SPOILER Official Obi-Wan Disney+ Series - Discussion

This series has aged very well in my opinion. I like the idea of a one-and-done limited series. What I would like to see more than OWK Season 2 would be another six to eight episode limited series that spins off from this one. Reva would be the obvious subject, but also think about Roken's Raiders, or Haja taking over the Hidden Path for Nala... Or make me the happiest nerd-boy in the whole wide world and do The House Organa.

 

I'd check out a Reva spinoff because it's star wars and to give it a chance but can't say I'd be yay yay about it. I think a comic would fit her best

 

https://www.threads.net/@thereyofwa...QGz7LDkIzZmlsTeXFFehHnSeGXhCe94sR-U3VWQf2G67A

 

Um...personally I think I lost my affection for the Jedi when Obi Wan left Anakin to die instead of finishing him off to end his suffering.

 

"It's kind of gruesome, but it's necessary to get him into that suit. And it's also tragic. It also had to be done in a way that Obi-Wan thinks that he's killed him. But he hasn't. So I wanted the flames to last until Obi-Wan left and then they died down and turned off . . . so to speak." - George Lucas, ROTS Commentary

From the way it's presented in the film though, Anakin is pretty clearly still alive when OB leaves, but the intent (apparently) was for Obi-Wan to consider Anakin dead. No need to kill a dead man you never wanted to fight in the first place.

 

I've personally never had much issue with how it's portrayed (it's a little heartless, but I don't get hung up on it), but I feel like George thought he'd written himself into a corner more than he had.

There are plenty of ways that Anakin could've been maimed enough to be in the suit, but Kenobi could't put him out of his misery. Have them separated in different rooms, have Kenobi chased away by Imperial reinforcements, have Anakin in an area that explodes, with Kenobi thinking him dead, etc.

If he wasn't happy with the result, I'm sure he could've come up with something else.

 

Probably easiest to have just had Anakin stop moving and making noise in the scene. "Well, that sure looks like one hell of a thoroughly dead guy to me."

 

Definitely a simple way to do it.

I guess you could ask why he didn't take the body, but I don't think that's a huge issue.

 

So . . . it could be burned?

 

I feel that the way Obi-Wan leaves Anakin on Mustafar is a major part of where we find him in the OWK series. Both of them really. They are both tortured mentally and emotionally, Vader is tortured physically in that suit. The look on Obi-Wan's face when Reva drops that bomb... It is clear his thought is that is the absolute only thing that could have had a bigger impact than what he had lived with all those years. Anakin being left for dead by his closest friend, his brother, his Master was surely a major factor in making Vader what he was.

 

I imagine the only modicum of relief he had in isolation was the comfort in knowing Anakin died before becoming something truly monstrous. And then even that solace was taken.

 

These are the things that in my opinion make this series GREAT, and honestly why I'd rather not see a Season 2. There is so much under the surface. Obi-Wan was never really a flashy character in the PT but he was very confident and not afraid to speak up when he thought it valid. When we see him here, he is a broken and broken-down man. Sure, it's easy to say well, he's in isolation, all his friends and family were slaughtered and there are these baddies hunting any remaining Jedi, blah, blah... But there is more going on behind those eyes. The only living person that could give him empathy or sympathy or even a smidge of respect and concern, Owen, treats him like garbage. Anakin's son is within reach constantly yet he is forbidden to make any connection. He is forced to accept mistreatment for himself and others by cruel employers, he even takes poodoo from frickin' Jawas with no recourse. Jedi Obi-Wan would have leapt into the ship with Bail Organa to help, but he is so beat down he doesn't even see his own value when approached by an old friend.

--- Double Post Merged, May 9, 2024, Original Post Date: May 9, 2024 ---

Possibly, but even then he probably had the same guilt as Ahsoka in feeling he could have, should have done more to protect Anakin and not let him fall to the Dark in the first place. Layers and layers here!

 

It's appropriate to at least be ambivalent about how Obi Wan leaves Anakin on Mustafar. Kenobi has a lot of conflicting motives and pressures. They have to destroy the Sith. He swore to defend the Republic and democracy. But Anakin was his brother and he couldn't bring himself to dispassionately end his brother's life either to serve demonocracy while tying up loose ends or to hasten the end to his suffering. When Anakin screams "I hate you" it introduces the "out" that Obi Wan will give to himself. Deep down his brother doesn't hate him. He knows this. So how does he explain it? Well, that damned thing crawling through fire is not his brother. Someone already killed Anakin. Otherwise the pair of them would be walking out of that valley of lava together. One would carry the other if it were necessary. So that simply cannot be Anakin. And to rescue the hateful creature writhing in flames would be giving it the compassion and love that had ultimately failed Anakin and lead to this moment.
That compartmentalisation allows Obi Wan to walk away, his duty presumably fulfilled. And to leave that stranger to its fate with his own guilt somewhat assuaged, or at least deferred. In doing so though, he exposes hypocrisy in the professed Jedi philosophy of universal love. (I won't get to deep into defining that hypocrisy, but suffice to say "easier said than done" and "it ain't necessarily so" and all that.) No doubt Obi Wan took further solace from the belief that it was destined to be that way and/or that the force willed it.

This is what makes Obi Wan's discovery of Vader's existence such a profound moment. Now, that "destiny" is uncertain again. Vader is not just a pathetic unrepentant, dying enemy to turn his back on. He's walking and breathing and talking (all after a fashion). And he is appropriately monolithic, since all Vader represents is that moment of destiny that has merely been postponed until now. Obi Wan acknowledges this when, before their final encounter in this series, again he tries, unsuccessfully, to speak with his old master. It's a plea for understanding and forgiveness for what he's about to do, which, if "successful" will be he fulfilment at long last of his Jedi duty. Or he will die. Either way it's the destiny that was deferred years ago on Mustafar. Besides just wanting his master's help and guidance. I think Obi Wan hoped his confession would put him in a state of grace that he wasn't in on Mustafar.

Obi Wan approaches this showdown as if it was Mustafar all over again. And this time he's going to try and do right what he couldn't back then. Whatever that might be. Except it's not exactly the same. Whatever conflict Anakin had at the time has been replaced with pure hatred that Vader has for Kenobi and is needed to sustain him and make him potent. "I am what you made me!" is about more than just his appearance being manifestation of what Vader now symbolises to Kenobi. It means that he exists to hate Obi Wan for his betrayal and remind him of his guilt and their entwined destinies. This relative lack of conflict in Vader actually makes it easier for Obi Wan to perform as he has to. Obi Wan is like "Hatred is it? Fine. Have it your way. I have responsibilities and I can do without having to entertain your emotional sparring matches. How about I just put you out of your misery right now? If I must." (Aside. If you've never seen Ridley Scott's The Duelists, check it out ASAP).

At this point Vader, rendered helpless once again, wants nothing more than for Obi Wan to be forced to witness him dying this time. But he also wants to goad Obi Wan into hatred for him by taking credit for Anakin's demise. Obi Wan is thus able to excuse himself again. It's with the same regret as before but this time without the bitterness. "I'm sorry, Anakin. For everything." You can infer what Kenobi's resolution is in this "I don't have to play this game with you. Our destiny will need to wait until it reveals what purpose it serves other than just breaking the tension of our conflict with finality."

 

Both times Obi-Wan spares Anakin, it definitely comes off as "cruel mercy." Given how many innocent people Anakin slaughtered though, including some of his fellow Jedi, I really don't blame Obi-Wan at all.

 

Firstly I really like your overall perspective. A question about this particular piece...
Do you think Obi-Wan truly went to Mustafar thinking he would have to kill Anakin? If not, what did he think the resolution would have been?

 

I doubt it was tremendously easier to lop off two legs and an arm than to remove Annie’s head. Even at the end, Obi-Wan was trying stop him without killing him. It’s not his fault the guy was so impressively flammable.

 

I think not. I think he was confident of defeating Anakin. And likely was sure of it by the time their duel commenced. (I think that offering to face Palpatine shows Kenobi's confidence as much as it does his hesitancy to confront the truth about Anakin)

I feel like Obi Wan hoped, best case scenario, that their sparring duels in the temple would just repeat themselves and Anakin would yield. I don't think he expected it to last so long. And for fate to lead them to the spot where Anakin made his big mistake.

Slaying Anakin to prevent him from burning alive, or something similar, certainly never entered his mind and he could not have been prepared for it.

I think when he goes to confront Vader once more in OWK, he thinks he's going in prepared this time. Or hopes he is. How could he know until the moment? (When the moment came, Luke found that he was in fact prepared to kill Vader.)


I think we may never know for sure if Obi Wan was ever prepared to destroy Anakin.

 

But on the other hand, we do know Obi Wan had prepared himself to be 'destroyed' by Anakin.

"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."

 

That's right. After receiving training from Qui Gon.

 

Also, by that point on the Death Star, Obi-Wan would have felt that he had "fulfilled his mission". Luke had begun his training. He and Leia were reunited. Sacrificing himself allowed Luke and Leia to escape and would surely serve as motivation for them to fight Vader. In death, he truly does become more powerful.