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Revision as of 12:02, 25 April 2007
Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. He is one of the most prominent characters in the Star Wars saga; along with Anakin Skywalker, R2-D2, and C-3PO, he is one of the few major characters to appear (in some form or another) in each of the six Star Wars films. He is portrayed in The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith by Ewan McGregor. In A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, he is portrayed by Sir Alec Guinness. He is voiced by Bernard Behrens in the NPR radio adaptation of Star Wars, and by James Arnold Taylor in the Clone Wars micro series and in the video game Revenge of the Sith.
Kenobi first appears in A New Hope, seemingly a mysterious hermit. He is revealed as a Jedi Master, who then tutors Luke Skywalker to use the Force. In episodes I-III he appears as a young Jedi, progressing from Jedi apprentice to Jedi master.
Personality
In his youth (circa The Phantom Menace), the loyal and dedicated Obi-Wan Kenobi possesses a dry sense of humor and sarcastic wit, and a natural defiance. As a Jedi Master, Kenobi seems wise beyond his years, if a touch cynical, with a declared distrust of politicians. Kenobi prefers to make peace with words, earning him the nickname "The Negotiator" during the Clone Wars.
In the original Star Wars trilogy, he appears as a kindly and eccentric old hermit of the Jundland Wastes, and wizard to those not familiar with the ways of the Jedi. During the prequel trilogy, Kenobi matures from a headstrong Jedi apprentice (or Padawan) in The Phantom Menace into a cautious mentor in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.
Appearances
The Phantom Menace
At the beginning of The Phantom Menace, Obi-Wan Kenobi is a 25-year old Padawan to Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. He accompanies Jinn to Naboo, a planet ruled by Queen Padmé Amidala. After making an unscheduled landing on Tatooine, his master stumbles upon Anakin Skywalker, a young slave who shows tremendous potential with the Force. Believing the boy to be the prophesied "Chosen One" who would bring balance to the Force by destroying the Sith, Jinn asks the Jedi Council that the boy to be trained as a Jedi. Kenobi is also amazed in Anakin's unprecedented midi-chlorian count and strong Force potential, but initially thinks he should not be trained, believing the boy is already too old and had acquired too many emotional attachments to become a Jedi. The Jedi Council agrees, and forbids training for Anakin, in whom they see a great deal of fear and anger.
During the Battle of Naboo, Queen Amidala and her entourage of guards split up from her Jedi bodyguards when the Sith Lord Darth Maul arrives to eliminate the Queen. Wielding a double-bladed lightsaber, Maul simultaneously battles both Jinn and Kenobi. After being separated from the lightsaber duel via holo-shields, Kenobi watches in horror as Maul impales his master. Enraged, Kenobi engages Maul in a fierce duel, cutting Maul's lightsaber in half. Maul knocks Kenobi into a reactor chasm and kicks his lightsaber into the depths below. Kenobi grabs onto an extending pole, breaking his fall. He then calms himself and reconnects with the Force, utilizing it to hurl himself into the air and simultaneously bring his master's lightsaber into his hand, startling Maul and giving him just enough time to slice the Sith Lord in half. The dying Jinn tells Kenobi to train Anakin to be a Jedi, and Kenobi promises that he will.
For his heroics in defeating a Sith (making him the first Jedi in 1,000 years to do so), Master Yoda personally bestows the rank of Jedi Knight upon Kenobi, who then says that he would take it upon himself to train Anakin whether the Council allowed him to or not. Yoda reluctantly agrees, but warns Kenobi to be careful with the troubled boy.[1]
Attack of the Clones
Ten years later, in Attack of the Clones, Kenobi has become an experienced Jedi Knight. He and Anakin are tasked with protecting Padmé, now a Senator, after an attempt is made on her life. Kenobi tracks the mysterious assassin to Kamino, and learns about a massive clone army that the planet's inhabitants are building for the Galactic Republic. He then meets with the bounty hunter Jango Fett, the template for the clones, and figures out that he is the one responsible for the assassination attempts on Padmé.
Attack of the Clones reveals that Kenobi's relationship with Anakin is, by now, strained; over the years, Anakin has become a headstrong and arrogant young man, and is beginning to chafe under Kenobi's tutelage. More dangerously, he has begun to ignore Kenobi's teachings in favor of the advice of Chancellor Palpatine, who feeds the young man's fragile ego and subtly undermines his faith in the old Jedi ways. Anakin and Padmé have also fallen in love, an emotional attachment forbidden to Jedi Knights by the Jedi Code.
Kenobi attempts to apprehend Fett, who escapes to Geonosis with his unaltered clone Boba. Kenobi follows them by placing a homing beacon on Fett's ship, Slave I.
On Geonosis, Kenobi learns of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, also known as the Separatists, a conspiracy of star systems that wants to secede from the Republic. The renegades are led by rogue Jedi Count Dooku, who was once Qui-Gon Jinn's master. Kenobi is captured shortly after sending a message to Anakin. While in captivity, Dooku reveals that the Senate is under the control of a Sith Lord called Darth Sidious.
Later, Anakin and Padmé arrive on Geonosis to rescue Kenobi. They are themselves captured, however, and all three are sentenced to death by the Geonosians. The executions are prevented by the timely arrival of Jedi and clone reinforcements, led by Jedi Masters Mace Windu and Yoda. Kenobi and Anakin confront Dooku and engage him in a lightsaber duel. Dooku strikes Anakin with Force lightning, then turns the deadly barrage onto Kenobi, who easily blocks the attack with his lightsaber. The two duel and Dooku outmanuevers Kenobi, striking him on both his left arm and leg. Dooku is about to deliver a killing blow when Anakin recovers from the lightning and blocks Dooku's attack. Dooku and Anakin fight a short duel, and Dooku cuts off Anakin's right arm (which was later replaced by a robotic prosthetic). Yoda arrives and fights Dooku as well, but the Sith escapes; he creates a distraction by nearly killing Kenobi and Anakin.[2]
Revenge of the Sith
At the beginning of Revenge of the Sith, Kenobi (now a member of the Jedi Council) and Anakin board Separatist warlord General Grievous' flagship, the Invisible Hand, and fight their way to the Chancellor. There, they find Dooku, who engages them both in a duel. During the duel, Kenobi is rendered unconscious, leaving Anakin to face Dooku alone. Anakin defeats Dooku and, at Palpatine's urging, executes the defenseless Count, in violation of the Jedi Code.
When Palpatine appoints Anakin to the Jedi Council as his representative, Kenobi (with the rest of the Council) disapproves, considering Anakin too young and headstrong, and reasons that his membership gives the Chancellor a vote in Jedi affairs. Anakin protests when the Jedi Council denies him the rank of Master and orders him to spy on Palpatine, but Kenobi talks him into accepting it, warning Anakin of his "dangerous" friendship with the Chancellor.
Kenobi is called away to Utapau to confront General Grievous. This leaves Palpatine, who is secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, free to continue corrupting Anakin. The Sith Lord eventually manipulates the young Jedi into embracing the dark side as the Sith Lord Darth Vader.
Kenobi engages Grievous in combat and, after an exhausting battle, shoots and kills him with a blaster. Moments later, however, Kenobi's own clone forces turn on him; Unbeknownst to Kenobi, Palpatine had issued Order 66, directing clone troopers to turn on their Jedi generals. Kenobi escapes by stealing Grievous' star fighter and rendezvousing with Senator Bail Organa and Yoda aboard Organa's ship, the Tantive IV.
Along with Yoda and Organa, Kenobi returns to Coruscant, where he and Yoda discover that every Jedi in the Jedi Temple has been murdered, even the children. They kill the clones remaining at the Temple, and discover that the clones were led there by Anakin. Kenobi reprogrammes a beacon, which had been instructing all remaining Jedi to return to Coruscant (where they surely would be slain), by instructing them to scatter across the galaxy and remain in hiding.
Subsequently, Kenobi and Yoda split up to confront the two Sith Lords, Vader and Sidious. Kenobi wishes to fight Sidious, hating the thought of having to kill his friend and pupil. Yoda, however, insists that Kenobi is not strong enough to fight Sidious, and that he will have to accept that Anakin had been "consumed by Darth Vader."
Before going to fight his former Padawan, however, Kenobi goes to visit Padmé, who by now is Anakin's secret wife and is pregnant with his child. He mournfully tells her what Anakin has done, and reveals that he knows about their marriage. A horrified Padmé refuses to accept what Kenobi tells her, but is brave enough to go out and confront Anakin herself. Kenobi stows away in her ship.
Kenobi finds Vader at the volcanic moon of Mustafar, and attempts to reason with his former student to pull him away from the dark side. When he emerges from Padmé's ship, however, Vader immediately suspects that Padmé has betrayed him, and uses the dark side to choke her into unconsciousness. Vader reveals himself to be mad with power and corrupted (seemingly) beyond redemption. Kenobi has no choice but to engage him in a long and epic duel, which ranges through the Mustafar mining complex, the lava rivers, and finally the black sand. Kenobi tries to persuade Vader to relent, but Vader ignores his warnings and leaps forward to deliver the killing blow. Kenobi sees an opening and severs Vader's legs and remaining arm with one stroke. Kenobi refuses to inflict the killing blow to his former apprentice, however, and leaves him burning on the volcanic slopes, taking Anakin's lightsaber with him. Vader sustains near-fatal third-degree burns and severe lung and throat damage. He survives long enough to be rescued by Palpatine, and is later saved via extensive medical prosthetics and an artificial respirator, transforming him into the cyborg depicted in the first trilogy.
Kenobi assists in hiding Anakin's children after Padmé dies in childbirth. Luke is put on Tatooine with Owen Lars, so that Kenobi can look after him in secret, while his twin Leia was put on Alderaan in Organa's care. Yoda then tells Kenobi that he has more training for him: the spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn would teach him how to retain his identity through the Force and commune with the living after death.
A New Hope
Kenobi's first appeared in the Star Wars universe in Episode IV: A New Hope, set 19 years after the fall of the Republic. He is known to the inhabitants of Tatooine as Ben Kenobi, an eccentric hermit who lives in the Jundland Wastes (he had assumed this identity to hide from the Empire). He's first seen rescuing Luke Skywalker from Tusken Raiders while the boy looks for R2-D2. Kenobi presents Luke with Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber. Kenobi hears R2-D2's message from Princess Leia Organa asking for his help in delivering the schematics of the Death Star to Alderaan and enlists Luke to assist him. Kenobi takes young Luke under his wing in order to teach him the ways of the Force with the intention of fully training the boy later on Alderaan. When Luke asks Kenobi about his father, Kenobi disguises the truth from him, saying, "a young Jedi named Darth Vader... betrayed and murdered your father." In Kenobi's way of thinking, this was not entirely untrue: as the Jedi Master reasoned in Return of the Jedi, Anakin Skywalker died the moment he betrayed the Jedi, completely becoming Darth Vader.
Luke and Kenobi buy passage to Alderaan on the Millennium Falcon, a freight ship owned by smuggler Han Solo with Chewbacca, a Wookiee. Before they can reach their destination, however, Alderaan is destroyed by the Death Star on the orders of Grand Moff Tarkin. The Millennium Falcon is captured by the Death Star's tractor beam. By a quirk of fate, Princess Leia is on board, and her rescue is gallantly executed by Han and Luke. Kenobi, meanwhile, sets off to disable the tractor beam so that the Falcon can escape. Kenobi is aware of Vader's presence, and knows he isn't coming back. He deactivates the tractor beam and confronts Vader in a lightsaber duel. He allows Vader to strike him down in order to create a distraction so Luke could escape. His body vanishes, and he becomes one with the Force.
During the Battle of Yavin, Kenobi communicates with Luke through the Force, giving him guidance and counsel as Luke destroys the Death Star.
The Empire Strikes Back
In Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back just before Luke is knocked out on the plains of Hoth, Kenobi appears and tells Luke to go to the Dagobah system for further training with Yoda. After Luke has been trained as a Jedi, Kenobi appears in Dagobah to try and dissuade him from going to Cloud City, where Vader holds Han and Leia hostage, as he feels his young apprentice is not yet ready to face Vader one-on-one. After Luke insists on facing Vader, Kenobi says sadly that he couldn't help him.
Luke is nearly killed in a lightsaber duel with Vader, who reveals to him that he is his father and tries to enlist him into the dark side of the Force. Luke escapes, but is haunted by the truth Kenobi withheld from him.
Return of the Jedi
In Return of the Jedi, a dying Yoda confirms to Luke that Vader is indeed his father. After Yoda's death, Kenobi appears on Dagobah to explain to a heartbroken Luke why he did not tell him the truth about his father, and to confess that Leia was his sister. Kenobi admits that his own pride had been partly to blame for Anakin Skywalker's fall from grace: "I thought I could instruct him just as well as Yoda. I was wrong." He then tries to explain to Luke that killing Vader is the only way to destroy the Empire and save the galaxy, even if it meant committing patricide.
At the end of the film, Kenobi appears alongside the souls of fellow Jedi Yoda and a redeemed Anakin Skywalker on the forest moon of Endor, watching over Luke and his comrades as they celebrate the destruction of the second Death Star and, with it, the Empire.
In Lucas' initial outline for Return of the Jedi, Kenobi returned from his existence in the Force to become a living human being again.[3]
Expanded Universe
Early life
Details of Obi-Wan's life before the prequel trilogy are mostly found in Jude Watson's Jedi Apprentice series, a series of novels aimed at younger readers. Obi-Wan is 12 years old at the beginning of this series, and 18 at its end. During this time, he meets many Jedi who would later be important friends, including Bant Eerin, and Siri Tachi, as well as a rival named Bruck Chun.
According to the novels, Obi-Wan was born 57 years before the Battle of Yavin, and trained as a youngling in the Jedi Temple under Yoda. Without a Jedi teacher, however, Obi-Wan would have been appointed to work in agricultural labor, where he might never have reached his full potential. Eventually he was accepted by Master Qui-Gon Jinn as a padawan learner.
Clone Wars
Throughout the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan becomes a storied General of the Republic as well as a Jedi Master and member of the Jedi Council. His skills of persuasion earn him the nickname, "The Negotiator" and he assists in many famous battles, most of which end in victory because of his help.
Other living appearances
- Secrets of the Jedi - records the relationship between 18-year-old Obi-Wan Kenobi and fellow Padawan Siri Tachi on a mission to protect a young witness from bounty hunters. The two Jedi are sent on a similar mission 20 years later, near the end of the Clone Wars.
- Cloak of Deception - takes place before The Phantom Menace, when Kenobi is still Qui-Gon Jinn's Padawan apprentice.
- He appeared as a playable character in the game Star Wars: Obi-Wan at the same age, 25, as he was in The Phantom Menace. He is also a playable hero in Star Wars: Battlefront II, makes an appearance in one of the missions of the Gungan Campaign in Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds and is one of the main characters in the Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith video game (2005).
- The Jedi Quest series of young reader novels takes place between the events of The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones and explores the relationship between Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.
- Rogue Planet - He appears in this novel after the events of The Phantom Menace as a Jedi Knight sent along with a 12-year-old Anakin to discover the location of missing Jedi Vergere.
- Outbound Flight - Following the events of Rogue Planet and before those of The Approaching Storm, Kenobi, along with his apprentice, are sent to keep an eye on power-hungry Jedi Master Jorus C'Baoth, who is obsessed with his "Outbound Flight Project".
- The Approaching Storm - Just before the events of Attack of the Clones, Kenobi travels to Ansion with Anakin, Jedi Master Luminara Unduli, and her Padawan, Barriss Offee, in order to solve a dispute that, if handled improperly, could bring hundreds of worlds into the Separatist fold.
- Jedi Trial - Kenobi makes an appearance in the prologue, in which Anakin gets unnecessarily excited about going on a mission with his Master. Obi-Wan says that the Jedi Council only gave him a mission, not both him and Anakin.
- The Cestus Deception - Kenobi is a major character in this novel, set during the Clone Wars. He is sent with Kit Fisto and a small force of Clones to Cestus to prevent the manufacture of Jedi Killer Droids for the Separatists.
- Yoda: Dark Rendezvous - Kenobi makes an appearance in this Clone Wars-era novel, which is centered on Yoda.
- Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader - Kenobi appears at the end of the book, set immediately after the events of Revenge of the Sith. He is stunned to see on the Holonet that Emperor Palpatine has a new right-hand man, a Sith Lord named Darth Vader — whom, of course, he knows to be Anakin. He is then visited by the spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn, who tells him that Darth Vader is indeed Anakin, but that he shouldn't worry about Luke's safety, as Vader would never set foot on Tatooine in fear of bringing back painful memories.
- Last of the Jedi - Following two years of solitude on Tatooine after the events of Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan assists in saving the life of a fellow Jedi who escaped the Great Jedi Purge.
- He is a character in the video game Star Wars: Empire at War.
Postmortem appearances
- Kenobi appeared briefly in the 1978 made-for-TV movie, The Star Wars Holiday Special. He was shown in flashbacks that Chewbacca was having during the Life Day ceremonies, of his former adventures that involved Kenobi from the film, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
- In Timothy Zahn's novel Allegiance, set between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, Luke hears Obi-Wan's voice providing guidance. Obi-Wan attempts to just gently nudge Luke toward what he needs to know, but often is forced to reveal more information due to Luke's inexperience in the Force.
- In The Truce at Bakura, a novel that is set immediately after the Battle of Endor, Kenobi speaks again to Luke Skywalker warning him of the threat posed by the invading Ssi-Ruuvi Imperium.
- Kenobi, Yoda, and Anakin Skywalker again appeared to Luke in spirit form a few months later to warn him of the dangers presented by the Dark Lord Flint, apprentice of Lady Lumiya, heir to the Sith legacy. Because of their warning, Luke was able to redeem Flint, leaving the reigning Sith Master without an apprentice. This is the last known time Luke saw his father and Yoda, though Anakin Skywalker spoke to Luke's nephew, Jacen Solo, decades later in the New Jedi Order novels Balance Point and The Unifying Force.
- Kenobi appeared to Luke again one year after the Empire's destruction to alert him to the presence of the Jedi Prince Ken, Palpatine's grandson, who soon became a pawn in a coup orchestrated by a group of false Prophets of the Dark Side set up by Imperial Intelligence.
- In Timothy Zahn's novel Heir to the Empire, set five years after the Battle of Endor, Kenobi visited Luke for the last time in a dream. Kenobi told Luke that he must move on from his spirit form to another realm. As Kenobi explained it, from the time of his death until the time of the novel, his spirit had been in an intermediate stage between life and the afterlife. This was Kenobi's final appearance in the timeline of the Star Wars universe. His final words are: "Not the last of the old Jedi, Luke. The first of the new."
- In Kenobi's Blade, a young reader novel featuring Anakin Solo, it is revealed that Vader hid his former master's lightsaber in a retreat on Vjun.
- In Edge of Victory: Rebirth, Luke's son is born and is given the name Ben, after the name Luke had always known the older man by.
- Luke Skywalker, who never knew his father growing up, viewed Kenobi as the father he never had. (Ironically, Luke's real father, Anakin, felt the same way about Kenobi before he was corrupted.) According to the book Star Wars: The Essential Guide To Characters, Kenobi returned the parental feelings to both Anakin and Luke. It is revealed in the book that one of the last things Obi-Wan ever said to Luke was "I loved you like a son."
- In Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy,Kenobi is playable as a ghost.
Inspirations
The character is loosely inspired by General Makabe Rokuruta, a character from The Hidden Fortress played by Toshiro Mifune, whom Lucas also considered casting as Kenobi.[citation needed]
See also
References
- ^ Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Novelization, 1st edition paperback, 1999. Terry Brooks, George Lucas, ISBN 0-345-43411-0
- ^ Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Novelization, 2003. R. A. Salvatore, ISBN-X
- ^ George Lucas (June 12, 1981). "STAR WARS - EPISODE VI: "REVENGE OF THE JEDI" REVISED ROUGH DRAFT". Starkiller. Retrieved 2007-02-22.
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- The New Essential Guide to Characters, 1st edition, 2002. Daniel Wallace, Michael Sutfin, ISBN 0-345-44900-2
- Star Wars Episode I Who's Who: A Pocket Guide to Characters of the Phantom Menace, hardcover, 1999. Ryder Windham, ISBN 0-7624-0519-8
- Star Wars: Power of Myth, 1st edition paperback, 2000. DK Publishing, ISBN 0-7894-5591-9
- Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary, hardcover, 1998. David West Reynolds, ISBN 0-7894-3481-4
- Star Wars: The Phantom Menace: The Visual Dictionary, hardcover, 1999. David West Reynolds, ISBN 0-7894-4701-0
- Star Wars: Attack of the Clones: The Visual Dictionary, hardcover, 2002. David West Reynolds, ISBN 0-7894-8588-5
- Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith: The Visual Dictionary, hardcover, 2005. James Luceno, ISBN 0-7566-1128-8
- Revised Core Rulebook (Star Wars Roleplaying Game), 1st edition, 2002. Bill Slavicsek, Andy Collins, J.D. Wiker, Steve Sansweet, ISBN 0-7869-2876-X
- Star Wars Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, 1st edition, 2000. Bill Slavicsek, Andy Collins, ISBN 0-7869-1793-8
External links
- Official site Obi-Wan Kenobi databank entry
- Kenobi, Obi-Wan - lightsaber duels
- Obi-Wan Kenobi on Wookieepedia, a Star Wars wiki
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