Characters / Star Wars – Obi-Wan Kenobi

All spoilers regarding the Skywalker Saga and The Clone Wars are unmarked. Examples relating to Disney's films and EU can be spoiler-tagged if deemed necessary.

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Tropes specifically applying to the characters based on their appearances in Star Wars Legends can be found here.

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Obi-Wan Kenobi

Species: Human

Homeworld: Stewjon

Portrayed by: Alec Guinness (1977-1983, 2015-2019^note voice only via archive footage), Ewan McGregor (1999-)

Voiced by: James Arnold Taylor (The Clone Wars, Rebels [younger], Jedi: Fallen Order), Stephen Stanton (Rebels)

Voiced by (Latin American Spanish dub): Carlos Agosti (A New Hope, original dub), Juan García (Empire Strikes Back, original dub), Roberto Cruz (Return of the Jedi, original dub), Jorge Fink (Original Trilogy, second dub), Yamil Atala (The Phantom Menace), Mario Filio (Prequel Trilogy era and most subsequent appearances)

Voiced by (European Spanish dub): Luis Posada Mendoza (Original Trilogy), Daniel Garcia (Prequel Trilogy, The Clone Wars)

Voiced by (Japanese dub): Toshiyuki Morikawa (Prequel Trilogy era), Gorō Naya (Original Trilogy era)

Voiced by (French dub): Philippe Dumat (Original Trilogy), Bruno Choël (Prequel Trilogy, The Clone Wars excluding Seasons 5 and 6, Obi-Wan Kenobi), Jean-Pierre Michaël (The Clone Wars, Seasons 5 and 6)

Voiced by (Brazilian dub): Isaac Bardavid (A New Hope, first dub, Original Trilogy, second dub and third dub, Rebels, Forces of Destiny), José Santa Cruz (The Empire Strikes Back and Return of The Jedi, first dub), Marcus Jardym (Prequel Trilogy)

Voiced by (German dub): Wilhelm Borchert (Original Trilogy), Philip Moog (Prequel Trilogy, The Clone Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi), Christian Rode (Rebels)

Appearances: Padawan | Master and Apprentice | Age of Republic | Marvel's Star Wars | The Phantom Menace | Obi-Wan & Anakin | Attack of the Clones | The Living Force | Queen's Hope | Brotherhood | The Clone Wars | Tales of the Jedi | A New Dawn | Son of Dathomir | Dark Disciple | Kanan | The Bad Batch | Revenge of the Sith | Ahsoka | Dark Lord of the Sith ^note flashback and vision only | Jedi: Fallen Order ^note  recording | Obi-Wan Kenobi | Rebels | A New Hope | Darth Vader ^note appears in flashbacks and visions | The Empire Strikes Back | FACPOV: Return of the Jedi | Return of the Jedi | The Force Awakens ^note  voice only| The Rise of Skywalker ^note  voice only

Master Obi-Wan Kenobi

"It takes strength to resist the dark side. Only the weak embrace it."

^{Click here to see his The Clone Wars appearance}

"Sith Lords are our specialty."

Obi-Wan Kenobi was originally the Padawan learner of maverick Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. After a fateful mission to Naboo to end a blockade enforced by the Trade Federation, Obi-Wan lost his master to the Sith Lord Darth Maul, but gained his own Padawan learner in a Force-sensitive human from Tatooine named Anakin Skywalker. Ten years later, the two were reunited with Naboo senator Padmé Amidala while protecting her from assassins during the Separatist crisis, which erupted into the Clone Wars. During the war, Obi-Wan became one of the leading Jedi generals of the Republic army in addition to being raised to the rank of Jedi Master and granted a seat on the Jedi Council while Anakin became a Jedi Knight and trained a Padawan learner of his own named Ahsoka Tano. At the end of the war, he was one of the few surviving Jedi and went into hiding from the Galactic Empire on Tatooine as a secret guardian of Luke Skywalker, one of the twin children of Anakin, who then served the Emperor as Darth Vader.

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Tropes from the Republic Era

A-E

• The Ace: Obi-Wan Kenobi is one of the best Jedi that the Jedi Order has ever had. Apart from Anakin, he is the third strongest of the Jedi Council (Under Mace Windu and Yoda), a tactical genius, the Jedi Order's top diplomat, an expert pilot, and a master of multiple forms of lightsaber combat (particularly Form III) in addition to the fact that he has bested every Sith apprentice of his time (with the exception of Count Dooku) and many other great threats, such as General Grievous and Cad Bane. As the 'Revenge of the Sith' novelization describes him: "This is Obi-Wan Kenobi: A phenomenal pilot who doesn’t like to fly. A devastating warrior who’d rather not fight. A negotiator without peer who frankly prefers to sit alone in a quiet cave and meditate."
  • In his own series, even when out of practice and initially a shell of his former self, all he needs get his groove back is proper motivation and wielding his lightsaber again. An incredible feat when several characters require significant amount of time to regain a fraction of their glory days; Obi-Wan does it in a couple of days and even wins against Darth Vader.
• Ace Pilot: Don't let his stated aversion to flying fool you. He can pilot a starfighter like an expert. When Jango Fett gets the upper hand during their dogfight over Geonosis, Obi-Wan manages to evade three or four sonic charges, and then avoids a blistering hail of laser fire from Slave I's cannons, and only gets tagged twice. Jango fires with pinpoint accuracy, but simply can't hit him!
• Action Hero: Boy, is he ever. He participates in more combat than most of the other Jedi in the canon.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • With Ventress. Her Foe Romance Subtext with Obi-Wan from Legends gets mostly excised in The Clone Wars, and by extension the canon. In Legends, the two had multiple suggestive moments, Obi-Wan became downright obsessed with the possibility of redeeming her and she with that of corrupting him, and Asajj had even an instance of What Is This Feeling? after one of their encounters (their whole mutual attraction is even explicitly likened to that of Anakin and Padmé in the comics). Her fake death and desertion also felt as a possible Sequel Hook, implying they might meet again someday (and although they did not, Obi-Wan was mentioned in another Legends work as having been reminded of her by some flowers he found in Tatooine). In canon, Obi-Wan and Ventress do like to invoke romantic subtext during their fights, but this is clearly treated by both as just a twisted joke without any real attraction; Obi-Wan mainly has eyes for Satine, and Ventress later has her true Love Interest in Quinlan Vos.
  • Speaking of the devil, in Legends, Obi-Wan and Vos were basically surrogate brothers, having trained and fought on the Stark Hyperspace War together; when Vos was presumed turned the Dark Side, Obi-Wan elected to trust him not matter what, and was right at the end even although the entire Jedi Council doubted. In The Clone Wars (and by extension the canon), Vos doesn't have this bond with Kenobi, as the latter clearly doesn't enjoy his company and they don't refer to each other in a first name basis as previously. Their relationship is also turned into something akin to a Buddy Cop Show, as Vos is portrayed as a goofy Boisterous Bruiser who constantly annoys Kenobi with his antics. However, Obi-Wan still supports Vos in Dark Disciple after his brush with the Dark Side.
  • Despite their meeting in Revenge of the Sith indicating that Kenobi and Grievous had met before, the Jedi Master and Jedi Hunter rarely found themselves having any personal animosity towards one another, and instead their conflict was due to Grievous being an ax-crazy unhinged serial killer and Obi Wan being one of the many that he despises due to purely being a Jedi. Disney Canon changes all that, with The Clone Wars making it so they were constant thorns in each other's side, and major rivals to one another, constantly battling with Obi-Wan getting the upper hand in large scale battles more often than not, and trading blows repeatedly. Obi Wan would even understand the General's way of thinking enough to lay a trap for him, and similarly, Grievous is able to do the same in return, which would not have been possible in Legends due to lack of extended personal experience.
• Adoptive Peer Parent: Downplayed. After Qui-Gon's death, Obi-Wan becomes Anakin's master and parental surrogate. At the time, Obi-Wan is 25 and Anakin is 9, making for a sixteen year gap. Qui-Gon, in comparison, was 48. As a result, Anakin and Obi-Wan have something between a brotherly relationship and a father-son one (Anakin does think of him as a father figure in 'Attack of the Clones''), and they bicker like siblings as well.
• Affectionate Nickname: Jar Jar Binks and Duchess Satine Kryze occasionally address Obi-Wan as "Obi".
• Alliterative Name: One of the most famous examples in Star Wars (Obi-Wan Kenobi).
• Aloof Big Brother: Downplayed. Palpatine spends all of Anakin's formative years attempting to portray Obi-Wan as this, with himself as the more sympathetic listener.
• Always Someone Better: To Anakin as Darth Vader. Despite previously defeating some of the best lightsaber duelists in the galaxy such as Cin Drallig, Asajj Ventress, Eeth Koth, and Count Dooku, the last of whom Obi-Wan never even won against, he consistently loses against his old master Obi-Wan in all-out duels. Even when outmatched in their last duel, Obi-Wan still won in the long term, since he willingly became a Force Ghost to guide Luke in becoming a Jedi. It's justified since Obi-Wan's defensive lightsaber form was a perfect counter to that of Vader's aggressive lightsaber form. Also, as Palpatine alluded in Obi-Wan's series, Vader's subconscious attachments hamper his prowess.
  • Count Dooku was this to Obi-Wan during the Clone Wars. Obi-Wan has defeated, whether by force or wit, Maul, Ventress, Jango Fett, Darth Vader, General Grievous, various minions of the CIS, and Maul and Savage Opress simultaneously. However, even in his mid-thirties, Obi-Wan was ultimately outmatched against Dooku in their final battle.
• Ambadassador: He's even nicknamed "The Negotiator" during the Clone Wars due to both his skill at diplomacy and his skills as a Jedi.
• Ambiguously Bi: In Padawan, Obi-Wan admits to Casul that he finds him attractive, regardless of whether he wants to kiss him or not.
• Anguished Declaration of Love:
  • An indirect one. In "Voyage of Temptation", when Satine is briefly held captive by Tal Merrik, she gives a declaration of her love for Obi-Wan. While he attempts to remain professional, Obi-Wan confesses that had Satine asked him, he would've left the Jedi Order for her.
  • A platonic example to Anakin in Revenge of the Sith. After Anakin becomes a Sith Lord, the former friends duel and Obi-Wan wins after cutting off Anakin's organic hand and both legs. Obi-Wan then tearfully screams that Anakin was his brother and he loved him. Sadly, it was too late by then.
• The Apprentice: He was still the Padawan learner of Qui-Gon during the time of The Phantom Menace.
• Anti-Mentor: Made so by Darth Sidious. Qui-Gon Jinn planned to train Anakin but left the task to Obi-Wan after he was mortally wounded by Darth Maul. Obi-Wan tried his best, but struggled due to his inexperience. Worse, his mentorship of Anakin was actively sabotaged by Sidious who billed himself as a second mentor and intentionally played the role in a way that made Obi-Wan look bad.
• Arch-Enemy:
  • Darth Maul, who has a deeply personal vendetta against Obi-Wan for defeating him on Naboo; their lightsaber duel cost Maul his position as Sidious' apprentice, his lower body, and his sanity. On Obi-Wan's end, Maul's slaying both Qui-Gon and Satine makes the vendetta far from one-sided.
  • Ironically, this is eventually downplayed if not subverted on both ends. While Obi-Wan initially took Maul's return very personally, he calmed down after being criticized by the Jedi Council and Palpatine for letting it become a personal obsession. Even after everything Maul did to him, Obi-Wan does not take Maul too seriously, even passing up the opportunity to join the Siege of Mandalore to go rescue Chancellor Palpatine instead. By the time of the Empire, Obi-Wan has long moved on from Maul and does not initially greet him with any hostility. On Maul's end, Sidious eventually displaces Obi-Wan as the object of Maul's vengeance, to the point where Obi-Wan is either ignored or an afterthought in his schemes for vengeance against his former master - and while he does eventually hunt him down, it seems to be as much for closure as anything else, as he asks Obi-Wan while dying if the child he is protecting - Luke - is the Chosen One. When told that he is, he says, "he will avenge us", implicitly including Obi-Wan and acknowledging how both have suffered at Sidious' hands.
  • General Grievous serves as his main rival for the duration of the Clone Wars, with the two meeting in battle several times and Obi-Wan ultimately slaying the cyborg general.
  • Ultimately, however, Obi-Wan's greatest enemy becomes Anakin himself. At least until they reconcile in death.
• Art-Shifted Sequel: As presented on a hologram, Obi-Wan looked considerably younger and more cartoony◊ in Rebels compared to how he is in The Clone Wars, with his beard toned down to make him resemble Ewan McGregor a lot better. Tales of the Jedi would even give the character his famous mullet from Attack of the Clones.
• Ass Kicking Pose: His favorite combat stance is to raise his lightsaber to the level of his head, pointing at his opponent, and also extend his left arm with two fingers pointing at his opponent. He may be preparing to use his left hand to Force push his opponent, which means this stance is completely impractical for anyone except a Jedi. This specific pose is actually the opening stance to Form III, his favoured style of lightsaber combat, and functions as a statement of battle readiness and a non-verbal challenge to his opponent to come and get him, if they dare.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: Several times, including with Qui-Gon in The Phantom Menace, Mace Windu in Attack of the Clones and The Clone Wars episode "Children of the Force", Anakin in Attack of the Clones, The Clone Wars, and Revenge of the Sith, and Satine in The Clone Wars episode "Voyage of Temptation".
• Badass Bookworm: He is an intelligent, cultured gentleman who can kick a lot of ass when the time for it comes.
• Bash Brothers: With Anakin during the Clone Wars. That is until Anakin turns to the Dark Side and does a Face–Heel Turn.
• Batman Gambit:
  • Obi-Wan openly faces General Grievous on Utapau because he anticipates his ego will compell the cyborg to fight him one-on-one to prove he can defeat him, thus buying time for the clone troopers to reach their level.
  • He correctly guesses that Padmé will go find Anakin after he tells her about his Face–Heel Turn, stowing away in her ship so that she can unwittingly bring him straight to Anakin.
  • Memes aside, this is how he beat Anakin: as shown in expanded universe material, Anakin was obsessed with the Obi-Wan vs Maul fight and Obi-Wan knew if there was one move he'd try in that situation, it was that.
• Battle Couple: Zigzagged. While he and Satine had mutual feelings for each other, they didn't follow through on said feelings due to their respective duties. As for the "battle" part, Obi-Wan is a Jedi Master who is skilled with the Force and the lightsaber while Satine, despite being a staunch pacifist, has proven to be handy with a blaster.
• Bearer of Bad News: In Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan gets the supremely unpleasant task of telling Padmé that Anakin has turned to the Dark Side, knowing she's in love with him and that he is the father of her unborn children. Padmé doesn't take it well at all and Obi-Wan clearly feels terrible about the whole situation, barely able to keep himself together and apologizing to Padmé as he leaves. It's subverted later when a barely-conscious Padmé asks him if Anakin is alright on Mustafar; Obi-Wan doesn't mention that he just mutilated an Ax-Crazy Anakin, watched him catch fire and left him for dead, nor does he mention any of this as a dying Padmé assures him there's still good left in Anakin.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Satine. They can barely spend five minutes together without snarking at each other, but both admit to still being in love, even if their respective duties prevent a relationship.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He is described as "the ultimate Jedi" partially because he is modest, heroic, focused, and kind. Nonetheless, if you push him far enough (like taking part in the murder of almost his entire "family", ie. the Jedi Order, including innocent children), he is prepared to hack off your limbs and leave you alone to slowly burn to death.
• Big Brother Instinct: He has this towards Anakin. At least, before Anakin turns to the Dark Side.
• Big Brother Mentor: He's simultaneously this and a Parental Substitute to Anakin. He even refers to Anakin as his brother in Revenge of the Sith, while Anakin tells him he is like a father to him in Attack of the Clones.
• Big "NO!":
  • He yells it in The Phantom Menace when Qui-Gon is killed by Darth Maul.
  • He also yells it again in The Clone Wars episode "Revival" when Adi Gallia is killed by Darth Maul's brother Savage Opress.
• Birds of a Feather: He and Satine are Deadpan Snarkers, with a strong sense of duty, compassionate, brave, and pacifistic (but to different extents).
• Blood Knight: Look at the look on his face when Grievous draws his lightsabers. For the majority of the battle, Obi-Wan looks like he's having the time of his life.
• Blue Is Heroic: Obi-Wan is a heroic Jedi Knight who wields a blue lightsaber.
• Bodyguard Crush: During his days as a Padawan learner, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon were assigned to protect Satine from insurgents of Mandalore. As such, he and Satine grew close and their feelings became romantic, but nothing came of it. They still loved each other, even though at least a decade had passed by.
• Bond One-Liner: After he blasts General Grievous to death, Obi-Wan takes a moment to voice his opinion of blasters.
  Obi-Wan: So uncivilized.
• Boring, but Practical: His mastery of the form Soresu is this. It's not as flashy as his other form Ataru or Anakin's Djem So fighting styles but it's defensive capabilities make it an ideal lightsaber form to use in the Clone Wars given how most of the enemies he faces fire blaster bolts or fight with fast and extremely aggressive lightsaber forms. His mastery of the form has allowed him to defeat more powerful opponents like General Grievous and Darth Maul simply because they have a difficult time powering through his defenses and even Count Dooku, who had a history of easily besting Kenobi in lightsaber combat, was intimidated by his skills in the form in their final duel to the point where he had to resort to using his Force abilities to take him out of the equation.
• Brainy Brunette: Obi-Wan has auburn hair and is a highly intelligent individual.
• Bridal Carry: He carries an unconscious Padmé this way in Revenge of the Sith, when he rushes her off her ship for urgent medical treatment. It's justified, as she's heavily pregnant so he can't really carry her any other way very easily.
• Broken Ace: Obi-Wan is The Ace when it comes to being a Jedi (see the above trope for more details) of Yoda's era. He also witnesses the deaths of Qui-Gon Jinn (his Master/Parent Substitute) and Satine (his possible only true love) at the hands of Darth Maul. Later on, he becomes one of the survivors of the aftermath of the Jedi Purge which his own former Padawan learner, whom he loved like a brother, helps with after turning to the dark side. He would then duel and incapacitate said brother figure before leaving him to die. Then, he witnesses Padmé Amidala, a close friend, die from heartbreak. He then spends the next nineteen years on Tatooine protecting Anakin's son while suffering from his own guilt and trauma. And when said friend turns out to be alive and unleashes the fury of hell just to kill him, Obi-Wan can barely defend himself. Once he gets his mojo back, Obi-Wan somewhat comes to term with his failings.
• Broken Pedestal: He once held a high level of respect for Count Dooku because he was Qui-Gon Jinn's former master and was considered one of the greatest Jedi until his departure from the Order. And then Obi-Wan later finds out that Dooku is the leader of the Separatists, was trying to have Padmé Amidala killed, and is a Dark Lord of the Sith.
• Butt-Monkey: Obi-Wan certainly gets the crap kicked out of him in Attack of the Clones, as he is dropped from a great height over Coruscant, head-butted, pummeled, lassoed, and dragged by Jango Fett, taken captive, and chased repeatedly by an Acklay before finally being slashed by Dooku's lightsaber.
• By-the-Book Cop: Obi-Wan is compliant to the Jedi Council and follows their orders to the letter. His tendency to be a stickler for the rules, however, has lead to him frequently getting into disagreements with the people closest to him like his master Qui-Gon, his apprentice Anakin, and his old friend Quinlan.
• Cain and Abel: He is the Abel to Anakin's Cain. This is more evident and obvious at the end of Revenge of the Sith when Obi-Wan refers to Anakin as his brother and says that he loved him before he turned to the dark side.
• Call-Forward:
  • This line of his in Attack of the Clones, which serves as the quote for the trope page:
    [to Anakin] "Why do I get the feeling that one of these days you're going to be the death of me?"
  • During his stint as Rako Hardeen, he uses the codename "Ben". He was so fond of it that he used the codename for years on Tatooine.
• Celibate Hero: As all Jedi are supposed to, he avoids romantic entanglements, though that doesn't stop him flirting with pretty much every woman he meets. He also fell deeply in love with Duchess Satine of Mandelore, and considered leaving the Jedi Order for her.
• Character Catchphrase: He tends to shout "blast!" when he's frustrated or annoyed.
• The Charmer: He is especially this in The Clone Wars as he occasionally tends to flirt with any woman he meets, even the ones trying to kill him (such as Asajj Ventress). As a result of being a Celibate Hero, however, he rarely means it.
• Combat Parkour: During his early Padawan years, his combat style of choice was the acrobatic Ataru. He switches to using Soresu after his duel with Darth Maul on Naboo, but he still maintained a working practice in the form and since then generally reserved it in the occasion that he has to go on the offensive.
• Combat Pragmatist:
  • During his duel against Maul and Savage on Florrum, Obi-Wan kicks Savage's knee out from behind him before chopping his arm off. Likewise, he kills Grievous during his final duel against him with a well-timed blaster shot, rather than with his lightsaber (which, admittedly, he'd dropped earlier).
  • Regardless of how silly it sounds, the whole "I have the high ground" thing is the Jedi Order's combat principle that teaches a Jedi to use environmental advantage.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: It's more like Contrasting Prequel Main Character. Obi-Wan serves as this to Han Solo, as they both are part of the main trio of their respective trilogies.
  • They both serve as older brother-figures to the protagonist of their own trilogies (Obi-Wan to Anakin, Han to Luke). Obi-Wan is Anakin's Jedi Master and partner who Anakin also saw as a Parental Substitute while Han is Luke's partner and closest friend, who later becomes his brother-in-law. Also, Obi-Wan and Anakin's bond eventually gets destroyed when the latter turned to the Dark Side; and while Han and Luke initially have a rocky relationship given the former's Anti-Hero traits, they eventually became as close as family.
  • Obi-Wan is a Nice Guy with an aversion for guns and flying (despite being an Ace Pilot in regards to the latter) while Han is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold known for having a blaster as his main weapon and Ace Pilot in his own right, and he loves both.
  • Both of them have a belligerent romance with their respective love interest who were involved in politics (Obi-Wan with Satine, Han with Leia). However, Obi-Wan and Satine never enter into a relationship, choosing their duties over romance, which is further cemented after Maul murders Satine; Han and Leia proclaim their love for each other, married, and have a son. Unfortunately, their marriage is a rocky one and before they could reconcile, their son, Ben Solo/Kylo Ren, murders Han.
  • Obi-Wan is an Ideal Hero, staunch believer in the Jedi Code and the Force, and could be quite strict, but loosened up considerably by the time of the Original Trilogy; Han is a muggle Anti-Hero, initially didn't believe in the Force, and was quite impulsive before becoming more level-headed.
  • Both are murdered by someone they have a complicated father-son relationship with. Obi-Wan is killed by Darth Vader (formerly Anakin Skywalker). However, he intentionally throws the fight and they have a more brotherly relationship; Han is killed by his son, Kylo Ren (formerly Ben Solo). Han is clearly shocked but forgives him and they were biologically related.
• Cool Helmet: He gets one as part of his Rako Hardeen disguise (and it's based on old Ralph McQuarrie concept art for Boba Fett's helmet).
• Cool Starship: He pilots some pretty awesome starfighters in Attack of the Clones, The Clone Wars, and Revenge of the Sith, despite his slight aversion to flying. He also commands a Venator-class Star Destroyer as General of the Republic Army.
• Cool Sword: The three blue-bladed lightsabers that he wields during separate points of his life in canon.
• Cruel Mercy: Subverted. Although Obi-Wan could have killed Anakin on Mustafar, he chose to leave him to die...not because he wanted to let Anakin suffer, but from his own grief and pain. Even in his own self-titled series, he refuses to give in to anger and strike Vader down despite his old friend practically begging him to.
• Cunning Linguist: Obi-Wan has a fluency in, among other languages, Twi'leki ("Innocents of Ryloth") and the tongue of the Armani ("A Death on Utapau").
• Curb-Stomp Cushion: In Attack of the Clones, he's clearly outmatched against Count Dooku without Anakin's help and he knows it, telling Anakin that he can't take Dooku alone and that he needs his help to win prior to the duel. Despite this, he still briefly drives him back during the duel before Dooku regains control and takes him down with ease.
• Cynical Mentor: He could sometimes be one towards Anakin. Despite being The Ace, Obi-Wan simply wasn't ready to mentor someone as special as The Chosen One. Though maturity on both sides help their relationship by "The Clone Wars", there are moments when Obi-Wan can be somewhat tactless towards Anakin, such as: when R2-D2 went missing in action, when Ahsoka left the Jedi Order, and when pointing out why the Jedi Council accepted Anakin as one of its members.
• Deadpan Snarker: Obi-Wan is a very skilled Jedi with a very sharp wit and sardonically sarcastic sense of humor.
  • An example:
    Obi-Wan: That's your plan? Just fly in there, land, hope they don't spot us, and walk in the door?
    Anakin: Basically.
    Obi-Wan: Oh, brilliant. Let's get going.
  • Also:
    Obi-Wan: You seem a bit on edge.
    Anakin: There's a good chance that we're about to destroy all life on this planet, including ours and the senator's. So yes, I'm a bit on edge! Why aren't you?
    Obi-Wan: [shrugs] I'm better at hiding it.
  • A case could also be made for him being at least a partial Stepford Snarker. His tendency to drop witty comments increased noticeably after The Phantom Menace and Qui-Gon Jinn's death. After the First Battle of Geonosis, it got another "boost".
• Declaration of Protection: Obi-Wan makes a vow to protect Anakin's son, Luke, on the dangerous planet, Tatooine.
• Determinator: He refused to give up after learning about the occurrences of the Jedi Purge and Anakin's betrayal of the Jedi Order. While he's clearly hurt by these things years after the fact, he still operates on the belief that Luke will be the one to save the Jedi.
• Deuteragonist: He is both this and The Hero in the Prequel Trilogy and The Clone Wars. Obi-Wan gets the A-plot and lion's share of the action through his rivalries with Jango Fett, Count Dooku, and General Grievous in Attack of the Clones, The Clone Wars, and Revenge of the Sith, but doesn't get any real Character Development. This is in contrast with the increasingly amoral Anakin, who doesn't do as much to move the story forward until his Face–Heel Turn, but does go on a much more pronounced character arc with his Protagonist Journey to Villain.
• Did Not Get the Girl: He and Satine never got together due to his commitment to the Jedi. The fact she is later murdered by Darth Maul cements this.
• Does Not Like Guns: Until he's forced to use one against Grievous. Even though one saved his life, he still quickly throws it away in disgust over how uncivilized it was. That said, he does demonstrate himself to be an expert marksman when he goes under-cover as Rako Hardeen, possibly using the Force.
• Dressing as the Enemy: In "The Lawless", he poses as a Mandalorian super commando in order to rescue Satine.
• Dual Wielding: He pulls this off on occasion, such as during his duel with General Grievous in "Grievous Intrigue" (using an electrostaff), his showdown with Cad Bane in "Hunt for Ziro" (using Quinlan Vos' lightsaber in addition to his own), and his second duel with Maul and Savage in "Revival" (using the late Adi Gallia's lightsaber).
• Dynamic Akimbo: After Padmé's attempt to talk Anakin down fails, he makes his presence known to the two by posing like this while standing on the gangway of Padmé's starship.
• Enemy Mine:
  • He teams up with Asajj Ventress in "Revenge" to duel Darth Maul and Savage Opress.
  • He joins forces with Bo-Katan in "The Lawless" in order to escape Mandalore.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Twice. In The Phantom Menace, he has short hair with a Padawan braid to indicate his youth. In Attack of the Clones (which takes place ten years after The Phantom Menace), he has longer hair and a beard. In The Clone Wars, he has cut his hair shorter again to show his increasing maturity and experience, which he retains in Revenge of the Sith.

F-M

• Fake Assassination: In "Deception", Obi-Wan, of all people, pulls one off with the help of Jedi Masters Mace Windu and Yoda, as part of an undercover mission meant to uncover a Separatist plot to kidnap Chancellor Palpatine. Uniquely, the assassin in question, Rako Hardeen, wasn't even aware of his role in the plan until Mace and Obi-Wan later confront him in his room at a cantina, where he gets captured and Put on a Bus. Meanwhile, with the help of nanotechnology, Obi-Wan undergoes a facial and voice transformation to look and sound exactly like Hardeen, before he is taken in Hardeen's place to prison to begin the next phase of their plan. It's also implied that the entire thing was orchestrated by Palpatine himself, as a means of increasing Anakin's distrust towards the Jedi Council, while playing on his fears of losing the people he cares about, as he wasn't initially in on the plan, even after "Hardeen" was sent to prison.
• Faking the Dead: As part of his infiltration during the Deception arc.
• Fantastic Racism: He does not consider droids to be "alive" despite evidence of droids having personalities and feelings. However, he eventually comes to change this view to an extent, particularly in regards to C-3PO and R2-D2.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • Unlike Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan had a strict adherence to the Jedi Council, something Dave Filoni notes partly led to Darth Vader's creation. Similarly, while admitting that mistakes were made in Ahsoka's expulsion, Obi-Wan still chose to pin some blame on Ahsoka herself during the Siege of Mandalore.
  • When Anakin became a Sith lord, Obi-Wan lost hope that he could be redeemed, a belief fully realized from their second duel. From this, he failed to realize any signs which proved otherwise (ex: Vader's fluctuation in prowess, absolving Obi-Wan of his guilt, and decision to spare Luke's life in their first duel).
  • By far though, Obi-Wan's greatest weakness was his Innocently Insensitive nature. Even in the original trilogy, Obi-Wan could lapse into this behavior at times, hence his more shady actions as Luke's mentor.
• A Father to His Men: He’s the one who started the trend of Jedi generals wearing clone trooper armor in order to relate more closely to their troops. Obi-Wan's personal clone unit, the 212th Attack Battalion, greatly respect and idolize him as a result, and he's also shown to have a good rapport and close friendship with Commander Cody.
• The Fettered: Jedi are this as a rule, but Obi-Wan explicitly mentions the strength that comes from resisting the temptation of the Dark Side during his conversation with Darth Maul in "The Lawless".
• Field Promotion: Yoda confers the rank of Jedi Knight upon him at the end of The Phantom Menace after defeating Darth Maul.
• Fiery Redhead: Inverted. He has auburn hair, but is the poster boy for a Jedi with control over their emotions.
• Fight Magnet: His named opponents in the Prequel Trilogy alone include Darth Maul, Jango Fett, Count Dooku, General Grievous, and Anakin.
• Fire-Forged Friends: He seems to be this with Padmé. They don't interact much in The Phantom Menace, whilst at the beginning of Attack of the Clones, Obi-Wan is strictly professional with her and warns Anakin to wary of her, as she's "a politician" and "not to be trusted". However, after Padmé goes to great efforts to save him when he's captured by Separatists and they fight alongside each other at the First Battle of Geonosis, he changes his opinion of her and comes to care for her a great deal. It's implied he intentionally turns a blind eye to her relationship with Anakin because he just wants them to be happy and also comes to see Padmé at her apartment to talk about Anakin with her. In Revenge of the Sith, when Obi-Wan has to tell Padmé about Anakin's turn to the dark side, he tries to break it to her as gently as possible and is clearly remorseful about breaking her heart, sincerely apologizing when he figures out she's pregnant. He does what he can to help her after she is gravely injured by Anakin, is at her side when she gives birth, and is visibly distraught when she dies. It can be assumed that Obi-Wan's friendship with Padmé is one of the reasons he dedicates his later life to protecting her children.
• Flaw Exploitation: He defeats Anakin on Mustafar by taking advantage of his desire to prove that he's better than him. Ever since Anakin began his Jedi training, he's been obsessed with Obi-Wan's fight with Maul on Naboo and has fought training droids emulating Maul's fighting style in an attempt to surpass Obi-Wan's performance in the fight. By taking the high ground near the end of the fight, he sets up a situation where Anakin will try to replicate the move Obi-Wan used to defeat Maul only this time Obi-Wan sees the leap coming and dismembers Anakin while he's in mid-air.
• Foil: To Anakin. They are both skilled and famous Jedi with troubled love lives.
  • Anakin is an anti-heroic, arrogant, Hot-Blooded, and reckless Jedi Knight who struggled with the Jedi Code and a number of other things; Obi-Wan is a humble, cool-headed Jedi Master and Ideal Hero, with a strict adherence to the Jedi Code.
  • Anakin was brought into the Jedi Order at nine-years-old, which was considered too old and a way for him to turn to the dark side, which is why the Jedi Council initially refused his attendance. Obi-Wan was brought in way younger than Anakin and didn't go through such a trial. Both gained a seat on the Council, but Anakin was distrusted and the only one to not have the title Master, while Obi-Wan was one of their most esteemed members.
  • Their respective love interests are in politics and, as stated above, both Jedi have troubled love lives in which both relationships end tragically. And their relationship grew romantic because the Jedi were protecting the politician from attempted murder — Anakin is in a secret marriage with Senator Padmé Amidala of Naboo whom he's been in love since their younger years, but a combination of his growing distrust of the Jedi Order, issues with attachment, personal trauma, and Palpatine's manipulations cause him to grow controlling over her to the point he Force-chokes her after his Face–Heel Turn. These actions indirectly cause Padmé's death; Obi-Wan has an unresolved romance with Duchess Satine Kryze of Mandalore, whom he met and fell in love with during his Padawan learner days, but both chose their duties over their love for each other, and Obi-Wan was Forced to Watch Maul murder her. While both couples met in their respective youths, Anakin has a mild Age-Gap Romance with Padmé and they met as children (nine and fourteen, respectively) while it's implied that Obi-Wan and Satine are around the same age and met most likely as young adults or in their late teens.
  • Anakin was taught by the strict and critical Obi-Wan, but had a more laid-back approach when teaching his own Padawan, Ahsoka Tano; Obi-Wan was taught by a comparatively easygoing Qui-Gon Jinn, but was more authoritative with Anakin during the latter's Padawan years. Anakin and Qui-Gon openly stood up for their students against the Jedi Council, whereas Obi-Wan did so mostly outside Anakin and Ahsoka's presence. This greatly strained Obi-Wan's relationship with both younger Jedi, while Qui-Gon had a less complicated relationship overall.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: A surrogate example. He's the responsible to Anakin's foolish, as he's more logical and calm than Anakin, who can be easily riled up and make rash decisions.
• Forced to Watch: In "The Lawless", Obi-Wan is forced to watch Darth Maul kill Satine.
• Forgot About His Powers: During his final duel with General Grievous, Obi-Wan doesn't use the Force until the very end despite Grievous' complete vulnerability to them; when he does, he knocks Grievous flat on his ass (after a 20-foot flight through the air, into the ceiling). It's possible, however, that Obi-Wan was just stalling for time before his troops got in position, which would make this a rare justified example.
• Former Teen Rebel: Believe it or not, Obi-Wan was also a rule-breaker and maverick like Anakin when he was very young. He only became an obedient, by-the-book Jedi he's known to be when Qui-Gon picked him as his Padawan learner.
• Four-Star Badass: As with every Jedi Knight and Jedi Master, he was given the rank of "Jedi General" within the Grand Army of the Republic.
• Friend to All Children: He's very nice to Anakin and Ahsoka when he first met them and he retains that kindness with Luke and Leia in his own series. He was also distraught to see how many Younglings and Padawans were murdered during Order 66 and was even more shocked to find out Anakin was the one who killed most of them.
• Genius Bruiser: Obi-Wan isn't just one of the best lightsaber duelists in the galaxy, but also one of its smartest tacticians. He's able to lead armies into victory with his brilliant strategies and tactics and is able to defeat much more powerful duelists like Maul, Grievous, and Anakin himself through clever thinking and ingenuity.
• Genocide Survivor: He was one of the few Jedi who survived Order 66, a top-secret order Palpatine used to have the Clone Army slaughter the Jedi Order.
• Gentle Touch vs. Firm Hand: This trope is displayed through Obi-Wan's approach to mentoring Anakin and Luke.
  • With Anakin, he tends to be strict and at times critical, even chastising him once in public. Though Obi-Wan frequently praised Anakin, it wasn't enough for him, since he eventually chafes under Obi-Wan's teaching methods, feeling hurt by Obi-Wan's Innocently Insensitive actions. Palpatine used this to his own advantage, alienating Anakin from Obi-Wan and the Jedi Order.
  • Having learnt from his mistakes, Obi-Wan takes more of a Gentle Touch towards Luke's training, acting as a nurturing father figure. It also contrasts him with Luke's second mentor Yoda, who was more skeptical and employed Brutal Honesty.
• Gentleman Snarker: Obi-Wan's polite, diplomatic demeanor can mask some pretty biting snark.
• Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: He normally subverts this trope, knowing full well about how evil all sorts of people can be. However, he does express some genuine frustration with Grievous after multiple struggles with him, openly questioning Grievous about what he hopes to accomplish by serving Dooku before promptly criticizing his answer.
  Obi-Wan: I hear a lot of talking, General, but in the final accounting, what does all that talk get you? A futile quest for power, a mutilated body? Your place is Dooku's errand boy!
  Grievous: I'm no errand boy. And I'm not in this war for Dooku's politics! I am the leader of the most powerful droid army the galaxy has ever seen!
  Obi-Wan: An army with no loyalty, no spirit, just programming! What have you to show for all your power? What have you to gain?
  Grievous: The future. A future where there are no Jedi!
• Good Is Not Soft: Obi-Wan prefers to settle conflict diplomatically. Emphasis on prefers. Perhaps the best example of this happens after his defeat of Darth Vader, in which he allows his former student to burn instead of offering a Mercy Kill. Decades later he's still convinced that his former pupil can only be dealt with by way of a blade, while the younger and more optimistic Luke seeks to redeem his father.
• Groin Attack: Anakin subjected Obi-Wan to it while the latter was undercover as his own supposed murderer, Rako Hardeen.
• Guile Hero: He prefers to talk (or otherwise persuade) his way out of a predicament over using a lightsaber, which has earned him the In-Universe nickname "the Negotiator".
• Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: With his love interest, Satine. While he uses a lightsaber, she will use a small blaster.
• Heartbroken Badass:
  • Downplayed, but when Qui-Gon decides to take Anakin on as his Padawan, Obi-Wan subconsciously saw it as Qui-Gon casting him aside. Fortunately, since Qui-Gon immediately says it's because Obi-Wan is ready to be promoted to Knight, Obi-Wan later reconciles with him.
  • He was distraught by Qui-Gon's death, but doesn't let it affect him when facing Maul, allowing the path to victory.
  • Again he keeps it subdued, but Obi-Wan is clearly heartbroken over Satine's death, again at the hands of Darth Maul.
  • Obi-Wan's composure finally fails him in Revenge Of The Sith; he's absolutely devastated by Anakin's turn to the Dark Side, and once their duel is concluded he tearfully shouts to Anakin that he considered him a brother.
• The Hero: While ultimately the Canon as a whole is about Anakin, Obi-Wan is quite clearly the main heroic character of the Prequel Trilogy and The Clone Wars to Luke's role as the main character of the Original Trilogy. He's the one who drives the plot forward in every film in the Prequel Trilogy except for The Phantom Menace (which has Qui-Gon as a Decoy Protagonist), and wins the Final Battle of The Phantom Menace and Revenge of the Sith.
• Hero Antagonist: Obi-Wan becomes this after Anakin's Face–Heel Turn in Revenge of the Sith.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: Just like all Jedi, Obi-Wan uses a lightsaber as his weapon. He in fact considers blasters to be "uncivilized".
• Heroic BSoD: Two:
  • Obi-Wan goes through a brief one when Darth Maul murders Duchess Satine in The Clone Wars episode "The Lawless".
  • In Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan slowly falls into another one as he and Yoda see the full extent of the massacre in the Jedi Temple. He's tipped over the edge when he sees a hologram proving that Anakin is responsible but, being Obi-Wan, manages to keep going and fight the man he's loved as a brother. He finally lets his emotions come out after he's defeated Vader and, although he keeps going, it's clear from that point onwards that he has never gotten over what happened to Anakin.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: He is this with Anakin after the latter becomes a Jedi Knight.
• His Heart Will Go On: Satine's death at the hands of Maul devastates him, but it does nothing to break his resolve. Unlike Dooku and Ventress, Obi-Wan opted to remain in the light after losing a loved one and continued to shun the dark side.
• Humble Hero: It seems that Obi-Wan is the only one who doesn't understand how great a Jedi he is—when the Council proposes to send their "most cunning and insightful Master" after Grievous, he has no idea who they mean. He's also surprised when Mace Windu—the guy who created his own form of lightsaber combat—refers to him as "the master of the classic form....Not a master. The master".
• Hypocrite: Despite being hurt by Qui-Gon's occasional Innocently Insensitive actions, Obi-Wan could be thoughtless towards Anakin as well. Likewise, depending on what side of the linguistic debate your on, his infamous quote that "Only a Sith deals in absolutes".
  • The "Rako Hardeen" arc takes this up to eleven, with Obi-Wan not only faking his death, but also failing to properly apologize to Anakin afterwards. It's especially jarring since Obi-Wan of all people should know the pain of losing a close friend/mentor.
• "I Can't Look!" Gesture: He does this on Mustafar when Anakin starts to catch fire.
• Iconic Attribute Adoption Moment: His first lightsaber was kicked down a reactor shaft by Darth Maul and his second (identical) one was lost after he was captured on Geonosis. His third lightsaber is the one that he used in A New Hope.
• Ideal Hero: Noble and wise, Obi-Wan is constantly praised as an example of what a Jedi should be.
• I Did What I Had to Do: In regards to faking his death, Obi-Wan states to a distraught Anakin that his deception was necessary, even if it was "questionable". Unsurprisingly, this only worsened things, not helped by Obi-Wan's lack of an apology.
• I Gave My Word: A young Obi-Wan promised to make a young Anakin his Padawan learner. Even if meant going against the orders of the Jedi Council.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Like most Jedi, despite having a low opinion on blasters, Obi-Wan is an incredibly deadly sharpshooter. He manages to score impressive shots with a sniper rifle in "The Box" during a test to see how good his shooting skills are, managed to kill General Grievous by shooting him several times in the chest without missing once, and in his own series, is able to gun down multiple Stormtroopers on his own with just a small blaster in Mapuzo.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Throughout the Prequel Trilogy and The Clone Wars, Obi-Wan is given many good reasons to turn to the Dark Side, but he never does. Dooku and Maul certainly tried their best to get Obi-Wan to join The Dark Side, but Obi-Wan cannot be corrupted. Even twice over is he given the chance to strike Anakin down when he's all but fallen to the Dark Side, and Obi-Wan holds steadfast.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: Obi-Wan does, as he so casually points out in Attack of the Clones.
• Informed Flaw: In Empire Strikes Back Obi-Wan tells Yoda to reconsider teaching Luke on the basis that the two were not so different once upon a time. However, this is never shown in the films. Later subverted in external materials, which reveal Obi-Wan to have been a Former Teen Rebel.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: He has blue eyes that symbolize his heroic, righteous, and pure nature.
• Innocently Insensitive: His biggest weakness. For instance, in The Phantom Menace, he continued to argue with Qui-Gon about Anakin's training, even calling Anakin "dangerous" while he is standing right there. While significantly toned down after Revenge of the Sith, elements of this still persist even after Obi-Wan became a Force Ghost.
• Irony:
  • In Attack of the Clones he says Padmé can't be trusted because she's "a politician". Later on, Padmé is the one who insists on rescuing Obi-Wan and in Revenge of the Sith she doesn't betray him even after the Jedi are declared traitors (including by her own husband). Also in Revenge of the Sith, Bail Organa, senator of Alderaan, helps save Obi-Wan and Yoda's lives, never tells a soul that they're alive for nearly twenty years and is integral in starting up the Rebel Alliance.
  • Obi-Wan is an Ace Pilot but has an aversion for flying and Does Not Like Guns but has incredible marksmanship skills.
• Jerkass Has a Point: While at times, he was too critical and insensitive towards Anakin, when Anakin as Darth Vader starts blaming him for Padmé's "betrayal", Obi-Wan rightly notes that the latter's own actions (killing innocents) caused this. Also, while his assessment towards Qui-Gon about Anakin's fall into The Dark Side is somewhat arguable, Obi-Wan definitely has a point about Anakin's personal choices in it.
• Jerkass Realization:
  • After he and Qui-Gon were sent back to Naboo by the Jedi Council in The Phantom Menace, he apologizes to Qui-Gon for his disapproval of him taking Anakin as a Padawan as it's not his place to disagree with him about it and tells him how thankful he is that Qui-Gon believes that he's ready to face the trials and become a Jedi Knight.
  • Obi-Wan becomes filled with remorse after Anakin's fall to the Dark Side, realizing that his Innocently Insensitive actions ended up playing a role in it. Thus, he acts more understanding towards Luke later on.
• Kill the Ones You Love: In Revenge of the Sith, he's forced to duel Anakin, his former Padawan whom he loves like a brother, after he has a Face–Heel Turn. He doesn't actually succeed in killing Anakin, though not from lack of trying, instead 'just' leaving Anakin mutilated and horribly scarred. Obi-Wan never really gets over it.
• Knight Errant: As an ideal Jedi Master, he will go wherever he's sent to maintain peace and justice in the galaxy.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Obi-Wan fits this trope more than almost any other Jedi in the Canon. Satine even jokes about it fondly in "The Mandalore Plot".
  Satine: Well, Master Kenobi, my shining Jedi Knight to the rescue once again.
• Lady and Knight: He is the Knight to Duchess Satine's Lady.
• Laser Blade: He wields a blue-bladed lightsaber.
• The Leader: Type Levelheaded. Whenever he's in command, the clone troopers follow a more cautious and levelheaded plan.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Unlike his apprentice Anakin, who has several of these moments, Obi-Wan typically does not engage in this kind of behavior. However, he does have an infamous moment of this in Attack of the Clones when he sees the droid sent to assassinate Padme outside of her window, and dives out the window to grab the droid. He obviously did not think that one through, as he first lucks out when assassin Zam Wesell who sent the droid decides to shoot her droid to make Obi-Wan fall to his death rather than just shoot Obi-Wan himself, and then he still needs to be saved by Anakin from falling to death anyway. It's also worth noting that this window jump didn't even end up accomplishing anything, making Obi-Wan's crazy stunt pointless.
• Let Them Die Happy: A variation. As Padmé lies dying after giving birth to her children, she struggles to tell Obi-Wan that she still thinks there's good in Anakin. Obi-Wan doesn't say anything to contradict this, even though at this time, he believes Anakin burned to death on Mustafar, screaming that he hated him.
• Light Is Good: As a Jedi, Obi-Wan represents the strength and benevolence. He explicitly speaks of the virtues of the Light Side of the Force during his confrontation with Darth Maul in "The Lawless". He also tends to wear lighter colored clothing to reflect this.
• Like an Old Married Couple:
  • Obi-Wan bickers with his Old Flame, Satine Kryze, like this whenever they meet. Lampshaded by everyone around them.
  • Has this relationship with his apprentice Anakin. Ahsoka, who views them as her parents, fondly remembers this about them during Ahsoka.
• Little "No": He says this when he sees Darth Maul on Mandalore in "The Lawless".
  Obi-Wan: No... it can't be...
• Locked Out of the Fight: He provides the trope image. During the final lightsaber duel in The Phantom Menace, Obi-Wan is cut off from the fight between Qui-Gon and Darth Maul by force fields and can only watch helplessly as his master is fatally wounded and killed.
• Loophole Abuse: When the Zygerrian slaver Agruss (who enslaved and psychologically tortured him) smugly reminds Obi-Wan that he won't kill him because killing unarmed enemies is against the Jedi Code, he smugly looks toward Rex and does nothing to stop him from killing Agruss because unlike Obi-Wan, Rex isn't a Jedi and thus doesn't play by their rules.
• Loved I Not Honor More: Obi-Wan clearly had feelings for Satine and stated in "Voyage of Temptation" that he would've left the Jedi Order had she asked. However, this never happened, with Obi-Wan still being in service to the Jedi Order until its destruction.
• Magic Knight: On top of having some of the most powerful Psychic Powers in the Canon, Obi-Wan is more prone than most to passively enhancing his physical strength and durability with the Force. In fact, doing so was vital to all three of his major duel victories. He launched himself four meters vertically while hanging off a ledge via sheer arm strength^note the world record vertical jump, for the much more powerful leg muscles with much better leverage, is 1.5 meters to surprise Darth Maul, shrugged off blows from Grievous that sent him flying thirty feet and through the air with enough force to kill a normal man instantly (and later used his Force-enhanced strength to rip open the general's chest plate), and defeated Anakin on Mustafar by fighting within inches of lava by way of Force-enhanced durability. On a more mundane note he seems to have his strength and durability enhanced by default in every fight he was part of during the Clone Wars, which is why he can survive blows from Grievous and destroy droids by punching them.
• Magic Plastic Surgery: After faking his death and shaving himself in "Deception", he goes through this via needle injection to become Rako Hardeen. The process looked somewhat painful.
• Manly Facial Hair: Him developing from a youthful, boyish, and headstrong Padawan to a mature, manly, Strong and Skilled Jedi Master coincides with Ewan McGregor growing out a decently thick but well-kept beard and mustache combo between the first and second movies, which also leads into the greying but still quite manly beard/stache combo Alec Guiness sported in the Original Trilogy.
• Master Swordsman: Mace Windu, the man who created his own lightsaber form and overpowered Palpatine, referred him as "the master of the classical form", Form III (Soresu, the defensive form). He's skilled with more or less all the other forms too, and spectacularly lives up to his "Master" title in "Revival", where he simultaneously takes on Maul and Savage while Dual Wielding and cripples the latter following Adi Gallia's death. The finest example of this, however, is that he went one on one with Vader at the height of the latter's powers, when Vader already effortlessly slaughtered dozens of full grown Jedi and was claimed by the Emperor to soon surpass him. Even while weakened from lack of practice ten years later, Obi-Wan ultimately defeats Vader in their second duel. Though Palpatine noted that Vader's lingering attachments and guilt weaken him, Obi-Wan still won both fights decisively.
• Meaningful Name: "Obi-Wan" means "soul" in Swahili, which is perfect given that part of being a Jedi is forming a spiritual or soulful connection to the Force.
• Mentor Archetype: He serves as a mentor to Anakin in the Prequel Trilogy and The Clone Wars, Luke in the Original Trilogy, and, in a smaller, more indirect way, to Ahsoka in The Clone Wars.
• Mercy Kill: Averted. Even after seeing Anakin's inner suffering, defeating him by cutting off his left arm and both his legs, and then watching him catch fire and burn to a crisp, all while screaming in agony, Obi-Wan just cannot bring himself to put his former friend out of his misery and instead leaves him to the will of the Force. He comes to regret this, apologizing to Vader after their second duel.
• Morality Chain: He was one to Anakin, just like Padmé. Although, there was one very big difference: whereas Anakin's dependency toward Padmé made him act rashly, Obi-Wan's mentorship with Anakin forced Palpatine to get him off planet before turning Anakin to the Dark Side. Likewise, whereas Padme seemingly had a chance at making Anakin reconsider his choices as Darth Vader, Obi-Wan's presence caused him to submit further as a Sith Lord.
• Muggle–Mage Romance: He (a Jedi Master skilled in the ways of the Force) had mutual feelings with Satine (the human Duchess of Mandalore). However, they don't act on said feelings due to their respective duties and their relationship doesn't go anywhere romantic due to Satine's death.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • He briefly showed signs of this over for faking his death in The Clone Wars, since it clearly upset Anakin. That said, it was later brushed aside at the moment to address Bane's plot.
  • After his duel with Anakin, which ends with Obi-Wan leaving him for dead, there is a shot of Obi-Wan sitting in Padmé's ship, staring into space with a defeated, horrified expression.
• My Greatest Failure: He clearly regards failing to prevent Anakin from turning to the Dark Side as this. During their duel on Mustafar, he outright states "I have failed you, Anakin."

N-Y

• Named After Somebody Famous: Not Obi-Wan himself, but his home planet, Stewjon, which George Lucas named after Jon Stewart as a joke while on The Daily Show. The official Databank rolled with it.
• Nice Guy: He is easily the nicest member of the Jedi Council in the Prequel Trilogy and The Clone Wars. Overall, he maintains a kind demeanor and strong moral code in spite of the vast amount of hardship he faces.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: While he meant well, Obi-Wan just wasn't ready at the time to replace Qui-Gon as Anakin's mentor. To be fair, he probably would have struggled less with a "normal" Padawan student.
  • In spite of him promising to train Anakin and fulfill Qui-Gon's dying wish, Obi-Wan (per Ewan McGregor's own discussions with George Lucas) felt very embittered of having this responsibility thrust upon him. Obi-Wan also tried his best to parent Anakin, but his teachings still leaned heavily on the Jedi Order's "let the Council decide" mentality. He also struggled to deal with Anakin's grief and trauma.
  • Strangely, Obi-Wan of all people acted dismissively towards Anakin's prophetic dreams about Shmi in "Attack of the Clones", despite Yoda himself often preaching the importance of Force visions. Had Obi-Wan been more responsive, Shmi might have been saved from death.
  • During the "Rako Hardeen" arc, Obi-Wan makes the decision to leave Anakin Locked Out of the Loop about him Faking the Dead and go undercover to stop an assassination attempt on Chancellor Palpatine's life. This ended up being another of Palpatine's manipulation to push Anakin towards the Dark Side, with Obi-Wan himself realizing how dubious his actions were.
  • Obi-Wan's rather poor timing on Mustafar pretty much erased any chance of Padme convincing Anakin to rethink his choices as Darth Vader. Likewise, since Anakin was of little threat after losing their duel, Obi-Wan could have either finished him off or saved him. If Obi-Wan did so, Palpatine would have lost the chance to reconvert Anakin into a servant for the Galactic Empire.
• Nice Mean And In Between: He's the Inbetween to Padmé's Nice and Anakin's Mean, being slightly aloof and snarky at times, but also polite and compassionate.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Obi-Wan is a samurai/knight, a shaolin monk, a wizard, a fighter pilot, and a starship captain. Eventually, he comes back as a Spirit-samurai-shaolin-knight-wizard.
• Noble Male, Roguish Male: With Anakin. The cultured, polite Obi-Wan is the Noble Male to Anakin's Roguish Male.
• Not So Stoic: He's usually very calm and controlled, staying focused on the task at hand even in the most dire of situations. However, after defeating Anakin in Revenge of the Sith, the calm facade he'd been maintaining utterly shatters and he's left sobbing that he loved Anakin like a brother. By the time he gets back to Padmé's ship, he's got himself under control again, quietly angsting to himself.
• Officer and a Gentleman: He holds the title of a General in the Grand Army of the Republic as well as being a Jedi Master. He's also a cultured, pleasant man who has an upper-class British accent.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: It's easy to miss, but if one analyzes their battle on Mustafar carefully Obi-Wan actually managed to disarm Anakin of his lightsaber during the beginning of Yoda and Palpatine's lightsaber duel and the next scene after that where Anakin trying to choke Obi-Wan out and behead him with his own lightsaber, Anakin's lightsaber is nowhere to be seen on his person and it's revealed during their brief unarmed scuffle that said lightsaber was actually on the floor.
• Older Than They Look: During the "Deception" arc, he shaves his hair and beard out as part of the process to approximate the appearance of a bounty hunter who "killed" him. He's shown to have a rather youthful and boyish face without his beard despite being in his late 30s.
• One-Man Army: Being an incredibly skilled and powerful Jedi, Obi-Wan has destroyed many Separatist droids on his own long before the Clone Wars even began. In his self-titled show, he takes down multiple Stormtroopers by himself with just a small blaster and that's before he starts regaining his lightsaber skills and using it to mow them down with ease.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Unlike Qui-Gon, a young Obi-Wan was skeptical of taking a young Anakin into the Jedi Order because he was too old and stated his disagreements to his teacher. Upon Qui-Gon's death at the hands of Darth Maul, Obi-Wan makes a promise to his dying teacher to make Anakin his Padawan learner. Obi-Wan follows up with his promise and even told Yoda to his face that he will do so even if meant going against the Jedi Council.
  • Obi-Wan is a stickler to following the Jedi Code and teachings, following the Jedi Council's rulings with little question, even if he's not happy about it. However, Obi-Wan almost gives into rage in "Revenge" when Maul rubs killing Qui-Gon in his face. Also, when Satine is in danger in "The Lawless", Obi-Wan actually defies the Council's orders and goes to Mandalore to save Satine. And the one time he sanctions a revenge killing is in "Escape from Kadavo" when Keeper Agruss makes the mistake of taunting him about his helplessness and inability to help the Kadavo miners, and the order to kill Agruss is subtle enough that Rex is the only one apart from Obi-Wan himself to understand what he meant.
  • Anytime the emotionally controlled Obi-Wan gets emotional, something is wrong. Some of these times included Qui-Gon's murder, Satine's murder, and him defeating Anakin on Mustafar.
• The Paladin: Before his exile, Obi-Wan was a heroic Knight in Shining Armor, resolving disputes before and during the Clone Wars.
• The Paragon: While not perfect, Obi-Wan stands as a pinnacle of heroism in the Canon; he is selfless, morally upright, humble, and inspires others (Luke in particular) to heroism. Arguably barring Qui-Gon and Yoda, he is likely the closest to embodying the ideals of the Jedi Order throughout the prequels.
• Parental Hypocrisy: Slightly. Obi-Wan can be somewhat exasperated with Anakin for his rebellious attitude, when the novel Master and Apprentice reveals that he used to be just as rebellious. Like many adults with this issue, it's clear that Obi-Wan just wants what's best for his student.
• Parental Substitute: Obi-Wan tried to be this towards Anakin, but eventually proved more of an elder brother. It makes sense given that they have the age-gap equivalent to a teenage dad and his newborn child. To Obi-Wan's credit, Anakin as a child did state on a few occasions that he's like his father.
• Parents in Distress: Obi-Wan is the closest thing to a father Anakin has and he finds himself coming to his rescue on several occasions. In fact, he sets off to rescue him from the Separatists just hours after burying his mother. By the time of the Battle of Coruscant, Anakin has apparently saved Obi-Wan at least nine times ("That business on Cato Nemoidia doesn't count"). This goes out the window when Anakin turns to the Dark Side, though.
• Passive-Aggressive Kombat: Obi-Wan's first meeting with Jango Fett in Attack of the Clones is so intense, Boba Fett's origin story even contains a comparison between their conversation and a sword fight.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: He was quoted as saying "If droids could think, then none of us would be here", showing that Obi-Wan believes droids to be either simpletons or a potential threat. Given how C-3PO, R2-D2, and plenty of other droids can think but aren't violent, this just makes Obi-Wan look prejudiced. He also doesn't really care that his longtime droid companion R4 had been brutally killed in front of him.
• Preemptive Apology: An interpretation of his apology to Padmé when he finds out Anakin is the father of her children. Not only is he apologizing to Padmé for how the father of her children has turned to the Dark Side, but also apologizing to her because he feels he has to use her to find, confront, and possibly kill, Anakin afterwards.
• Promotion to Parent: A non-biological example. Qui-Gon served as a father figure and master to both Obi-Wan and Anakin. Obi-Wan promises the dying Qui-Gon that he'll train Anakin, something the Jedi Council allowed. Unfortunately, Obi-Wan lacked Qui-Gon's decades of experience and wisdom, causing Anakin to drift towards Palpatine of all people as a father-figure.
• Properly Paranoid: He's heavily against the Jedi Council assigning Anakin as Padmé's bodyguard and escort to Naboo and at one point, micromanages him by telling to not do anything without talking to him or the Council first. Considering how this assignment lead to Anakin slaughtering a Tusken tribe after his mother died and later marrying Padmé, both of which heavily contributed to his turn to the Dark Side, his concerns that Anakin wasn't ready for the assignment are pretty valid to an extent.
• Psychic Powers: Just like all Jedi, Obi-Wan is able to use the Force, which results in him also being telekinetic and, to a degree, clairvoyant.
• Rank Up:
  • At the end of The Phantom Menace, he's instantly promoted from Padawan to Jedi Knight after defeating Darth Maul.
  • By the time of The Clone Wars, he has the title of Jedi Master and sits on the Council.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: In "The Wrong Jedi", he's the only one on the Council to outright voice the opinion that they shouldn't just hand over Ahsoka to the Senate Court. To their credit, when the Council votes to expel Ahsoka from the Order, they admit it was not a unanimous decision and it is implied that Obi-Wan cast a dissenting vote (Dave Filoni has stated that he indeed voted to spare her along with Yoda and Plo Koon). He also believed that they should be more open with Anakin about their concerns over Chancellor Palpatine and the Sith, but was overruled.
• Red Baron: He is known during the Clone Wars as "The Negotiator".
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: He's the Blue to Anakin's Red.
• Refuge in Audacity:
  • In Revenge of the Sith, he is tasked with taking out General Grievous. How does he proceed? By cheerfully presenting himself before the monstrosity, surrounded by a literal army of Separatist droids. Grievous doesn't even seem surprised at this point, and immediately lampshades it almost as a formality.
  • Where does he choose to hide Luke and himself from the Empire? On Anakin Skywalker's home planet. Although he was probably banking on the fact that said planet is a pretty backwater spot, and Obi-Wan Kenobi reveals that he (understandably) thought Vader was dead after their duel on Mustafar, until he learned the truth a decade later. After that, he probably decided that if Vader hadn't shown up on Tatooine (where he was a slave for most of his childhood and where he lost his mother) in the preceding ten years, he was unlikely to do so now.
• Respected by the Respected: Mace Windu considers him the master of Soresu and even goes as far as to imply that Obi-Wan is the superior duelist between the both of them. Count Dooku also considered him a worthy adversary when he managed to sabotage his plot to kidnap Palpatine.
• Rogues Gallery: He has a wide variety of recurring foes with a personal grudge against him. These include Darth Maul, General Grievous, Asajj Ventress, Cad Bane, and eventually Darth Vader.
• Saved by Canon: In the Prequel Trilogy and The Clone Wars, Obi-Wan has to survive all of the battles and duels that he participates in because he is destined to be killed by Darth Vader in A New Hope.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: In "The Lawless", the Jedi Council can't legally go to Mandalore to help Satine despite Obi-Wan's pleas to reconsider. Obi-Wan proceeds to go there anyway.
• Secret Secret-Keeper: The end of The Clone Wars makes it clear that he knew that Padmé and Anakin were in a relationship, but he never let on to protect them, leaving it as a 'don't ask, don't tell' kind of situation. While he didn't really approve, as it's not the Jedi way, he chose not to tell others about Padmé and Anakin's relationship because they're both great friends of his and he knows that they're one of the few things that make each other happy. In Revenge of the Sith, after Anakin's Face–Heel Turn, it's confirmed he knows, correctly deducing that Anakin is the father of Padmé's unborn children.
• Shipper on Deck: Zigzagged. While he often made attempts to subtly stop Anakin's romance with Padmé by either trying to encourage Anakin in person (The Clone Wars) or sending Ahsoka with them on their "retreat mission" (Forces of Destiny), a deleted scene from Revenge of the Sith reveals that, despite said objections, Obi-Wan did, to some level, approve of the relationship because Padmé made Anakin happy.
  'I am not blind, Padmé. Though I have tried to be, for Anakin’s sake. And for yours. Anakin has loved you since the day you met, in that horrible junk shop on Tatooine. He’s never even tried to hide it, though we do not speak of it. We… pretend that I don’t know. And I was happy to, because it made him happy. You made him happy, when nothing else ever truly could."
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: During his confrontation with Darth Maul in "The Lawless", Obi-Wan refutes every one of his enemy's claims of the dark side's power by reinforcing his belief in the Light Side. Maul gets the last word, however, when he murders Satine.
• The Smart Guy: Obi-Wan is extremely clever, worldly, and intelligent, which are traits that serve him well during the Clone Wars.
• The Snark Knight: He could be the poster boy of the trope. Even when being beaten senseless by Darth Maul and Savage Opress, he keeps the snark coming.
  Obi-Wan: You know, when I cut you in half, I should have aimed for your neck instead.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: With Anakin, Satine, Quinlan Vos, Cad Bane (while posing as Rako Hardeen), and an Enemy Mine version with Asajj Ventress.
• So Proud of You: In Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan tells Anakin how proud he is of his accomplishments and advises him to just be patient in regards to his Passed-Over Promotion. Sadly, this is the final time that they meet as friends (alive, anyway) before Anakin's Face–Heel Turn. On a better note, Obi-Wan smiles fondly at Anakin after they become Force Ghosts, even acknowledging him as a hero once more in "From A Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi".
• Star-Crossed Lovers: With Satine. He's a Jedi that's sworn to protect the Republic and its peace and to not form personal attachments. She's the duchess of a ruined planet that she tried to rebuild by turning her people's Proud Warrior Race Guy culture into a pacifist society. Obi-Wan, for his part, seems to at least partly regret how things turned out and says that had Satine asked it of him, he would have left the Jedi Order to be with her.
• The Stoic: Obi-Wan has one of the most unpleasant lives (and afterlife?) of any character in fiction, but he remains calm, never complains, and usually keeps his emotions well in check.
• Stone Wall: He is considered to be the single best defensive duelist in the galaxy at least in his prime. His fighting style, Form III: Soresu, is an exclusively — almost obsessively — defense-oriented fighting style, allowing him to hold his own against aggressively attacking duelists, such as General Grievous' four-lightsaber style or Vader's frenzied, all-out assault by essentially tanking it until his opponent lapses from exhaustion or frustration, allowing him to end the battle in one decisive strike. Windu flat out calls him the master of Soresu.
• Stern Teacher: He's very adherent to the Jedi code, and frequently criticizes Anakin for his mistakes and his bending of the code increasingly often. This drives Anakin to seek a mentor who is less strict and more accepting, like Palpatine.
• Strict Parents Make Sneaky Kids: His stern and critical way of training Anakin has contributed to the young Jedi's rebellious and secretive behavior, with Anakin frequently disobeying his and the Jedi Council's orders and refusing to admit to Obi-Wan about his secret relationship with Padmé even when Obi-Wan's clearly figured it out.
• Strong and Skilled: There's a reason that Anakin labeled him as being "as powerful as Master Windu" and "as wise as Master Yoda". He passively has the Force enhancing his physical attributes to superhuman levels at all times, is one of the most powerful Force users to ever live (he and Vader try to use Force attacks on each other in their duel, and only succeed in stalemating exactly both times), is a cunning tactician, and is a Master Swordsman who excels at his defensive-based lightsaber combat form. His final defeat of Grievous (along with his duels with Maul and Vader) involved him tricking his opponent in some way (e.g. Gambling that Vader would attack him while Obi-Wan had the environmental advantage).
• Student–Master Team: He forms one as the student to Qui-Gon in The Phantom Menace and as the master to Anakin and Luke for the rest of the Canon.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Obi-Wan can be aloof and stoic, but also compassionate and friendly.
• Survivor Guilt: The epilogue of Master and Apprentice reveals that Obi-Wan feels a bit of this in regards to Qui-Gon, wondering why his master was killed by Darth Maul while he survived. He later gets hit hard with this during Obi-Wan Kenobi, where he harbors a great deal of guilt in playing a role in the Jedi Order's downfall.
• Suicidal Overconfidence: Having made up their minds to kill both Sith Lords, Obi-Wan tries to convince Yoda to let him face Sidious, desperate to not face Anakin. Knowing what will happen, Yoda talks him out of it.
• Sure, Let's Go with That: In Attack of the Clones when first discovering the Kamino-produced clone army. The operators of the facility assume that Obi-Wan has arrived to inspect the clones. Despite his confusion due to the clone army order having been placed secretly he realizes he may as well play along.
• Surpassed the Teacher: Though Obi-Wan feels otherwise, Qui-Gon believed him to be a much wiser man than himself by The Phantom Menace. In terms of lightsaber skill, Obi-Wan is definitely superior, since he not only defeated Maul several times, but also bested other powerful enemies like Grievous and Vader.
• Talking the Monster to Death: He attempted it when he showed pity for Darth Maul, believing that Maul didn't choose the dark side of his own volition. Maul spitefully responds by murdering Satine.
• Technician Versus Performer: He's the Technician to two separate Performers in his life:
  • He has this dynamic with Anakin. Anakin possesses unrivaled potential among the Jedi Order, being prone to aggressive and flashy movement in combat. Obi-Wan is talented but his raw power is a noticeable step down when compared to Force-users like Yoda and Palpatine. However, he more than makes up for it with a keen mind, a dedication to the Jedi Order and by becoming skilled in other areas, such as negotiations. This is best seen in their respective fighting styles. Anakin specializes in Djem So, a flashy, highly offensive style based entirely on flashy flourishes and heavy strikes, Obi-Wan is a, if not the (per Mace Windu) master of Soresu, a mostly defensive form that's about as utilitarian and non-flashy as lightsaber combat can get, though with the advantage of being virtually impossible to land a strike on.
  • Him and Qui-Gon also had this dynamic. Like Anakin, Qui-Gon was a prodigious natural talent with a flashy fighting style, not to mention a reputation for being somewhat of a rebel, while Obi-Wan, even as the younger of the two, was far more conservative and buttoned-down.
• Thinking Tic: Strokes his beard while folding his arms when pondering.
• This Cannot Be!: Twice.
  • He says this when he sees Maul, whom he believed to be dead, on Mandalore.
  • He says it again when he sees security footage of Anakin slaughtering Jedi.
• Took a Level in Badass: Obi-Wan goes from a polished Padawan who gets very lucky against an overconfident Sith apprentice to a powerful Jedi Master who has defeated the terrifying General Grievous, strikes down Darth Maul again with almost no effort (having previously taken on both Maul and Savage alone and sent them running after he nearly killed Savage, a feat only Palpatine matched) and bested Anakin, the most powerful Force User in the galaxy, in a straight fight as Darth Vader.
• Took a Level in Smartass: In Attack of the Clones, he's noticeably more sarcastic than he was in The Phantom Menace with Anakin being the brunt of the majority of his sarcastic remarks.
• Tragic Bromance: His relationship with Anakin was one of great brotherly love before Anakin became Darth Vader, which devastated Obi-Wan so much that he came to view Vader as a different person who killed Anakin.
• Tragic Keepsake: Anakin's lightsaber can be viewed as one for him. After defeating Anakin on Mustafar, he takes his lightsaber with him and keeps it for nearly twenty years before giving it to Anakin's son. Promotional materials and action figures also shows that he has his master Qui-Gon's lightsaber in his belongings while he was hiding out on Tatooine.
• Underestimating Badassery: Constantly a victim of this, except by Mace Windu and Count Dooku. The former regarding him as a peer, or perhaps superior, as a lightsaber duelist, and the latter in the time of Episode 3 largely averting lightsaber combat in favor of leveraging his superior telekinesis^note While Kenobi wasn't weak in the force per se, in fact, he was probably in the very top percentile of force power by Revenge of the Sith, he wasn't a contender for the best telekinetic, while Dooku was before leaving the Jedi Order.
  • While Yoda is correct that Kenobi doesn't have a chance against Palpatine, judging by Windu's comments and the fact he's The Rival for Maul^note Fought Palpatine and held his own in lightsaber combat, losing primarily due to Palpatine's strength in the force, and the superior of Kit Fisto^note Kit Fisto is considered a Tier 7, and briefly held his own against Palpatine (and did better in the novelization), Kenobi is a Tier 8 by Revenge of the Sith, Kenobi likely could've been helpful in eliminating Palpatine instead of Yoda sending him on what could've been a wild goose chase.
  • Maul, despite losing more often than not against Kenobi, seems constantly certain he can take revenge on Kenobi, even after being defeated with his brother Savage helping him simultaneously.
  • Sidious thinks the prospect of Kenobi defeating Vader on Mustafar is absurd^note , Clearly, Sidious didn't factor in Anakin's lingering attachments and regret at all. Played With here though, since he comes to acknowledge Kenobi afterwards, admitting in private that if the collective Jedi Order had shown as much resolve in facing the Sith, he likely wouldn't have won.
  • Somewhat Played With again with General Grievous. Grievous shows a significantly more respectful, if still hateful, evaluation of Kenobi and his abilities, regarding him to some extent as a Worthy Opponent and when he has Kenobi surrounded in their final encounter, demands to face Kenobi in a one-on-one duel that may be just as much arrogance as much as wanting to face one of the best jedi alive alone.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: It's pretty clear (especially to Anakin), that he and Satine have romantic feelings for each other, but neither one acts on them due to their respective duties. And then it gets cemented after Satine is killed by Maul.
• Use Their Own Weapon Against Them: He kills General Grievous by shooting him multiple times with his own blaster.
• Villain Killer: He's killed several Droids, Separatists, Stormtroopers, and many other threats in his lifetime, but his most notable kills are Darth Maul and General Grievous.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Anakin, but it's the deadpan type of vitriol and it's mostly in Attack of the Clones. In Revenge of the Sith, their friendship is less tumultuous until the end.
• Vocal Evolution: He has a slightly deeper voice in Attack of the Clones that signifies him being a wiser and more mature Jedi. In The Phantom Menace, he was more soft-spoken as a young Padawan.
• Wacky Parent, Serious Child:
  • Him and Qui-Gon had a teacher-student version of this. Qui-Gon was a fairly rebellious Jedi who regularly clashed with the Jedi Council over his unorthodox ways while Obi-Wan was a conservative, by-the-books Jedi, one who followed the Jedi Code far more strictly than his Master. This is why Obi-Wan was granted a seat on the Council, while Qui-Gon never was, despite being among the Jedi's best and brightest.
  • He would later have this dynamic with Anakin, albeit Inverted. Obi-Wan was the strait-laced Jedi who always thought with his head and not with his heart, while Anakin struggled with emotions and practically rushed into a situation with his lightsaber blazing.
• Weak, but Skilled: Downplayed on the "weak" part. Compared to the heaviest hitters of his era, he lacks the age, wisdom, and experience of Yoda and Sidious and the raw talent of Anakin. However, Obi-Wan possesses immense technical discipline; Mace Windu describes him as the master of Form III, and he is the only person in the galaxy that defeated Darth Vader in his prime.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: In The Phantom Menace, there is a scene where Obi-Wan apologizes for criticizing Qui-Gon's actions (taking Jar Jar with them and betting their ship on Anakin winning the podrace). Qui-Gon quickly praises Obi-Wan for his willingness to learn and tells him he would someday become a greater Jedi than Qui-Gon himself.
• Wife-Basher Basher: Although he was already intent on fighting Anakin as Darth Vader, Obi-Wan is utterly horrified and disgusted when he Force-chokes his pregnant wife Padmé and then blames Obi-Wan for "[turning] her against [him]"; Obi-Wan angrily yet calmly orders Anakin to let Padmé go, then proceeds to fiercely duel him.
• Worthy Opponent: Count Dooku considers Obi-Wan to be a worthy adversary after he was able to foil an attempted kidnapping of the Chancellor by disguising himself as a bounty hunter and sabotaging the plot from the inside.
• You Didn't Ask: A dramatic, and rather sad example. He claims that the only reason he returned to the Jedi instead of staying with Satine in his youth was because she didn't ask him to do so. Oh, and by the way, Leia is Luke's sister.
• You Killed My Father: His hatred of Maul stems from Maul killing his master Qui-Gon, who was like a father to him. His hatred becomes even more personal when he murders his love Satine in front of him, but he soon lets go of his grudge against Maul because these negative emotions could feed into the Dark Side.
• Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: His main objection to Anakin's plan of training the rebels on Onderon is that he fears they'd be training terrorists. This becomes very ironic after the Republic's fall.

"Rako Hardeen"

Rako Hardeen

At some point late in the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan faked his death and then took on the alias of the man who "killed" him, Rako Hardeen, to infiltrate a Separatist conspiracy. This alias included imitating his appearance and voice and acting like a typical bounty hunter.

Note: This section is for the Rako Hardeen Obi-Wan played as during his undercover operation. For tropes applying to the real Rako Hardeen, click here.

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• Batman Gambit: He knew Cad Bane would try to backstab him when given the opportunity so he wouldn't share his payment, so he backstabs him back in advance by putting a tracking beacon on the first ship he decided to buy. Once Bane sells him out to the Hutts' enforcers, Rako sells him and Moralo Eval out and has them shot down. After getting free, he gets the Jedi Council to remove the bounties on them to give them more freedom in their plot and give him enough credits to buy another ship, engineering a situation in which Bane and Moralo Eval would be forced to bring him along.
• Cool Helmet: He buys one resembling an old Ralph McQuarrie design for Boba Fett's helmet from Pablo's pawn shop on Nal Hutta after getting out of prison. It also has gas filters. Obi-Wan even kept it and the rest of the disguise to use later when he went to Mandalore to rescue Satine. Sadly, it was likely destroyed with the Twilight.
• Face of a Thug: The real Rako actually was kind of a thug, but Obi-Wan's a good guy. After Obi-Wan's face is transformed he definitely looks the part:
  Obi-Wan: So, how do I look?
  Mace: Like a criminal.
• Friendly Sniper: He's not too bad with a rifle himself. Funny when you consider Obi-Wan's known stance on blasters.
• Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: The only episode he wore the helmet extensively was in "The Box". Otherwise, he barely wore it at all.
• If You're So Evil, Eat This Kitten!: When made to duel Moralo Eval, Dooku urges him to kill his foe. However, Kenobi refuses to do so even though he has Eval completely pinned down. Though he tries to pass it off as being in it only for the money, this spurs Dooku’s suspicions that something is strange about him.
• Kill and Replace: Inverted. It's more accurate to say "die" and then replace the man who "killed" him.
• Master Actor: Obi-Wan plays the role of a ruthless bounty hunter well while disguised as Hardeen. The only person to get suspicious of him was Count Dooku and that's only because Eval told him that Hardeen killed Obi-Wan with a sniper rifle and there's absolutely no way the best defensive lightsaber duelist in the galaxy would get killed with one.
• Psycho for Hire: Invoked. He tries to play the part of one first to gain Moralo Eval's admiration and then inside the Box, he claims to have made a career out of killing Parwans as his explanation for how he knew Derrown was the key to solving the ray shield puzzle (a claim that noticeably scares Derrown).
• Sapient Eat Sapient: Invoked while he was in prison. When a Karkarodon inmate (and a species more likely to eat him) tried to bully him, Rako stabbed his hand with a fork before pulling his face over to him and telling him that he'd probably taste better than the food served in the prison. This is also part of how he gets Moralo Eval's attention.
  Clone Trooper guard: Hey, what's going on down there?
  Rako: Nothing, just playing with my food. *pulls fork out of inmate's hand*
  Inmate: You're crazy!
• Tattooed Crook: Rako's face tattoo was included as part of the transformation surgery.

Master Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi

"Who's the more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows him?"

"The Force will be with you, always."

Nine years after his last encounter with Darth Vader, Obi-Wan continued to watch over and protect Luke Skywalker on Tatooine, while dealing with any threats that came to the planet, including a vengeance seeking Darth Maul. After the arrival of R2-D2 and C-3PO, Obi-Wan rescued Luke from a group of Tusken Raiders and revealed to him his heritage while hiding key facts about Anakin's true fate. Departing to join the Rebellion with Luke, Obi-Wan instead discovered Alderaan destroyed and confronted Vader once more on the Death Star, where he allowed himself to fall to his former apprentice's lightsaber. Upon his death, Obi-Wan became one with the Force and continued to advise Luke as a Force spirit in his battle against the Empire and training as a Jedi, leading him to Master Yoda for the latter.

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Tropes from the Rebellion Era

A-N

• Actually, I Am Him: In A New Hope, Luke knows him as "Ben Kenobi" and asks him if he knows anyone by the name of "Obi-Wan".
  Obi-Wan: Well of course I know him; he's me!
• Alliterative Name: Still there in his new alias (Ben Kenobi).
• Arch-Enemy: To Darth Vader, who eventually killed him, and Darth Maul, who hunted him down on Tatooine to finally claim vengeance.
• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Willingly allows himself to be killed by Darth Vader to become one with the Force, enabling him to continue mentoring Luke.
• The Atoner: For failing to protect Anakin from Palpatine and playing an indirect role in creating Darth Vader.
• Badass Teacher: He's very protective of Luke, his second and last Padawan. When two thugs start harassing Luke in Mos Eisley, he wastes no time whipping out his lightsaber to defend Luke and dismembers one of them. Even before he officially takes Luke as his Padawan learner, he spent 19 years secretly protecting Luke from all kinds of threats, from Tusken Raiders to the renegade Sith Lord Darth Maul.
• Batman Gambit:
  • Confirmed by Word of God: he defeated Maul by assuming Qui-Gon's stance, goading him into attempting to kill him with the same exact move he used to kill Qui-Gon. The fight is over in seconds.
  • Also his rationale behind hiding out on Tatooine. Not only does he take advantage of the locals not wanting to draw any sort of attention to the Empire, the advantage becomes twofold as he knows Darth Vader is reluctant to ever set foot on the planet again.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Even after two decades of growing old on Tatooine, Old Ben is fully willing to slice off your arm, should you threaten his friends. And as seen with Maul, he's initially composed, but as soon as Maul threatens to harm Luke, he puts him down in two strikes.
• Beyond Redemption: He tells Luke that Vader "murdered the good man [Luke's] father was," even though that's only Metaphorically True, because he truthfully viewed Anakin and Vader as two separate people. It doesn't help that Vader committed several more atrocities after their duel on Mustafar.
• Big Good: Alongside Yoda in the Original Trilogy. While neither of them are very active in the conflict, they are invaluable in training Luke to continue the tradition of the Jedi Order.
• The Cameo:
  • In The Force Awakens, he can be heard addressing Rey directly during her vision, with the voices of Alec Guinness and Ewan McGregor both being used for his line.
    Obi-Wan: Rey... These are your first steps.
  • The Rise of Skywalker Book Ends the Sequel Trilogy when Rey calls for strength from the Jedi who came before. He's heard speaking primarily as McGregor, but Guiness can also be heard addressing Rey by name once again.
    Obi-Wan: These are your final steps, Rey. Rise, and take them.
• Character Death: He allows Darth Vader to cut him down in A New Hope so that Luke can escape.
• Character Development: Believe it or not, Obi-Wan goes through this as a Force Spirit. In "From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi", he consoles Anakin after the latter's death, assuring that he was not solely to blame for what happened. Furthermore, Obi-Wan states that like how Anakin's rescue of Luke did not excuse his actions as a Sith, the good done from Anakin's hands still remain prevalent, with both serving a larger purpose for the galaxy.
• The Chessmaster: He attempts to steer Luke towards stopping Darth Vader throughout the original trilogy. Unlike most examples of this, Obi-Wan ultimately benefits from his plans failing, since Luke's actions end up redeeming Vader, allowing the latter to fulfill his destiny as The Chosen One.
• Clark Kenting: Surprisingly, nobody in the Empire thinks that "Ben" Kenobi might be related to that Obi-Wan Kenobi guy who survived the Clone Wars — and the disguise worked for nineteen years. Justified since he was in hiding on Tatooine, a pretty backwater planet, and mostly kept to himself during that time.
• Cool Old Guy: By the time of the Original Trilogy, Old Ben's a veteran Jedi Master, one of the last surviving ones, and in his old age, he's still adept at using the Force and a lightsaber.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He's made a reputation for himself as an eccentric, but harmless old man, since presenting himself as the battle-hardened Jedi Master he actually is would compromise not just his safety, but Luke's.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: He's able to easily kill Maul during their final clash in a matter of moments, partly thanks to tricking Maul into thinking he was going to use a different fighting style, and partly thanks to the fact that the Sith Lord has been mentally and physically deteriorating for years, especially after a long solo trek across Tatooine.
• Deceptive Legacy: Obi-Wan tells Luke his father is dead. It all depends on your point of view. He turns out to be Darth Vader, but from Obi-Wan's point of view, his friend Anakin died after the events of Revenge of the Sith.
• Dented Iron: Despite having regained his skills by the end of his series, spending a decade living on a harsh desert world with two blazing suns without a substantially skilled partner to practice with combined with his age taking a toll on his physical abilities eventually causes him to lose a sizeable amount of the might he regained; once a warrior able to singly best battalions of elites, "Old Ben" is a frail, slow and arthritic shadow of his glorious former self who is reduced to sneaking past Storm Troopers. While slipping past them might be a tactical choice, it's clear in his duel with Vader; he still fares much better against Vader than most (including a 22 year old Luke), but it's pretty much acknowledged that he's no longer capable of defeating Vader and ends up Throwing the Fight because he realizes even though he's doing surprisingly well, in the end Vader would ultimately kill him, and he spends much of the battle in the defensive whereas in their third fight, Ben is able to pretty much take the initiative repeatedly, being palpably tentative and struggling the entire time.
• The Dreaded: Very much a Downplayed Trope, but in the Empire's time, he is this to none other than Sidious himself. Much like his master Qui-Gon, this isn't because of his personal power, Sidious is more powerful than him. However, Obi-Wan defeated (or trained the man who defeated) all of Sidious' apprentices, stayed alive despite Sidious' countless attempts to get him killed, killed General Grievous, and crippled Anakin. The last of these gave Sidious some degree of respect for the Jedi Master, who admits he is very thankful most Jedi of the era were not akin to Kenobi. Sidious ultimately bars Vader from pursuing Kenobi after Kenobi beats him again, realizing explicitly that Vader is being unbalanced emotionally (and may even return to the Light Side if this continues). Implicitly, it's because Palpatine knows Kenobi has a strong chance of killing Vader if they fight again. Lastly, Tarkin is mildly intimidated (and initially makes capturing or killing him a priority before Vader demands to face him alone) when he knows Kenobi is on the Death Star. Tarkin's reaction ends up being spot on, as Kenobi indirectly kills Tarkin that same day by giving Luke the last push he needs to destroy the Death Star.
• Dull Surprise: Both Alec Guinness and Ewan McGregor claimed that, for the most part, they were essentially reading their lines off their script when they played the character. Nonetheless, both performances were met with acclaim, and have contributed to the popularity of the character.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: When it becomes clear that trying to win against Vader is just going to slow his friends down, he simply puts up his sword and lets Vader kill him. This allows him come back as a Force ghost and give Luke the pep-talk he needs to fire the killing shot on the Death Star.
• Dying Smirk: He smirks at Vader before being killed, knowing that Vader just made things a whole lot worse for the Empire.
• Elegant Weapon for a More Civilized Age: Trope Namer when discussing the Lightsaber with Luke in A New Hope.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Having lost faith in his master's belief that Anakin was The Chosen One, Obi-Wan concludes during his exile that the Jedi were a generation early and that Luke was the one meant to fulfill the role, not his father. (This despite getting confirmation from living incarnations of the Force itself that Anakin was meant to serve this purpose.) While it's a reasonable assumption given the circumstances, Anakin ultimately overcomes the DarkSide, fulfilling his destiny several years later.
• The Exile: Went into self-imposed exile on Tatooine to watch over Luke from afar under the Empire's radar.
• Face Death with Dignity: He's composed and dignified when he dies.
• Feeling Their Age: Obi-Wan, when asking Luke to join him in A New Hope, lamented that he was getting too old to go on these sort of adventures. A big part of his duel with Vader was being mocked that he was old and out of practice.
• Friendly Ghost: He becomes this as a Force Ghost, offering advice and guidance to Luke on his path to becoming a Jedi.
• Genocide Survivor: Following the Jedi purges during the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan became a hermit on Tatooine.
• Grave-Marking Scene: Although he didn't ever actually meet her in person, Obi-Wan goes to visit Shmi Skywalker's grave a few times following his self-imposed exile on Tatooine. On at least one occasion, he apologizes to her for losing her son to the Dark Side; he also leaves toys for her grandson Luke at her grave for Beru Lars to find.
• Heartbroken Badass: Though deeming Darth Vader as "irredeemable" and full of contempt for the mechanical monster he became, he is nonetheless constantly haunted by sadness and guilt for failing to prevent the man he loved as a brother from turning to evil, and in turn crippling and disfiguring him on Mustafar's river of hellfire.
• Hermit Guru: In A New Hope, Obi-Wan is an old Jedi Master who has lived on Tatooine for the past twenty years. He, alongside Yoda, does his part in training Luke to become a Jedi Knight.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • A subtler version, when he throws the fight against Vader to allow his friends to escape.
  • He also did this in staying on Tatooine to watch over Luke. While he probably could've joined up with some other Jedi off-world, or at the very least found a decent world to hide on, he instead willingly chose to live on one of the most miserable planets in the galaxy, just patiently waiting for Luke to be ready while his own considerable abilities withered away.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Downplayed. Obi-Wan isn't hugely self-deprecating, just quite modest and honest. However, he very clearly still blames himself partly for Anakin's fall to the Dark Side, telling Luke he was wrong for thinking he could train him as well as Yoda or another, more experienced Jedi (such as Qui-Gon).
• He's Back!: Even without the context of the Prequels, the twinkle in Obi-Wan's eye when he sees an opportunity to have one final adventure with a Skywalker (or actually two) tells us all we need to know about the bold war hero he once was.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: In Rebels, Maul makes sure to rub it in how he's gone from a beloved Jedi Master and famed hero of the Clone Wars to "a rat in the desert".
• Humble Hero: Despite being an exceptionally powerful Jedi in addition to one of the finest Jedi the Order has ever produced, Obi-Wan is a gentle, down to earth man with next to no ego, viewing himself as just a servant of the Force who protects the innocent as a Jedi must.
• Hypocrite: His insistence to Luke about confronting Darth Vader comes as this, since Obi-Wan himself relinquished two separate opportunities to stop the Sith Lord.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Luke calls him out in Return of the Jedi for lying that Vader killed his father, but Obi-Wan calmly rationalizes that what he told Luke was true, from a certain point of view: as far as he is concerned, the good man that was Anakin died when he took up the mantle of a Sith Lord.
• I Was Quite a Looker: The prequel trilogy shows that Obi-Wan was quite handsome and dashing before Tatooine's Binary Suns and harsh environment aged him twice as fast.
• Jacob Marley Warning: Gives this to Luke before he leaves Dagobah to face Vader, appearing in spectral form to warn Luke about the dangers of succumbing to hate and anger.
• Jedi Mind Trick: The Trope Maker. Obi-Wan's statements that get him past the stormtroopers in Mos Eisley is the most famous example, but he also may use a version of this while on the Death Star while disabling the tractor beam. The movie doesn't clarify if he used telekinesis to generate a sound in the next room, or if he used a mind trick to make the guards think that they heard a noise. Given how quickly they decide to look for an innocuous-sounding plink, Obi-Wan seems to at least have used the "mind trick" to influence that decision.
• Jerkass Realization: After reminded of how little he knows about his biological family, Obi-Wan comes to realize that the Jedi practice of indoctrinating children and shunning emotional commitment was a mistake, even telling Owen that Luke "needs to be a boy".
  • Zigzagged regarding his Innocently Insensitive attitude. While Obi-Wan was far more patient and understanding towards Luke than towards Anakin, his actions when Luke confronted him about Vader's true identity were rather insensitive. That said, he seems to have fully learnt his lesson by "From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi".
• Jumped at the Call: After effectively being all but retired for nineteen years, living as a hermit in isolation and as a silent guardian over the Skywalker legacy, the moment Luke finally approaches him with the message from Leia it doesn't even take a minute for Obi-Wan to prep himself for yet another mission and adventure.
• Last of His Kind: In A New Hope, he is one of at least two known Jedi left in the galaxy after the Jedi Purge.
• Legendary in the Sequel: An interesting inversion: he's legendary in the Original Trilogy, the Prequel Trilogy and The Clone Wars establish why he is.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: At first, Obi-Wan seems to be little more than a wizened old man who may have once been a warrior of the Clone Wars, but is now, well, an old man who lives in a hovel. Then we get to the cantina scene, where said old man whips out a lightsaber, deflects blaster shots and lops a man's arm off. You can tell from the look on Luke's face that that's the moment when he starts to take the whole "Jedi" thing seriously.
• Listing the Forms of Degenerates: Obi-Wan does this when he describes Mos Eisley as "[the most] wretched hive of scum and villainy."
• Manipulative Bastard:
  • Obi-Wan tells Luke a half-truth about his father who was a mass murderer that wanted to turn Luke to dark side when he discovers their biological relation. This is because Luke isn’t ready to hear the full details. Later materials have Qui-Gon Jinn agree with this decision because Luke needed more grounding.
    • There’s debate about whether Obi-Wan did this to manipulate Luke into killing his father. Lucas himself has said no while Filoni said yes. Either way, it did essentially lead to Luke endangering his own life.
  • His talk with Ezra is another good example; while it is true that Ezra's place is with his family and the Rebellion and his search for a way to destroy the Sith is corrupting him, Obi-Wan convinces him (while never outright lying) that his vision of the Chosen One was a lie from Maul and there is no key to destroying the Sith to persuade him to go home.
• Martial Pacifist: He always tries to diffuse any tense situation until his lightsaber hand is forced, as the disgruntled cantina patrons in A New Hope learn the hard way.
• Mellow Fellow: He's visibly become calmer and more forbearing in his old age. He's a lot friendlier and fatherly and when he does get angry, he's firmly Tranquil Fury.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: In A New Hope, he dies trying to hold back Darth Vader to let Luke escape. This trope even used to be named after Obi-Wan himself.
• Metaphorically True: The former Trope Namer. In Return of the Jedi, when Luke calls him out on lying and claiming Darth Vader killed his father when he is his father, Obi-Wan explains that "from a certain point of view", that wasn't a lie; as far as he's concerned, Anakin Skywalker died when he fell to the dark side, and only Darth Vader is left. This is expanded on in his series when Vader says That Man Is Dead, that he killed Anakin, which Obi-Wan sadly accepts, calling him "Darth" and leaving him to his new "life".
• Mr. Exposition: He serves as this, in addition to being Luke's mentor. Beforehand, we only had a surface idea of what was going on in the film (The Empire is hunting down the Rebels and looking for something very important the Rebels stole, which was hidden with the droids) and after he shows up to save Luke, he explains the whole backstory of how the Empire came to power by destroying the Jedi and the nature of the Force, what happened to Luke's father, and his presence finally lets R2 play the recorded message by Leia, setting up the rest of the plot for the film.
• My Death Is Just the Beginning: He is unconcerned when he is slain by Vader, as it is his death that further inspires Luke to fight against the Empire, and which allows him to commune with the younger man as a Force spirit.
• My Greatest Failure: His failure to prevent Anakin's fall to the Dark Side motivates him to guide Luke to destroy the evil man his father had become. Luckily, Obi-Wan's jaded belief turns out to be untrue in Return of the Jedi, much to his own joy.
• My Greatest Second Chance: Protecting and training Luke as a Jedi is this for him, both as a chance to save the galaxy where he previously failed, and to make up for his failings as a mentor and surrogate parent to Luke's father Anakin.
  • In the afterlife, Obi-Wan mentors a redeemed Anakin once more, allowing him to fully move on from his sins and become a Force Ghost.
• Mythology Gag: His brief appearance in Ahsoka, meditating to try and contact Qui-Gon, is reminiscent of his POV scenes in the Legends novel Kenobi.
• Nice Guy: Even after all the trauma he went through in his younger days and having spent almost twenty years living as a hermit, Obi-Wan is a remarkably kind and patient man.
• No Body Left Behind: When Obi-Wan dies his body disappears, leaving behind an empty robe.
• No-Respect Guy: Luke and Leia are the only people who show him respect. Leia stores a distress call specifically addressed to Obi-Wan Kenobi within R2-D2, calling him her only hope. After finding out exactly who he is, Luke unconditionally respects Obi-Wan. Meanwhile, Han views him as a senile old fossil, Vader mocks him for being past his prime (though still views him as a Worthy Opponent), Owen Lars derides him as a crazy old wizard who he doesn't want Luke associating with, and Tarkin is pretty much unconcerned with him.
• Not Too Dead to Save the Day: Obi-Wan's ghost is able to convince Luke to turn off his targeting computer and use the Force to guide his proton torpedoes into the Death Star's exhaust port. Given that the shot involves the torpedoes turning on a 90-degree angle mid flight with no room for error, it's safe to say that this advice saved everyone on Yavin IV.
• Not So Stoic: He's visibly rattled when Maul, during their final confrontation figures out he's protecting someone on Tatooine, and immediately activates his lightsaber, fully intent on putting Maul down.

O-Y

• Obi-Wan Moment: He's the Trope Namer.
  Obi-Wan: If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.
• Obfuscating Disability: Obi-Wan's duel with Vader could potentially be this. Sure, he's rusty, but as Rebels presented, he's still a fairly formidable fighter. His poor performance against Vader could probably be boiled down to him stalling for the Falcon to escape, as well as Vader's immensely strong attacks.
• Oh, Crap!: The moment Luke says his true name in their first meeting after knowing him as Ben Kenobi, one can visibly see his eyes widen as he slowly sits down in shock. It's not just the years catching up to old Obi-Wan, but also the realization that destiny has finally run its course all the way back to him.
• Old Master: In A New Hope, Obi-Wan starts to teach Luke to be a Jedi Knight without letting his old age slow him down. We get to see him duel Maul in Star Wars Rebels, and it's a glorious, classic samurai fight, over in one move following a series of postures as they gauge one another's styles.
• Older and Wiser: He starts off as a young and brash apprentice to Qui-Gon Jinn in The Phantom Menace, but becomes more of a wise and experienced Jedi Master, culminating in him teaching Luke, his former pupil's son, about the Force in the beginning of A New Hope. Notably, his mentoring style changes substantially as he ages: he is substantially more patient with Luke than he ever was with Anakin, and doesn't seem to be thrown off by anything he goes through.
• Papa Wolf: When Maul makes an implied threat to whoever Obi-Wan is protecting (Luke), the older Jedi wastes no time in drawing his lightsaber and dueling his opponent. In A New Hope he swiftly disarms two thugs who attack Luke in the cantina, even taking off one guy's arm, and he willingly sacrifices himself to ensure Luke and the others can escape the Death Star.
• Parental Substitute: Briefly forms an almost parental bond with Luke in A New Hope, and had also watched over Luke since he was born (quite literally- he was at Padmé's side as she delivered her children). He would've liked to have been more involved in Luke's life, but Owen wouldn't allow it. Though he never says it, it's always been obvious that Obi-Wan dearly loved Luke and didn't hesitate to die for him, while Luke is utterly devastated by his death (on top of losing his aunt and uncle). As we'll learn in his series, Owen did eventually allow Obi-Wan to be part of Luke's life, meaning Luke always saw him as a family friend and mentor figure.
• The Power of Legacy: He refrains from telling Luke about his father's true nature. Luke thinks of whoever his father is as a hero.
• Prodigal Hero: He exiles himself to watch over little Luke from a distance, and then returns to the front line to be his mentor.
• Rebuilt Pedestal: Unlike Qui-Gon and Luke, Obi-Wan initially did not believe in Anakin's redemption, deeming him as a lost cause. After proven otherwise though, Obi-Wan greets Anakin as an old friend and hero in the afterlife.
• Retired Badass: By the time of A New Hope, though lack of practice and old age becomes a big disadvantage when he's forced into action again.
• Retroactive Idiot Ball: Obi-Wan’s ghost in The Empire Strikes Back tells Luke that he cannot interfere if Luke decides to confront Darth Vader. The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker, and an episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars show Force ghosts interfering with the physical world, so Obi-Wan could have done a lot to help out Luke during his fight with Vader.
• Sacrificial Lion: In A New Hope, Obi-Wan is Luke's mentor and the de facto leader of the good guys's group, guiding them on their quest to deliver the Death Star plans to the Rebel Alliance as well as one of the wisest and most powerful protagonists. Just before the film's climax, Obi-Wan fights Darth Vader and allows him to kill him so that the other heroes can escape. Although Obi-Wan ends up coming back as a Force spirit, his death leaves the protagonists - especially Luke - in a more vulnerable position and gives Luke even more reason to despise Vader...which further complicates things in The Empire Strikes Back when Luke finds out who Vader really is.
• Spirit Advisor: He continues to guide Luke after death as a Force spirit.
• Suicide by Cop: Willingly allows Darth Vader to kill him in a duel in order to Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence.
  Vader: (to Luke) Don't let yourself be destroyed as Obi-Wan did.
• Supporting Leader: He unofficially leads the expedition to save Leia on the Death Star.
• Sympathy for the Devil:
  • Despite the guy having murdered both his beloved mentor and the love of his life, Obi-Wan is very distraught over Maul's death, holding him in his arms as the latter dies so he doesn't have to Die Alone, and assuring him the Chosen One is near. It's indicated to be because he realizes just how physically and emotionally broken Darth Maul has become by the end of his life; he was corrupted at a young age by Darth Sidious then cast aside, he has lost everything and feels he has nothing left but vengeance.
  • Completely averted with Vader, however; while Obi-Wan still has fond memories of pre-Dark Side Anakin, he very much doubts his former apprentice can be redeemed and shows contempt for the monster that Anakin's become. In their initial duel, he was very reluctant to confront him and openly states that he feels he has failed him, but Anakin throws it back in his face and blames him for his wrongdoings (most egregiously, he blames Obi-Wan for "turning Padmé against him" after Anakin Force-choked her over a misunderstanding), after which Obi-Wan reluctantly gives up on him. While he tries harder to redeem Darth Vader in their second duel, Obi-Wan ends up losing all hope in the aftermath.
• Take Up My Sword: A non-verbal instance; by dying at Darth Vader's hand in A New Hope, Obi-Wan inspires Luke to become a Jedi Knight, taking up Obi-Wan's fight against the Sith and the Empire. Earlier, he had himself used Qui-Gon's lightsaber for a time following Qui-Gon's death, at least in part because he had lost his own lightsaber in the same duel.
• Thanatos Gambit: In A New Hope, Obi-Wan deliberately allows Vader to kill him, allowing him to become more powerful than any Jedi can imagine.
• Throwing the Fight: He throws his final battle with Vader, knowing that he'd slow his friends down and that he could do a lot more good as a Force spirit.
• Together in Death: He and Anakin are finally reconciled following Anakin's Redemption Equals Death; their Force spirits are shown standing together during the celebrations on Endor, alongside Yoda.
• Tranquil Fury: When dealing with Agruss, who not only mistreated numerous miners in front of him but also had the balls to insult his Jedi beliefs to his face.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Not that he wasn't always kind, but he's definitely less high-strung than he was in his younger days. He’s also considerably more mindful and respectful to droids than he used to be, as seen in "A New Hope". Furthermore, he becomes a great deal more patient in teaching, essentially being the mentor Anakin needed as a Padawan. Compared to his conversation with Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan has also eased up with blaming Anakin for becoming Darth Vader, hence their reunion in the afterlife.
• Unreliable Expositor:
  • Mentions that Darth Vader betrayed and murdered Luke's father. Something that was manipulating the truth just a wee bit. Kenobi retroactively explains this, as after his and Vader's last fight, Vader explicitly tells him - actually, gloats - that Obi-Wan didn't kill Anakin... he [Vader] did.
  • This aspect of him can be retroactively seen all the way back to the first time we see him. When we first meet Obi-Wan he scared off the Tusken Raiders by making a strange sound, when Luke asks him about it he simply says that the Raiders are cowards easily frightened. What he did not mention was that he was imitating a goddamn Krayt Dragon, meaning that the Raiders had every reason to run for their lives.
• War Hero: Not just a legendary Jedi Master, but a general in the Clone Wars. This is why Leia seeks him out.
• Wizard Classic: At the time of A New Hope, he is one IN SPACE!
• Worf Had the Flu: While he still puts up a pretty good fight, he is unable to defeat Vader and has to become one with the Force during their duel in the Death Star because as stated by Vader during the fight and Obi-Wan himself in his narration of the fight in From a Certain Point of View, old age has made him weak and thus he's no longer strong enough to beat Vader like he did in his own show and in Revenge of the Sith.
• Worthy Opponent: After becoming Darth Vader, Anakin's view of Obi-Wan morphed from being a Big Brother Mentor into being this. While holding most Jedi in contempt, Vader kept a sense of respect toward Obi-Wan even after - and partly because - the other man sliced his limbs off and nearly killed him ten years later.
  Darth Vader: Obi-Wan is here. The Force is with him.
  Tarkin: If you're right, he must not be allowed to escape.
  Darth Vader: Escape is not his plan. I must face him alone.
• Xanatos Gambit: Obi-Wan is polite enough to warn Vader that "if you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine" before setting Vader up to do just that.
• Younger Than They Look: He's 56 or 57 in A New Hope, but looks around ten years older. Ahsoka confirms that living on a planet with binary suns does accelerate the aging process in humans. Grief can age you as well and god knows Obi-Wan's gone through plenty of that. It bears mentioning that Alec Guinness was 62 during the filming of ANH, so this isn't completely implausible.

Tropes from his eponymous series

Master Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi

"The light will fade, but it is never forgotten."

"Only when the eyes are closed can you truly see."

Ten years after the end of the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan retreated to the planet of Tatooine to hide from the Galactic Empire as well as watch over young Luke Skywalker and his adoptive family, adopting the guise of a desert hermit known as "Ben". But as he's coping with past trauma, he's called into action by Bail Organa to rescue his adoptive daughter. Obi-Wan sets out to find her, all the while trying to evade the Inquisitors, who are after former Jedi.

---

• The Aloner: He's been completely alone for the past 10 years, not forming any sort of bond with anyone, both because of his crippling guilt, and the very real knowledge that anybody associated with a former Jedi is an easy target for Inquisitors.
• The Atoner: He feels tremendous guilt over his belief that he failed Anakin and allowed him to fall to the Dark Side, resulting in the destruction of the Jedi Order. When Owen calls him on this, he's visibly crushed.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: When he fights Vader in the final episode, he uncharacteristically fights him very aggressively. He's frequently on the attack, using his speed and agility to match Vader's power-based strikes. He even uses some of Anakin's old techniques that he can't perform as Vader anymore due to being hampered by his cybernetics, like his spinning lightsaber strike.
• Badass Decay: An in-universe Justified Trope, built into the narrative. Ten years of civilian living and hiding has quite dulled Obi-Wan's combat instincts to an extent that while he can still outwit criminals and Stormtroopers that outnumber him, facing down Darth Vader ends with him being choked and almost burnt to death. The following episode tones this down and shows us that the real trouble is his terrorized grief on facing Anakin, having believed him dead. He handles himself just fine when cornered in a hallway between to groups of Purge and Storm Troopers.
• Batman Gambit: In a reversal of the tactic he employed to defeat and kill Maul, Obi-Wan uses his Soresu stance to fool Vader into thinking he'll fight defensively like he typically does. It works like a charm, as Obi-Wan's surprise aggression forces Vader to duel with both hands and with more caution.
• Batman Grabs a Gun: The same Obi-Wan that once deemed blasters "uncivilized" relies on one, both since it doesn't immediately mark him as a Jedi, and because he's genuinely so broken over the Empire's rise and his inability to be a Jedi without drawing attention to Luke, that he's lost his ability to connect with the Force.
• Beard of Sorrow: He wore a beard during Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, but it's more shaggy and unkempt here, and he's also grown his hair out to nearly shoulder length.
• Beware the Nice Ones: His final duel with Vader is arguably more vicious than their fight on Mustafar. He may once again be a pure-hearted Jedi, but that doesn't stop him from stabbing Vader repeatedly through his chest, pelting him with massive rocks, slicing off half his mask. (The difference is that on Mustafar, he fought on the defensive while trying to talk some sense into his former padawan; this time, he goes on offense and fights to win.)
• Big Good: What Bail and Breha Organa clearly see him as. Haja sees him as this as well. It's why the Empire has been hunting him for the past 10 years, and why they fear him so much. By the end of the series, he has returned to himself and embraced this role, having defeated Vader a second time and rediscovered peace.
• Bystander Syndrome: Essentially forced into this, no matter how much he wishes he could help. He does nothing while a co-worker gets paid nothing and beaten, or when an Inquisitor threatens to murder Owen. Though it's understandable, the Inquisitors rely on the Jedi's natural instinct to help those in need, and when they do, they become easy prey.
• Brought Down to Badass: As part of his exile, he buried his lightsaber and essentially cut himself off from the Force for a decade. When forced back into action, he instead uses a blaster and can only use the Force in very subtle ways, to hide that he's really a Jedi. This makes it harder for him to fight, but he still takes on multiple opponents and comes out on top.
• Broken Ace: A former Jedi Master, member of the Council, General of the Army of the Republic, hero of the Clone Wars... living in a cave and working on a meat-packing line. He regrets not being able to help his fellow worker in the face of abuse from their employer, but doesn't have to struggle not to help. A young Jedi comes to him for help, and Obi-Wan tells him to bury his lightsaber, run, hide, and give up on the Order.
• The Call Knows Where You Live: Third Sister kidnaps Leia specifically to draw Obi-Wan out, knowing that he and Bail were close friends during the Clone Wars.
• Combat Pragmatist: To a greater degree than usual. Obi-Wan can't risk drawing his lightsaber (and kept it buried in the desert for years to try and abandon his past entirely), so he relies on a blaster pistol and bare-handed martial arts. He even takes a hostage as a shield during a gunfight.
• Cynicism Catalyst: The fight with Vader and the rise of the Empire made Obi-Wan deeply cynical, to the point that he's basically resigned himself to letting the Empire brutalize the galaxy, believing that the Jedi were well and truly dead, and that there isn't really anything more either he, nor anybody else can do. Subverted, in that he still thinks Luke has a chance to be trained and save the Galaxy.
• Deadpan Snarker: Though grief has seriously toned down this aspect of his character since the Clone Wars, he still manages to get in one or two zingers.
  Obi-Wan: If you're going to steal my parts and sell them back to me, you could at least clean them.
• Declaration of Protection: Luke and Leia. They're the reason he's still alive.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: Even ten years past his prime, Part VI proves he's still one of the scant few people in the galaxy who can beat Darth Vader in a fair fight.
• Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job: One of the most powerful and well-respected Jedi to have ever lived is now barely scraping a living on a meat-packing factory that treats its workers very poorly and has rough working conditions after the fall of the Jedi Order.
• Fatal Flaw: His Chronic Hero Syndrome. Same with all Jedi. Reva uses this to finally draw him out of hiding, and you can see the realization of this on his face when Leia's kidnappers tell him that she was taken because they knew he would come for her.
• Guile Hero: As always. Even without the Force, Obi-Wan shows why he was one of the greatest heroes of the Republic.
• Handicapped Badass: Initially, Obi-Wan's connection to the Force is seemingly weakened as a consequence of his immense guilt and grief - he is initially unable to sense that Haja was not Force-Sensitive and struggled to catch Leia before she fell. However, as the series progresses, he reconnects with the Force and becomes noticeably stronger, able to temporarily hold back an entire ocean and sensing the danger posed to people separated by entire galactic sectors.
• Heartfelt Apology: Even as Darth Vader knelt before him helpless and winded from having his life-support system and helmet shattered at the end of their second battle, Ben stayed his hand as the pathetic sight of the monster that his former-student has been reduced to broke his heart, and tearfully apologized to what was left of Anakin for ruining his life. The Dark Warrior, moved by the sincerity of his mentor's love for him, wearily took full responsibility for his own destruction, coldly declaring that only "Darth Vader" is left, so that Obi-Wan can be free of the pain of having failed him, in every way a teacher could fail his student.
• Heroic BSoD: His grief over the (apparent) death of Anakin and the destruction of the Jedi Order has him hiding on Tatooine, living a depressed, minimalist existence. He has to be dragged out of his cave to go rescue Leia. He then suffers a more acute one when he learns that Anakin is still alive. And actually coming face to face with Vader?
• Heroic Second Wind: In Part VI, after Vader collapses the ground under him and buries him under a rockslide, he's barely holding it off from crushing him, wracked by guilt over what happened to Anakin and how he became Vader. Then, he remembers Leia and Luke, who both need him. Cue him blasting multiple tons of rock clear, bounding out of the hole, before utterly destroying Vader.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Being a survivor of Order 66, transmitting a message that warns all the surviving Jedi to stay away from the Jedi temple, and dismembering Darth Vader made him one of the most wanted Jedi by the Empire.
• He's Back!: In the fourth episode, almost as if they knew fans would complain about Obi-Wan not being an unstoppable badass, he infiltrates the Fortress Inquisitorius to rescue Leia, holds off multiple groups of troopers when cornered in a hallway, then uses the Force to hold back the weight of the ocean for several minutes. In Part V, he then demonstrates his old tactical smarts by surrendering to manipulate Vader/Anakin's flaws and Reva's own, buying time to arrange both an escape ship and a decoy, and distracting his enemies at the critical moment. Vader is grudgingly impressed at this, and is genuinely pleased in their rematch in Part VI when Obi-Wan demonstrates that he's now as powerful and skilled as he ever was, and then some.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners:
  • With Bail Organa. Even after 10 years, Bail says that in all the galaxy, he trusts Obi-Wan the most with his daughter, Leia.
  • Formerly with Anakin. The fact that neither Obi-Wan nor Vader can let the other one go is why their story is so heartbreaking.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: The man who only 10 years ago was one of galactic history's greatest war heroes, with the entire Republic behind him, has turned into a depressed, broken shell of a man that has abandoned the Jedi way and resigned himself to basically slaving away for a pittance on one of the most depressing, backwater worlds around. Several people comment on this, with the young Jedi he encounters being genuinely shocked that Obi-Wan Kenobi of all people could sink so low. Darth Vader, for that matter, despite having anticipated a rematch against the Master who laid him so low, sounds flat-out disappointed with his showing and attempts at running away - this is implied to be part of why he didn't bother chasing him when he got rescued, and he sounds downright pleased in Part VI when Obi-Wan's got his groove back.
• Human Shield: He uses Freck as one on Mapuzo to prevent a stormtrooper on top of a checkpoint from shooting him. After taking out the stormtrooper, he knocks Freck out.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Nothing can make Obi-Wan lose his principles, even though he can't always act on them. His response to seeing a homeless Clone veteran from Anakin's unit (the 501st) on Daiyu is to give the man money. This is even after what the Clones (specifically the 501st) did to the Jedi and their children (which Obi-Wan may or may not know was due to Palpatine's chips). You can also see how much it means to Haja that Obi-Wan remembered his name, even though Obi-Wan would have had no reason to after their first meeting.
• In the Hood: He always wore a hooded robe during his days as a Jedi of the Republic, but here he actually puts on his hood more in public due to being one of the most wanted Jedi survivors in the galaxy.
• Living Legend: Even ten years after he vanished, people still remember and revere Jedi Grand Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. Haja is practically awestruck that Kenobi remembers his name, and Tala doesn't believe Obi-Wan when he says he's made mistakes.
• Master Swordsman: While it's not initially in evidence, thanks to a decade of having literally buried his sabre, once he shakes the rust off (and gets over his understandable guilt about/terror of Vader), he demonstrates once again why he is arguably the single greatest living swordsman in the galaxy in Part VI. Not only does he match Vader during their rematch, but he matches him for strength and beats him on pure skill, arguably even more comprehensively than on Mustafar - then, he simply led Anakin into a trap and dismembered him in a single strike. Here, after he gets his Heroic Second Wind, he absolutely destroys him, hammering away at his respirator to cripple him, before slicing open his helmet and leaving Vader on his knees.
• My Greatest Failure: Kenobi begins the series wracked with guilt and PTSD over Anakin's fall, his apparent death, and the rise of Emperor Palpatine. This gets dialed up to eleven when Kenobi learns that Anakin's still alive. As he meditates in the freighter on the way to Mapuzo, trying to commune with Qui-Gon, he can't stop wringing his hands. He's utterly tormented, which of course leads to him getting curb-stomped by Vader. Once he, eventually, gets past this in Part VI, he turns the tables on Vader.
• Mysterious Protector: He's trying to serve as this to Luke, watching over him from a distance and even occasionally buying him toys and leaving them outside the Lars home. Owen, however, wants nothing to do with Obi-Wan and tells him to stay away in harsh terms. Then he spends the series playing this role to Leia after she's kidnapped.
• Never-Forgotten Skill: Despite a decade of never touching his lightsaber and shutting himself off from the Force out of guilt, once Obi-Wan swallows his guilt he quickly gets his lightsaber skills and Force abilities back like he never lost them. He even manages to defeat Darth Vader who, in comparison, spent the better part of that decade learning Obi-Wan's fighting style so he knows how to both use and break its impenetrable defense.
• Nice Guy: Despite everything, Obi-Wan's first response is kindness. He brings fresh meat to his Eopie, he lets Teeka the Jawa cheat him with only minimal snarking, he buys toys for Luke with the little money that he has, and he clearly wants to stand up for the mistreated worker at his meat-packing factory. And that's all before he allows himself to start being a Jedi again.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Because he's unwilling to trust Haja, Obi-Wan leaves the meeting site before Tala can arrive, causing him to be exposed to the Empire, ruining one of the Path's hideouts, and exposing Tala's status as The Mole.
• No Social Skills: Played with. Unlike the charismatic master negotiator he was in the Clone Wars, 10 years of festering alone with his horrible trauma has left Obi-Wan a lot more short-tempered and blunt, even with allies like Bail or Leia. This is in sharp contrast to how unfailingly polite he was even towards enemies in his younger days and during the twilight of his life. However, when he starts getting back into his old mindset, you can see some of that sarcasm and patience with people start to return, i.e., when he deals with Haja and especially with Leia.
  Leia: Are you my real father?
  Obi-Wan: I wish I could say that I am.
• Oh, Crap!: After spending the last ten years believing that Anakin died on Mustafar, Obi-Wan practically has a complete mental breakdown when Third Sister reveals that Anakin survived, and has been looking for him all along.
• Old Master: He's not as old as in the Original Trilogy (obviously), but he's starting to age. Leia even calls him on this when he says that their cover story is that they're farmers from Tawl and she's his daughter. She retorts, "Granddaughter, maybe." He demonstrates the 'Master' part from Part IV onwards, culminating in the devastating beatdown of Darth freaking Vader.
• One-Man Army: On Jabiim, Obi-Wan cuts through Reva's platoon of crack stormtroopers like a blowtorch, despite being at the front of a crowd of terrified Path rebels and completely exposed.
• Papa Wolf: He is willing to protect both Luke and Leia at all costs. He refers to Leia as his "daughter" at several points during his quest to rescue her and immediately asks if Luke's alright when Owen confronts him in town.
• Protagonist Title: The main character of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
• The Quiet One: Doesn't talk much.
• Refusal of the Call: He resists Bail's attempts to recruit him to rescue Leia. Bail calls him, he refuses. He sees the young Jedi he advised to give up on the Order dead and then Bail visits him and reaffirms his faith and trust in Obi-Wan... he accepts.
• Rapid Aging: Obi-Wan has been aged a bit by Tatooine's harsh conditions. In canon, it's only been ten years since the end of Revenge of the Sith, but in reality it's been nearly 20 years since that film was made.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: It's strongly implied that he's suffering from PTSD. Given how over the course of the Clone Wars he's suffered Satine's death at the hands of Maul, Anakin falling to the Dark Side, Obi-Wan killing him on Mustafar, Palpatine destroying the Jedi Order and then the Republic, Padme dying in front of him and leaving him Luke and Leia, Obi-Wan believes that he has failed everyone he ever loved. When Bail asks for his help, Obi-Wan insists he's refusing to save Leia because he needs to watch over Luke, but Bail can see through him. Obi-Wan voices his fear (compounded by Owen's misplaced blame) that he would just fail her too. It takes Bail's unshakable belief in him (and seeing the body of the young Jedi he'd refused to help) to get him to pick up his lightsaber again.
• Significant Name Shift: After beating Vader, who he's privately only referred to as "Anakin" until then, he sadly but solemnly calls him "Darth" before leaving him for dead, making it clear that he's finally accepted what's become of his old friend.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift:
  • At the beginning of the series, he's traded his noble Jedi robes for a shabby set of work clothes, making it clear just how far the greatest of the Old Republic Jedi has fallen.
  • After being rescued by Tala and subjected to a bacta bath in the Jabiim Path hideout, he is given a new set of robes more befitting of a Jedi (with the entire ensemble making him look close enough to his Attack of the Clones-era robes). Appropriately enough, we see him subsequently get his groove back and assault Fortress Inquisitorious with comparative competence—even as he's still visibly finding his ropes in battle.
  • In the end of the final episode, he finally dons his iconic tan and brown Jedi robes, showing he's fully embraced the Jedi way once more.
• Still Wearing the Old Colors: In the final scenes of episode 6, he finally starts wearing his classic Jedi robes once again, openly displaying his status as a Jedi since he no longer fears Vader, nor the Empire.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Formal and reserved as well as a Nice Guy, Incorruptible Pure Pureness, Knight in Shining Armor. And he absolutely adores all three Skywalkers: Leia, Luke and Anakin. Everyone can see it.
• There Are No Therapists: And Obi-Wan really, really needs one. Tala tries to offer him some comfort, but she's just a soldier. Downplayed in that Jedi teachings are similar to real-world mindfulness techniques. It's just that Obi-Wan doesn't have any other Jedi around any more to help him connect. He's essentially alone for 10 years, without the ability to process what happened, and Owen, who should have some basic compassion and kindness, instead blames Obi-Wan for Anakin's death and refuses to even let him meet Luke.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • While he's still more than capable when required to be, he's a shadow of his former self, having effectively cut himself off from the Force and buried his sabre for the last decade. When they finally meet in Part III, Vader seems to be flat-out disappointed at how weak Obi-Wan is and tosses him around without difficulty. In Part IV, however, Obi-Wan steadily gets his groove back, visibly going from strength to strength as he successfully infiltrates the Fortress Inquisitorius, sneaks past the Seeker Droids into the detention levels, rescues Leia, holds back the full pressure of the ocean with the Force while deflecting blaster bolts with his sabre with increasingly lethal accuracy when even before the infiltration he could barely move a small block, before cracking the other reinforced windows and letting the Stormtroopers drown. Seems like he just needed to shake the rust off.
  • Part VI demonstrates this in full - he is once more the Jedi Master and Living Legend that he was, and possibly even stronger than he used to be, given that he's even able to toss around Vader at points, as well as having regained his Master Swordsman status. While Vader wins the first part of that, one Heroic Second Wind later when he finally fights back seriously, he absolutely destroys Vader in a straight fight. Given that Vader is an otherwise unstoppable juggernaut who's slaughtered every single Jedi he's fought and treats Reva's best attempts to kill him with mild amusement and effortlessly demonstrates his superiority without even drawing his own sabre, that's incredibly impressive.
• Took a Level in Cynic: Anakin's fall and the rise of the Empire have hardened Obi-Wan quite a bit. He's unwilling to trust Haja as a result.
  Leia: Why would he lie?
  Obi-Wan: People are not all good, Leia.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Played with. Because of the Empire's Jedi hunt, he's hardened quite a bit as a person, not intervening when a co-worker gets beaten and screwed over (though he clearly wants to), and refusing to help the terrified young Jedi also hiding on Tatooine (though he does give him advice and tries to be compassionate).
• Took a Level in Kindness: The time he spends around Leia, and learning that there are still good people fighting in the galaxy, causes him to lose some of the cynicism. When Leia tells him her droid won't make any noise because it's hurt, after his first, automatic response of: "Good," Obi-Wan gets down to her level and speaks to her gently, trying to comfort her. At the very end, when Bail and Breha says they can never repay him for his rescue of Leia, Obi-Wan instead declares Leia's success in opening his heart has already done that.
• Tragic Keepsake: Anakin's lightsaber, which he buried in the desert sands of Tatooine along with his own.
• Trauma Conga Line: Maul killed his master, then survived being bisected to return and kill Duchess Satine of Mandalore, the woman Obi-Wan loved. His padawan and adoptive brother turned to the Dark Side and Obi-Wan was forced to kill him on Mustafar. Palpatine slaughtered the Jedi Order and destroyed the Republic, turning it into the authoritarian Empire. His close friend, Padmé died in front of him, leaving her and Anakin's twin children without their parents. Is it any wonder that a former Master of the Jedi Order and General of the Grand Army of the Republic is hiding in a cave and working as a meat packer in the ass end of nowhere? And then he learns that he didn't kill Anakin/Vader after all, and that his former friend has been serving the Empire that's been hunting down and slaughtering the Jedi for ten years.
• True Companions: When Leia impresses him with her stubbornness, wisdom, and snark, Obi-Wan spends some time reminiscing to her about Padmé. It's probably too painful for him to speak of all the ways she reminds him of Anakin.
  • At the end of Part VI, Obi-Wan has somewhat healed his emotional pain and tells Leia that he knew both her birth parents, telling her about the good traits she inherited from each of them. He has lost Anakin, but he still loves the man he was.
• Trying Not to Cry: In their second duel, after managing to damage Vader's helmet to the point his burned face is visible, Obi-Wan is visibly trying not to weep at the sight of how far his former apprentice has fallen.
• Weak, but Skilled: His duel with Vader in the finale demonstrates this spectacularly. Vader is clearly shown to be the stronger and more powerful combatant of the two, but Obi-Wan manages to take him on and win because he's more cunning, pragmatic, and skilled than Vader.
• With My Hands Tied: While searching for Leia, Obi-Wan carries his lightsaber, but he's trying to hide, so he doesn't visibly use the Force (until he has to) or wield his saber. Even so, he's quite capable of kicking a lot of ass.
• Worf Had the Flu: Avoids fights or struggles with them in the first couple of episodes because he hasn't used the Force in 10 years and his days as a warrior are behind him. By the end of episode two, some of his old hand to hand combat skills start to come back to him, though in contrast to their duel in Revenge of the Sith, his confrontation with Darth Vader is very one-sided in favor of the Sith Lord due to Obi-Wan's decade-long lack of practice and the fact that Kenobi's full of emotional chaos. He keeps wringing his hands and remembering his last fight with Anakin while trying to commune with Qui-Gon at the start of that episode. In episode four, his power with the Force and sabre skills start come back to him as he rescues Leia from the Fortress Inquisitorius.
• World's Best Warrior: Besides Palpatine and possibly Yoda, Kenobi is this after getting back into shape. With Dooku, Mother Talzin, The Ones, and Mace Windu long dead, Obi-Wan is now undoubtedly the most powerful force-user opposed to Sidious' faction, having bested Vader once more in lightsaber dueling, and overpowering him in the force. Given it's implied in Rebels that Vader bested Maul at some point, to the point Maul doesn't even want to try again against him, this leaves Kenobi the strongest person in the galaxy short of Palpatine himself. Given Vader's performance whenever he fights Palpatine personally, one has to wonder if he and Vader could have taken Palpatine together had they reconciled.

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"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."