When Obi-Wan Met Vader After Mustafar
"Obi-Wan Once Thought As You Do." - Darth Vader to Luke Skywalker in Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
In response to an article written by someone on Screenrant.com (see accompanying screenshot of the article), I have to say there is more evidence than not that Obi-Wan did try to “save” Vader from the Dark Side after their duel on Mustafar. The only evidence being that Obi-Wan didn’t try to save Vader after Mustafar is that we haven’t seen it yet. To which I say, we didn’t see the Kessel Run until we saw Solo, but we heard dialogue about it. We didn’t see how the Death Star plans were stolen until we saw Rogue One, but we see it in the crawler for A New Hope.
With dialogue from the Original Trilogy and from what we’ve seen in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, we can draw connections that Obi-Wan and Darth Vader have met since the events in Episode III. This coupled with the casting announcements from the upcoming Disney+ series: Obi-Wan Kenobi, where it was announced that Ewan McGregor AND Hayden Christensen will be back together only strengthens this argument.
Let’s look at the dialogue and how it hints at a Mustafar re-match before Obi-Wan’s sacrifice on the Death Star.
Only a Sith deals in absolutes.
1 - “You should not have come back” - Darth Vader to Obi-Wan Kenobi on the Death Star in Episode IV: A New Hope.
You should not have come back.
Ok, so when this was first shown in 1977 and all the way to the release of 2005’s Revenge of the Sith, the meaning was wide open. Now, however we have a timeline of events to match it up to. In Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan beat Darth Vader and left him without any limbs, I don’t think Vader is too keen for a rematch with Obi-Wan based on that outcome. Plus this dialogue implies that perhaps Obi-Wan has even been on the Death Star before. Did Obi-Wan try to sabotage the Death Star at some point in the past 19 years? Maybe the reason the Death Star took so long to build is because Obi-Wan and some Rebels were involved in sabotage missions to slow down and destroy the progress? But either way, Vader seems pretty confident in his duel on the Death Star with Obi Wan despite being manhandled on Mustafar in Episode III. This leads me to believe that there was a second duel before the Death Star duel in A New Hope and that Vader actually won this second hypothetical duel with Obi-Wan having to retreat before being killed.
2 - "Obi-Wan once thought as you do." - Darth Vader to Luke Skywalker in Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Vader says this in response to Luke telling Vader that there is still good in him and that Vader should come with him, come back to the light side. Why would Vader say something like this unless Vader and Obi-Wan had similar discussions? We know that in Episodes 5 and 6, Obi-Wan has given up on Anakin/Vader and knows he won’t turn to the light side. Why was Obi-Wan so adamant that Luke must kill Vader in order to win? This leads us to believe that Obi-Wan had already tried to turn him to the light side at some point after their Mustafar duel. During the Mustafar duel, Obi-Wan was sent to kill Anakin as he “has become a danger to himself”. Padme realizes this when Obi-Wan seeks her out in her Coruscant penthouse to try and find out where Anakin had gone to. Obi-Wan didn’t go to Anakin to try and convince him to repent of his sins and come back to the Jedi. At least in that moment he was confronting Anakin to kill him.
Come with me.
What we will see in the Obi-Wan Kenobi Series
I believe we will see Obi-Wan seek out Vader in the Disney+ series and will try to convince him to turn back to the light side. I believe we will will see flashbacks of Obi-Wan and Anakin in their Jedi heyday, and that is one of the reasons why Hayden Christensen is back, but that we will also see Vader helmetless at some point with Hayden’s face and maybe even when Obi-Wan confronts him the helmet is destroyed (kind of like what we saw in Star Wars Rebels). This would make a bigger emotional impact for Obi-Wan and the fans and would make it more personal if we get to see the face under the helmet.
We will see flashbacks of The Adventures of Obi-Wan and Anakin
Obi-Wan will confront Vader in an attempt to first turn him back to the light side, as this is a way for Obi-Wan to address his guilt that he probably has over his failure to properly train and guide Anakin. Then when that doesn’t work, they will have another lightsaber duel that will far surpass what we saw in Episode III. We will see a supercharged Vader vs a mature and more cunning Obi-Wan.
*Oh, and at some point in the Disney+ series I predict we will also get to finally see a Maul vs Vader lightsaber duel that fans have been drooling over since the Star Wars Tales comic came out back in the day. But I’ll leave that for another post.
Duel of the Fates 2.0!