Why did Obi-Wan give Luke Anakin's lightsaber?

They were also rare in the PT. In TPM Anakin knows Qui Gon was a jedi because "only a jedi carries a weapon like that". So they werent the sort of thing you could just buy.

 

He gave it to Luke because he had it with him. I don't think he could have constructed a new one just for Luke out there on Tatooine.

 

Agreed. This holds true for the original CT audience as well as those who have experienced the prequels first. One generation felt the power of the moment when they learned that Luke was receiving the weapon of his father, a Jedi hero. The other generation knew the back story of that weapon which made it very significant.

 

I never saw Anakin's lightsaber as having some Excaliber analogy. I don't recall the OT ever hinting that there was something special about Anakin's lightsaber.

The lightsaber only meant one thing to me . . . Anakin's status as a Jedi Knight. Which is probably why Obi-Wan took it from him, on Mustafar . . . and eventually gave it to Luke, hoping the latter would also become a Jedi.

 

RovinGambler is right, lightsabers are quite rare. Anakin's lightsaber was the only one available to give Luke to use.

 

There's inherent symbolism in the fact that it's his father's lightsaber.

 

Why not? Luke built his lightsaber on Tatooine. The way I understand it, the parts aside from the crystals are not rare. However, the construction of the saber is difficult.

As for giving the saber to Luke, I'm going the manipulation route. Its subtle, but another way to tie Luke to the idea of his father the hero. Hopefully it would make him less likely to believe Vader in the future should he decide to reveal the truth.

 

So what if the lightsaber had been used to kill many Jedi? Its a tool, nothing more. The lightsaber itself doesn't have any guilt, doesn't retain any memory of what it was used for. Obi-Wan gave Luke Anakin's lightsaber because as Anakin's survivor, it probably should have gone to Luke anyway. It was Anakin's, so Obi-Wan passed it on to Obi-Wan's son. How is that different than passing on a ring from a grandmother to mother to daughter, etc? That lightsaber was the only heirloom from Anakin that Luke could receive at the time.

 

Well, actually..from a 'certain point of view' Obi Wan was honestly still giving Luke the weapon of his benevolent Jedi father. Just because Darth Vader used the same weapon to wreak havoc people, doesn't mean that wasn't the weapon of a benevolent Jedi. Anakin Skywalker..while rash, hasty, impatient, and impetulent at times, was still benevolent. A young jedi by the name of Darth Vader betrayed, and murdered Anakin Skywalker. So what Obi-Wan told Luke and us was true..again, from a 'certain point of view'.

 

He gave it to him probably because that's what Anaken would've wanted.

 

It was also objectively still the weapon of a Jedi Knight for longer than it was Darth Vader.

 

Yeah. I'm sure that during one of their many adventures together, Anakin was talking to Obi-Wan. and the convo. went like this:

Anakin: You know Obi-Wan, if I wasn't a Jedi, and i was able to have kids, i would want my son to have this lightsaber.

 

Or Obi-Wan felt that it was simply Luke's birthright to have his father's saber.

 

Plain and simple: when GL wrote the scene, he was not envisioning Vader being Luke's father. That twist was inserted in the story after ANH came out, during the writing of ESB.

The scene as originally written was simply Obi-Wan giving Luke his dead hero father's weapon, as a symbolic gift and a way to inspire him to leave his mundane life and become a Jedi. Of course, it still works in that sense.