Soul-destroying darkness – Anakin’s fall to the dark side hits Obi-Wan more than the audience realises. The famed Negotiator was forced to ask himself questions that he would never get answers to. The darkness had fed upon his best friend, and there was nothing he could do but protect the one person who would save Skywalker; Luke.
For years, Obi-Wan would sit in the darkness of his cave-dwelling, watching Luke from afar. Owen Lars, Luke’s uncle and Anakin’s stepbrother, wanted Kenobi nowhere near his nephew, fearing the boy would suffer the same fate as his father. However, this did not stop him, as described in several comics.
Obi-Wan believed that Luke should be trained as a Jedi, but Lars is deadset against it. He blames Kenobi for Anakin’s “death.” What’s more, Obi-Wan knew Owen was right; his ignorance was the cause of Skywalker’s demise. Moreover, it forced him not to see the darkness brewing in its complexity. He had chosen to ignore it. The reason was in front of his face the entire time in the form of Chancellor Palpatine.
According to the spoiler review of the recently released book, Brotherhood by Mike Chen done by Star Wars Explained, Obi-Wan chose to turn a blind eye to what he knew about Anakin’s relationship with Padmé. Though, he did toss up whether to confront his former apprentice. But he decided to leave it out of respect.
In conclusion, Obi-Wan’s first decade on Tatooine became his massive reality check. It was where he beat himself up over Anakin’s fall to the darkness. As he will say in his titular series, the Jedi lost. However, there is still hope in a certain ten-year-old boy living with Owen and Beru Lars, oblivious to his father’s true fate and his future to save said father from the darkness.
Obi-Wan Kenobi drops the first two episodes on Disney+ on May 27.
