This week is dedicated to a couple of our favorite bloggers, K-Fan, it's good to see you back on the blogs, and jkthunder, happy birthday for yesterday!

Luke, you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.

Poor old Ben. He takes a lot of flak for not being entirely honest with young Luke, however I'm not here to throw stones at him, but to defend his actions - after all, without a few untruths, the world would be a tougher place to live in.

If I was to stand and poke Obi Wan with the dirty stick of morality, I could only do so if I was pure as the driven snow, and I'm not. I've told lies. I've also told fibs, embellished a story, told tall tales and twisted the truth.
I am human, I was once a child, and I am multi-layered. Like an onion.
But with legs.

Now, before anyone starts praying for me, don't get me wrong. I'm not a bad person. I wish no ill upon any fellow human, and would never maliciously lie in order to hurt someone or to break the law, but when I sat down to consider Obi Wan's half-truths, I realized that sometimes, not being completely honest is the best policy.

nob01's greatest lies #1
When I was around 8 or 9, I had nothing for show and tell, so I told the class that my dad had tripped over a book and fallen out of a 6th floor window, and was now in hospital in traction. This earned me some cool points with the other kids.
Unfortunately, when I got home, mum wanted to know why her friends had been phoning to find out how her husband was doing. I was rumbled.

I have something here for you. Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough, but your uncle wouldn't allow it.

Now this one is not an embellishment, nor is it a lie. Obi Wan is speaking hypothetically at this point. Had Anakin not turned to the dark side, had he not been left for dead by Obi Wan, and had he lived a peaceful life with his wife and children, then it is very possible that he would indeed have wanted his son (or daughter for that matter) to have his lightsaber. Obi Wan was merely speculating at this point, but he phrased it in such a way that Luke would want to take it; would want to learn the ways of the force, like his father.
So, a half-truth, but a beneficial one, for without Ben's sneaky wordplay, the Emperor would still be standing and the Rebellion crushed.
See? There's a tougher world to live in right there.

nob01's greatest lies #2
I once told a friend that my family went on a holiday to Wales, and that we ate the inside of trees which tasted like chicken (hey, it looks like chicken).
He asked my mum about this. Rumbled.

A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights. He betrayed and murdered your father.

Here is the doozy that gets Ben in trouble. To many of us watching the saga unfold so many years ago, this seemed to be the ultimate fib. Not only that, but it shook our very foundations when Vader declared his dad-ship to Luke in ESB.
Wait! Vader is his father? Wait? Ben lied? What next? Is Leia his sister?
Conveniently, old Ben knows he has his 'get out of jail free' card in his pocket, more commonly known as his 'from a certain point of view' card.

"Well, I trained your father to the best of my abilities but he was lured by the dark side of the Force and became evil. He murdered children and innocents and killed your mother. I thought I had killed him but he lives on as a twisted and tortured half-machine, hell-bent on dominating the universe through terror and destruction. That's what happened to your father. Now, I'd like to try training you so that you can face him and kill him."

See? Doesn't quite work. I think old Ben made the right choice to play the POV card there.

nob01's greatest lies #3
I once told my class that I was born in an airplane halfway across the North Sea in between Britain and Norway, and that I was now a citizen of both countries.
Someone asked my mum about this.
Are you seeing a pattern here?

My lies were, at the end of the day, lies. But they were not meant to harm anyone - they were intended to create a persona and entertain. The more I think about it, the more I wonder if authors weren't great little liars in their youth. It certainly led to me writing almost every day for most of my 40 years, and it's something I still love (insert shameless blug here). It may also explain why, as a filmmaker, I have no desire to film everyday life. All my projects are outlandish and fantasy-based, embellished to the nth degree.

And these blast points, too accurate for Sandpeople. Only Imperial stormtroopers are so precise.

I think Ben gets a bad rap for this. When he was fighting alongside the clones, they were decidedly more efficient than the barn door-aphobic troops of the latter day Empire, so he could be forgiven for this error of judgment.
On the other hand, he might also have been giving Luke more reason to go after the Empire. Ooh, that sneaky old hermit.

You father was seduced by the dark side of the Force. He ceased to be Anakin Skywalker and became Darth Vader. When that happened, the good man who was your father was destroyed.
So what I have told you was true... from a certain point of view.

I love this. Ben makes no apologies for his earlier statements. He told Luke what had to be said to get him to seek his path as a Jedi, and ultimately Ben was vindicated. I like to think Luke saw the wisdom in these half-truths as he grew older.

My examples of tall tales, exaggerations, lies, seem to all stem from my childhood, when I was blissfully unaware of the shackles of morality.

However, can I honestly say that I tell the truth all the time now?

I doubt it.

The truth can get you in trouble. Especially in clothes shops with the wife.

BTW - Check out the quote of the day at wookieepedia.com!
The force works in mysterious ways!