mark (10/19/82)
i suggest that darth vader is luke skywalker's mother. this allows for obi-wan kenobi to have trained vader while yoda trained luke's father. the only lie then is in reference to vader's (now different?) gender. the emperor (who called luke "the son of skywalker" in private conversation with vader) may not know of vader's part, or have chosen not to allude to it. in the apparently male-dominated empire military vader's femininity would likely be a dangerous secret. vader probably last saw luke before he was well enough developed in the force to be recognized by it, and so did not know him when dogfighting over the deathstar, but only later when he learned luke's name. as for the theory that the "other hope" is a new female character, i hope so. there hasn't been a decent female character in a visual medium since diana rigg left "the avengers" tv series. mARK bLOORE ...!decvax!utzoo!mark