How ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Threw What We Knew About the Old Hermit out the Window
One of my favorite aspects of the Disney+ Obi-Wan Kenobi series is that the show informs a lot of relationships that we see in the original Star Wars trilogy in a way that changes how we see them. For instance, giving a younger Leia Organa (played beautifully by Vivien Lyra Blair) a larger role in the series makes her calling out to Obi-Wan for help in A New Hope make more sense. It also gives us new insight into what Obi-Wan was doing and throws the narrative of him being a “hermit” who just hid away on Tatooine out the window as well.
But looking at the series as a whole, the relationship that really plays the most important part in this story is Ben’s with the Skywalker twins. While he makes connections throughout his journey to get Leia home and grows in his relationship to Anakin/Darth Vader, it is the moments between Ben Kenobi and Luke and Leia that really remind us who Obi-Wan is—and also show us that he’s no hermit after all.
His relationship with Luke
The show saved Obi-Wan’s relationship to Luke Skywalker for the very end, and for good reason. Uncle Owen (Joel Edgerton) wanted to keep Luke safe and away from the Jedi, but he also wanted him to just be a kid for a while, something that didn’t seem to compute with Obi-Wan. So what we saw in the beginning of the series was a man who was just what everyone thought he would be: a hermit. He lived in a cave on the outskirts of town and kept trying to leave toys for Luke like some sand fairy. But Uncle Owen wasn’t having it.
That leads to a beautiful moment at the end of the series after Obi-Wan comes back to Tatooine to save Luke from Reva. He is talking with Owen, who again brings up the idea that Obi-Wan needs to leave them alone, and when Ben says that he is and he’s going somewhere new, Owen lets him meet Luke. Played by Grant Feely, little Luke obviously doesn’t realize the significance of this moment, but it does make sense why an older Luke Skywalker would know Ben’s name, and know of him somewhat, when we get to meet him again in A New Hope.
His relationship with Leia
Now, the relationship with Leia is the one that is the most important (and the one that proves he’s very much not a hermit). When she’s kidnapped by Reva’s henchmen to get Obi-Wan out of hiding, we get to see a tag-team duo between Leia and Ben as they try and get back to Alderaan. She’s sassy and doesn’t really take any of his advice to heart, but throughout their journey, we can see just how much she does actually come to care about this “old” man who is here to save her.
She grows to trust Obi-Wan and wants to confide in him and understand his connection to her parents, and that all becomes an understanding and trust that we see reflected in A New Hope. Sure, her father could have told her to go ahead and reach out to Obi-Wan for help, and she would have done it, but this series makes it make sense why she would tell him he’s her only hope and put so much faith in him, and why she instantly knew “Ben” Kenobi when Luke said it.
How Luke and Leia saved Ben
And all of that leads to the twins—these relationships—saving Ben. There’s a moment in the finale when Obi-Wan needs to find strength within himself. Watching this moment, I thought it would be when Qui-Gon Jinn would finally answer Obi-Wan’s calls to him and give him the guidance he needed to fight Vader. Instead, what we get is Obi-Wan looking to the twins who still need someone to help them be the hope for the rebellion. But it’s also because he would always protect Padmé and Anakin’s children, and they needed him just as much as he needed them.
So when he sees flashes of both Leia and Luke and that’s what gives him the strength to fight back against Vader? It means a lot to me, and it also informs every decision that Ben made prior to that moment in the series, and the choices we know he will make in the future leading up to the fight against Vader in A New Hope.
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All of Obi-Wan Kenobi is streaming now on Disney+, and I just hope we get a second season.
(featured image: Lucasfilm)
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