for it. The woman married a brave Jedi Knight named Anakin while she was still pregnant and she died in childbirth. Anakin took on the boy to raise as his own. Anakin later faced Darth Vader in combat when Luke was still a baby and fell to him leaving Luke to be raised by his aunt and uncle. But Luke family did not want Luke to know that his actual father was a mass murdering Sith Lord so they decided to only tell him about Anakin. Then when he faces Vader, Vader senses that Luke is actually his long lost love child from years ago and tries to convert him to the dark side.
To me, this explained everything including why Sidious told Vader he was "the son of Anakin Skywalker." Vader faced and killed Anakin so of course he would mention to him that this was his kid but maybe Sidious did not know that Vader had a love child running around.
Anyway, because I came up with this elaborate story to explain everything away, I watched the entire original trilogy not knowing that Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader were the same person. As a matter of fact, it went longer than that. I watched episode I thinking I was learning all about the backstory of the epic Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker who married Luke's mom and eventually fell defending the republic against Darth Vader. I loved the kid. I loved how smart he was and how he was a good pilot and had a good heart and loved his mom and dreamed of becoming a Jedi so he could help people. I loved him like you would love any other hero in a series. Then I watched him grow up and face so much heartache like the person who took him away from his home being killed almost immediately and his mom dying in his arms and my heart broke for him. I hated to watch as that sweet little kid that loved him mom and pod racing got trampled by the impending darkness of his life.
I remember getting suspicious when he killed the sand people but I shrugged off my suspicion thinking that he was still a padawan and started his training way way too late and that this was normal hero building back story. You show that they are human and that they suffered and didn't react the best way and then they learned from it yada yada. But then I started to notice how shady Palpatine was becoming and how close Anakin was with him and when Padme told Anakin she was pregnant....everything clicked. Palpatine was Sidious, Padme was going to die in childbirth pushing Anakin over his emotional threshold and Sidious will be there waiting for him on the other side. Anakin would not be murdered by Vader, he would become him.
My entire perception for 5 movies and 14 hours had been wrong. That plot twist hit me like a brick wall. As I had become very attached to seeing Anakin overcome his treacherous back story, the emotional weight of this realization was astounding. I have never had a movie or a book or a game or other story whatsoever hit me emotionally the way this did. My love for the world and the characters developed so naturally and progressively that I didn't even know how emotionally involved I was until I was hit with this massive plot twist. From that moment on, I knew I was hooked. I couldn't get enough. I have spent the last 3 years of my life dedicating nearly every bit of my free time to learning more about the Star Wars universe.
Looking back I feel so stupid for missing the obvious clues but I was just stuck on the idea that Anakin was a good guy. Maybe it was a name that I heard before I watched the series and I never heard it spoken in reference to a villian so my brain put that name in the good guy stack forever and I just couldn't let go of that notion. I don't know.
Either way, I think my Star Wars friend got just as much enjoyment watching me figure it all out as I did experiencing it. He was great about not giving any spoilers. So in some ways I am angry that I went 22 years without ever knowing the joys of Star Wars. But on the other hand, being so blindly shut off from it allowed me to experience it for the first time in a way that most people don't get to because they learn too much about it before ever even seeing it.
Now please do not take from this story that I am some Rebel scum Jedi groupie because I was cheering Anakin on to become some great Jedi. I assure you that nothing could be farther from the truth. But that's for another time. :)
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