Obi-Wan isn't supposed to be a chump either. He's a master of Form III which is defense oriented. I had also imagined the two had sparred a lot against each other in training so the pair were pretty familiar with each other's style.
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So why didn't Obi-Wan finish off Anakin in Episode III?
- Thread starter PhoenixAKG
- Start date
He didn't need to be light-speed. He made it to the last energy barrier before being trapped, so doing a super-run at 3x his usual speed or whatever would have got him through to help out Qui-Gon. You're either misremembering or too stubborn to admit you're wrong on this. The super-run was a dumb idea that IIRC was never used again and should not have been in there at all. Especially when it breaks the logic later in the same movie.
Because then he wouldn't have turned into Darth Vader and the OT wouldn't have happened. Duh. Jeez.
I mean, no, but I think if I got to the point where I'm ok with dismemberment of 3 limbs and leaving the guy to burn in lava, it's hard to imagine getting to that point but not having it in myself to finish the job and make what should be an inevitable result (death very soon) as quick as possible
I don't know, he looked pretty much like he was left for dead anyways. I dont know if in Star Wars its common for people who are chopped up and severely burned to recover with cyber enhancements.
Who cares at this point with how the overwhelming majority of Star Wars films have terrible writing and are ridiculous
Who cares at this point with how the overwhelming majority of Star Wars films have terrible writing and are ridiculous
Uhh he 100% left him to die in agony. I would NEVER leave a friend like that. Ever.
But leaving a dismembered person to die in a lava field, while he pleads for mercy IS pretty darn close to murder... probably closer to murder than killing him to put him out of his misery.
1. As other people already pointed out, he was sent there by Yoda and Obi explicitly said back then that he won't be able to do it.
2. I wasn't talking about lightsaber form shit that's never relevant in the movies, I was talking about the emotional strain of fighting someone in a duel to the death versus the emotional strain of finishing off a broken husk of a man who you considered your brother literally hours earlier. It's one thing to say you're going to kill someone, but another thing entirely to actually do it.
I'm not going to deny that the prequels are mostly badly written and there's a lot of stupid shit in them, but Obi-Wan not killing off an already dying Anakin (who, as was established and outright said just before Obi-Wan left, Kenobi loved like a brother) like you would a wounded, trapped animal is not bad writing, it's a human being acting like a human being.
During the fight, every time Obi-Wan tries to talk to Anakin it's because he doesn't want to kill him and is making sure, over and over again, that there is no other way, clinging to every last bit of hope that maybe there is a scenario in which this doesn't have to end with him killing Anakin. The meme 'high ground' line is Obi Wan's last attempt to do everything in his power to not be forced to kill Anakin.
After Anakin is disabled, Obi-Wan is visibly emotionally broken and basically crying. You don't exactly make calculated, rational decisions in such a state.
Well the novel explicitly states that it would've been the merciful thing to do but Obi Wan was not feeling merciful.
The old Star Wars Behind the Magic CD-ROM from 1998 reckoned that they had the fight over a volcano and Anakin fell in. Amazing that Lucas already had the perfect, ambiguous demise for Anakin already laid out and then still managed to screw it up when putting it to film.
My interpretation is when they mean most powerful they mean with the force, not lightsaber wise.
Obi Wan is like the best defensively trained jedi.
It doesn't need to be explained by the movie imo. You can see it in Ewan McGregor's acting that he just doesn't have it in him to kill his friend. It overwhelms him to see his friend like that so he leaves.
Plus you have to consider in this hypothetical situation if your friend had just pledged their loyalty to a facist dictator and murdered children and he was just trying to murder you before. It's not like a leaving a good friend hanging kind of situation.
I think you'd find it a lot harder to pull the trigger on a friend who was dying in real life. It's easy to say you would put them out of their misery when typing it in a computer on a forum about a fantasy story but in real life, that's a HUGE emotional hurdle. It's not like Obi-Wan was like "Lol fuck you Anakin, enjoy your burns!" He was pained to even see his friend like that and left because he couldn't bare to look anymore let alone murder him. Maybe from a purely pragmatic perspective Obi-Wan fucked up but it was a human reaction imo.
Plus you have to consider in this hypothetical situation if your friend had just pledged their loyalty to a facist dictator and murdered children and he was just trying to murder you before. It's not like a leaving a good friend hanging kind of situation.
You are absolutely correct that he's no lightweight. The thing I predicate my analysis on however is that not even Yoda could finish off Dooku in AotC and Anakin defeated him with relative ease (after Obi got knocked out of commission no less) at the start of Sith.
But there is the argument to be made that Anakin's embracement of the darkside weakened him. It's the same reason Kylo - who was wounded but still should have made short work of two amateurs - was basically halved by the act of killing his father. The dark side is weaker, thus it nullifies what was once much more powerful and effective.
i always interpreted that scene like this:
It was very likely he would die by the burning, and since anakin was like a adopted son to him, he couldnt give the kill hit, and it didnt seem necessary.
I think thats quite natural to be honest
It was very likely he would die by the burning, and since anakin was like a adopted son to him, he couldnt give the kill hit, and it didnt seem necessary.
I think thats quite natural to be honest
Actually, there's an even older allusion to this fight in the novelization for Return of the Jedi.
Jedis kill people all the time (I realize they tried to get around that with droids being the main antagonists, but c'mon) but I guess as long as you're not angry about it it's ok?
The dumber thing is why did he beat Anakin then just give up and live as a hermit watching over Luke (who he gave no guidance to)? Same for Yoda. Well, we gave it our best college try, time to let the universe suffer as I grow old. Sooo many ways to have written a bridge to the OT but no, we got this.
The dumber thing is why did he beat Anakin then just give up and live as a hermit watching over Luke (who he gave no guidance to)? Same for Yoda. Well, we gave it our best college try, time to let the universe suffer as I grow old. Sooo many ways to have written a bridge to the OT but no, we got this.
A Darth Vader figurine I had as a kid, that was released before the prequels came out, explained on the packaging that he was deformed after he lost a duel with Obi-wan and was badly burned. When the movie was released I was surprised that they followed that explanation exactly.
So in other words the outcome of their duel was predetermined before the prequels even began production. It was believable to me anyway, it makes sense that Obi-wan couldn't finish the job and kill someone he loved. I mean, hell, he even spent the rest of his life looking after his son. He clearly cared a great deal about Anakin.
So in other words the outcome of their duel was predetermined before the prequels even began production. It was believable to me anyway, it makes sense that Obi-wan couldn't finish the job and kill someone he loved. I mean, hell, he even spent the rest of his life looking after his son. He clearly cared a great deal about Anakin.
Because had to stay consistent with the rest of the movies, even if it looked hamfisted.
At the end of that movie, all the key characters left to go to their starting points in the original trilogy as if they had appointments to make. There was no good reason for Yoda to just leave and abandon the entire world the way he did, and there was no reason for Obi-wan to just leave his friend maimed and burning to death without at least dragging him out of the fire or something. They had to go to their places in the original trilogy, and George Lucas did a very poor job of coming up with something that would make them make those moves believably.
At the end of that movie, all the key characters left to go to their starting points in the original trilogy as if they had appointments to make. There was no good reason for Yoda to just leave and abandon the entire world the way he did, and there was no reason for Obi-wan to just leave his friend maimed and burning to death without at least dragging him out of the fire or something. They had to go to their places in the original trilogy, and George Lucas did a very poor job of coming up with something that would make them make those moves believably.
Surprised nobody has mentioned yet that Anakin was originally supposed to beg Obi-Wan to help him. You can see his mouth moving in the scene, but the sound is muted. Also, Anakin's eyes were to change after Obi-Wan refused. I would post a source, but I the only one I found is from a channel that I don't think is allowed here.
Obi-Wan at this point believes he is beyond redemption, as noted with his use of past-tense. As others have pointed out, killing him at this point wouldn't be the Jedi way.
Obi-Wan at this point believes he is beyond redemption, as noted with his use of past-tense. As others have pointed out, killing him at this point wouldn't be the Jedi way.
This is a fair point when you also consider that Anakin is arguably diminished in power by his pivot to the dark side. If the dark side is weaker and Anakin is largely hobbled by his anger (mingled with pre-existing arrogance) I think that makes sense.
Obi Wan is certainly no joke and in terms of power rankings he would seem to hover comfortably in the Top Five.
I think that was actually Hayden's dialogue in that scene which was removed afterwards but you can still see it.
Which is consistent with Obi-wan in the OT, who still believed Vader to be irredeemable evil and Anakin was dead.
Luke is the one who believed he could be saved and he was right.
Lucas did the right thing removing that line. It would have made Obi-Wan look vastly worse than he already did in the scene.
Obi-Wan is a highly defensive fighter, possibly the best the Jedi Order had, and he had literally taught Anakin everything he knew. While it's true Anakin had mastered abilities beyond Obi-Wan's level, in the end, it was Obi-Wan that knew Anakin best and was the most capable of holding his own in a duel.
What helped Obi-Wan turn that into a win was simply that Anakin had been through a lot and was both unstable and couldn't think straight. Using the Force requires intense focus, but Anakin couldn't focus at all. He was being distracted by the dark side, by his own doubts and of course his delusions.
I've always interpreted it as leaving Anakin to his fate. This is a foggy quote from memory but, "Don't do it homeboy! This jump is stupid! It's a bad look for you homie!!" And Anakin stuck his chest out and had to hold that L. Now he's got no legs. Yet he's still talking trash. Still mad. Ok...stay there, then. The last thing Obi Wan is going to do is pick up Anakin on his back and carry him like Luke did Yoda on Deggobah, just so he can keep talking reckless in his ears like that.
On top of that, he already laid hands on Padme. This fool was Wildin' Out! Nah, son. With Padme still caught up with emotions and carrying your kids, we can't have Anakin coming back carrying all that generational hate. Just let him stay there in that hot lava to think about it in the end. Told that fool not to jump.
On top of that, he already laid hands on Padme. This fool was Wildin' Out! Nah, son. With Padme still caught up with emotions and carrying your kids, we can't have Anakin coming back carrying all that generational hate. Just let him stay there in that hot lava to think about it in the end. Told that fool not to jump.
Cause the Jedi are total fuck ups. Obi-Wan was a total dim wit during the clone wars. He gets made a fool in like every episode.
Like why didn't George McClellan pursue the confederate army and finish them off? He Kenobi'd the Civil War.
Like why didn't George McClellan pursue the confederate army and finish them off? He Kenobi'd the Civil War.
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Because we already had a timeline after that was made before this film, and we knew they were in the same universe, so meh.
Would have been totally awesome if at the end Obi-Wan did kill Anakin and it's turned twist revealed that Vader was someone else and was only pretending to be Luke's father in an attempt to turn him to the dark side.
If someone I loved was dying in agony, I'd absolutely finish them off as a mercy. It'd also become clear at that point that the only way to stop Anakin was to kill him. As he walked away, surely he thought he'd succeeded? As he watched him burn, did he think he'd live? If so, why piss off such a powerful enemy and just let him go? If not, why not guarantee it for the safety of the galaxy?
I consider it bad writing because it made the character of Obi Wan either really stupid, or really heartless, and could've been avoided by not having the scene play out as it did. He can make up his mind before getting there all he wants but the second he found out his "brother" had gone postal and sliced up all the kids, and choked Padme half to death, that really should've given him some pause to reconsider that position. It rings false to say "he couldn't do it" after the 20 minute knock-down drag out they had across lava fields, swinging for each other's heads.
*ding ding ding ding*
I mean it's in the movie...
Edit:
Their fight in ANH is all the more profound when you consider that even after seeing what Anakin had become, Obi-Wan still couldn't kill his friend.
Goddman it, George Lucas is a genius.
I will say one of the things that is refreshing about the Jedi is that they will smoke someone with zero hesitation if they feel it's necessary. They're so morally up their own ass that it occludes their humanity, so being a dispassionate killer tracts with that disposition.
He could have potentially mercy killed him when he saw how he was suffering on that lava rock. However he just could not bring himself to do it because he had too much brotherly love for him. The movies were bad at showing it, but at least the expanded universe stuff like Clone Wars etc. showed how much they had been through together. After all they had been through most people would have a tough time killing a fellow friend/brother.
*ding ding ding ding*
I mean it's in the movie...
Edit:
Their fight in ANH is all the more profound when you consider that even after seeing what Anakin had become, still couldn't kill his friend.
Goddman it, George Lucas is a genius.
same energy as when batman said "i wont kill you but i dont have to save you" despite being directly responsible for taking out the rail
or when batman refused to kill that one thief so he blew up the entire building including that same thief
i will not kill my friend anakin i will simply cut off all his limbs and watch as his useless body rolls down to a lava lake and burns to death
look guys nobodies judging, it was self defense, ra's and anakin both had to go and left you little choice, but let's be honest about what happened here
you did what must be done
obi totally assumed anakin would be dead
whoopsies
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Obi wan didn't know he'd survive plain and simple
If he got like some force vision and like saw everything he probably would have turned right around and executed him.
And some off yall is soft as hell, Anakin at this point has already killed kids. Friend or no, once that line was crossed you got to go.
If he got like some force vision and like saw everything he probably would have turned right around and executed him.
And some off yall is soft as hell, Anakin at this point has already killed kids. Friend or no, once that line was crossed you got to go.