How is Obi-wan able to defeat Anakin?

Luck had nothing to do with Obi-wan being able to defeat Anakin because I believe that Obi-wan was holding back the entire time he was fighting Anakin.

In your opinion.

In my opinion, luck had a lot to do with Obi-Wan's victory over Anakin.

 

Anakin was hot headed and not thinking clearly. Like when he rushed in to fight Dooku in AOTC. Obi-Wan of the other hand was calm and collected. So he waited until Anakin made a mistake which he did.

 

But that's just the point of Anakin's destruction. His emotional state was out of whack, allowing Obi-Wan, who was more calm and focussed in the moment, to take advantage of Anakin's imbalance. You can call that 'luck,' I suppose, discarding Kenobi's later dismissal of that factor; but more precisely, it is a flaw in Anakin's character that proves his undoing.


Thank you. I do call it luck. By the way, Obi-Wan had expressed that same character flaw in his duel with Maul. After the latter had struck down Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan lost his temper and proceeded to kill the Sith apprentice. But he got so caught up in his anger that Maul took advantage and sent him over the edge. Even in this moment, luck was with Obi-Wan. He managed to prevent himself from falling to death, giving him the opportunity to collect himself.

Obi-Wan isn't always calm and collected. Just like his apprentice, he has shown the capability of allowing his emotions to get the best of him.

 

Yes, but 'letting one's emotions get the better of them' and operating purely from greed, arrogance and power-hunger, which is what Anakin does, are two different things. Anakin, before making his fatal leap onto higher ground, says: "You underestimate my powers!" This is not "luck," except insofar as Obi-Wan was "lucky" that Anakin was an arrogant, power-hungry Sith lord.

 

In my opinion, I don't see how Obi-wan was "lucky".

 

How was Obi able to beat Anakin?

Will of the Force.


Regardless of Anakin's personal desire of winning that duel, the will of the Force(and by extension, Anakin as well) was that Obi should 'win' the fight.

Anakin wanted to win, Obi let whatever come to pass, come to pass

 

While I completely agree with the fact that Obi-Wan beat Anakin on account of knowing his padawan's moves in and out, and the fact that he had the higher ground, therefor capitalizing on Anakin's reckless decision to jump at him.

What about the fact that Anakin had at this point begun his descent to the Dark Side, his anger/emotional state/passion to kill his former master would have made him stronger/more able to use his Midichlorian count against Obi. This says a lot about how skilled Obi-Wan was during this particular fight.

The death of Anakin (and subsequently Maul, because he was mentioned earlier) was mainly due to an arrogant move, which is often the case with the Sith - too much confidence in their power (and this is why we love them.)

 

Anakin didn't die at that point.

 

Yes, but 'letting one's emotions get the better of them' and operating purely from greed, arrogance and power-hunger, which is what Anakin does, are two different things.

As far as I'm concerned, Obi-Wan was just as arrogant in his own way, as Anakin. And he had also allowed his feelings for the Jedi Order to lead him to giving Anakin some of the worst advice ever in ROTS. Obi-Wan, Yoda, Mace and the other Jedi were just as capable of becoming a Sith Lord, as Anakin. I have never considered Obi-Wan or any of them superior than Anakin. Just different.

 

Please stop using age as a reason why someone loses or wins. If anything the OLDER force users are the ones who kick the most butt Yoda, Sidious, Dooku...age matters not

 

Spying on Palpatine? It was necessary. The Jedi had to find out what he was up to.

 

Time & time again when Anakin lost control he would be overcome by his emotions. Obi-Wan had his under control. That was the differance.

 

1. It was the council's advise, not Obi-wan's.

2. It was neccesary to spy on Palpatine, even though it was against the Jedi code.

The other Jedi were not capable of becoming a Sith as easy as Anakin because

1. They were trained scince they were young.

2. Even if some Jed were aragont, they were not filled with hate like Anakin was and they were not afraid to lose someone like Anakin was. In my opinion.

During the duel, Obi-wan was calm, he did not use arragonce and hate. He waited for the perfect moment. Vader in the OT, learned how to focus.

 

And this supposed bad advice would be what, exactly?

 

I think it is simple, the answer to how Obi-Wan beats Anakin. Some have already posted this, but...

Obi-Wan fought a defensive fight. He was alomost never shown pressing the attack. Anakin was the one advancing, and pretty much "Winning" throughout the battle. Then, like Maul, got overconfident/arrogant. Obi-Wan was a battle hardend veteran that was not going to be defeated by a display of ones power..a la the force leap from a lower/less tactical position.

The reason it worked on Darth Maul. was the reason it did not work on Obi-Wan. Darth Maul could not see how Obi-Wan would even try to do what he did. Obi-Wan surprized him, by his will, and ability to fight when it looked like he was defeated.

Also, like Lucas said about Boba being knocked into the Sarlaac pit by a blind Han,....**** happens. Sometimes people just have your number. Obi-Wan could never beat Dooku, Dooku could not beat Anakin, Dooku fought to a stand still with Yoda, etc etc. In battle, the unexpected seems to happen quite a bit.

 

I'm not sure I think Anakin was right about it being against the Code.

 

It was against the code but things were not right so it was kind of necessary to break the code at those dark times.

 

I don't see why spying on a Sith Lord would be against the Code. Anakin says it is, but he also tells Mace killing a Sith Lord is against the Code and we know that's not.

 

I agree.

 

The council did not know Palpatine was a sith lord at that time. The council was asking Anakin to spy on the Chancellor, an elected official of the government the Jedi were sworn to protect.

His asignment was also "off the record". Obi-Wan had to tell Anakin secretly outside of the council chambers.

I would definitely say the Jedi made some huge mistakes, that were probably against the code. They turned out to be right, but hindsight is 20/20. Anakin did not even know Palpatine was the sith lord yet.

 

True, I shouldn't have said he was a Sith Lord in the earlier post since they didn't know. However, the Jedi's responsibility to the Republic would still demand that they spy on Palpatine who was obtaining and centralizing far too much power.

 

Maybe, but what you describe is treason. Palpatine, as far as the Jedi knew, did not break any law. The Jedi were supposed to be defenders of peace, and mediators, not an intelligence agency or a governmental check if you will.

 

It was definitely treason, but sometimes justice requires acting as a check upon governmental power.

 

The point was, that the Jedi definitely made mistakes when it came to how they handled Anakin, and their involvement with the government. The "advice" to spy on the Chancellor was a bad idea, and further led to Anakins dislike or distrust of the order, since the Jedi did not know Palpatine was a sith.

Also

Anakin was arguing (for his own benefit) for not killing a defenseless man. Palpatine was beaten, Anakin wanted him to stand trial, while Mace was going to cut him down.

Yes it turns out that that would have been the best thing to do, but do we really know what the code says about killing a defenseless, beaten man, even if he is a sith? Palpatines force lightning was his last weapon against a Jedi master, which was not effective. Mace Won, he was not defeated untill Anakin stepped in, giving Palpatine an opening.

 

It was only a pragmatic mistake there's nothing that violates their beliefs in spying on a leader that is an enemy of the Republic.