Why Is Obi-Wan Kenobi Called Ben in the Original Star Wars Trilogy?

Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi miniseries has just premiered and people seem to be quite satisfied, despite a slow start. Ewan McGregor has finally returned to the role that made him famous and fans around the world are happy to have him back. But, McGregor has also raised some questions about his role in the new Star Wars miniseries. One of them is the origin of Kenobi’s alter ego, Ben Kenobi, and in this article, we are going to tell you why Obi-Wan is called Ben Kenobi in Star Wars.

Obi-Wan changed his name to Ben Kenobi to conceal his true identity and to hide from the Empire. This was a way for him to survive and watch over the young Luke Skywalker. Ben Kenobi is, actually, not something new, as it is an alias that Obi-Wan had used before, during the Clone Wars. This is why he chose that name once again, after going into exile.

The rest of this article is going to focus on the character of Obi-Wan Kenobi, his name, and his role in Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re going to find out all the details about his role, as well as the origins of the character’s alias in the Obi-Wan Kenobi miniseries. Be careful, though, as we are going to reveal a lot of spoilers in the upcoming paragraphs.

Why is Obi-Wan called Ben Kenobi?

Obi-Wan Kenobi was a Force-sensitive human male and a legendary Jedi Master and member of the Jedi High Council during the Fall of the Republic. During the Age of the Empire, he used the alias Ben Kenobi to hide from the regime that drove the Jedi to near extinction after the Clone Wars. A nobleman known for his abilities with the Force, Kenobi trained Anakin Skywalker as his Padawan, served as a Jedi General in the Grand Army of the Republic, and became a mentor to Luke Skywalker before his death in 0 BBY.

Born on the planet Stewjon in 57 BBY, Kenobi was accepted into the Jedi Order at a young age and became an apprentice to Qui-Gon Jinn after completing his initial lessons under Grand Master Yoda. During the Invasion of Naboo in 32 BBY, Kenobi defeated the Sith Lord Darth Maul and was awarded the rank of Jedi Knight.

Kenobi also began training Anakin Skywalker, having promised his dying teacher that the boy would become a Jedi, but often had to rein in his adventurous apprentice. Over the years, Kenobi began to worry that Skywalker’s powers had made him arrogant but he also considered him a good friend and brother, ultimately believing that Skywalker was actually the Chosen One, destined to restore balance to the Force by destroying the Sith.

When the Clone Wars began in 22 BBY, the Jedi banded together to defend the Galactic Republic against the Confederacy of Independent Systems, and Kenobi became a general in the newly formed Republic Military. Kenobi and Skywalker often served together, leading their respective clone trooper divisions, the 7th Air Corps and the 501st Legion, against the Separatist Droid Army.

However, in 19 BBY, Skywalker fell to the dark side of the Force due to manipulation by Darth Sidious, assuming his new identity as the Sith Lord Darth Vader and playing a vital role in the near-extermination of the Jedi Order. Kenobi, who was betrayed by his soldiers as a result of Order 66, faced his fallen apprentice on Mustafar.

The resulting lightsaber duel between the two former friends concluded with Vader being mauled at the hands of his one-time master, who went into exile with Skywalker’s newborn son. As the twin suns of Tatooine were setting, Obi-Wan arrived at the Lars’ moisture farm and left Luke with his aunt and uncle, then departed in an Eopie, en route to exile in the Jundland Wastes, in a shack surrounded by the Dune Sea.

In the first year of the Galactic Empire’s existence, Kenobi visited the grave of Shmi Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker’s mother, and spoke of how he felt saddened by what had happened to her innocent and promising young son. During the first years of his exile, Kenobi began to meditate deeply on the Force. On one such occasion, he began to experience visions of the past, prompting Qui-Gon Jinn’s spirit to advise him to let go of his attachments.

To hide his identity, he used the name “Ben Kenobi”, as he had done in the Clone Wars, and avoided the use of his lightsaber for years; however, he strove to repress his sense of duty as a Jedi, and spent years battling monotony and inactivity, earning a reputation as a strange old hermit. At one point, Obi-Wan was forbidden to see or train Luke, as Owen Lars feared the boy would follow in his father’s footsteps.

However, Kenobi heard that the young Skywalker had become an excellent pilot. On one particular morning, Kenobi awoke to the realization that a young three-year-old Luke Skywalker and his family were in danger. Kenobi arrived at the Lars’ moisture farm only to find that a group of bandits had attacked it, and quickly began defending them.

After successfully defeating the last of the bandits, he was knocked down and thrown to the ground by Owen Lars because of his interference and his influence on Luke, fearing that he would become like his father, and yelled at him to will never return. For two decades Kenobi lived as a hermit on the planet Tatooine, located in the Outer Rim Territories, hiding from the Galactic Empire that replaced the Republic.

When Princess Leia Organa begged him to join the rebel cause in 0 BBY, Kenobi was prepared to join the Alliance to Restore the Republic and also decided that the time had come for Luke Skywalker to become a Jedi as his son. father before him. However, his trip to Alderaan turned into a rescue operation upon discovering that the princess had been taken prisoner aboard the Death Star.

While trying to help his allies escape the battle station, Kenobi encountered Vader, now rebuilt as a cyborg and forced to rely on an armored suit with life support technology for survival. Though initially defending himself, Kenobi ultimately sacrificed himself, allowing Vader to shoot him down as the rebels fled in the Millennium Falcon.

However, death was not the end of Obi-Wan Kenobi, having learned to preserve his identity in the Force, so that Kenobi became a Force spirit and was able to continue to guide Luke on his path to becoming. in Jedi Knight.

When did Obi-Wan first use the alias Ben Kenobi?

And while most people think that Obi-Wan started using the alias Ben Kenobi after the fall of the Republic as a means of hiding himself from the Empire, it is, in fact, an old alias that he had used some time before. Namely, as was revealed in “Deception”, the fifteenth episode of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series’ fourth season, Obi-Wan had already used the alias Ben during the Clone Wars.

Namely, when we see him talking to Mace Windu and Yoda in the prison, Obi-Wan uses the code name “Ben.” At the time, it was a clear reference to his original name in the Original Trilogy, but continuity-wise, it was – chronologically – the first time he had used the alias Ben Kenobi, so it made sense that he would use the alias once again.

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