Obi-Wan Kenobi
Obi-Wan Kenobi is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. He was introduced in the original Star Wars film and its novelization. In Star Wars and its two sequels, Obi-Wan is depicted as a Jedi Master who trains Luke Skywalker in the ways of the Force. In the prequel trilogy, he mentors Luke's father, Anakin Skywalker. Obi-Wan is portrayed by Alec Guinness in the original trilogy and by Ewan McGregor in the prequel films. McGregor also plays the character in the television series Obi-Wan Kenobi. Guinness's performance in Star Wars earned him the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor, as well as a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Creation and development
, who wrote and directed the original Star Wars film, created Obi-Wan Kenobi as a mentor for Luke. Lucas originally planned for Obi-Wan to continue training Luke in The Empire Strikes Back, the first sequel to Star Wars. Although Obi-Wan's death was not in the final version of the Star Wars script, Lucas decided during filming that Obi-Wan should die. Alec Guinness said he begged Lucas to kill off his character because he hated Obi-Wan's dialogue. Lucas, however, claimed he added Obi-Wan's death because the character served no purpose after his duel with Vader. Lucas later reflected: "It would be much more powerful, satisfying and interesting if Darth Vader were to kill him and he were to go on to a different form."When outlining The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas decided he wanted Obi-Wan to return as a spirit to continue training Luke. Partly due to Guinness's failing health, Lucas realized that he would also need another mentor character. This new mentor would eventually take the form of Yoda.
A younger version of Obi-Wan appears in the prequel trilogy, which began with The Phantom Menace. Lucas described Obi-Wan's character development in the film: "In the beginning, Obi-Wan is at odds with, who rebels against the Jedi rules. But by the end of the film, he has become by taking on his rebellious personality and his responsibilities."
In his book about the Star Wars franchise, Chris Taylor claims that Obi-Wan was inspired by the J.R.R. Tolkien character Gandalf.
Portrayal
When casting Star Wars, Lucas sought an established star for the role of Obi-Wan. He considered Peter Cushing for the part, but decided the actor's lean features would be better employed as the villainous Grand Moff Tarkin. The film's producer, Gary Kurtz, felt a strong character actor was required to convey the "stability and gravitas" of Obi-Wan. Before Guinness was cast, the Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune—who plays Makabe Rokurōta in The Hidden Fortress—was considered for the role. Mifune's daughter, Mika Kitagawa, said her father "had a lot of samurai pride" and turned down the roles of both Obi-Wan and Darth Vader because he thought Star Wars would employ cheap special effects and would therefore "cheapen the image of samurai". Once Guinness was selected and production was underway, Lucas credited him with inspiring the cast and crew to work harder, which contributed significantly to the completion of filming. Harrison Ford, who plays Han Solo in the film, said he admired Guinness's preparation, professionalism and kindness towards the other actors.Ewan McGregor portrays Obi-Wan in the prequel trilogy and in the 2022 miniseries Obi-Wan Kenobi. His performance in the first prequel film, The Phantom Menace, earned him a Saturn Award nomination for Best Actor.
James Arnold Taylor voices Obi-Wan Kenobi in the animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the subsequent television series, also titled Star Wars: The Clone Wars, as well as in other animated media.
Appearances
Original trilogy
Obi-Wan is introduced in Star Wars as an elderly hermit living on Tatooine. When Luke and C-3PO travel the desert in search of the runaway droid R2-D2, Obi-Wan rescues them from Tusken Raiders. At Obi-Wan's home, R2-D2 plays a recording of Princess Leia explaining that R2-D2 contains architectural plans for the Galactic Empire's planet-destroying battle station, the Death Star. Leia asks Obi-Wan to deliver R2-D2 and the plans to Alderaan to aid the Rebel Alliance. Obi-Wan reveals to Luke that he is a Jedi, a peacekeeper from the days of the Republic. He explains that Luke's father was also a Jedi, and was killed by Darth Vader. Obi-Wan gives Luke his father's lightsaber and invites him to come to Alderaan and begin Jedi training. At first Luke declines, but changes his mind after finding that his aunt and uncle have been killed by Imperial stormtroopers.As Obi-Wan and Luke approach Mos Eisley, Obi-Wan uses a Jedi mind trick to compel Imperial troops to let them through a checkpoint. Obi-Wan and Luke hire the smugglers Han Solo and Chewbacca to take them to Alderaan aboard Han's ship, the Millennium Falcon. During the journey, Obi-Wan instructs Luke in lightsaber combat. Obi-Wan suddenly feels "a great disturbance in the Force"; soon after, he and the others find that the Empire has obliterated Alderaan. The Falcon gets caught in the Death Star's tractor beam, but the group is able to avoid detection and infiltrate the station. Obi-Wan disables the tractor beam, then encounters Vader. They engage in a lightsaber duel as Luke, Leia, Han and Chewbacca escape. Obi-Wan allows Vader to strike him down, then vanishes into the Force. Later, Obi-Wan contacts Luke through the Force and helps him destroy the Death Star.
In The Empire Strikes Back, Obi-Wan appears several times as a Force spirit. On the ice planet Hoth, he instructs Luke to travel to Dagobah to find the exiled Jedi Master Yoda. Yoda is reluctant to mentor Luke, but Obi-Wan convinces him to continue Luke's training. When Luke intends to leave Dagobah to rescue his friends in Cloud City, Obi-Wan beseeches him to stay, but Luke leaves anyway.
In Return of the Jedi, Obi-Wan appears to Luke after Yoda's death on Dagobah. Obi-Wan confirms that Vader is Luke's father, and reveals that Leia is Luke's twin sister. He urges Luke to confront and defeat Vader. After the Rebels destroy the second Death Star and defeat the Empire, Obi-Wan appears at the celebration on Endor alongside the Force spirits of Yoda and Anakin Skywalker.
Prequel trilogy
A younger Obi-Wan appears in The Phantom Menace, which is set thirty-two years before Star Wars. He is the apprentice of the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, and accompanies him to negotiations with the Trade Federation, which is blockading the planet Naboo. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon rescue Naboo's fourteen-year-old queen Padmé Amidala with help from the Gungan Jar Jar Binks, then travel to Coruscant, the capital of the Republic. When they land on Tatooine for repairs, they encounter the nine-year-old slave Anakin Skywalker. Qui-Gon believes the boy is the "Chosen One" of Jedi prophecy, destined to bring balance to the Force. After securing his freedom, Anakin joins the group on their journey. While leaving Tatooine, they are attacked by the Sith Lord Darth Maul. Back on Naboo, they meet Maul again, and engage him in lightsaber combat. Maul mortally wounds Qui-Gon, but Obi-Wan defeats Maul. As Qui-Gon dies, he asks his apprentice to train Anakin as a Jedi, with or without the approval of the Jedi Council. Later, Yoda proclaims Obi-Wan a Jedi Knight and reluctantly allows Anakin to become his Padawan.The second film of the trilogy, Attack of the Clones, takes place ten years later. Anakin has grown powerful but arrogant, and believes that Obi-Wan is holding him back. After they save Padmé from an assassination attempt, Obi-Wan traces the assassins to the planet Kamino. He learns of a massive clone army that is being created for the Republic. The clones are derived from the bounty hunter Jango Fett, and Obi-Wan deduces that he was responsible for the attempt on Padmé's life. Fett escapes to the planet Geonosis with his clone son Boba, unaware that Obi-Wan is pursuing them. On Geonosis, Obi-Wan discovers that a confederacy of star systems is planning to revolt against the Republic. The confederacy is led by the Sith Lord Count Dooku, the former Jedi Master of. Obi-Wan is captured and sentenced to death by Dooku, but Yoda and Mace Windu arrive with an army and prevent the execution. Obi-Wan and Anakin confront Dooku, but he overpowers them both. Yoda saves their lives, but Dooku escapes.
Revenge of the Sith is set three years later. Obi-Wan is now a Jedi Master, a member of the Jedi Council, and a general. Obi-Wan and Anakin embark on a rescue mission to save the kidnapped Chancellor Palpatine from the cyborg Separatist commander General Grievous. Dooku duels the Jedi once again, knocking Obi-Wan unconscious. Anakin then defeats Dooku and executes him on Palpatine's orders. After locating Grievous on the planet Utapau, Obi-Wan kills him. The Sith Lord Darth Sidious— who is revealed to be Palpatine—issues Order 66, which compels the clone troopers to betray and kill the Jedi. Obi-Wan and Yoda find that all the Jedi in the Jedi Temple have been slaughtered, including the children. After Obi-Wan warns all surviving Jedi to go into exile, he discovers it was Anakin, now Sidious' apprentice Darth Vader, who led the massacre.
Obi-Wan visits Padmé to ascertain Anakin's whereabouts, and realizes that Anakin is her husband and the father of her unborn child. When Padmé travels to the volcanic planet Mustafar to confront her husband herself, Obi-Wan stows away aboard her ship. Once on Mustafar, Obi-Wan confronts Vader, who accuses him and Padmé of conspiring against him. After Vader uses the Force to strangle Padmé into unconsciousness, Obi-Wan engages him in a ferocious lightsaber duel, which ends with cutting off several of his limbs. Obi-Wan leaves Vader burning to death, unaware that he will be rescued by Sidious moments later and eventually turned into a cyborg. Obi-Wan takes Padmé to the asteroid Polis Massa, where she dies after giving birth to the twins Luke and Leia. He assists in hiding the children from the newly created Empire: Leia is adopted by Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan, while Obi-Wan delivers Luke to Anakin's stepbrother Owen Lars and his wife Beru on Tatooine. Obi-Wan then goes into exile on Tatooine, where he can watch over Luke.