We’ve had 20 years now to mull over all the continuity errors and plot holes created by the Star Wars prequels. In most cases, the extended universe or the modern canon has helped retcon this and that and plug any gaps. One young fan, however, has just posed a massive unexplained question that blows a great big gaping hole through the center of the Skywalker Saga. And even Luke Skywalker himself doesn’t have an answer to it.
Twitter user John Roderick kicked things off by saying: “My daughter just asked, “R2-D2 was there for the whole story and never had his memory wiped so why didn’t he just tell Luke that Vader was his father at some point?” I just sat there dumbfounded until she shrugged and walked away.” The tweet went viral, with nearly 24k retweets at the time of writing. Mark Hamill soon quote-tweeted a response, but wasn’t able to come up with an explanation, either.
“I read this tweet, thought long and hard… then just shrugged and walked away,” Hamill quipped.
I read this tweet, thought long and hard… then just shrugged and walked away.#NoPlausibleAnswer https://t.co/JcMdFKjXf4 pic.twitter.com/hRVNpn2c8A
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) April 25, 2020
In the replies to the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker star’s tweet, fans have tried to come up with their own answers to this mystery, some more seriously than others.
“R2D2 didn’t tell because Luke never asked,” said one, which makes a certain kind of sense. Alternatively, another fan suggested the following: “Simple R2-D2 lives for the f*cking drama.” Now that sounds plausible.
Someone else had a theory that actually holds water, though. Maybe Artoo just never had conclusive evidence that Anakin and Vader were the same person. “R2-D2 never knew that Anakin was Vader,” one fan argued. “He saw Anakin leave his ship on Mustafar and never come back. Someone said Artoo was anxious when Luke… left his ship to find Yoda because that’s how Anakin left him.”
That has to be the best explanation we’ll get for this plot hole. Hopefully Hamill sees it and gives it his approval so we can basically make this Star Wars canon. That way dads will have something to tell their kids when they ask this stumper of a question.
