The New Republic is at its highest point. The war is won, and the Imperials are gone for now. The Senate is not as corrupt as it used to be. And so, they propose all sorts of ways that someone could be a leader. They form a new government.
It is then that they discover Princess Leia Organa's true identity as the daughter of Darth Vader. They cannot believe it until they see the true evidence for themselves. And although Leia's reputation has taken a dive, Leia is a strong woman. Together with her husband, they will face it.
The galaxy never really knew much about Darth Vader. Was he human? Was he droid? Was he the Empire's General Grievous? All they knew was that he was second to the Emperor, and answered to the Emperor only. Few had ever heard of someone able to bend the Force completely to their will… except the Jedi. And so the public continued to wonder.
They believed he'd died along with the Emperor when the Death Star II was destroyed. Few knew that Vader had killed the Emperor and died with his son.
Even fewer knew that Darth Vader was formerly Anakin Skywalker.
Still fewer knew that he was Anakin Skywalker again, and that in a way, he lived on.
Leia Organa isn't sure how she should feel about her father. Part of her hates him for torturing her, for blowing Alderaan to smithereens. Sometimes, she refuses to believe it at all. But a tiny part of her wonders what kind of person he was before his fall.
And there are only a few people in the galaxy who know.
Somewhere, far far away from the center of the galaxy is a desert planet called Tatooine. It is just a desert on the planet's surface. Few rocks, some cliffs, but mostly sand. Smugglers and criminals gather in the cantinas, shopkeepers gamble on the Podraces, and slaves toil for their masters.
Tatooine is the homeworld of Anakin Skywalker. Anakin used to be a slave.
He had friends that were slaves, too. Kitster and Wald and Amee, and a few more. These are the people that knew him as he used to be. They knew him well. And when Anakin won his freedom, they continued to miss him. Kitster was able to buy his freedom, thanks to Anakin. Wald took over Watto's Shop, the place where Anakin used to work.
They knew him well, and yet they refuse to believe that he became Darth Vader. They think it's impossible. But they know that he must have regretted what he did to the Sand People. It's all they know of him when he came back to Tatooine. When Leia meets Kitster, she is drawn to the holocube that holds a memory of her father. And when Leia meets Wald, they get into an argument because the Anakin Skywalkers they know are two different people.
The evidence is there. The story is there. We know it's the truth.
And yet, they refuse to believe he became so evil.
But her last words proved that they were right. He didn't, and never will.