Obi-Wan Kenobi
In Episodes IV through VI, Kenobi was played by Alec Guinness. In the prequels, Episodes I through III, he is played by Ewan McGregor.
Warning: Plot details follow.
Kenobi was born in 57 BBY and was trained as Jedi Knight ever since he was young.
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2 Attack of the Clones 3 Episode III 4 A New Hope 5 Postmortem |
At the beginning of The Phantom Menace he is apprentice to Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn whom he accompanies to Naboo, the planet ruled by Queen Padme Amidala. On the death of his master at the hands of Darth Maul, Kenobi honoured his master's final wish to train Anakin Skywalker, a young boy who showed tremendous potential with the Force. The Jedi Council named Kenobi a Jedi Knight and reluctantly approved his request to take Anakin on as his Padawan (pupil).
In Attack of the Clones, Kenobi and Skywalker are tasked with protecting Padme Amidala after an attempt on her life. Kenobi tracks a mysterious assassin to Kamino, and learns about a massive clone army that the Kaminoans are building for the Republic. He attempts to apprehend bounty hunter Jango Fett, but Fett escapes to Geonosis with his son Boba. Kenobi follows them.
On Geonosis, Kenobi uncovers a conspiracy of star systems that want to secede from the Republic, led by Count Dooku. Kenobi is captured shortly after sending a message to Skywalker. Skywalker and Padme arrive on Geonosis, but they too are captured, and all three are sentenced to death by the Geonosians. The executions are prevented by the timely arrival of Jedi reinforcements, led by Mace Windu and Yoda. Kenobi and Skywalker confront Count Dooku and fight him, but he escapes.
Episode III is expected to reveal that Kenobi and Skywalker duel, resulting in the teacher wounding his student so badly that Skywalker needs extensive medical prothestics that became central to his new identity as Darth Vader.
However, this clash does not halt the rise of the Galactic Empire and Kenobi is forced into hiding on the remote desert planet Tatooine where he goes by the name of Ben. He also hides Anakin's children: Luke on Tatooine with Owen Lars and Leia on Alderaan with Bail Organa. In the Return of the Jedi novelization, Obi-Wan refers to Owen Lars as his brother, but nothing depicted in the films or novelizations of TPM or AOTC reference this. In fact, AOTC introduces Owen Lars as the stepson of Shmi Skywalker, Anakin's mother, who is married to Owen's father Cliegg Lars for a short period before her own death. TPM implied that Kenobi had never been to or heard of Tatooine before, so it seems unlikely that he is "really" Owen's brother in any meaningful way.
Some thirty-two years after the events of TPM, Kenobi rescues Anakin's son, Luke Skywalker, from Tusken Raiders while Luke is in the wilderness of Tatooine looking for a droid named R2-D2 that has an important message for the old Jedi Knight, as chronicled in A New Hope. Kenobi eventually hears R2-D2's message from Princess Leia Organa asking for his assistance in delivering the schematics of the Death Star to Alderaan. Kenobi is willing to help, and takes young Luke Skywalker under his wing in order to teach him the ways of the Force with the intention of fully training the boy later, on Alderaan.
Kenobi, Luke, and the droids C-3PO and R2-D2 buy passage to Alderaan on smuggler Han Solo's ship, the Millennium Falcon. Before they can reach their destination, Alderaan is destroyed by the Death Star. The Millennium Falcon is captured by the Death Star, however Kenobi manages to deactivate the tractor beam to allow the ship to escape. Unfortunately for him, his return to the ship is cut off by Darth Vader who challenges Kenobi to combat. Kenobi distracts Vader and his stormtroopers, allowing Luke and the rest of the crew to reach the Falcon. Sacrificing his hope for escape, Kenobi allows Vader to strike him down, only to disappear instantly upon the final blow.
As it turns out, Kenobi does not vanish entirely. Rather, he becomes a spirit who advises Luke as a mentor that the Sith cannot touch. Most importantly, he tells Luke to use the Force to destroy the Death Star.
In The Empire Strikes Back, Kenobi tells Luke to go to the Dagobah system for further training with Yoda. He reappears in Return of the Jedi after the death of Yoda and informs Luke that Leia is Luke's sister. Kenobi is last seen in the films alongside fellow Jedi spirits Yoda and Anakin Skywalker, watching over Luke and his comrades as they celebrate the destruction of the Death Star II.
In Timothy Zahn's novel Heir to the Empire, which takes place five years after Return of the Jedi, Kenobi, still a spirit, visits Luke for the last time, and says that he must move on from his spirit form to some kind of vague spirit realm. This is Kenobi's final appearance in the timeline of the Star Wars universe.The Phantom Menace
Attack of the Clones
Episode III
A New Hope
Postmortem