SPECULATION Kenobi's Mistake?

Of course it was a mistake. He was sent to kill Anakin. He did not kill him. That means he failed. And it cannot be explained by the lack of time - pushing him to the lava with the force would take just a few seconds.

 

There is always room for forgiveness! Compassion and grace can be given. Anakin may have been angry to know his mentor left him to burn alive but we have to remember the Jedi Code called for a sense of emotional detachment, which is hypocritical in itself. You can love someone, but hate the things they do.

 

The idea that Obi-Wan's sole reason to confront Anakin was to kill the latter is abhorrent to me. All it does is make Obi-Wan a potential murderer. I feel the same about Yoda and Mace's attempts to kill Palpatine. Just because the victim is evil, does not mean that the perputrator (good guy)'s action is not a crime.

 

I think Obi-Wan and Mace have a decent shot at a self-defense plea (and a high probability of such a plea in a stand-your-ground state). Yoda just knocks those guards out, lol.

 

I always wondered about that myself, I don't know how he managed to walk away while Anakin was literally burning. I guess Obi-Wan just didn't have the heart to kill him, even if leaving him like that was obviously much more cruel. It was a very difficult, emotionally charged situation, so his decision is understandable. Of course, it was just a bad screenwriting choice, but we can rationalize it well enough. Not like it's the worst choice in the prequels.
No, the worst in my opinion is Obi-Wan ignoring Anakin's nightmares. There is so much wrong with that, I don't even know where to begin. Obi-Wan should have known that if the chosen one has horrible nightmares, they come from the force. What Jedi would ignore something like that? Obi-Wan doing it was almost unbelievable to me. On top of that, he was Anakin's friend and father figure. You would think that he'd be willing to listen to him and deal with whatever troubles him. But no, he chose to give the same advice one would give to a child. In turn, Anakin started to stray from him and hide things in an attempt to fix the situation on his own, which led him to turn to Padme for comfort, which led to them falling in love and getting married, which led Anakin to hide more things from Obi-Wan and the Jedi Order, which led to him becoming vulnerable to the dark side, which led to him becoming a nightmare for the entire galaxy for the next 20 years.
But I love young Obi-Wan, he's the best character in the prequels by far. Somehow Ewan McGregor manages to convey the noble traits of Obi-Wan (and fun personality) despite his insane decisions. Some of the things he does are so obviously out of character that I can't get mad at Obi-Wan, just the screenwriter.

 

What if that scene wasn't a bad screenwriting choice? What if this was Lucas' way of showing just how low Obi-Wan can sink and that he wasn't the "ideal" Jedi that so many fans still want to believe?

 

Their self-defense pleas went out of the window when Mace made a move to kill Palpatine and when Obi-Wan left Anakin on that lava bank to slowly burn to death. And if Yoda was really there to "arrest" Palpatine, he had failed to make his intentions known. And unlike Mace, Yoda said NOTHING to the Sith Lord about arresting him.

Why do fans go out of their way to make excuses for the Jedi characters?

 

Because he was like a brother to him - as a Jedi he hadn't the heart to kill him

 

For some reason I'm imagining Kenobi and Yoda Force-threading about how dumb they were for 20 years they were in exile, lmao

 

I always thought the Jedi way was not to kill the unarmed or injured. He acted in the manner expected of a Master Jedi. He defeated the enemy as instructed by Yoda. I believe he left it up to fate at that point. Was it a mistake, yes. If Vader dies at that point, ObiWan, Yoda and some surviving Jedi could probably have dealt with Palpatine. Padme's children become less important to the story.

 

I don't think he should've left him there and rather captured him or brought him back for trial somehow.

 

Not taking him to Utapau, and leaving him to burn.

 

Anakin was engulfed in flames....Obi-Wan thought he was dead or at least a goner....there wasn't much else to do. It's not that hard to figure out.

 

No, Kenobi’s greatest mistake was believing Anakin was beyond redemption:

Luke: There is good in him, I’ve felt it.
Obi: He’s more machine now than man, twisted and evil.

Then there is Yoda’s line, “once you start down the the Dark Path, forever will it dominate your destiny.” And yet Vader proved this to be fals, and became a Force Ghost alongside Yoda.