Is it Obi-Wan or Ben to Leia?

While watching ANH, I noticed something interesting. In Leia?s holographic message to Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi, she addresses him as Obi-Wan NOT Ben.

LEIA: Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope.

But when Luke rescues her from the Death Star prison cell, the following conversation occurs:

LUKE: I'm here to rescue you. I've got your R2 unit. I'm here with Ben
Kenobi.

LEIA: Ben Kenobi is here! Where is he?

LUKE: Come on!

Did Leia know that Obi-Wan now goes by the name Ben? On one hand you can say ?yes? because she knew who Luke was referring to. But on the other hand you can say ?no? because she addressed him as Obi-Wan in her holographic message?

Any thoughts?

 

I think she did know of both his names. I remember reading somewhere (maybe it was in the novel to ROTJ), that Leia was always told by her step father to seek out Obi-Wan Kenobi when she was in trouble. He told her where he could be found and probably all the different names he could be going by as well.

 

Even if she didn't know him as "Ben," Luke's statement that he'd brought the R2 unit and that he was there with a guy named "Kenobi" was surely enough for Leia to go with him.

 

Anyone who knew the name Obi-Wan most probably knew the nickname Ben.

 

Another possibility is that Leia didn't know the name Ben but just assumed that "Ben Kenobi" was the same as Obi-wan. After all, they were in a bit of a rush. They didn't have time to converse in depth.

 

I'd assume when her father told her to track him down he informed her that Obi-Wan could be going by the name Ben.

 

On the other hand, she might not have known the name at all, but hey, here's somebody here to rescue you from a detetion cell. Wouldn't YOU at least act like you knew them to make a break for it?

 

I always thought that 'Ben' was like a kind of secret name if you catch my meaning, hiding him from potential people who knew him in the past - like people from the Empire.

 

It is. His real name is Obi-Wan. Ben is just his name when he was hiding.

 

She probably knew both names. She could have used Obi-Wan in the message to try to stir up some honor type of thing from the good days of the Republic.

 

In the novel of rotj Ben says that Leia was supposed to contact him if she got into trouble. Since Obi Wan must have been intrumental in helping the rebellion Leia must have been told that Ben was his new name.

 

What I really want to know is if she ever met Obi-Wan. Maybe she's just referring to him because her father told her about him, but it kind of seems that perhaps she is somewhat familiar with him. Maybe not. Just wondering

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

She's asking a General Obi-wan Kenobi for help,so when she heard the name Ben Kenobi,she knew it had to be Obi-Wan.

 

It was more of both.

 

Leia didn't know whether A) Luke knew both of Obi-wan's names, or B) Obi-wan had wanted Luke to know his real name. She's a member of the rebellion, so she's probably used to using other people's aliases instead of their real names.

 

I thought I read somewhere that ObiWan took the pseudonym BEN during the Clone Wars as a military identity, and kept the pseudonym to prevent others from thinking he was a Jedi.

So, maybe Bail, Leia, etc., commonly refered to him as Ben.
But when the rebellion became desperate, Leia addressed Kenobi by his real name to prove how serious she was and that she needed more than military help - but Jedi help.

I don't know.