Love is sacrifice; love is powerful. The topic is one that Star Wars has covered for forty-five years. From the first moment the audience witnesses Owen Lars’ overprotectiveness of his nephew, Luke, to Anakin and Padmé’s first kiss as husband and wife, love is a talking point throughout the galaxy, far, far away. This post is inspired by a recently dropped Vanity Fair article by Anthony Breznican, which highlights the upcoming television series coming to Disney+ in the foreseeable future.
One section, which talks about the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series, has a quote from director Deborah Chow. She references that throughout the prequels and the original films, there was a clear relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin/Vader, where they show love for each other, which is evident in the prequels where the pair were as close as brothers.
That’s what’s what we’re going to focus on here.
Anakin had a bright future ahead of him. He was about to become a father when Palpatine ripped the rug out from under him. The only choice was to turn to the one side he once vowed to never turn toward. But unfortunately, this one option left him with nothing. If he had listened to those he loved, he would not have lost everything.
Love Is Not Blind
Ignore what Padmé and Anakin talked about in Revenge of the Sith about love being blind. Star Wars has a way of using emotion to convey a meaning of an action. For example, Skywalker begging Ahsoka not to leave the Jedi Order was done out of not just friendship but love.
Anakin had come to see Ahsoka as his little shadow, the sister he never realised he needed. As she grew and matured, so did he. His frustrations in Revenge of the Sith don’t just stem from the festering wound of rejection dealt by the Jedi Council. Tano’s expulsion from the Order was one step in a multitude of pitfalls that forced Skywalker down the dark path.
The Padawan’s departure might’ve saved her life, but it didn’t protect her master from a fate he would soon suffer. If anything, it left an Ahsoka-sized hole in his heart. They had a love-hate relationship initially, but they accepted and leaned on each other when necessary. Not many Jedi leaned on each other as it was a form of attachment. Though, they were allowed to form friendships, as evident with Obi-Wan and Quinlan Voss.
The older, more orthodox Jedi like Mace Windu chose not to love, despite Anakin’s comment to Padmé about how the Jedi are encouraged to love. Windu’s fierce devotion to the Jedi Order is often blinding in its own right.
Love Is Difficult
Love is difficult. Take it from Obi-Wan Kenobi. His relationship with Duchess Satine of Mandalore is probably just as tragic as Anakin and Padmé’s marriage. Old Ben lost Satine to arch-nemesis Darth Maul as part of a revenge plot where the former Sith Lord wanted vengeance on Kenobi for leaving him to die after the Invasion of Naboo thirteen years earlier.
Obi-Wan and Satine made the choice years earlier not to pursue a romance. However, it ended up being something they would both come to regret. Only when the duchess lay dying in Kenobi’s arms did she confess her love for him. While this is real Romeo + Juliet stuff, anyone mixed up with Obi-Wan would meet a sticky end. While this might be cruel, it is no less the truth.
Maul wasn’t known to sugarcoat anything, and his thirst for revenge was still there. Mainly since he used Ezra Bridger to get to Kenobi; however, it resulted in his [Maul’s] death. He had never known love himself and took it from Obi-Wan as he felt he deserved it for ruining his existence.
The Love Of Brotherhood
We wanted to return to Deborah Chow’s comment in the Vanity Fair article to end this narrative. She said that deep down, Vader and Obi-Wan still share a lot of love, and that was what she and the writers chose to demonstrate in Obi-Wan Kenobi rather than approach the relationship as antagonistic.
From Vader’s perspective, Obi-Wan ruined his life. However, we need to consider that Palpatine has him so twisted that everyone still living from his past is the problem and should be dead. This backs up Dave Filoni’s comment regarding Ahsoka and Vader in Star Wars Rebels. The Sith Lord wanted his former apprentice dead as he views his teaching of her as a failure. In a way, this sums up the Kenobi dynamic too, but in reverse.
Vader sees Obi-Wan as a poor teacher who got in the way of his full potential. This was hinted at in Attack of the Clones during Anakin’s rant to Padmé after his mother’s death. However, this resentment seems to be revolved by the time we see them in The Clone Wars. It could have been outweighed by the love the pair had for each other as brothers.
