From the pages of Blue Harvest Episode Fourteen...
Spring 1998

"The Importance of Being Obi-Wan"
    by Scott Coralles
"Obi-Wan is here. The Force is with him."
       ---Lord Darth Vader

During my college days, I was acquainted with the members of a Top-40 cover band who would throw Star Wars references into the songs they played during their set (it was 1986 and the trilogy was still recent history). A particularly memorable SW reference came up in a Genesis song called "Land of Confusion" -- one of the verses was replaced with: "Hey, Obi-Wan where are you now/when everything's gone wrong somehow/..."

As the next trilogy looms closer in the horizon -- with a new generation of actors assigned to all new roles, and provisional titles appearing in the media -- it is only fitting to reflect upon the importance of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the cosmology of the Star Wars universe.

It is not in the least bit difficult to impress the eggheads by embarking upon a long disquisition on the Jungian archetype of the "old man" or "old wizard" and all its attendant baggage, for whatever good it'll do. Just as Gandalf the Grey is the secret hero of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, Obi-Wan plays a similer role in Star Wars. In text and on film, he's at first described as "strange old hermit" by Luke, "a crazy old man" by Owen Lars and called even less flattering things by Han Solo. The viewer is given the true measure of Old Ben when he scares the Sandpeople away with a Krayt dragon call, bemuses the Stormtrooper captain outside Mos Eisley and finally saves Luke from a certain death inside the Cantina. Yet none of these moments is as powerful as seeing the pleading hologram of Leia Organa: "Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope!"

Indeed, further comparsion between the characterization of Gandalf the Grey and Obi-Wan becomes inevitable. Readers of Lord of the Rings  know that the wizard undertakes his mission to Middle-Earth (to combat a dark lord) unwillingly, expressing fear at his opponent. Obi-Wan protests to young Skywalker "I'm getting too old for this sort of thing," realizing full well the enormity of the mission he is called upon to perform and the dire urgency of the situation. In the film, we can sense the foreboding in Sir Alec Guiness' features as he says: "Obi-Wan Kenobi...now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time..."

Both Gandalf and Obi-Wan are successful in their endeavors and at a given point must give up their lives so that others may escape: the former is slain in combat and "resurrected" while the latter gives up his physical life to remain a constant spiritual force throughout the remainder of the trilogy.

In the frenzied rush of events that characterizes ANH, the identities of Luke and Han are known to the viewer, but completely ignored by the characters on screen. Leia takes her rescuers seriously only when they say that they have come with Ben Kenobi; Grand Moff Tarkin is completely unaware of the three heroes (Luke, Han and Chewbacca) and alarmed only when Vader suggests that Obi-Wan has somehow gotten onto the Death Star. Vader himself is completely unconcerned with the "protagonists" or even with their successful rescue of the Princess: he will later gloat to Tarkin that the day "...has seen the end of Kenobi and will soon see the end of the Rebellion." He will be proven wrong on both counts.



Obi-Wan's disembodied voice urges Luke to flee into the Millenium Falcon, reassures him during the takeoff from Massassi, and ultimately urges him to "use the Force" to fire the proton torpedoes. Kenobi is powerful enough to run interference for Red 5 during the harrowing last minutes in the Death Star trench, prompting a surprised Vader to observe: "The Force is strong with this one."

We see Kenobi's guiding hand throughout at the beginning of Empire Strikes Back when he urges a wounded Luke to go to the Dagobah system to train under Yoda. The sudden appearance of Han Solo riding a Tauntaun could also be considered part of Ben's handiwork.

Despite the fact that we may believe that the dead hand of Obi-Wan Kenobi (to paraphrase a statement from Asimov's Foundation) is moving events from behind the scenes, we soon see how free will imperils all of Kenobi's efforts when an angry and concerned Luke decides to leave for Bespin to rescue his friends. The moment represents a trial not only for Luke, but for Yoda and Obi-Wan, in a way: both Jedi Masters could easily coerce Luke into remaining on Dagobah to complete his training, but to cloud the apprentice's mind would be an abominable act worthy only of the dark side of the Force. While perhaps tempted to do so, Yoda and Ben grimly realize that the situation is out of their hands: Luke reaches Bespin, loses his hand in combat to Vader, and opts for suicide rather than joining the dark lord. His appeal to Obi-Wan as he dangles precariously over the clouds of Bespin goes unanswered. Here the trilogy becomes almost Biblical -- man must pay the price for the sin of disobedience.

Return of the Jedi portrays the spirit of Obi-Wan in a reflective mood as he speaks to Luke on Dagobah after Yoda's passing. Luke's reaction to the truth about Obi-Wan's role in Anakin Skywalker's metamorphosis into Darth Vader is best represented in the novelization by James Kahn: "Luke was entranced. That Obi-Wan's hubris could have caused his father's fall was horrible...horrible because Obi-Wan wasn't perfect, wasn't even a perfect Jedi..." (Return of the Jedi, p.64).The reader discovers the enormity of the situation upon realizing that Kenobi is the prime mover of the entire Star Wars saga by virtue of mishandling Anakin's training. Had Yoda trained Anakin, there would have been no Star Wars (Palpatine would have still proclaimed himself emperor, but there would have at least been Jedi Knights to combat him).

The celebration at the end of Jedi  finds Anakin reintegrated alongside the spirits of Obi-Wan and Yoda, thus making the success of Kenobi's behind-the-scenes efforts all the more rewarding. Not only is wrong made right again, but his good friend is also restored to him.

Novels dealing with the Star Wars universe in general scarcely mention Kenobi. The one and most notable exception remains Alan Dean Foster's Splinter of the Mind's Eye, which features the "possession" of Luke Skywalker's body by Obi-Wan during a lightsaber duel against Darth Vader in the Temple of Pomojema. Luke's sudden transformation startles Vader, prompting the dark lord to sound oddly respectful about the man he himself killed: "...the equal of Ben Kenobi you will never be." (Splinter, p.190)

The forthcoming Kenobi trilogy (to differentiatiate it from the Skywalker trilogy) will shed even more light on Obi-Wan, whose valiant deeds and tragic flaws make him one of George Lucas' most successful characters.

©1998 Blue Harvest


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