Obi-Wan needs to confront his past if he is going to survive his own limited series…
During his time as a Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi had to confront a lot of truths about the organisation he served. He also had to deal with situations that he never thought he would deal with like losing the woman he loved. But, one of the most devastating blows was losing his best friend, Anakin Skywalker, to the Dark Side. To make up for his biggest mistake, he self-exiled himself on Tatooine to look after his former bestie’s young son, Luke.
With the Obi-Wan Kenobi series on the horizon, we thought we’d go over the reason why the former Jedi Master should confront his past before he goes about dealing with the promise he made to watch over the son of his best friend.
There is so many things Obi-Wan will have to confront as he deals with elements from his past that he won’t ever be able to shake off. Losing Anakin would likely play a massive role, but what about the other things like vowing not to fail Luke the way he did his father? Obi-Wan Kenobi has so much promise that we cannot wait to see what the series has in store.
Embrace The Idea The Jedi Were Not Perfect
When Anakin was a child slave on Tatooine, he always dreamed of becoming a Jedi. When he finally did become one, he discovered across many years that it was not without its flaws. For Obi-Wan, he lived his whole life in the organisation but was blinded to the fact they had lost their way.
Though, if he was such a devout follower, he wouldn’t have fallen in love with Duchess Satine Kryze of Mandalore when he was a young adult. Obi-Wan knew that the Jedi were far from perfect and what would be amazing is if he actually addresses this during the Obi-Wan Kenobi series.
If rumours are anything to go on, there might be flashbacks to the Clone Wars, meaning we might get a reference to Satine. Perhaps, we get a live-action version of the scene from the final season of The Clone Wars where Bo-Katan, Satine’s sister takes a swipe at him.
There’s a lot of fan art out there of Kenobi and Skywalker in live-action versions of their armour from the earlier seasons of The Clone Wars. We’d be very happy if we get to see this. It would be a great way to see animated media link up with live-action in more than just characters jumping over. It would be meaningful to have Obi-Wan mention how wrong he was to believe in the Jedi way so strongly.
Time Doesn’t Heal All Wounds
We know the Obi-Wan Kenobi series takes place ten years after Revenge of the Sith, according to the show’s Wookieepedia page. Obi-Wan will be going by his alias of ‘Ben’ during this time as watches over a 10-year-old Luke. In this time, it was torture for Kenobi as he sat in his shack and reminisced.
For Obi-Wan to deal with what his future will hold, he will need to let go of the past. Anakin was dear to him, but to see him fall to the dark side haunted the former Jedi Master. Kenobi still felt guilt even after his own death. He believed that there was no good left within his former student. He tells Luke in Return of the Jedi:
He’s more machine now than man. Twisted and evil.
Obi-Wan “Ben” Kenobi to Luke Skywalker in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Given where the Obi-Wan Kenobi series sits in the timeline, he won’t do a full 360 and say, “Anakin can be saved.” That won’t happen. But that could be the reason for the quoted, “Rematch of the century”. Ten years will have passed since the events on Mustafar but the memories will still be there as fresh.
Outside of his failure to save Anakin, Obi-Wan may even deal with not being there for Ahsoka.
Nightmares
Obi-Wan’s world started to crumble around him when his master, Qui-Gon Jinn was killed by Darth Maul on Naboo during The Phantom Menace. Training Anakin so soon after his teacher’s murder was a promise Kenobi intended to keep. However, he never thought he would become so close to his student that he would consider him a brother.
It wouldn’t be surprising if Obi-Wan ends up having nightmares of various events in his past. Examples of memories he could relive as nightmares include:
- Qui-Gon’s death at Darth Maul’s hand
- Anakin’s massacre of the Tusken Raiders that kidnapped his mother (even though he wasn’t there to see it)
- Padmé’s death on Polis Massa after Luke and Leia’s births
- Satine’s death at the hand of Maul
- Ahsoka’s trial and departure from the Jedi Order
- Finding all the dead Jedi in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant
- Duel with Anakin on Mustafar and him being roasted on the bank
Obi-Wan faced a lot of death of people close to him. These nightmares may teach him that they happened for a reason and that there is hope in the boy he is watching over.
Luke’s Fate Is Tied To Obi-Wan
Obi-Wan’s placement on Tatooine to begin with stems from a couple of things. The first is to confront reality of what happened with Anakin. Secondly, he’s wallowing in his own self-pity for all the wrongs that have occurred in his life. And finally, to protect the son of two of his best friends from suffering the same fate as his father.
Luke’s fate is forever tied to his father’s former master, but he just doesn’t realise it… yet. Without Obi-Wan, he would never meet the Leia, Han, and Chewbacca or learn Anakin’s true fate. Though, it might have saved him a few heartaches as well. The deaths of his uncle and aunt and almost killing his own nephew wouldn’t have happened. But, his sister and Solo wouldn’t have gotten together at all without Obi-Wan’s assistance.
Why Obi-Wan Needs To Confront Uncle Owen
There has been a load of comic stories of Owen Lars, Luke’s uncle and Anakin’s stepbrother having to confront Obi-Wan. But, what if the Obi-Wan Kenobi series does a reversal and the former Jedi Master goes to the moisture farmer.
We know from Attack of the Clones that Owen came to adore his stepmother, Shmi who treated him like her own. He was aware of Anakin’s existence given his link to his father Cliegg’s wife.
Attack of the Clones is the only known time that Anakin and Owen ever meet. There is no reference to them every talking during the Clone Wars and why would there be? The pair were basically strangers who had a link to Shmi as her son and stepson, respectively.
For Obi-Wan, having to confront the man who is raising his best friend’s son would be important for his confidence in dispelling what Luke told him in A New Hope about what his uncle had told him about his father being a navigator on a spice freighter.
In the 16th issue of 2016 Star Wars comic series, Obi-Wan and Owen come face-to-face. The former Jedi Master is told to stay away from Luke as Lars felt he had killed too many Skywalkers.
Owen had no reason to say this given he hardly knew Anakin. However, he respected him since he was Shmi’s son. Whether he knew what befell his stepbrother is uncertain.
Going Off World To Confront Vader
A New Hope gave us the Darth Vader v. Obi-Wan fight for the ages. However, it’s Revenge of the Sith that gives us more context into how these two adversaries came to blows.
The duel on Mustafar also gives us context to the scarring we see in Empire Strikes Back as seen here:
This includes what we see in Return of the Jedi as Vader lay dying and he asks Luke to remove his mask:
For Obi-Wan to really face his demons and nightmares of old, he needs to confront Vader in his prime. This would be prior to the scene in Rogue One where he takes out the rebels on the Tantive IV.
It will be Hayden Christensen in the suit again. There could be flashbacks to things we didn’t see during Revenge of the Sith for The Clone Wars. Perhaps we could see Skywalker commanding the 501st after he leads them into the Jedi Temple.
However, the main question is this. How could Obi-Wan and Vader come face-to-face again? This is a question we will cover in a later post. Since Kenobi leaves Tatooine, it leaves Luke unprotected. We know that he will need to leave exile because it got mentioned during the Disney Investor Day.
Conclusion
For Obi-Wan to confront his past, he needs to understand what went wrong. Anakin’s fall to the dark side would be a perfect start and accepting it would be a second. Realising that the Jedi Order is not perfect would be ideal. It is something like that would help him morph into the wise sage we meet in A New Hope.
No journey is ever complete in Star Wars, even when someone dies. Obi-Wan’s story is not over and the series is going to see to that.
