Obi-Wan Kenobi: Idiot Man-Child or Subtle Genius

I started a similar thread in 3NS a long, long time ago...

Okay, here's the hypothetical situation:

You have been entrusted with the (presumably) only known offspring of a powerful (but potentially unknown) tyrant. You have been asked to hide the child from his father, and keep him under watch, perhaps one day to rise against tyranny and oppression. You are then given one of two options:

(a) Take the child to the sparsely populated homeworld of the tyrant, drop him off with some of the tyrant's relatives, then go "meditate" with a case of Correllian brandy.

(b) Take him anywhere else in the known universe.

What would you do and why?

 

I'd take him to Kamino, have him cloned, and then raise an army of dad-hating Lukes.

 

I'd take him to Kamino, have him cloned, and then raise an army of dad-hating Lukes.

 

I'm going to discuss the actual situation in the movie since the title of the thread is about Obiwan, as opposed to the hypothetical situation.

Here are some Pros and Cons of choosing Tatooine and Owen:

Con:
-Vader is aware of this planet and moisture farm.
-wow, I really thought I could think of some more. Maybe others can add to the first item.

Pro:
-Vader isn't looking for Luke (doesn't know about him)
-if he was looking for Obiwan why would he look on Tatooine or the moisture farm? I could see him looking on Obi's homeworld wherever that is, but not here. Obi seemed to have an intense dislike for the place in TPM, hardly a place he would choose to live for 20 years.
-it's not in the Empire.
-Tatooine seems like a place you could go and people wouldn't ask to many questions (i.e. "Owen where did you get the kid?"
-big point-Obi and Yoda wanted Luke to be loved/have family, etc. The Lars' were the closest thing to family he had. Owen's stepmother was Luke's grandmother. It seems likely that they would be good, lovely parents. Their history also makes it easier for Obi to approach them to ask for their help. They are less likely to sell him out.
-Given that Vader's mother died there, it's unlikely he would come back for another reason.
-desert landscape much better for Obi to hide but still watch over Luke; much better than a crowded city.
-Given that Tatooine is such a hole, Obi is counting on the fact that Luke will get sick of it and moisture farming and want to do something more exciting.
-even if Vader knew about Luke,why would he think the Jedi would entrust Luke to the Lars. Vader would think that the Jedi were training Luke in a makeshift Jedi Temple to be the most kicka** Jedi ever, in order to take down the Empire.

Conclusion: Obiwan is a gosh dang genius. Even if Vader knew that Luke existed, Tatooine would be the last place he would look. Only Hannibal on the A-Team was better - "I think, that he thinks, that I think, that he thinks, that I think.....that he thinks, that I think, that he's going to search Tatooine, so that's where we'll go. Face, drug B.A. and Murdoch make the jump to lightspeed."

 

^ Excellent post. I think the crux of the matter is, as you said, we have reason to believe that Anakin really does not like Tatooine and would never go back there if he could help it. The farm where his mother is buried is probably the last place in the galaxy he'd want to be.

I'm not sure Obi-Wan deserves to be called a genius just yet, though. It might have been a good idea to think up a pseudonym for Luke so it wouldn't have just been a matter of daddy looking for Skywalkers in the galactic phone book.

 

Since he lives with his aunt and uncle, who have a different last name, Luke wouldn't be listed in the phonebook.

And even if he'd gone and gotten an apartment, I'm sure Old Ben would advise him to remain unlisted.

 

Its always been my contension that precisely because Kebobi is sort of a provincial bumpkin he actually does have an advantage as a Jedi over smarter, more egocentric force users, and I dont think that Im some kind of personality guru that magically deciphers that in the movies. I think Lucas actually makes that pretty plain for you to see in the PT.

 

Kenobi made the right call, going to the one place Vader would be loath to ever visit again. Besides, it's not he could risk trying to locate other Jedi and try and protect the kid that way. He was counting on Tattoine's remote location, the silence of the Lars and Vader's own memories to keep him safe from the Jedi hunters. As for Luke keeping his true name, I wonder if that was a sort of challenge to Vader. We'll have to wait for RotS to know.

 

Tatooine's a solid pick because it's under the control of the Hutts: the Empire has always had a hard time getting a foothold there.

 

He's a genius,He knows Anakin hates sand(LOE guote of Anakin "I hate these (super battle droids) almost as much as sand". Vader wants nothing to do with his prior life as Anakin, going to Tattoine would force him to remeber alot of pain(slavery, leaving his mother, her death, the tusken slaughter)he's not going to set foot on the Planet, he sends stormies down in ANH when he probably should have gone down himself(sometimes to get something done right you have to do it your self). Plus he is covered in heavy armor that is black in color, he die of heat exhaustion in minutes or if he has a air conditioner in the suit it would probably quickly overload, then he'd die in minutes of heat exhaustion.

 

Oh, I can't wait to debate this one after the release of ROTS.

 

Darth Stryphe, why wait? Which do you think it is so far?

 

Well we wouldn't want any spoilers slipping out. I'm very interested to see how this all unfolds in the film.

As it stands, I could understand the reasoning in taking Luke to Tatooine for aforementioned reasons. In addition, it makes for more nice father/son parallels in the movies

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

Considering than Luke never was found, it appears Obi was right. Oh and episode 3 makes it very clear that Vader would never go looking for luke, and episode 2 gives reason why he'll never go back there anyway.

 

If memory (and a quick perusal of the script) serves, the name Skywalker isn't mentioned until Luke rescues Leia ("I'm Luke Skywalker, I'm here to rescue you.")

Perhaps it's possible that anyone who knew Luke on Tatooine didn't know his last name was Skywalker. Living with the Lars family might have led people to believe his last name was Lars. Even his own friends, in the deleted scenes, called him "Wormie," not "Luke" or "Skywalker."

Owen and Beru obviously know who his father was, but I don't think they would have been eager to even mention Anakin, outside of a few references (since Luke "knows" his father was a navigator on a spice freighter).

Seems like a good situation to hide the offspring of a well-known (at least in the more civilized sections of the galaxy) villain such as Darth Vader.

 

This is something i had been thinking about for a bit of time. I'm thinking that Anikins original lure to the Dark Side is the ability to keep people from dieing or perhaps bringing them from the dead.

I had thought that perhaps he would return and try to bring his mother back, seeing that the guy is partially insane now.

 

My whole issue is that word gets around - the crazy old man living beyond the Dune Sea, who just happens to have the last name "Kenobi"...

The young kid adopted with the name "Skywalker" (noticeably different than "Lars") arrives at about the same time...

A sparsely populated planet that gets a little bigger with each Special Edition. Small towns tend not to do well with secrets, as everybody knows everybody. You'd think that word would get around, and that Imperial intelligence would put 2 and 2 together enough to *at least* investigate it.

So right now I'm voting for Idiot Man-Child.

 

i doubt many ppl knows about obi wan's existance on tatooine. Luke and the lars only got to know him when he saved luke prior to anh. The galaxy's one big place and obi is in a dessert at some remote world.

 

Luke and the lars only got to know him when he saved luke prior to anh.

Source? This isn't in any of the movies.

 

well, it IS at the star wars databank, under expanded universe.
Kenobi spent years in seclusion on Tatooine, meditating on the Force and carefully watching young Luke Skywalker come of age. Though Owen Lars forbade it, Kenobi would occasionally come in contact with the young farmboy, if only briefly. When a teenaged Luke found himself stranded in the Jundland Wastes, Kenobi guided the youth back to the Lars Homestead. It was then that Kenobi wished to tell Luke of his importance, and of his gift in the Force, though Owen chased him off the farm, ordering him never to return.

 

Ah, an EU source. That explains why I'd never heard of it.

Still, he brought all of his food with him? He never interacted with other life forms? He just mysteriously appears on the planet? There are still questions that are raised. It's like suddenly moving to a small town in the sticks - you can try to keep things quiet, but word gets around.

 

okay, just tell me. how many ppl do u know from any dessert in the world?? none right.

 

"You'd think that word would get around, and that Imperial intelligence would put 2 and 2 together enough to *at least* investigate it."

Imperial intelligence? There is no Imperial presence on Tatooine, its not part of the Empire. Tatooine may be a small planet, but its a damn big galaxy, I really can't see word getting from a small farming community in anchorhead to Coruscant.

Besides, Luke wasnt found, so word clearly never did get about.

 

just like looking for a needle in a haystack...a very huge haystack

 

Most geniuses are an idiot man-child.