PT Obi-Wan dismembering Anakin in RotS, Compassion?

no, DRush, Obi-Wan left Anakin to die a QUICK death. (I assume practically everyone would expect a person on fire to die almost instantly.)

Orman Tagge: Initially, Obi-Wan attacked Maul in anger (Duel of the Fates) but he calmed himself. While you are free to disagree, I think a good majority of fans would disagree that he was seething, vengeful, or hating - sure, he was human, so he wasn't feeling especially merciful to Anakin/Vader/whoever on Mustafar. But a lack of warm fuzzies is not the same as seething hatred.

 

I think it would have been better had Obi-Wan simply left, after Slashing Anakin's limbs off, not stand there while the guy's barbequing and being all " YOU WERE SUPPOSER TO DESTROY SITH AND BRING BALANCE TO THE FORCE!".....

 

I'll accept that. He did look way more serene when he struck down Maul.

 

Sorry. Not buying it. But you can believe it if you want.

 

I wouldn't classify it as an evil act. I won't go into whatever the novelization says (haven't read it), but from Ewan McGregor's acting in the films I always got the clear impression that Obi-Wan walked away because he couldn't bring himself to just straight-up kill his best friend. It may have been more merciful, and (from the current vantage point) better for the galaxy at large, so it can be argued that he should have put Anakin out of his misery. But I wouldn't condemn him for it. He just couldn't bring himself to do it. Luke couldn't bring himself to do it either, and that turned out to be the right choice.

 

the jedi either destroy their enemies or take them prisoner. in sw destroy means kill. in a war it's a battle to the death.
the jedi must destroy the sith no matter what. even so, obi still gave ani chances. he didn't even kill him outright with the final stroke.
obi's mercy led directly to suit vader. yoda probably would have made sure it was finished.

 

He felt the audience needed some clarification.

 

That was also one of the best acted, most emotional scenes of the entire saga.

 

as I recall didn't Anakin catch on fire after Ob-Wan said that stuff?

anyway he did what he had to do to win the fight, or he would have gotten killed. After that, he couldn't just walk over and kill Anakin.

 

That's pretty much the argument - that the morally right thing to do, both by Anakin himself, and the people of the galaxy as a whole - is to kill him quick and clean - and if Obi-Wan moves toward the dark side himself as a result, it doesn't matter.

"I would have taken a big step toward the dark side" is Obi-Wan's reason in his journal for not killing Anakin - in the EU.

 

Guys, you're forgetting he could NOT do that because 4-6 already exist. Not to mention, Obi simply isn't a fighter at heart. I don't like what happened either but sometimes the blame should be the *writer's* not the character's.

 

That's the out-of-universe reason.

The question is - is there an in-universe reason that makes sense, in the context of Obi-wan's previously established personality?

 

"will of the force told him not to" or he heard a "force scream" which stopped him dead in his tracks"

seems to be the answer to everything in the PT

 

The thing is, I don't think there needed to be some EU "will of the Force" explanation. The movie makes it look like he just couldn't bring himself to do it, and that fits in perfectly with his later insistence that Luke must be willing to kill him. Obi-Wan knows firsthand the consequences of letting your feelings keep you from doing what must be done.

 

Did Obi-Wan show a lack of compassion towards Anakin by not killing him?

In the film, you can tell that Obi just can't bear to even think of Anakin suffering the way he is. So, yes, Obi may not have done the very most compassion thing rationally, but emotionally Obi was incredibly compassionate. An evil person would have no problem with killing the injured Anakin. It's Obi-Wan's compassion for Anakin as a human being that makes it impossible for him to kill him.

Also, it is very hard to kill a helpless thing. I remember one day as a teenager walking down a street near my child home by the woods and I encountered a raccoon that had been run over by a car. It was clear that it was going to die but it was still breathing. I had a baseball bat and I very easily could have put it out of its misery, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I struggled with myself for a few minutes about what to do. Then I decided to get the family car and run it over. I came back in my car, and I got out because I still didn't want to kill it, but I was pretty sure I was going to do it if I had to. However, when I looked at the raccoon, I could tell it had died, and luckily I didn't have to. Now it was that hard for me, and that was just a raccoon. Imagine that instead of a raccoon, in that situation was your best friend and former pupil, someone that you loved and knew since childhood. It would a thousand times harder.

Was Obi-Wan intending to chop off Anakin's limbs instead of killing straightaway?

I don't think people in the middle of martial art combat really intend to do anything. They are actually going on "muscle memory" gained through years of training. If someone in a MMA fight has to think about what he's going to do next, he will have lost the opportunity to do it. Good fighters like good athletes in any skill sport are in the "zone" and not having to think about anything. If Obi-Wan "chose" to dismember instead of kill Vader, then it was simply an unconscious decision, not something he had consciously planned out in anyway.


One other thing. I don't think Stover's ROTS novel is officially considered G-canon. Stover said that GL gave it a line-by-line reading, and for that reason, Stover considers it be on the level of G-canon. I don't think GL has stated one way or another if it is or isn't.

 

I doubt Vader would have considered death a mercy at that point, he very clearly wanted to live.

 

I don't really see any reason he would. I mean he believed Anakin died when he caught on fire.

 

But he was in agonising pain. Obi-Wan didn't grant Anakin mercy by ending his suffering. As has been said, the off screen reason is obvious. The on screen reason, ie Obi-Wan's choice does seem a bit callous.

 

I'm no Jedi; not medically trained, but I'd assume a person on fire is all but dead and in the seconds to move forward and kill a/k/a mercy kill a disarmed foe, that said foe would die and not directly by my hand - I'd probably let fate (the Force) do its will. Sometimes, too, one just can't push past the horror and is literally all but frozen in indecision on how to act. For someone raised his entire life to "accept the will of the Force" that's probably all Obi-Wan could do, fall back on his upbringing.

Was it right?

'Bout all I can say is I hope I never have to make such a decision.

 

You raise some very thought provoking questions. I frankly think Master Kenobi dismembered Anakin to save his old friend's life. If I was in Kenobi's position, having trained someone from childhood and developed a mentor and pupil bond that then evolved into brotherhood, I would not be able to strike him down easily. However, the fact Kenobi spared Anakin is evidence that he is treading closely to becoming a Gray Jedi. Obi-Wan allowed his emotional feelings about Anakin to stop him from slaying the now Darth Vader. Emotion as we know is forbidden, as is attachment. Obi-Wan disobeyed the rules of the Jedi Order to save Anakin.

 

Acting on (pure) emotion is not the ideal for a Jedi, certainly. But even Jedi are human (except the non-human ones of course) and humans can be pushed beyond their limits, where all bets are off.

Personally, I think the Jedi Code is an aspiration, not a rigid "violate and suffer the consequences" code of behavior, although some Jedi might well treat it as such while others don't (clearly, Qui-Gon is in the latter category). I think Obi-Wan has a tendency to strictly internalize the code yet under Qui-Gon's influence, also has the capacity to realize the "rules" are "guidelines." However, that's another thread.

And many humans, when faced with an impossible conundrum, fall back on what they know (or inertia, in some cases). For Obi-Wan, it was "let the Force decide."

Just for a rhetorical question, I wonder what Qui-Gon would have done in that situation - if anyone wants to discuss that, I think that should be in another thread, though.

 

What an interesting take on a "quick death" . . . especially since the victim of the "quick death" was still alive and screaming, while Obi-Wan walked away.

 

In "The Making Of Revenge Of The Sith", there's a passage talking about the filming of that scene and how it went from the scripted version to the final version. There were a few takes and each time, Lucas and Ewan talked about how to deliver the lines and making changes to fit the context of the scene. Obi-wan's last words to him were ones brought forth from a place of sadness and disappointment. It was his pride that had been crushed and we hear it for the last time.

 

Interesting interpretation, Sinister. One not everyone shares. I don't think Obi was operating from a place of pride at all but heart and spirit-wearying anguish. That isn't even his to bear, either. Anakin chose to join Sidious out of selfish possessiveness.

 

There was pride in Obi-wan. You hear it when the two of them part ways earlier in the film.

OBI-WAN: "You are strong and wise, Anakin, and I'm very proud of you. I have trained you since you were a small boy. I have taught you everything I know. And you have become a far greater Jedi than I could ever hope to be."

It's not just that he says that he is proud, but you can hear the pride in his voice. That's part of the reason it is so heart breaking for him to see what Anakin became. He knows that Anakin made his choices, but it hurts because he had hoped that this would never happen. He had been believing in him when everyone else had begun to doubt him.