The Life and Death of Ben Kenobi

Obi-Wan Kenobi was one of the most famous and well-respected Jedi of his time. Branded a terrorist and a traitor by the Galactic Empire, he fell from glory and lived a humble existence on Tatooine, before destiny brought him in contact with the son of his former apprentice. In turn, this encounter brought him before his fallen student, who ended his life. Yet in death, Kenobi became more powerful than before, inspiring the heroes of the Rebel Alliance to fight for victory in his name. In both versions of Star Wars continuity, his adopted name of Ben lives on through the children of the Skywalker family, with the Legends version of Luke naming his son after the Jedi Master, and Leia naming her son after him in the Canon stories. In his nearly six decades of life, Obi-Wan went on many adventures and formed bonds with hundreds of individuals through the galaxy. This is a selection of just some of them, taking accounts from both Canon and Legends stories.

Obi-Wan Kenobi was born on the planet Stewjon 57 years before the Battle of Yavin. When reflecting on his childhood, Obi-Wan recalled dim memories of playing on Stewjon with a brother, Owen. For years he assumed that these memories were accurate, despite the fact that he was taken from Stewjon as an infant. It was only after the Clone Wars that Obi-Wan realized that his visions of Owen Kenobi were in truth prophesies of Owen Lars, who would become Luke's adoptive father. Owen was Anakin Skywalker's stepbrother by his father's marriage to Anakin's mother Shmi, and Obi-Wan always thought of himself and Anakin as brothers--thus, Owen was Obi-Wan's brother, from a certain point of view.

Obi-Wan did not fit into the Jedi Order as a child; he was not chosen by a Master by the time he reached the age where Master-less Jedi were sent off to join the Agricultural Corps, to use their Force potential to aid farming developments on distant planets instead of serving missions for the Order. In fact, when Obi-Wan first encountered his future Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, Jinn considered the boy unfit for training. It was only when Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were forced into a confrontation with Qui-Gon's fallen former Padawan Xanatos that Jinn saw the younger Jedi's potential. The two triumphed over Xanatos as a team, forming a strong bond; later, this bond would be recreated between Obi-Wan and Anakin when Master and Apprentice were forced to fight Xanatos' son, Granta Omega, early in Anakin's Jedi training. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon had many adventures together (notably fighting in the Yinchorr Uprising engineered by the Sith to destroy the Jedi), sometimes sharing them with Bant Eerin, Obi-Wan's Mon Calamari friend, and Siri Tachi, a Padawan with whom Obi-Wan would fall in love. Obi-Wan also fell in love with Duchess Satine Kryze of Mandalore, whom he protected for a year at Qui-Gon's side. The Clone Wars would claim the lives of all of these women: Bant Eerin did not survive Order 66, Siri Tachi was killed by a bounty hunter in the early months of the War, and Satine was murdered by Darth Maul, who turned out to have survived Obi-Wan's fatal strike on Naboo. The loss of his friends and loves would haunt Obi-Wan for the rest of his life, though he never came close to the Dark Side, due to witnessing Qui-Gon's refusal to take a life in anger--Qui-Gon had loved a Jedi Master named Tahl in the same way Obi-Wan loved Siri Tachi, and when Tahl was murdered, Qui-Gon held himself back from slaughtering her killer. Though both Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan doubted themselves as Jedi, they always fought to live lives of compassion, even when faced with dark temptation.

Obi-Wan's Master, Qui-Gon Jinn; his childhood friend, Bant Eerin; his first love, Siri Tachi; and his second, Duchess Satine

In 32 BBY, ten years before the outbreak of the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan experienced the death of his Master, his promotion to Jedi Knight, and his taking of a Padawan, along with the return of the Sith. He and Anakin would continue the adventures Obi-Wan shared with Qui-Gon, including the aforementioned clash with the sinister Granta Omega, and the border dispute on Ansion. During the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan would see Anakin take on his own apprentice, Ahsoka Tano, whom he befriended. Yet years later, Luke Skywalker would hear a strange tale from the Clone Wars, about how Obi-Wan had come to the planet Skye with two apprentices. At the time, Luke was unaware that his father was the same as the evil Darth Vader, and so he assumed that the apprentices were his father Anakin and Darth Vader, two separate individuals. After learning the truth about his father, Luke would have been confused, especially if he learned of Ahsoka Tano and discovered the second apprentice wasn't her. In truth, this second apprentice was Halagad Ventor, a young Jedi who was left Master-less after his original teacher, Master Everen Ettene, died in a ship crash. Ventor became good friends with Anakin, his fellow student under Kenobi, but Halagad's upbringing in the Jedi Order had been even more chaotic and neglectful than Obi-Wan's, and the Dark Side was strong with him. During the Battle of Skye, fighting against the evil geneticist Zeta Magnus, Halagad gave in to his anger and crossed swords with his Jedi comrades. Following this, Ventor left Obi-Wan's tutelage, learning from his error and becoming a better Jedi. Yet it was not to last. After Order 66, Halagad Ventor worked with fellow Jedi Ashka Boda to create a network of surviving Jedi. But this list was stolen and its members killed when Ventor was captured and tortured by Darth Vader, who he had fought alongside on Skye. The ordeal drove Ventor to the Dark Side, and he fled to the swamp planet Trinta, where he bathed in dark energies and mutated into a deformed, Palpatine-like shadow of his former self. Sometime around the Battle of Yavin, however, a group of Rebels landed on the planet and discovered the former Jedi, and symbols of his past deeds in service of the Republic. They reminded him of this heroic life, and he returned to the light, shedding his physical body in the process, embracing compassion and becoming one with the Force. Presumably, Ventor and Kenobi were reunited in the afterlife, just as Ventor was later seen with the spirit of Anakin Skywalker--the pair appeared before the dying Jedi Master Qu Rahn to show him that no one was beyond redemption.

Halagad Ventor and Ahsoka Tano - two Jedi Obi-Wan helped train. Like Anakin, they both fell from the Jedi path before returning.

Obi-Wan Kenobi had yet other friends in the Jedi Order. His friendships with Yoda, Anakin Skywalker, Mace Windu, and Quinlan Vos were well known among the Order, but Kenobi also fought alongside his Jedi comrades Nejaa Halcyon and Ylenic It'kla during the Duel at Susevf, wherein the three Jedi faced off against the Force cult known as the Jensaarai. Many years later, Halcyon's grandson Corran Horn would experience a vision of this duel, wherein his grandfather appeared under the name "Spicewood" and Kenobi under the name "Desertwind." It was soon after the battle on Susevf that Obi-Wan traveled to Nelvaan, where Anakin would experience the second of two visions which foreshadowed his destiny as Darth Vader. (Previously, Anakin had foreseen his turn to the Dark Side on Mortis, but he retained no memory of it.) Follow the events on Nelvaan, Obi-Wan and Anakin were recalled to Coruscant, which was under siege by the Separatists. This was the beginning of the end, for the coming days would see the destruction of the Republic, the Jedi Order, and the man who was Anakin Skywalker.

Nejaa Halcyon

After the fall of the Jedi and the defeat of his former apprentice, Obi-Wan took General Grievous' Belbullab-22 starfighter, Soulless One, from Senator Organa's ship to the dangerous metropolis world of Nar Shaddaa, in the company of the newborn Luke Skywalker. Obi-Wan sought his old friends from the Order, Jedi Masters Tholme and T'ra Saa, but they had already left Nar Shaddaa in the company of Quinlan Vos' family. However, he nonetheless encountered a Jedi on the wretched crime-planet: Vima-Da-Boda, a centuries-old descendant of the legendary Jedi Nomi Sunrider. Obi-Wan didn't know it, but Vima would later become an important member of Luke's New Jedi Order, having stored troves of ancient Jedi knowledge in her aged brain. Vima aided Luke in the Legends universe when that galaxy's incarnation of Palpatine returned from the grave. After his encounter with the wizened Jedi witch, who taught him valuable lessons about failure, Obi-Wan finally took young Luke to Tatooine, to be raised by his aunt and uncle. In secret, however, Kenobi would continue guarding the young boy for almost twenty years. In this time, his exile would be interrupted on several occasions.

Vima-Da-Boda

Early on, Obi-Wan came in contact with a fugitive Jedi, Ferus Olin. The two joined forces, with Obi-Wan even briefly leaving Tatooine to aid his old comrade. After this quest, Obi-Wan gained confidence about his mastery of the Force, which had been shaken following his failure with Anakin. Qui-Gon's spirit informing him he would now teach him the secret of life after death, the secret of the Whills which would also one day preserve the spirits of Yoda, Anakin, and Halagad Ventor. Shortly after his return to Tatooine, Obi-Wan discovered yet another surviving Jedi, but under less fortunate circumstances. A'Sharad Hett was the son of a Jedi Master who had been raised among the Tusken Raiders of Tatooine. Hett had returned to the desert world to take leadership of his father's tribe--but in doing so, he had brought himself close to the Dark Side. When he found Obi-Wan the two argued and began to duel, which ended with the humiliation of Hett in front of his people. This drove Hett deeper into the Dark Side, leading to his transformation into the Sith Lord Darth Krayt. Despite his struggles with his failures in training Anakin, Obi-Wan had accidentally created another Dark Lord of the Sith. Yet a former Sith would come to Tatooine to meet his death at Obi-Wan's hands. Darth Maul tracked Kenobi to Tatooine using a power he extracted from the young Jedi Ezra Bridger. Intent on murdering the man who had defeated him over 30 years prior on Naboo, Maul battled Kenobi, but ultimately fell at the Jedi Master's hands again. Kenobi held Maul as he died, the two fallen Force users united by their betrayal at the hands of Palpatine; the Jedi showed compassion for his old enemy by burying the former Sith.

Obi-Wan and Ferus Olin on the run from Boba Fett

The exiled Jedi Master duels his former comrade A'Sharad Hett on Tatooine

Reunited with Maul

Luke and his childhood friends occasionally encountered Obi-Wan in the desert, but usually only at a distance. Eventually, the strange feeling in Luke's gut that the old wizard was trying to protect him paid off when he met Obi-Wan, who offered him the chance to become his student. Luke of course was heartbroken when his newfound teacher was slain aboard the Death Star; though Obi-Wan's spirit returned to him multiple times over the course of his life, he would live with the pain of Kenobi's death for the rest of his days. Occasionally, though, Luke and his friends encountered more materialistic traces of Obi-Wan's vast legacy. For example, the delusional historian-turned-false-Jedi Hess Korrin likely patterned his alias of Don-Wan Kihotay on Kenobi's name. Kihotay became an associate of Han Solo when circumstances drew the smuggler into a ragtag group of spacers known as the Star-Hoppers of Aduba-3. A man encountered by Luke impersonated Kenobi more directly and deliberately, albeit for a more sinister purpose. This unnamed man was an actor physically altered by Darth Vader to resemble Ben Kenobi. Posing as the Jedi, the actor drew Luke into a trap, but ultimately rescued him--the impersonator had grown to respect Kenobi, having spent so much time in the part. Unfortunately, like many who betrayed Darth Vader, he paid with his life. Meanwhile, the young "Jedi Prince" Ken theorized that his name meant he was related to Kenobi. Ken was actually named for his mother Kendalina, the lady-love of his father Triclops, who was in turn the son of Palpatine. It is possible that, on the Canon side of things, some members of the Resistance speculated that Rey may have been related to Kenobi, due to her similar Coruscanti accent. But these speculations were guesses based on coincidence, such as the fact that Rey lived on a desert world as Kenobi had. The revelation of Rey's true ancestry put these rumors to rest (though they also likely caused great trouble for her).

While Obi-Wan had no known blood relatives on either side of continuity, he did leave behind his lightsaber, which in Legends continuity fell into the hands of Darth Vader. Vader stored the saber at Bast Castle, his private fortress on the acidic world of Vjun (which was mirrored by Mustafar's Fortress Vader in the Canon timeline). While the false Dark Side user Orloc tried to steal Kenobi's lightsaber, it was claimed by Anakin Solo, who used it to defeat the thief. Luke then took custody of the sword and placed it in his Jedi Temple on Yavin IV.

From left to right: False Jedi Don-Wan Kihotay, who styled himself on Obi-Wan; the Obi-Wan impersonator hired by Darth Vader; Anakin Solo with Kenobi's lightsaber; and Ben Skywalker, Kenobi's namesake in the Legends universe.

As mentioned at the start of this article, Obi-Wan had namesakes in both universes. When the Legends version of Luke and his wife Mara Jade had their first and only child, it was only logical that Luke named him Ben, after his old teacher. In the Canon universe, Ben Kenobi left enough of an impact on Leia that she named her first and only child Ben. Both Bens did their namesake proud--Ben Solo gave his life saving one he loved, while Ben Skywalker became a powerful Jedi, just like his father, mother, and grandfather.

At the moment of his death, Obi-Wan's spirit traveled back through his life. A rush of names came over him as he revisited memories of his past. He saw Qui-Gon and the other Jedi who trained him--Siri and Satine, the women he loved and lost--Halagad, the first apprentice of his to fall--Bant and Quinlan, his longtime friends--Owen, the brother he never had--Anakin, Luke, Leia, and Padme--he may have even recounted the life and death of the Separatist assassin Asajj Ventress, who he'd always had a strange relationship with. He journeyed into the future, aiding Luke in destroying the Death Star, in finding Dagobah and Yoda, in learning the truth about his father and his sister. He spoke to Luke again, and Rey, guiding them. And then he passed through the strange and formless veil beyond which even the greatest of Jedi cannot see.



Image Source: Wookieepedia