On the one hand, I can kind of see the fannish reaction of "Anakin should not have had a relationship with his children's mother" for... well, precisely what you brought up with the "How is that possible?/ANAKIN YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS ALREADY" business in ESB, because Anakin not knowing about his kids' existence at that point makes more sense if he and their mother weren't overly close back-when. ON THE OTHER HAND--- it has been book-of-the-movie canon since the ROTJ novelization that Luke and Leia's mother was Anakin's "dear wife"--- direct quote from his death scene, so the haters have had time to get used to the idea, and by time I mean "something like twenty years". Granted that Lucas Josses so much of not-his-stuff that the trope should really be named after him, but. The fact that Anakin didn't know could be put down to any number of things, including that he assumed his kids had died with Padme (which I think is supposed to be the retcon, maybe?).
Though it makes even more sense in the Jedi!Padme scenario I was nattering about, except that Padme doesn't tell him about the kids because she's going with the Jedi rule of detachment, Sidious turns him without that knowledge (maybe just a combination of "the Jedi have turned against the Senate they're supposed to be serving" with a side order of... IDK, some kind of implication that if the Jedi Order falls, so will Padme's reasons to objecting to having a relationship with Anakin and it will all be happy goodness? Or possibly Anakin knows about the kids but Sidious convinces him that they might not be his because, hey, the Jedi don't play attachment, hmm, she's awfully chummy with your old master isn't she?) and then of course Padme Does Not Approve and they fight, and then twenty-odd years later O HAI LUKE AND LEIA.
...man, there is so little not to like about Jedi!Padme. Although I like Arissa better, but then I like Revenge better than canon in so many ways anyway.
Help, I'm commenting and I can't shut up!
On the one hand, I can kind of see the fannish reaction of "Anakin should not have had a relationship with his children's mother" for... well, precisely what you brought up with the "How is that possible?/ANAKIN YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS ALREADY" business in ESB, because Anakin not knowing about his kids' existence at that point makes more sense if he and their mother weren't overly close back-when. ON THE OTHER HAND--- it has been book-of-the-movie canon since the ROTJ novelization that Luke and Leia's mother was Anakin's "dear wife"--- direct quote from his death scene, so the haters have had time to get used to the idea, and by time I mean "something like twenty years". Granted that Lucas Josses so much of not-his-stuff that the trope should really be named after him, but. The fact that Anakin didn't know could be put down to any number of things, including that he assumed his kids had died with Padme (which I think is supposed to be the retcon, maybe?).
Though it makes even more sense in the Jedi!Padme scenario I was nattering about, except that Padme doesn't tell him about the kids because she's going with the Jedi rule of detachment, Sidious turns him without that knowledge (maybe just a combination of "the Jedi have turned against the Senate they're supposed to be serving" with a side order of... IDK, some kind of implication that if the Jedi Order falls, so will Padme's reasons to objecting to having a relationship with Anakin and it will all be happy goodness? Or possibly Anakin knows about the kids but Sidious convinces him that they might not be his because, hey, the Jedi don't play attachment, hmm, she's awfully chummy with your old master isn't she?) and then of course Padme Does Not Approve and they fight, and then twenty-odd years later O HAI LUKE AND LEIA.
...man, there is so little not to like about Jedi!Padme. Although I like Arissa better, but then I like Revenge better than canon in so many ways anyway.