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Although there are a lot of important relationships in the Star Wars universe, perhaps the most important was between Anakin Skywalker and his master, Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Sure, Anakin is in love with Padmé. They get married in secret, and Revenge of the Sith ends with her giving birth to their twins Luke and Leia. But Anakin’s relationship with Obi-Wan Kenobi runs deep. His master was a part of his upbringing, training him since he was nine years old. Their almost father-son friendship was turbulent, but also heartwarming – despite the Jedi rule of avoiding attachment.
Not only do these two share plenty of epic scenes together in the prequels, but many of these also had far-reaching consequences for decades to come.
Here are Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi’s best on-screen moments together – from the prequel trilogy, and a couple from the original trilogy, as well.
Obi-Wan Kenobi was certainly not thrilled with the idea of training Anakin Skywalker in the ways of the Force. They weren’t close at all and had only met briefly. It was Obi-Wan’s master, Qui-Gon Jinn who was convinced that Anakin should be trained. He was convinced that Anakin was the prophesied “Chosen One” who would bring balance to the Force, whatever that may mean.
Qui-Gon even presented young Anakin to the Jedi Council on Coruscant in hopes of training him. Although he proved exceptionally powerful with the Force, they decided against training the boy. Mace Windu felt Anakin was too old to begin training. Yoda sensed fear in him, and that fear is what led to his denial into the Order. It’s easy to forget now, but Obi-Wan agreed with the Council on their decision.
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It wasn’t until Qui-Gon was struck down by Darth Maul that Obi-Wan decided to train Anakin. In his last moments, Qui-Gon’s dying request to Obi-Wan was that he promises to train the kid.
Even still, that moment when Obi-Wan approaches 9-year-old Anakin and tells him that the Jedi Council has agreed to let him train… that’s where it all begins. “You will be a Jedi. I promise,” Obi-Wan tells him.
During Attack of the Clones, Obi-Wan tracks Jango and Boba Fett from Kamino to Geonosis. Here he finds himself quickly captured by Count Dooku and the Separatists. After Dooku tries to warn Obi-Wan that the senate is under the influence of a Sith Lord, Obi-Wan refuses to join him. He is chained up in a gladiatorial arena awaiting a monster that will execute him when he’s joined by two other prisoners: Anakin and Padmé.
“I was beginning to wonder if you got my message,” Obi-Wan said to Anakin, as he and Padmé are being chained up as well. Anakin tells him that they re-transmitted the message just as requested, but then they came to save him.
Obi-Wan looks around and up at his chained hands, and then sarcastically says, “Good job.” Hey, at least the three of them end up making it out alive, right?
Obi-Wan Kenobi is a powerful Jedi Master, and Anakin is extremely powerful in his own right. However, they are unstoppable when they fight side by side. When they join forces, they work together seamlessly, almost as a single unit. You know, before Palpatine finishes up driving that wedge between Anakin and the Jedi Order, anyway.
Our favorite Jedi pair take on Count Dooku twice, so we’re just going to put them together here.
The first time is during Attack of the Clones, right after the Jedi and the Republic’s new Clone Army show up to help them escape the Separatists on Geonosis. Obi-Wan and Anakin chase down Dooku. While they are outmatched, they do have each other’s backs the entire time.
They redeem themselves the next time they cross paths with Dooku, though. At the beginning of Revenge of the Sith, they engage Dooku in battle again while rescuing Chancellor Palpatine. Although Obi-Wan is bested, Anakin kills Dooku and saves both Palpatine and Obi-Wan.
During the beginning of Revenge of the Sith, Anakin and Obi-Wan managed to infiltrate General Grievous’ ship, on a mission to save the kidnapped Chancellor Palpatine. And while they find Palpatine, they also find Count Dooku.
Dooku manages to overpower Obi-Wan and throws him down to the lower level, where he then drops an entire section of the upper level onto Obi-Wan. It is after he is crushed that Anakin shows his abilities and defeats Dooku – and also takes his first step toward the Dark Side, at Palpatine’s urging. But even still, Anakin refuses to leave Obi-Wan behind. Despite everything that has happened, he still remains loyal to his master and friend.
“Leave him or we’ll never make it,” Palpatine commands, thinking he has achieved his goal.
“His fate will be the same as our’s,” Anakin replies and carries an unconscious Obi-Wan slung over his shoulders.
Although their relationship began as simply master and apprentice at the dying wish of Qui-Gon, Anakin and Obi-Wan definitely became friends. They spend so much time together, and they work so well together. They clearly love one another, like brothers in a chosen family.
It is easy to see in their interactions before Anakin becomes Darth Vader. One of these moments comes after their rescue mission at the beginning of Revenge of the Sith. After rescuing Chancellor Palpatine and arriving in what was left of a ship, the two Jedi were invited to spend a day with politicians. Obi-Wan says he’s not “brave enough” for politics, and tells Anakin that “someone needs to be the poster boy” with a smirk.
Anakin tells him, “Alright. You owe me one, and not for saving your skin for the tenth time.”
Obi-Wan corrects him, “Ninth time. That business on Cato Neimoidia doesn’t… doesn’t count.”
Obi-Wan’s duel with his former padawan is one of the franchise’s best lightsaber battles, despite the prequels being, well, not the best. I may not be the biggest fan of the prequel trilogy, but this duel between them gets me every single time.
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There is heated passion, lightsabers twirling faster than you can keep up with, and Anakin’s cockiness as he simply kicks Obi-Wan in the face between lightsaber blows. The stakes get out of control as they find themselves outside, balancing above the molten planet as the hot lava blasts up around them. Let’s be honest, neither of them should have made it out alive.
Obi-Wan knows that he has failed Anakin. He warns his former padawan not to try fighting him when he has the high ground, but Anakin is too stubborn and too arrogant in his power. It is then that Obi-Wan lops off both of Anakin’s legs and one of his arms, in what is clearly more of a tragedy than a victory.
Anakin is so full of anger that he’s lying on the ground missing three limbs and still screaming “I HATE YOU!” Meanwhile, Obi-Wan looks crushed as he says, “You were my brother, Anakin! I loved you!” and then he leaves him there to burn.
The whole thing is very emotionally charged and heartbreaking.
Of course, the two cross paths for another lightsaber duel in A New Hope. More than a decade later, the former master and apprentice face off on the Death Star. At this point, Anakin is clearly Sith Lord Darth Vader, and Obi-Wan is one of the few Jedi survivors of Order 66.
After the Millennium Falcon was trapped with a tractor beam and brought aboard the Death Star, its crew split up to both free Princess Leia and disable the tractor beam controls. However, when they reunite, they were faced with Darth Vader and his Imperial troopers blocking them from their ship.
Obi-Wan did what he knew he had to do. He faced off with his former apprentice-turned-sith one last time. He sacrificed himself as a distraction so that Luke, Leia, Han Solo, and the others could escape, and Luke could fulfill his destiny.
After all was said and done, Luke Skywalker managed to pull out the long-buried goodness in his father. Anakin renounced the Dark Side and redeemed himself, right before he perished. It was this final moment that allowed him to become one with the Force and come back as a Force ghost, much like Yoda, Qui-Gon, and his old master Obi-Wan.
We see that Anakin Skywalker, the Jedi and not the Sith Lord, and Obi-Wan have finally been reunited after all those years. They appear on Endor during the Rebels’ victory party at the end of Return of the Jedi.
