What Is Inquisitor Reva’s Connection to Obi-Wan Kenobi? (& Why Does She Hate Him?)
The Obi-Wan Kenobi miniseries has only recently premiered, and while we have already seen Obi-Wan Kenobi and are waiting for Darth Vader to make a proper appearance, we have already seen a brilliant Moses Ingram as the Grand Inquisitor Reva, also known as the Third Sister. Now, we have seen that Reva has a very specific fixation on capturing Obi-Wan Kenobi, which seems a bit odd, seeing how her character wasn’t part of Obi-Wan’s story in the Original Trilogy. In this article, we are going to try and explain why Reva is so fixated on capturing Obi-Wan Kenobi.
So far, the show hasn’t provided us with an official explanation about Reva’s connection to Obi-Wan. So far, it seems that she is just overly zealous and wants to capture Obi-Wan because he is a valuable target for Darth Vader, in whose favor she wants to be; her hatred seems to stem from the indoctrination she has been through. Whether Disney is going to provide us with a more specific reason remains to be seen.
This article is going to be dedicated to Inquisitor Reva in the Star Wars universe. At this moment, we have to say that we know very little about her, as she is an original character whose story is going to evolve over the four remaining episodes, but we are going to give you as much as we can under the current circumstances, i.e., with the information we have.
What is Inquisitor Reva’s connection to Obi-Wan Kenobi?
The female human Reva, who later became the Third Sister, was a member of the Jedi Order, being a Force-sensitive human. In the Order, she was trained in the basics of lightsaber combat and Force control. However, by the time of Order 66 at the end of the Clone Wars, she had already fallen to the Dark Side of the Force and became part of the Inquisitorius project created by the new Emperor Palpatine.
Like the other Inquisitors, the Third Sister had to hunt down the surviving Jedi who could pose a danger to the rule of the Empire. At an unknown point in time, she became obsessed with capturing Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, but her wish was not approved by the Inquisitor. Along with the Fifth Brother, little was known about her activities in the Inquisitorius. This is the basic outline of her story. Let us now see how far she was willing to go to capture Obi-Wan.
In 9 BBY, rumors began to surface that another Jedi survivor was hiding in one of the cantinas on Tatooine. The Grand Inquisitor, the Third Sister, and the Fifth Brother traveled to the planet to hunt down and destroy the target. The Grand Inquisitor interrogated the owner of the cantina, trying to intimidate him into getting information.
However, the Third Sister did not wait until the end of the interrogation and used the Force to throw a knife at the interrogated man, forcing the Jedi to reveal himself in order to save an innocent man. The inquisitors surrounded the victim and were intent on capturing it. However, Reva attempted to kill the Jedi, not considering him a significant enough target, but was stopped by the Grand Inquisitor.
Disagreements between the Inquisitors allowed the Jedi to escape, after which the Grand Inquisitor stated that the Third Sister was too obsessed with the idea of ​​​​catching Kenobi, which casts doubt on her competence. He promised to remove Reva if she did not give up her idea. The Third Sister and the Fifth Brother continued to follow the trail of the fugitive Jedi’s target, Nari, and interrogated the locals who had gathered in the square.
At the suggestion of the Fifth Brother to reward the one who betrays the Jedi, Reva began to threaten the locals, cutting off the hand of one of the townspeople. The Inquisitor also interrogated Owen Lars, gaining information about his family, and promised to kill them all, including Owen himself, if the Jedi was not caught. However, despite being intimidated, Lars did not betray Kenobi, who was in fact also on Tatooine, and watched the Inquisitors from the sidelines.
The Fifth Brother ordered the Third Sister to stop, after which the interrogation ended. Later, the Inquisitors quarreled in private, and the Fifth Brother chastised Reva for getting too carried away. Nari was subsequently caught and killed, and his body was hung up in the town square to intimidate others.
The Third Sister soon arranged for the kidnapping of Leia Organa, daughter of Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan, in order to attract the attention of Kenobi, whom Organa might ask for help. She recruited Vect Nokra and his gang, giving them orders via voicemail. The Inquisitor’s ploy worked, and the Jedi Master actually went to save the princess, but the mercenaries hired by Reva failed, and Obi-Wan, along with Leia, fled from captivity to Daiya.
Meanwhile, word that the Inquisitor had kidnapped the daughter of an Imperial Senator had reached the leadership of the Inquisitor. The Grand Inquisitor, accompanied by the Fifth Brother and the Fourth Sister, flew to Daiya to take control of the situation. After chastising the Third Sister, he called her the worst of the Inquisitors and noted that the capture of Kenobi would in no way advance her position.
The Pau’an also announced that he would personally deal with the elimination of Kenobi, and Reva would be expelled from the ranks of the Inquisitor. Unwilling to give up her booty, the Third Sister informed the underworld that Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi was hiding on Daiya. Thus, the inquisitor wanted to drive him into a corner, forcing him to fight with hostile gangs of bandits.
Watching the firefight from the roof of one of the buildings, the sister tried to overtake Kenobi, but she was blocked by the self-proclaimed Jedi Haja Estri, who tried to delay the Inquisitor, impersonating the one she needed. However, Reva immediately sensed the deception and pressed Haja against the wall, after which she read his mind and found out that the one she really needed had gone to the cargo port.
When the Third Sister finally managed to track down Obi-Wan, she revealed that she knew Darth Vader’s true identity and intended to take Kenobi to her former apprentice, earning the favor of the Sith. The news that Anakin Skywalker had survived the duel on Mustafar shocked Kenobi. Suddenly, the Grand Inquisitor appeared, who was no longer going to tolerate Reva’s ambitions.
He attempted to use the Force to reach Kenobi, who was hiding behind the containers, but the Third Sister stabbed the Pau’an, avenging him for humiliating him and trying to take her credit for herself. After gaining some time, Kenobi and Leia left Daiya, and Reva failed to reach them. In the wake of the departing ship, Reva shouted that Obi-Wan would not be able to escape from Darth Vader, and the Inquisition would once again hunt down the fugitive Jedi.
As you can see, there is no specific reason why Reva is targeting Obi-Wan, save for her own ambition. She doesn’t seem to have interacted with the legendary Jedi Master while she was a Youngling and he doesn’t seem to know her either. She is, on the other hand, willing to do anything for Darth Vader and, knowing how important Obi-Wan is to Vader and also that Obi-Wan left Anakin in the state he was, so it seems that her willingness to please Vader is the main reason why she is so obsessed with Obi-Wan.
Whether Disney will retcon the story a bit and give Reva a proper connection to Obi-Wan remains to be seen, but even if the story remains as it is, it is going to be plausible enough.
Why does Reva hate Obi-Wan Kenobi?
As we have said, the story so far doesn’t reveal too many details about the background behind Reva’s relationship with Obi-Wan. There might be something there, but that would be a new fact that we cannot know about from this point of view. The same goes for Reva’s hatred towards Obi-Wan – it simply hasn’t been explained yet.
Now, what we can deduce is that her hatred is the result of her indoctrination, seeing how all Inquisitors hate the Jedi, although some of them were former Jedi themselves. The training they are subjected to includes brainwashing and the Dark Side of the Force is manipulative enough as it is, so it is quite understandable that she garners hatred for Obi-Wan. On top of that, hatred is what actually fuels the Dark Side of the Force.
And this is how things stand at the moment. We don’t really know whether the writers are going to provide us with a more profound explanation, save for this obvious one, so we’ll just have to wait and see how Reva’s character evolves.
