PT Which way did Obi-Wan vote in ROTS?

Question I've been pondering that I haven't really seen addressed: When the Jedi Council voted to have Anakin spy on Palpatine in ROTS, which way did Obi-Wan vote?

In the scene where Anakin is given this mission, Obi-Wan tells him "Anakin, I am on your side. I didn't want to put you in this position." When Anakin makes it personal, "Why are you asking me this?" Obi-Wan gets what looks like a guilty expression and deflects responsibility. "The Council is asking."

But then, when Yoda is departing for Kashyyk and is speaking with Obi-Wan and Mace, Mace expresses extreme doubt about that decision. "I don't think the boy can handle it. I don't trust him." Yoda also seems to have grave reservations. "A prophecy that misread, could have been." That's the two most influential Masters in the order both apparently against the idea, but now Obi-Wan is defending the mission. "Is he not the chosen one? Is he not to destroy the Sith and bring balance to the Force? ... He will not let me down. He never has."

Notice: "He will not let me down." Me, not us.

Who else, besides Anakin's partner and former master, could sway the Council to vote against Mace and maybe even against Yoda on this?

It at least raises the question of whether Obi-Wan was being entirely honest with Anakin earlier. (Obi-Wan? Being not entirely honest? Perish the thought.)

So ... which way do you think Obi-Wan voted? I haven't quite been able to make up my mind, and wouldn't mind having someone talk me out of the idea that it was Obi-Wan who put Anakin into that horrible situation.

 

He's defending Anakin's ability to fullfill the mission. Mace has his reservations about Anakin being successful, but that doesn't mean he's against the mission itself (same with Yoda). A mission that only Anakin could do since he's the only Jedi that close to Palpatine.

He was the one who told Anakin.

Every other member? Yoda and Mace may be the most respected, but the council still has 12 members, not 2.

I would say that he voted against it. As he said himself, he didn't want to put Anakin in that situation. And there's no indication that the decision was up to Obi-Wan.

 

Yeah, Alexrd called it.

Obi-Wan is simply defending Anakin.

Having doubts doesn't mean they were against the mission.

We all go through with things we have doubts about, that make us nervous.

 

That's what's so tragic about RotS. For the first time in their relationsihp, Obi-Wan is finally completely on Anakin's side--but it doesn't matter. It's too late.

 

You all could very well be right. Still, it would have been fascinating to be a fly on the wall during that particular council session. Anakin wasn't wrong when he said that he was being asked to do something treasonous. The Council couldn't have taken that decision lightly. In the transport, Yoda seems to be playing his cards close to his chest about whether he is in favor of the mission, but at best I think he was too ambivalent to have made an impassioned case in favor of Anakin's assignment. I can't imagine that Windu would be in favor of giving such a sensitive mission, with such horrible potential consequences , to someone he didn't trust and didn't think could handle it. I also don't think he would have kept those concerns to himself during the Council session.

So, even if Obi-Wan argued against the mission to start with, as soon as Mace would have voiced his doubts, the rest of the Council would have surely turned to Obi-Wan as the person who knows Anakin best and asked "Well, Master Kenobi? Do you agree with Master Windu's assessment? Is Anakin incapable of performing this assignment? Do you trust him?" That puts Kenobi in a horrible bind. To protect Anakin, Obi-Wan would have to completely undermine Anakin. Either he answers "No, I don't think Anakin can be trusted to handle this assignment" in which case maybe the Council gives up on the idea but also now doubts Anakin's competence and loyalty to the order; or Kenobi says "Well, yes, I'm sure Anakin can be trusted to perform this mission, but I still don't think it's a good idea because ... um ...." in which case the Council goes ahead and gives Anakin the mission.

So while I'm sure that Obi-Wan feels that he is on Anakin's side, I'm still not sure which way that would lead him to vote. There is a strong sense in which either vote would be a kind of betrayal.

Eh ... I'm just thinking out loud.

 

They're well respected, no doubts there, but all Council members have equal votes. The suggestion could've come from anyone in that room and if a majority were in favor, it wouldn't matter what Yoda, Mace or Obi-Wan said.

 

I think Obi-Wan was against it, the 'guilty look' was really a look of sadness that he has to put Anakin on the spotlight. He knows he doesn't want Anakin to do this for a lot of reasons (smart reasons), but the vote of the majority demanded Anakin spy on Palpatine so there was nothing he could do.

 

In the novelization, he does say in effect:

"Don't make Anakin do this - he'll be able to, but it'll ruin his friendship, among other things"

And tells them it's a big mistake, after he's given Anakin that mission.

 

He opposed it .

 

Interesting argument, EntechednReformatted. I guess I've never really thought about the actual Jedi Council meeting before. I believe that Obi-wan opposed the assignment, though. If he was truly on Anakin's side, he wouldn't have voted to give Anakin the mission.

 

I think there is a reason it isn't stated outright. I don't think we're meant to know and I'm fine with that.

 

I could see him voting either way. If Obi-Wan thought that someone needed to spy on the chancellor, and he thought Anakin, as a close friend of Palpatine's (but supposedly loyal to the Council), would be the best for the job, then I think he'd vote in favor of the mission. Or I could see Obi-Wan understanding what a bad position it put Anakin in. As Anakin's friend, I'd like to think that Obi-Wan voted against the mission, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn that he did vote for the mission.

 

The novelization scene:


Orbital mirrors rotated, resolving the faint light of Coruscant's sun to erase the stars; fireships crosshatched the sky with contrails of chemical air scrubber, bleaching away the last reminders of the fires of days past; chill remnants of night slid down the High Council Tower of the Jedi Temple; and within the cloistered chamber itself, Obi-Wan was still trying to talk them out of it.
"Yes, of course I trust him," he said patiently. "We can always trust Anakin to do what he thinks is right. But we can't trust him to do what he's told. He can't be made to simply obey. Believe me: I've been trying for many years."
Conflicting currents of energy swirled and clashed in the Council Chamber. Traditionally, decisions of the Council were reached by quiet, mutual contemplation of the flow of the Force, until all the Council was of a single mind on the matter. But Obi-Wan knew of this tradition only by reputation, from tales in the archives and stories told by Masters whose tenure on the Council predated the return of the Sith. In the all-too-short years since Obi-Wan's own elevation, argument in this Chamber was more the rule than the exception.
"An unintentional opportunity, the Chancellor has given us," Yoda said gravely. "A window he has opened into the operations of his office. Fools we would be, to close our eyes."
"Then we should use someone else's eyes," Obi-Wan said "Forgive me, Master Yoda, but you just don't know him the way I do. None of you does. He is fiercely loyal, and there is not a gram of deception in him. You've all seen it; it's one of the arguments that some of you, here in this room, have used against elevating him to Master: he lacks true Jedi reserve, that's what you've said. And by that we all mean that he wears his emotions like a HoloNet banner. How can you ask him to lie to a friend—to spy upon him?"
"That is why we must call upon a friend to ask him," said Agen Kolar in his gentle Zabrak baritone.
"You don't understand. Don't make him choose between me and Palpatine—"
"Why not?" asked the holopresence of Plo Koon from the bridge of Courageous, where he directed the Republic Navy strike force against the Separatist choke point in the Ywllandr system. "Do you fear you would lose such a contest?"
"You don't know how much Palpatine's friendship has meant to him over the years. You're asking him to use that friendship as a weapon! To stab his friend in the back. Don't you understand what this will cost him, even if Palpatine is entirely innocent? Especially if he's innocent. Their relationship will never be the same—"
"And that," Mace Windu said, "may be the best argument in favor of this plan. I have told you all what I have seen of the energy between Skywalker and the Supreme Chancellor. Anything that might distance young Skywalker from Palpatine's influence is worth the attempt."
Obi-Wan didn't need to reach into the Force to know that he would lose this argument. He inclined his head. "I will, of course, abide by the ruling of this Council."
"Doubt of that, none of us has." Yoda turned his green gaze on the other councilors. "But if to be done this is, decide we must how best to use him."

 

He was against it and was out voted.

 

i think he didn't like this at all. although he still voted i think inside he felt it was a bad dessicion to make anakin do something this.

 

He openly states that he was against it by telling Anakin. The Jedi council only did this to see if any corruption was taking place with the Chancellor.

 

I have to wonder how the rest of the Jedi Council functions. We see that they vote for Obi-Wan to take Anakin as his apprentice in TPM, even though Yoda (and likely Mace) oppose it. Then he is put on the Council, though I doubt Mace supported it. Here, we see that it's likely Obi-Wan opposed this decision to put Anakin this situation, yet the overall vote made it happen. One gains an overall picture that perhaps the rest of the Council were more swayed by Qui-Gon's prophecy argument regarding Anakin than it appears, because they consistently seem to put Anakin in situations where they are indicating their trust or faith in him. It's either that, or they are putting Anakin in these situations without regard to his emotional situation. Either one makes it interesting. Apparently the rest of the Council was not as worried about Anakin as Obi-Wan and Mace were.