Obi-Wan Kenobi (spoilers)

[Davies]

Now, after Vader blows up a planet? Ok, all bets are off.

It's worth noting that Vader didn't give the order there. That was all on Tarkin. Both the radio play and the novelization portray Vader as slightly uncertain whether doing this is a "good" idea (and, in the aftermath, a bit amused that it failed to get the information they wanted.) I don't offer this as exculpation, as the slaughter of the students and torturing Leia, and later Han and possibly Chewie, are sufficiently terrible in and of themselves. But the decision to commit genocide against Alderaan was not his.

 

[Imaculata]

Alderaan would have been blown up with or without Vader.

It also seems a bit silly to critique Obi Wan's decision to spare Vader, based on future atrocities commited by Vader that Obi Wan has no knowledge of.

All that really matters is character motivation. Obi Wan appears horrified by what Anakin looks like beneath the mask; How he is now more machine than man, artificially keeping him alive. Possibly in constant pain as well.

Nothing he could do to Vader at this point, would be worse than the fate Vader already has. Perhaps killing him would have been a mercy. But of course, that is not what Obi Wan does canonically. As this is a prequel, Obi Wan cannot kill Vader. We already know this outcome before watching the show.

I appreciate how the show at least tries to make Obi Wan's lines about Vader betraying and murdering Luke's father, less of a deliberate lie. That was rather clever.

 

[Maxperson]

It also seems a bit silly to critique Obi Wan's decision to spare Vader, based on future atrocities commited by Vader that Obi Wan has no knowledge of.

I don't have any direct knowledge that the trees in the Amazon are giving off oxygen and intaking carbon dioxide, either. Obi-Wan has as much reason to believe that Vader is going to kill many more, including Jedi, as I have for believing that the trees in Amazon work like I described above.

 

[Imaculata]

I don't have any direct knowledge that the trees in the Amazon are giving off oxygen and intaking carbon dioxide, either. Obi-Wan has as much reason to believe that Vader is going to kill many more, including Jedi, as I have for believing that the trees in Amazon work like I described above.

I don't believe he does. I don't think Obi Wan knows what or who Anakin is at this point. He is a different person from the Anakin he knew.

Keep in mind, it has been years since the slaughter at the Jedi temple. Obi Wan has lived as an outcast all this time, believing Anakin was dead. Then he is shocked to learn that some how, Anakin survived. He feels guilty about what he did to Anakin. Obi Wan has never forgiven himself.

All Obi Wan knows, is that Vader is obsessed with him. And that makes complete sense, considering how guilty Obi Wan must feel about what he did. How he left Anakin mutilated and to die.

We presume Obi Wan has been keeping track of what Vader has been up to all this time, because we as an audience have been shown this on the show and in the original trilogy. But he hasn't. Obi Wan has been on a desert planet all this time, by himself, believing Anakin was dead. How could he have any inkling of what Vader now is, and what he has been doing?

 

[Maxperson]

I don't believe he does. I don't think Obi Wan knows what or who Anakin is at this point. He is a different person from the Anakin he knew.

He knows who Vader is, though. It's not as if he hasn't heard what is going on. He just didn't know Vader was Anakin until this show. Hell, he walked the row of dead masters. He landed and saw the dead younglings. He experienced Vader multiple times in this show.

Keep in mind, it has been years since the slaughter at the Jedi temple. Obi Wan has lived as an outcast all this time, believing Anakin was dead. Then he is shocked to learn that some how, Anakin survived. He feels guilty about what he did to Anakin. Obi Wan has never forgiven himself.

Again, not so much of an outcast that he was unaware of Vader and his antics.

We presume Obi Wan has been keeping track of what Vader has been up to all this time, because we as an audience have been shown this on the show and in the original trilogy. But he hasn't. Obi Wan has been on a desert planet all this time, by himself, believing Anakin was dead. How could he have any inkling of what Vader now is, and what he has been doing?

Even Tatooine gets the news and he works in town. It may be months old, but he is aware of what was happening out there. There's no way that those he worked with, shopped from, etc. didn't talk about it. He even knew that the order to kill the Jedi was called Order 66 as he mentioned that in the show. Nothing in this show said that he was avoiding even hearing about what was happening outside.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

That's assuming killing evil is an evil act . Is it? Or, trying to imprison him (admitting I have no idea how that works in star wars, but in theory is an option).

It's like being required to be tolerant of hate, in the name of tolerance. I'm not required to do that.

This is YOUR moral code. Which is fine in a universe that has no built in moral code: people develop their own ideas of what is right and what is wrong. But the Star Wars universe has a built in absolute moral code which may differ from your own. That's part of the fantasy.

 

[Maxperson]

This is YOUR moral code. Which is fine in a universe that has no built in moral code: people develop their own ideas of what is right and what is wrong. But the Star Wars universe has a built in absolute moral code which may differ from your own. That's part of the fantasy.

No. No it doesn't have any such thing. The vast majority of the members of the sentient races can have fear, anger, etc. and not be evil. They can have traits like being calm and be evil. It's only the force users that run the risk of going dark if they give in to anger, fear and hate. And that's not because of some moral code that the force imposes. It's because the force comes from living things and those emotions are dark.

It's not some sort of universal moral code at all, absolute or otherwise.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

No. No it doesn't have any such thing.

So, you know better than George Lucas?

It's not YOUR universe. You might not LIKE the rules the Star Wars universe operates under, but you can't make them go away by denying them.

 

[Maxperson]

So, you know better than George Lucas?

I'm describing what the movies told us. And quite frankly, after the crap he fed us with his directors editions(Han shot first!), I'm pretty sure that I do know better than him at this point.

 

[Imaculata]

It's not as if he hasn't heard what is going on.

This is a big presumption.

Even Tatooine gets the news and he works in town. It may be months old, but he is aware of what was happening out there.

Do we know this for a fact? Obi Wan lives divorced from civilization for the most part. All he knows is that the Empire is continuing to hunt down Jedi. Obi Wan has been in hiding for a while. I think it isn't until the events of the first episode of the show, that Obi Wan has a run in with the empire.

But even then, he doesn't know who Vader is or what he has been doing. Obi Wan seems to be playing catch up for the full duration of the show, which seems to span only a few days. Thats a lot to take in. I'll forgive Obi Wan for not being as quickly up to speed as we as an audience are, and for not having been privy to as much information as we as an audience have been.