"When I left you I was but a learner...

... Now I am the master." -Darth Vader to Obi-Wan Kenobi in ANH.

My question is this. Where does this line fit in in light of ROTS. When Anakin "left" Obi-Wan, it was presumably when he passed the trials and became a Knight, thus no longer being Obi-Wan's padawan. Since he was no longer a Obi-Wan's padawan, how is he just a learner when he left Obi-Wan?

Additionally, before and during the duel, Anakin makes references to Obi-Wan being "no match" for his "new powers." It seems to me that Anakin already feels he is Obi-Wan's superior (indeed we see this type of attitude pop up in AOTC), so why would he refer to himself as "but a learner" 20 years later?

Perhaps his butt-whuppin' made him reflect? Thoughts?

 

Anakin was already superior to Obi-Wan in power. I think he said he was a learner because he hadn't been able to control his emotions, which made him lose The Duel. In ANH he's calm and collected while fighting.

 

In the novel, I believe he said "I was once the learner," which would make more sense.

 

When i left you i was but THE learner now I am THE master!

THE master not A master

basically saying, even in ROTS anakin still had MUCH to learn from obi wan (one of the reasons he lost the fight, sure he was more powerful, but he did have much to learn,) but now HE IS THE MASTER over obi wan!

 

You have to remember that in ANH is was established that Darth Vader was one of Obi-Wan's pupils who fell to the dark side and betrayed the Jedi, including killing Anakin Skywalker.

Since ANH was expected to be the only Star Wars movie at the time, Darth Vader was not considered Anakin at the time - at least not for the purposes of this single installment.

So in that sense, Darth Vader left Obi-Wan before completing his training and that's why he says, "When I left you, I was but the learner, now I am the Master."

Now, since we know Vader is Anakin, the line is metaphorical and alludes to the fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin and how Anakin wasn't quite the master during that confrontation, but now he is and will teach Obi-Wan a few things.

Obi-Wan is still the Master and Vader is still the learner despite his remark.

 

^I disagree, I think its pretty clear in the fight that Vader has surpassed Obi-Wan in both power and control over his emotions.

"Your powers are weak old man"

He further shows this in the duel against Luke, where instead of going hacky hacky, he throws things at Lule and tires him down.

 

Anakin was a Jedi Knight, but he was never noticed in the order as a teacher. He also felt that the Jedi didn't tell him everything there was to know about the Force. The remark had nothing to do with his previous apprenticeship under Obi-Wan but had more to do with the amount of knowledge and power in the dark side that he has gained over the years in retrospect to what the he learned from the Jedi as a young man.

 

Even though Anakin is a Jedi Knight in ROTS, he still often calls Obi-Wan "Master." So as far as knowledge I guess he still considered Obi-Wan a master.

 

Thats his title and Anakin is so used to calling him that it sticks.



Everyone calls eachother master, its a little freaky...

 

He's blaming the loss on something else instead of facing his shortcomings.

 

Obi-Wan was still the Master because he knew how to become more powerful than Vader could comprehend. Vader had no idea about the disappearing trick... because he's ignorant.

Obi-Wan is still much more the Master than Vader. It's not about strength, it's about knowledge.

 

It's annoying, because it's pretty clear that the only reason they even created the term 'padawn learner', back in TPM, was to allude to that line, yet, little ani, wasn't anyone's padawan learner anymore by the time we got around to ROTS

 

anakin in rots calls obi master out of respect and tradition cause he is a jedi master seated on the council and the i was but a learner when he takes the trials obi is of on his own mission and anakin is under command of another general when obi comes back anakin is a knight

 

Line makes perfect sense to me. When he last saw him he was an apprentice (of evil or of Obi won) and when the meet on the Death Star the tables were obviously turned and Vader was a bad@ss sith and Obi won a weak scared Jedi.

 

I'd say it works fine because at the time Obi-Wan defeated Anakin, Obi-Wan knew Anakin was now Darth Vader and an apprentice to Sidious. So Vader says that line. Right after that, Kenobi says 'only a Master of Evil, Darth'. In saying that, saying Vader is not a Master over Kenobi, but a Master something. Anywho...

Isurus the White

 

Well Obi-Wan became a force ghost, all he could do was help luke...thats hardly all powerful. True that it did help Luke escape the deathstar, but besides that it really didn't accomplish much.

 

When he says that he last left him, it's a fancy way of saying since their last encounter. When he says that he was the learner, he's refering to the fact that he fought like a novice and paid the price for it. He's acknowledging his defeat and not making excuses for himself. But now that he has grown stronger, at least in his mind, he's the one who is the Master. Meaning that he's superior to Obi-wan, from his point of view.

Basically he's talking smack. Obi-wan's telling him that he is not a true Master, because he is a Sith Lord. Only a Jedi can truly master the Force and gain all kinds of power. The power of knowledge by joining with the Force, which is why he tells Vader that he will become stronger through death.

 

Actually if I recall corectly, back in the early drafts of the story there was the word padawan but I think it was spelt something like padawann or something like that. I am going to agree that he was a learner at the time of the RotS duel because he had not learned that there was such thing as having a "hrigher gound", but in ANH he learns that he has surpassed Obi-wan in basic knowledge of combat and that he can fight on "even ground" with him, so in that since he is now the master of his own mishaps.

 

You are correct.

Exactly

 

To me this is more of a prideful thing to Anakin. It's no secret he wanted to be a Master. So to me the line is a pot shot at the Jedi. I wanted to be a Master. "Now, I am the Master...."

Obi-Wan is quick to point out "only a Master of evil..."

 

When Obi-Wan and Anakin parted as friends and on the same side of the battle, it was when Obi-Wan was being deployed to kill Grievous.

Goodbye, my old friend.

Anakin still acknowledged and called Obi-Wan 'master'. Anakin willingly and respectfully donned the title of apprentice. When he (Anakin) left him (at Obi-Wan's deployment), he was the learner.

 

He's referring to when they last saw eachother,just before Anakin burned to a crisp.

He was out of control and pretty much just lashing out all his anger,unable to tame it to his advantage. He was still a learner, Obi wan controlled himself and pwned Anakin, keeping his title of being the Master between the two.

Now,20 years later,Anakin has controlled his Anger to make him more powerful, He's mastered the darkside. Now he is the master.

 

Possibly, but at that point Anakin didn't see himself as lesser than Obi-Wan, but rather far superior. That's why I take it to mean what I hda posted earlier.

 

Anakin was just a learner...

A learner of the darkside. He had yet to find his full potential in the dark side. Anakin was an apprentice to Darth Sidious, a learner.

People sometimes think that when Vader put on the iconic suit, he was as powerful then as he was in the OT. He might have fully given himself to the darkside then, but he still had a long way to go to be as powerful as we see him in ANH and ESB. In the prequels, he could force choke people only in his immediate vicinity. In ESB, we see him choking people on other ships far distances away.

He has grown much since his defeat on Mustafar. He may not be as powerful as he "could" have been, but he definitely is more powerful than he was in the jedi order.

 

For years, Anakin's arrogance and overconfidence allowed him to think he WAS superior to Obi-Wan. It wasn't until he matured years later that he understood there was more to just skills in being declared a master. He acknowledged this upon their parting in RotS.