Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney+. It was written before Episode 3 premiered.
Watching the new Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney+ rekindled an emotion I hadn’t felt for a long, long time.
In Episode 2 of the new series, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor, revisiting the role he played in the prequels) broke my heart—and the collective heart of the galaxy—with one simple word: “Anakin.” It was a bombshell moment for me, and a reminder of something that might have always been true about this franchise: The Obi-Wan and Anakin story is the best part of Star Wars. (Or, at the very least, the prequels and Star Wars: The Clone Wars!)
Why did the “Anakin” line strike me in the heart so hard? The two episodes up to that point had been fantastic, with little Princess Leia sassing anyone who dared to insult her (Carrie Fisher would be so proud), excellent direction from Deborah Chow, and of course, revisiting the character of Obi-Wan in his pre-New Hope era.
What was it about that one line though? Why did “Anakin” hit differently? Why did Ewan McGregor manage to shatter my heart by saying his fallen student’s name, so quietly and yet with a weight of profoundness that was emotionally impactful?
And then I remembered: a magical time in a movie theater, 17 years ago.
When I saw Revenge of the Sith for the first time in 2005, I had no idea that Anakin Skywalker was also that evil Star Wars guy in the black suit from the original trilogy.
I was a simple middle schooler with next to no knowledge of the existing Star Wars canon.
However, Revenge of the Sith struck me right in the soul. Not because of Padme and Anakin’s obviously secret marriage, or Palpatine’s evil long game finally coming to fruition.
Oh no.
I was obsessed with the tragedy of Obi-Wan and Anakin. The good guy wasn’t supposed to turn bad! He wasn’t supposed to fight his friend and teacher on a deadly planet of flowing lava! I was thinking in absolutes just like the Sith!
Even Obi-Wan himself was stuck in that limited mindset of the “Jedi good, Sith bad” absolute dichotomy, telling Anakin, “You were the Chosen One! You were supposed to destroy the Sith, not join them!”
It was disconcerting to me that the heroes of the story failed. Miserably. Now with 17 years of hindsight on my shoulders, I can see that Anakin was doomed from the second Qui-Gon Jinn anointed him as the Chosen One.
That’s way too much pressure to put on someone whose spirit has already been crushed.
Obi-Wan told Anakin that he had failed him during their fateful duel on Mustafar. How could Anakin not try to hear his teacher out?
Wasn’t that supposed to be the point in the story where Anakin realized the error of his ways and went back to check on his unconscious wife whom he choked? And then he’d apologize and everyone would be A-OK?
I never felt so happy about being wrong about where a story was headed.
There’s a reason why the prequels are experiencing a renaissance of fan appreciation and nostalgia. Yes, there were many flaws in Episodes 1-3, but if there’s one thing George Lucas excelled at, it was creating characters that you couldn’t help but root for. The intergalactic space battles and political intrigue were just an added bonus.
The story at the heart of the Star Wars prequels was the rise and fall of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. I cared about both of them. I didn’t want Anakin to be consumed by darkness. I felt Obi-Wan’s pain when he left a limbless Anakin on Mustafar.
There’s really nothing more tragic than a prophecy played out with maximum impact.
I found myself particularly fascinated by the psychological aspect of the Mustafar duel. The destruction of Anakin and Obi-Wan’s bond felt more tragic than the fall of the Republic. Here were two best friends, brothers in arms, locked in a dance to the death where neither escaped fully the same.
That feeling of utter, unvarnished excitement over Obi-Wan and Anakin’s tragic relationship eventually faded from my memory. However, I eventually discovered that there were plenty of like-minded Star Wars fans on Twitter.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars proceeded to add multiple layers of depth to Obi-Wan and Anakin’s relationship, therefore amplifying the tragedy of their doomed, shattered bond.
It was no shocker when the Disney+ Obi-Wan Kenobi series was announced that there were multiple Twitter posts with some sort of variation of, “We need to see live-action flashback scenes of Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor during the Clone Wars!”
My inner fangirl from 2005 felt an odd sense of validation. There were people like me who were also obsessed with this tragic relationship! I wasn’t alone. However, I still didn’t quite feel the exact same sense of pure, unadulterated excitement that I once experienced watching Revenge of the Sith a long, long time ago.
Was I too jaded to feel that same sense of exhilaration in watching two space idiots never convey how much the other meant to them until it was too late? To lose myself in the shocking tragedy of two friends turned foes?
Because of course if I had access to the incredible Star Wars fan content that exists nowadays, I would’ve known from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace that little Anakin was destined for darkness. I could’ve easily looked up extensively researched YouTube videos breaking down Anakin’s entire arc before the prequels. Clips from Return of the Jedi, where the culmination of Anakin’s arc is his redemption. Analytical articles dissecting the complicated relationship between Obi-Wan and his apprentice.
Don’t get me wrong. All of that content is fantastic. But nothing beat that unmitigated feeling of awe when I watched Anakin and Obi-Wan duel each other for the first time.
Why couldn’t I feel that same emotion again?
Thankfully, Ewan McGregor, and Obi-Wan Kenobi’s director Deborah Chow and scriptwriter Joby Harold obviously sensed my feelings of discontent in the Force, and they were like, “Just you wait until Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 2, random Star Wars fan who didn’t know initially that Anakin Skywalker was Darth Vader!”
All jokes aside, the end of Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 2 delivered with Obi-Wan’s closing line.
The heartbreaking way Obi-Wan said, “Anakin,” with that thousand-yard stare sent chills down my spine.
After all, Obi-Wan had assumed that Anakin died on Mustafar. When we meet him in Obi-Wan Kenobi he’s a shattered shell of his former heroic self. Obi-Wan had buried his soul in the Tatooine sands along with his lightsaber.
Obi-Wan was a fighter. Ben Kenobi slices meat for money on a daily basis. He doesn’t even display an ounce of hope when Tatooine’s other Jedi in hiding reaches out to him for aid.
“It’s over. We lost,” Obi-Wan tells his fellow Jedi, utterly resigned.
Tell me, was it Anakin that lost it all on Mustafar, or Obi-Wan?
Obi-Wan only comes out of retirement to save little Princess Leia. However, his voice still lacks the spark he once had, even as he’s chasing Leia through the planet Daiyu. It takes all of his willpower to use the Force to save Anakin’s daughter from plummeting to her death from a tall building.
Obi-Wan’s voice still lacks energy when he tells Leia that she reminds him of a woman he once knew. Our hero is a broken man, desperately in need of a new hope himself (or a decent galactic therapist).
Ironically, it’s Reva (Moses Ingram) who provides the spark Obi-Wan needed all along. Her taunting revelation that Anakin was still alive and looking for him was obviously meant to terrify Obi-Wan.
Even the episode’s score swells to a horrifying crescendo as Darth Vader’s (Hayden Christensen) eyes snap open in his bacta tank when Obi-Wan says Anakin’s name for the first time in 10 years.
Underneath the obvious layer of horror in the scene, Obi-Wan sounded hopeful.
He had assumed Anakin was dead for 10 years. The way Ewan delivered the “Anakin” line sounded like Obi-Wan was excited at the chance to see a long-lost friend once again.
Obi-Wan finally had another opportunity to remedy his greatest failure.
Obi-Wan told his fellow Jedi on Tatooine that “We lost,” but in all actuality, Obi-Wan blamed himself. If he hadn’t failed Anakin as a teacher, then Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) never would’ve had the chance to take over the Republic. Order 66 never would’ve occurred because Palpatine never would’ve had the right opportunity to act on his sinister plan without consequences.
In Obi-Wan's eyes, his failure set off the chain reaction of events that doomed the entire galaxy. He had pinned all of his hope in the wrong person, and had to watch him scream in agony as he was burned alive in the lava of Mustafar.
Was it any wonder that Obi-Wan was depressed when we reunited with him in Obi-Wan Kenobi?
Reva meant to scare Obi-Wan with the truth. However, that was the spark Obi-Wan needed to wake up from the sad reality he had drowned in for 10 years.
Anakin Skywalker was still alive.
That meant Obi-Wan had a chance to make things right. Obi-Wan had always placed his purpose in helping others as a hero. When he lost that will to fight, he lost himself.
Obi-Wan might’ve had the high ground on Mustafar, but Anakin was right in a way when he said that Obi-Wan underestimated his power.
Anakin may not have bested him physically in that moment, but Anakin’s shadow haunted Obi-Wan for years emotionally.
We all know Obi-Wan won’t bring Anakin back to the light when they face off once again. However, what if it’s Obi-Wan that sets off a new chain reaction in his fallen apprentice that ultimately leads to his redemption in Return of the Jedi?
After all, what did Darth Vader tell Luke when his son was trying to appeal to his good side in Return of the Jedi?
“Obi-Wan once thought as you do.”
Darth Vader might’ve tried to kill the man he once was. But Obi-Wan said, “Anakin,” and not “Vader,” at the end of Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 2 for a reason.
Hope.
And in that moment of hope, I finally felt that comforting feeling of genuine joy hit me once more after 17 years.
That excitement of escaping into a great story once more, in a galaxy far, far away, where I had no idea what was going to happen next.
