Luke Skywalker is the key to destroy the Sith.

Obi-Wan Kenobi: "Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time."

I doubt his definition of a “long time” is ‘oh, a few years or so’.

 

True. The comics you mention where through the early years of Luke's life and we see he still delivers but obviously is getting older.

Vader was too focused into his revenge against Kenobi due to the living conflict he was immersed into (See Darth Vader # 24).

When Kenobi said so ("If you strike me down...") he was aware what was his destiny and embraced it.

My theory is that his potential confrontation with Maul (which I would love to be portrayed on a live-action spin-off, but would be definitely alright if it's shown in Rebels) was one of the last showdowns of his power and skills, and as @Alex Sebire wisely mentioned, his cunning to defeat his long-time enemy. We don't even have to get Luke into the mix: maybe Obi-Wan sees beyond Maul intentions, is aware of how Maul has been meddling into Kanan-Ezra master/student dynamics and gets afraid Maul looks for another apprentice in the vicinity and that makes him defeat the former Sith once and for all.

I know, when Kenobi said that, it could be due to:

1) either he was just pretending, like when he said "I don't remember ever owning a droid" regarding Artoo (which is actually correct, since R2-D2 was never his property, he served Queen Amidala first and then Anakin) but many fans will nitpick about it (talking to you, Screen Junkies!) or

2) Maul just called him "Kenobi" at the time of that potential confrontation. Any other potential contacts from out of Tatooine would be calling him either "Master Kenobi" or "General Kenobi".

 

Yeah, I get the general idea: Technically, guys, no one ever said “Obi-Wan”. So there’s no conflict. Ba-da-bing!

Which is all fine and great, but ultimately (for me) it betrays the essence of what that statement conveys. He’s saying he hasn’t BEEN Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Knight in a long time. Dueling a Sith Lord or counseling young Jedi would violate the spirit of who we see at the beginning of ANH. In my mind anyway. Most probably don’t agree.

 

I have to disagree with that. If Obi-Wan had his way he'd have been training Luke to become a Jedi since he was a young boy.

 

Wasn’t it Obi-Wan’s idea to hand him over to the lonely Lars’s in the first place though? If he’d wanted to train him, then he could have just kept him and raised the boy himself.

I’m not up on the comics, so if he specifically stated that somewhere canonically then I apologize. But I don’t recall that ever being mentioned in the films.

 

Yeah, it was stated in the comics not the films. Obi-Wan's role in exile was to protect Luke, and train in the less familiar aspects of the force. He didn't have the time to look after Luke as well.

Lars didn't want Luke to associate with Ben, so Obi-Wan encouraged Luke to hone his force skills with ship racing and stuff. It had to be subtle and "unseen" to avoid the ire of uncle Owen, as he wanted Luke to live a "normal" life.

 

Old Ben Kenobi was a familiar figure enough for Luke to have seen around but not really know. He certainly wasn't involved with any training hence the education at the start of ANH. His role was to watch and protect I believe.

 

My take, and it’s my own fault for seeing it this way, has always been that Kenobi distinguishes between ‘Obi-Wan’ and ‘Ben’ in much the same way he does ‘Anakin’ and ‘Vader’. He perceives the two identities as separate personas. ‘Ben Kenobi’ isn’t a Jedi. He’s a hermit, relegated to isolation and solemn contemplation. ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ is the hero of a now bygone era.

Hearing the name again harkens him back to the person he once was and later resonates when he decides he must become that man again - if only for one last damn-fool crusade. There’s a certain poetry about it for me and it would be marred by revealing that this mantle he picks up again wasn’t laid down all that long ago.

Exploiting a verbal loophole to make it possible just smacks of bad form to me. I hope it doesn’t happen, but won’t be surprised if it does.

Hmm, that explanation doesn’t really sound like Kenobi was still fulfilling the role of a Jedi though. Which is kind of where I was approaching it.

 

The three issues so far released from the Journal of Obi-Wan Kenobi seem to contradict that perspective on "Ben Kenobi" not being a Jedi.

 

Well, the story group's opinion matters more than mine does. I'm just disappointed

 

Well, that's the way it is, fortunately or unfortunately.

Remember wise Kenobi wise words:

"Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our point of view."

I'm on the same page regarding several things about the canon, but there's a little bit we can do other than fasten our seat belts on and try to enjoy the ride as much as we can!

 

Ha ha ha, well, he’d kind of have to make that claim now wouldn’t he.

 

is luke being "the key to destroying the sith" a bit of back tracking on the prophecy? personally i've felt for a while that anakin should have been the sith's "chosen one" and his son the jedi's "chosen one". without luke anakin would have stayed evil forever and never killed palps(except to replace him).

 

I guess they can and probably will go that route but it just makes it more complex. Anakin was to destroy the Sith and bring balance but he instead destroyed the Jedi and brought imbalance. Luke brought him back, compelled him to kill palps and then brings back the Jedi. It just seems to me that Luke was the one to write a prophecy about. Not the guy that killed kids and had a deathbed conversion to the light.

 

Being the guy that fixes something doesn’t preclude you from also being the guy who broke it in the first place. The prophecy only says that something will come to pass. We don’t get any indication on the how or why. I feel you’re attributing a messianic role to the ‘chosen one’ figure when there’s no real tangible case for it.

That being said, it was Palpatine that orchestrated the conditions of the ‘imbalance’, not Ani-Vader.

 

I have mixed feelings about the prospect of Obi-Wan killing Darth Maul (again?).

On the one hand, retconning Maul back to life sort of robbed Obi-Wan of an "achievement," so if Obi-Wan kills him again, then he gets back the "credit" he deserves.

On the other hand, I think Obi-Wan's Jedi career clearly ended in ROTS. He goes into exile and takes on a fake name. He only comes out of retirement at the very end of his life. It doesn't make sense to me for him to just throw in one more adventure in the middle of his retirement for no particular reason.

 

Well, not exactly according to the three comic issues released so far that cover some of his adventures living on Tatooine in the Journal of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

 

i guess his immaculate conception gave me the wrong impression.