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So why didn't Obi-Wan finish off Anakin in Episode III?

Rampage

Rampage

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,140
Metro Detriot
SteveWinwood said:
im going to let you spend your presumably last moments being in excruciating pain

because im your friend
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They were the best of buds until Anakin killed the Youngling. Mace Windu. And plotted to kill all of the other Jedi.

Obiwan didn't have the heart to deliver the final blow. But he didn't need too, Anakin was good as dead anyways on that lava shelf. And what if he saved him? Society belongs to the Empire now. How would a wanted man help his "friend" while on the run?

Weird how so many here are supporting saving a child murder who abused his wife and nearly killed the Obiwan.
 
deimosmasque

deimosmasque

Ugly, Queer, Gender-Fluid, Drive-In Mutant, yes?
Moderator
Apr 22, 2018
14,221
Tampa, Fl
The only logic I have for it is that Jedi don't kill helpless opponents.

Doesn't explain why he didn't force pull him to safety or something.
 
Crossing Eden

Crossing Eden

Member
Oct 26, 2017
53,393
People saying Jedi don't kill helpless opponents as if most opponents aren't inherently helpless against the force and a lightsaber.
 
Siggy-P

Siggy-P

Avenger
Mar 18, 2018
11,865
These films have many faults. But a character not having the guts to kill his more or less foster son (he says brother but he raised him through his teenage years) or watch him die in front of him is not out of normal basic human behaviour. Even taking into account what Anakins done.
 
Doctor_Thomas

Doctor_Thomas

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,659
Predicted, through the multiverse, that there was only one shot to put an end to the Empire.

So, he showed Anakin mercy. This small act gave Anakin some aspect of empathy, despite his Darth Vader heel turn.

While Palps wa shooting bolts at Luke. This aspect of mercy and humanity kicked in, allowing him to defeat his biggest demon.

All in all, Obi-Wan let the Empire happen to teach Anakin a lesson. The best teacher.
 
Zombine

Zombine

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,231
Because he was the chosen one. It was said that he would destroy the Sith, not join them. Bring balance to the force, not leaving it in darkness. He was his brother. He loved him.
 
Khasim

Khasim

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,260
It's one thing to defend yourself against someone who is actively trying to kill you and a completely different thing to kill in cold blood someone who you just disabled completely and is going to be dead in a couple of seconds anyway.

Sociopaths in this thread acting like personally killing someone you love is the same as letting them die.
 
Biggersmaller

Biggersmaller

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,966
Minneapolis
Yerffej said:
He's kinda fucked by circumstance and the Jedi insisting he lets go of any attachments. So he loses it out of fear of...losing things. It's set up and written badly in the prequels and oddly enough, fleshed out and made much better by the Clone Wars show. That show kinda got me back into SW, weird as that is to say. If those writers had only steered this Trilogy...
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I will concede I've never seen the Clone High series. I heard it's good. Maybe it would help to see someone else portray Anakin. Because it wasn't just script problems with the prequels. Christensen is an awful actor. Anakin is written to be a handsome charismatic secret love interest and good friend to the Jedi who mostly roll their eyes at his antics because he's just so great at being space messiah...but what they don't recognize is his dark past that occasionally rears its ugly head until the ultimate fall.

Instead, scenes requiring romance, friendly comedy, or light conflict has Christensen either broadcasting a bratty entitled look or horny m'lady nice guy smile. The audience never buys Padme finds him irresistibly charming or his winning over Obi-Wan as a friend remotely genuine - yet the movie insists on those being the perquisites for his character (and therefore the trilogy) to work.
 
Sanka

Sanka

Banned
Feb 17, 2019
5,778
People will call literally anything bad writing when it's not 100% logical. Humans don't always act rational, stop trying to make sense out of everything.
 
Crossing Eden

Crossing Eden

Member
Oct 26, 2017
53,393
Zombine said:
Because he was the chosen one. It was said that he would destroy the Sith, not join them. Bring balance to the force, not leaving it in darkness. He was his brother. He loved him.
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Fucking hell lmao.
Khasim said:
It's one thing to defend yourself against someone who is actively trying to kill you and a completely different thing to kill in cold blood someone who you just disabled completely and is going to be dead in a couple of seconds anyway.

Sociopaths in this thread acting like personally killing someone you love is the same as letting them die.
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......Obi-wan had literally gone to the planet to kill Anakin to personal kill Anakin in the first place. He wasn't defending himself. He even ignited his lightsaber first. Just because Obi-wan uses an inherently defensive and counter based fighting style doesn't mean he wasn't full on trying to kill Anakin the entire time.
 
Yerffej

Yerffej

Prophet of Regret
Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,571
Biggersmaller said:
I will concede I've never seen the Clone High series. I heard it's good. Maybe it would help to see someone else portray Anakin. Because it wasn't just script problems with the prequels. Christensen is an awful actor. Anakin is written to be a handsome charismatic secret love interest and good friend to the Jedi who mostly roll their eyes at his antics because he's just so great at being space messiah...but what they don't recognize is his dark past that occasionally rears its ugly head until the ultimate fall.

Instead, scenes requiring romance, friendly comedy, or light conflict has Christensen either broadcasting a bratty entitled look or horny m'lady nice guy smile. The audience never buys Padme finds him irresistibly charming or his winning over Obi-Wan as a friend remotely genuine - yet the movie insists on those being the perquisites for his character (and therefore the trilogy) to work.
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Yeah it's bad and he's not great. I have to believe he'll do better in the Obi Wan show. Like, no one acted their way out of that bad writing in those movies except McGregor. But he's magical so it makes sense.
 
Doggg

Doggg

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Nov 17, 2017
14,465
He went for the fatality, but he messed up the Forward, Back, Down, Down + Back Kick button input
 
BassForever

BassForever

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
29,942
CT
Anakin was on fire, burning alive in front of him on planet that is largely uninhabited. Had Yoda not failed to kill the Emperor then Anakin probably would have just died on those rocks.
 
UglySofaGaming

UglySofaGaming

Member
Nov 2, 2018
1,952
You can interpret it as Obi One assumed he'd be dead in a matter of moments. He defended himself to the point where Anakin was unarmed and posed no further danger - it wasn't on him to kill Anakin, it was his shitty choices that led to him being cooked alive. Obi One is dealing with a lot of complex shit at this point, it's not a video game morality choice, dude just wanted to bounce.

Or more darkly you could argue he wanted Anakin to suffer for the murder of the Younglings and trying to take facist control of the galaxy

Either way

 
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LegendofLex

LegendofLex

Member
Nov 20, 2017
5,473
My take is that he was already in too much emotional pain from how far he'd already gone, and he didn't want his friend's last moment to be his father figure and mentor killing him. He also must have assumed that there was no hope for Anakin at that point anyway. So instead he simply left Anakin to suffer the consequences of his actions.
 
astro

astro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
56,977
He was wracked with guilt, love, hate... He's not superhuman, he's not perfect.

Honestly a bit confused why this question needed to be asked...
 
Triggerhappytel

Triggerhappytel

Member
Oct 27, 2017
15,056
PhoenixAKG said:
So leaving him to suffer one of the worst ways to die is better??????
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The entire trilogy is dumb so I wouldn't worry about this one scene. Like, couldn't Anakin have jumped to the side and then face Obi on equal footing? Why didn't Obi run super-fast through the energy barriers to help Qui-Gon fight Maul? Why didn't Yoda accept Obi-Wan's help when he went to face Palpatine? Etc.
 
Principate

Principate

Member
Oct 31, 2017
11,186
egg said:
OBI WAN LITERALLY TELLS YODA HE WILL NOT KILL ANAKIN

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Yeah it's pretty explicit. It's not hard to see why he couldn't personally bare to finish him off even if it was an act of mercy.

Not everyone can mercy kill friends and family guys.

Triggerhappytel said:
The entire trilogy is dumb so I wouldn't worry about this one scene. Like, couldn't Anakin have jumped to the side and then face Obi on equal footing? Why didn't Obi run super-fast through the energy barriers to help Qui-Gon fight Maul? Why didn't Yoda accept Obi-Wan's help when he went to face Palpatine? Etc.
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What? The Jedi aren't light speed my dude.
 
GokouD

GokouD

Member
Oct 30, 2017
1,127
I always assumed that he thought the fucker deserved to burn to death after what he'd done!

*Note* I haven't seen the film since it was in the cinema so my recollection is hazy at best.
 
Qasiel

Qasiel

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Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,330
Because Obi-Wan is a chump and it amazes me still that so many people don't see this. Honestly, the guy disregards Anakin as "another worthless creature" to Qui-gon the first time he encounters him, does a shocking job of training him all the while coming across as some sort of holier-than-thou paragon of Jedi virtue which does nothing to strengthen the bond between master and padawan, in fact it probably has an inverse affect and leaves Anakin frustrated.

But yeah, it's because of poor writing. Obi-Wan would have mercy killed Anakin because they were close but they needed him to be Darth Vader.

BlueKaty said:
Watch the damn movie...
He didn't kill him because you don't simply kill your friend.
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And yet the Jedi Council/Mace Windu wanted Anakin to kill his friend Sheev "He's too dangerous to live!" Palpatine...
 
Aiii

Aiii

何これ
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Oct 24, 2017
8,190
I assume like most people, he'd assumed he did kill him.

I mean, cut off a bunch of limbs and watch him get set on fire would convince pretty much anyone that they did the job.
 
StreetsAhead

StreetsAhead

Member
Sep 16, 2020
5,068
A better movie would've let Anakin's fate remain ambiguous (like have him fall into fire), with the implication being that he's dead. But Lucas decided that the prequels needed to explicitly connect all the dots, complete with a shot of them looking at the Death Star being built.
 
CrocodileGrin

CrocodileGrin

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
3,156
*Obi-Wan picks up the lightsaber and stares at his limbless brother he just cut up*
Anakin: You're so full of shit. You're such an ass...hoooole!
Obi-Wan: Well perhaps you're right. I don't know. I mean, I never wanted to hurt any-
*sees Anakin catch on fire*
Obi-Wan: OH SNAP!
 
Creepy Woody

Creepy Woody

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Nov 11, 2017
2,625
Australia
Didn't Obi-wan think that Anakin was dead when he burned up? I remember reading some extended universe thing that only when Obi-wan was in hiding and heard of all these horrible things some sith lord was doing out there that he knew Anakin was still alive?
 
verygooster

verygooster

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,652
New Jersey
Did you notice the part where Anakin started combusting into flames where his remains landed? I sure as hell wouldn't go down there. I have the high ground!
 
egg

egg

The Fallen
Oct 26, 2017
6,602
dennett316 said:
It's just some bad writing that makes Obi Wan come off as a sadistic scumbag under the guise of not being able to finish the job. The second he saw him burning he should've put his friend out his misery. Then again, the Jedi are a bit weird, so he probably thought his dying in agony was a good thing. Could've been avoided by Anakin falling out of view so Obi Wan assumed he died or something.
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Everything is not bad writing good lord lol. Obi-wan said he couldn't kill Anakin, it's literally that simple. Before he even went to Mustafar he had already decided that regardless of what happens he wasn't going to kill him. He's not going to suddenly change his mind because he sees him on fire? lmao.
 
kiguel182

kiguel182

Member
Oct 31, 2017
9,442
Obi-wan and the Jedi order in general are assholes in the prequels. It tracks that he just leaves him to die.
 
Crossing Eden

Crossing Eden

Member
Oct 26, 2017
53,393
egg said:
Everything is not bad writing good lord lol. Obi-wan said he couldn't kill Anakin, it's literally that simple. Before he even went to Mustafar he had already decided that regardless of what happens he wasn't going to kill him. He's not going to suddenly change his mind because he sees him on fire? lmao.
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Did u miss the part where he said "I will do what I must" after seeing that Anakin had gone off the deep end? Followed by a fight that he initiated where he attempted to lurker Anakin multiple times. Before declaring "You are lost" after trying one last time to convince Anakin to come back. The events of this movie is followed by Obi-wan literally waiting 19 years for Anakjn's son to grow up, so that he could personally turn the kid into a father killing machine.
Leaving him there was not some act of mercy. He left him there to die a painful death. He did not leave thinking that Anakin would survive. And he even went so far as to give Luke his own father's lightsaber.
ROTS is a poorly written movie. Let's not try to argue otherwise.
 
Ishmael

Ishmael

Member
Oct 27, 2017
671
"Luke, your father wanted you to have this lightsaber."
*Steals lightsaber from Anakin's limbless, burning body*
 
Herne

Herne

Member
Dec 10, 2017
5,319
Crossing Eden said:
According to the novel he didn't because the act of doing so would've turned him to the dark side. The real answer is because ROTS is a movie filled with poor writing. I still cannot fathom Yoda falling and just going, "well I guess that's that."
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To be fair we only got glimpses of their fight, both must have been exhausted at the end. And he's the equivalent of a 90 year old man who's just fallen from a great height. He probably knew he wasn't in fighting condition any more at that point.
 
Principate

Principate

Member
Oct 31, 2017
11,186
Crossing Eden said:
Did u miss the part where he said "I will do what I must" after seeing that Anakin had gone off the deep end? Followed by a fight that he initiated where he attempted to lurker Anakin multiple times. Before declaring "You are lost" after trying one last time to convince Anakin to come back. The events of this movie is followed by Obi-wan literally waiting 19 years for Anakjn's son to grow up, so that he could personally turn the kid into a father killing machine.
Leaving him there was not some act of mercy. He left him there to die a painful death. He did not leave thinking that Anakin would survive. And he even went so far as to give Luke his own father's lightsaber.
ROTS is a poorly written movie. Let's not try to argue otherwise.
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Yes because saying you will do what you must means you can suddenly kill someone you personally raised in that moment.

That's not how normal people work. I understand the characters in the prequels were rather stiff and didn't act much like real people but the fix isn't to make them act even less like real people.

I mean come on the only reason he even mentions about the high ground is because he didn't want to kill Anakin. It's literally the reason for that line how are people missing this?
 
Siggy-P

Siggy-P

Avenger
Mar 18, 2018
11,865
Era users in this thread acting like they would ever have what it takes to mercilessly finish off their surrogate son/brother.
 
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