Warning: This article contains spoilers for Obi-Wan Kenobi.
For the most part, Obi-Wan Kenobi focused on following up on the tragic events of the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Obi-Wan lives with the guilt of having failed Anakin, and ultimately has a rematch with his fallen apprentice Darth Vader after their fateful showdown on Mustafar.
But the show also took some time to set up the events of the original trilogy. Owen and Beru show their true badass colors, Vader realigns himself as the Emperor’s loyal servant, and Kenobi offers to give Leia a hand “if you ever need help from a tired old man.”
Obi-Wan Offers To Help Leia In The Future
Audiences first heard of Obi-Wan Kenobi when Luke stumbled upon the message that Leia recorded onto R2-D2’s hard drive before sending him down to Tatooine to deliver it.
The finale episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi sets up this distress call with a sneaky Easter egg. During the heartfelt farewell scene, when Leia asks if she’ll ever see Obi-Wan again, he says, “Maybe, someday, if you ever need help from a tired old man.”
Vader Confirms His Servitude To The Emperor
Vader is so fearsome and menacing and commands so much respect from the people around him that it’s easy to think of him as the Empire’s all-powerful overlord. But there’s an even more malicious, even more powerful Sith Lord who tells him what to do.
In the finale of Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Emperor forces Vader to call off the search for his titular former master. This scene is a timely reminder of what Vader really is: a puppet controlled by the most evil man in the galaxy.
Uncle Owen And Aunt Beru Know The Risk Of Raising Luke
Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, the moisture farmers who raised Luke on Tatooine, are presented as somewhat oblivious in the original movie. But in the Kenobi finale, they reveal themselves to be a pair of badasses – especially Beru – as they prepare to defend their son when an Inquisitor comes calling.
This climactic set-piece changes the context of their deaths in the original movie. Their scorched bodies show signs of a struggle. The Stormtroopers likely had to resort to burning them alive with a flamethrower because they went out fighting.
Obi-Wan Deems Anakin Beyond Saving
When he takes the Empire on a wild goose chase to set the stage for a rematch with Vader, Obi-Wan holds onto a shred of hope that Anakin can still be saved and brought back to the light side. However, when he looks into Anakin’s eyes, hears his real voice, and sincerely apologizes to no avail, Obi-Wan determines that there’s no trace of Anakin left and gives up hope.
This heartbreaking scene makes Luke’s arc from the original trilogy even more powerful. Luke’s refusal to give up the hope that Obi-Wan gave up in this episode ended up saving the galaxy.
“You Didn’t Kill Anakin Skywalker, I Did”
In Return of the Jedi, Luke asks Obi-Wan why he lied about what happened to his father. Obi-Wan had told him that his father was murdered by Vader, but Luke learns that his father is Vader. Obi-Wan famously claims that his version of events is true “from a certain point of view.”
That “certain point of view” has finally been presented. According to the Kenobi finale, those are Vader’s own words. Vader tells Kenobi, “You didn’t kill Anakin Skywalker, I did,” and Kenobi proclaims, “Then my friend is truly dead.”
Vader’s Scar
When he’s unmasked at the end of Return of the Jedi, Vader has a giant scar on the side of his forehead. The Kenobi finale seems to suggest that he sustained this wound when Obi-Wan bashed open his mask and damaged his breathing device.
This sequence was easily the most powerful sequence in the whole series. Obi-Wan tries and fails to appeal to Anakin’s long-lost humanity, while Anakin takes the opportunity to get some things off his chest: “I am not your failure!”
Obi-Wan Finds Inner Peace
At the beginning of the series, when audiences caught up with Obi-Wan a decade after the Great Jedi Purge, he was riddled with guilt and reluctant to do the right thing.
As the series went on, Kenobi gradually evolved into the zen, wise, aging Jedi seen in the original trilogy. In the finale, after confronting Vader and saving the Skywalker twins, Kenobi finally achieves inner peace and gets his groove back.
Leia’s Holster
Before leaving to possibly meet a grim fate in the finale, Obi-Wan gives Leia a gift that’s familiar to eagle-eyed fans of the original trilogy. He gives her an empty holster that she proudly wears back on Alderaan.
As an adult, Leia wears her holster around her leg. As a 10-year-old, it fits around her waist. When Obi-Wan gives the holster to Leia, she complains, “It’s empty.” Obi-Wan hilariously quips, “Well, I wasn’t gonna give you a blaster, Leia. You’re 10 years old.”
“Goodbye... Darth”
The fact that Ben Kenobi refers to Darth Vader simply as “Darth” in the original movie has always been considered a minor plot hole. The line “Only a master of evil, Darth” suggests that “Darth” is Vader’s first name, not a title.
But Obi-Wan’s final words to a partially unmasked Anakin in the Obi-Wan Kenobi finale provide a poignant new context for this line. After deciding that his former apprentice is gone for good, Obi-Wan uses “Darth” as a sarcastic insult. “Goodbye... Darth.”
Obi-Wan Meets Luke
In the original trilogy, Ben Kenobi has an established friendship with Luke Skywalker that Uncle Owen isn’t particularly fond of. At the beginning of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Owen won’t even let Obi-Wan give Luke a toy as a gift, let alone meet him.
By the end of the series, when Owen has warmed a little bit to Obi-Wan, he allows him to meet Luke. So, Obi-Wan approaches the young Force prodigy and breaks the ice in the best way possible: “Hello there.”