#like I don’t think obi wan is evil or intended any serious harm

[gch1995]

@wingletblackbird @tragicfantasy-girl @fanfic-lover-girl @fanfictasia Obi-Wan definitely does have a hot temper brimming under the surface, and he was willing to disobey the code to honor Qui Gonn one time. However, this whole characterization of him being more brave, honest, humble, kindhearted, idealistic, independent, selfless, and risk-taking in regards to his personal values and the people he cared about versus the Council, are traits that fanon and now Disney have imbued in his characterization because they want him to be the perfect “hero.”

In my opinion, I think his ambition to fit in and get ahead and the position of authority he got over Anakin and position as his master after Qui Gonn died, went straight to Obi-Wan’s head. If you notice, he only ever belittles, betrays, deceives, and manipulates people who are either enemies, outsiders, or those who he has positions of authority over him in the Jedi Order with Yoda, Qui Gonn, and the Council, such as Anakin, Ahsoka, Luke, Padme, Maul, or so on. With authority figures within the Jedi Order who have positions over him, though, Obi-Wan is generally respectful.

Moreover, even in TCW in which he’s OOC in that whole fling he has with Satine, yeah, it’s easy for Obi-Wan to say that he would be willing to leave the Jedi Order for Satine if she had asked him, but I doubt he actually would if she did because Satine is an outsider who doesn’t hold a position of authority over him within the Order.

It’s kind of like when Obi-Wan tells Anakin that “Revenge is not the Jedi way” and “Your need for victory, Anakin, it blinds you” when teaching him, in spite of being exceedingly hostile when dueling enemies on the battlefield, particularly those who do something to personally piss him off. No, I don’t think Obi-Wan usually sought revenge against his enemies or those who hurt him consciously, and, to be fair, Anakin and Darth Maul did need to be stopped for their crimes.

However, he goes way overboard in his apprehensions and punishments of opponents on the battlefield. On Mustafar, Obi-Wan baited Anakin into a duel, Anakin actually gave him an opportunity to back off from said duel, Obi-Wan refused to, and then cut off his limbs and left him to burn alive because he was angry with him and wanted him to suffer. With Darth Maul in Rebels on Tatooine, he actually hesitated, giving Obi-Wan a chance to resolve their conflict non-violently, but Obi-Wan was too angry and too cowardly to do the right thing. He stabbed General Grievous in the back.

For a “peacekeeping” Jedi, Obi-Wan often fights like a dirty cop or soldier. Yeah, there’s such a thing as reasonable self-defense when enemies run away, resist arrest, or attack you first in the moment, but baiting opponents into duels when they back off, hesitate, or try to say they don’t want to fight is an exceedingly aggressive, cowardly, ruthless, and vindictive move that actually would be considered illegal in real life.

Additionally, Anakin wanted to leave the Order to live a normal life with Padme and his kids, too, but got pressured to stay by the Council, Obi-Wan, the war, the fact that Padme’s reputation and job could be ruined, and the fact that his kids could end up suffering and being taken away if the Council found out that he had gotten a woman pregnant. Not to mention the fact that Padme was the breadwinner of the family, so not only she and Anakin would be negatively affected if she lost her job after finding out she was pregnant.

Hi, not to annoy you, but regarding Obitine... Didn't Obi-Wan tell Satine that he would have left the Order had she asked him to stay? So, I don't think that the point was he's Mr. Love them and leave them ( as you put it) and that made him better than Anakin. I think the point was that he understood what (romantic) love felt like, but didn't let hatred and rage consume him when Satine was killed... unlike Anakin.

No worries. That's an entirely valid counter-argument. Maybe you're right and that was their intent. I suppose I could look at it that way. Perhaps I've been unduly influenced by so many takes with people commenting otherwise, but that doesn't mean that that is what we're supposed to take from the story, so fair point. I may change my mind on that.

I do think it was done better in Legends with Siri Tachi, however. Why they had to beat us over the head with the comparisons between Padme and Anakin in every respect besides breaking up, I do not understand.

And, how does Maul even know Satine and Obi-Wan have that kind of history anyway? (And that doesn't even get into the fact that Maul should very much be dead. *eyeroll*)

(With my Love 'em and Leave 'em post, btw, I wasn't so much trying to make Obi-Wan out to be some kind of nasty womaniser, but rather to point out the systemic issues that will necessarily arise from the Jedi's official policy regarding sex and commitment. The implications are terrible.)