CT Did Obi-Wan Kenobi and Princess Leia meet before A New Hope?

Obviously I know that Obi-Wan was present at Luke and Leia's birth. But...

In Leia's holo-message to Obi-Wan ("Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope"), she does NOT introduce herself. She mentions her 'father' several times, but never explains that her 'father' is Bail Organa.

How did Leia expect Obi-Wan to know who she was? Was she just relying on R2-D2 to tell Obi-Wan who the message was from; or is there a chance that Leia had met Obi-Wan fairly recently and she simply expected him to recognise her.

 

She seemed to know that "Ben Kenobi" was Obi-Wan's secret handle as well...

 

Well Yoda was watching her from afar so there is no reason to think that Obi-Wan wasn't aware of this.

Almost certainly there had to be some contact between Obi-Wan and Bail over almost 20 years so that he knew that he was still on Tatooine.

How and where is the question.

 

I have always assumed that she did.

 

I presume that she did not. I go by the old EU. I'm certain that Bail Organa spoke highly several times of "General Kenobi" to Leia. Otherwise, she did not know him.

 

Unless you count this as meeting her



Otherwise, there's nothing in canon to suggest Obi-Wan has ever left Tat during his exile, though that could of course change

 

Just a feeling, but I got the impression that she did know him personally, maybe from the way she addresses him in that message. And Ben's "knowing" facial expression as he listens.... but like I said it's just my feeling.

 

There is the "Kenobi" film in the works and

Spoiler

given what we learned in "Solo", I'd say there's enough of a reason for him to go on a walkabout.

 

I doubt they met after ROTS. However, Bail taught her enough about him that he was one of the good guys in the Galaxy. She still had to describe her relationship to him. And if I may introduce my own fan fiction theory, perhaps Bail noticed some Force sensitivity in her that perhaps he should train her somehow.
I think the message was more of a sign from Bail to Obi-Wan saying, "The girl is ready, get the boy and we'll destroy The Empire."

Which leads me to wonder, assuming that Alderaan was never blown up and Vader had never struck him down, what would Obi-Wan's role in everything be? How exactly would he have helped Leia?

 

From Leia's dialogue in her holorecording to Obi-Wan it is clear that she has never personally met him but that she has known very well all her life the stories that her father had told her about ObiWan and the Jedi. She is politely reminding him about her father whom she knows ObiWan once knew, and that she is his daughter. You don't do that if you have already personally met.

 

I don't believe that Leia and Obi-Wan met. I just don't see Obi-Wan leaving Luke unprotected while he visited someone.

 

Yes I can't imagine Obi Wan having gone on some holiday sold to him by some Jawa traders who stole someone's space flight tickets, to return to find the Homestead burning.

I guess unless you count Obi Wan being present on the day of her birth, then Obi Wan stayed concealed on Tatooine, and didn't meet the Skywalkers until the day of ANH, where he met Luke and recognised Leia in the hologram at once.

 

These are definitely good points. I never thought of this! It's entirely plausible IMO that she could've met him before-if not in person, at least by hologram. I doubt we'd see this in a possible Kenobi movie, as it would possibly be difficult to do unless they use CG again (although for just a cameo that may not be too farfetched)-and especially if it would feature Obi-Wan in the early days after ROTS, Leia would just be a toddler/little kid at the time and she would doubtful remember their meeting.

Still, the idea that Obi-Wan could've met with Leia (and Bail again) before ANH is intriguing-and entirely possible if you think about it. If not by Obi Wan leaving Tattooine, perhaps by them coming to him-or as I mentioned, by hologram (kind of like the Ghost crew's contacts with Fulcrum). After all-Bail at least (if not also Leia) not only knew about the fact that he named himself Ben, but they also knew he was on Tattooine! IMO those details prove that Obi-Wan had reached out to them (or vice versa) at some point in those 20 years...

 

@DarthTalonx that Jawa joke cracked me up!

 

It's possible that Bail showed her old Holonet News footage of Kenobi during the Clone Wars as well.

 

Yes I imagine Obi Wan was sold a "luxury" holiday to go to Ryloth or some other exotic locale like Naboo, or Alderaan. Then like Uncle Owen, it turns out the Jawas were trying to sell stolen tickets.

I think Obi Wan was a legend to Leia and others.

 

I agree Leia could've known of or even recognized Obi-Wan from HoloNet viewings from the Clone Wars, but still-how would she (and Bail) know he called himself Ben and especially that they could find him on Tattooine? It seems kind of farfetched to assume Obi-Wan just told Bail all that on the Sundered Heart at the end of ROTS..."Until the time is right, I will be on Tattooine, and oh-by the way, I'm going to start calling myself Ben now, also. Until we meet again!" Yeah, not quite as convincing to me as the possibility of Leia (or at least Bail) seeing-or even just contacting-Obi-Wan at least once, sometime during that 20 years...

 

The Sundered Heart is now the Tantive III now in canon cause renaming to make more sense?

 

I never thought about that. I just assumed that they never met. Interesting points here.

 

If you can't The Last of the Jedi book series, Obi-Wan does leave Tattooine for many missions. The original novel of A New Hope, originally published as Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker, came before the film and in that Obi Wan does know her, but not from meeting her -and that's what I think the story entirely is. They know of each other through Bail Organa, unless you count ROTS as the true prequel to A New Hope (which I don't), Obi-Wan was there at Leia's birth.

 

> Alderaan
> Served father in the Clone Wars
> Knew where he was

All of that leads to only one person: Bail Organa.

 

Is there anything in the movies that actually suggests that she knows about Obi Wan calling himself Ben though?
In the hologram she only refers to him as General Kenobi and Obi Wan Kenobi. And later on, when Luke comes to rescue her, he says that he is with Ben Kenobi and her droids, to which she only replies "Kenobi? where is he?" (or something like that ) which could just as well be an reaction to Kenobi and not necessarily imply that she knows about him calling himself Ben. After all, a man called Kenobi travelling with her droids, coming to rescue her, how likely would it be that this is someone else?

I mean, if someone came to rescue me, mentioning the right last name and my droids, my reaction certainly wouldn't be "I don't know any Ben, do you mean Obi Wan?", instead I'd be up and on my way already after the name Kenobi had being dropped

 

You'd think he'd change his name to Ben Smith if he wanted to remain hidden.

 

Leia did in fact actually say "BEN Kenobi, where is he!?" Implying that that's not the first time she's heard the name used that way-and knew without a doubt who that was. I get what you mean by thinking she just said it in passing. But IMO if Luke doesn't assume that Ben could also be called Obi-Wan (and is unsure if its the same person till Ben tells him), then it makes sense Leia could have the same reaction as he did if she'd never heard the name Ben. Maybe not right away, but at least at some point during the rescue process. Sort of like the same thing just flipped around: "Ben? I know of an Obi-Wan...is that who you mean? Is he related to Obi-Wan?"

LOL okay-Tantive III then!!