PT Why didn’t Obi-Wan immediately sense Anakin’s turn?

Maybe this is more of a TV question, because I’m thinking specifically of the fact that Ahsoka sensed it happening during the Clone Wars series finale, and she was also a considerable distance away. Did she have an ability he didn’t?

It makes sense that Yoda sensed it from Kashyyyk, given his extreme power, but was Obi-Wan not as attuned? He was more personally linked to Anakin than Yoda, who was more of a distant authority figure.

Was the fact that Obi-Wan was occupied on Utapau a factor in his lack of attention to Anakin through the Force?

The movie doesn’t make it clear whether or not Obi-Wan thinks Anakin survived, but he assumes otherwise in the Stover novel. Anakin’s non-communication after Order 66 may have suggested that he died from Obi-Wan’s perspective, but he was disciplined enough to put aside his grief until the mystery was solved

 

Maul sensed it too.

But you have to remember this is TCW. Characters in this show are maxed to 1000

they can leap 100 metres in the air, run from one ship to another travelling at 500 mph and leap 50 feet like frogs on springs.
Younglings on their very first day of training would sense Anakin's fall.

 

Fair criticism, especially since Maul never interacted for long with Anakin.

Even without Ahsoka or TCW though, Obi-Wan didn't seem to sense anything wrong while Yoda clearly did. This is probably because of Yoda's greater foresight abilities? Obi-Wan was able to sense Alderaan's destruction.

 

Yes I think movie-wise it was to show the difference in 'force rank' if for want of a better term between Yoda and Obi-Wan.

Yoda and Palps were the grandmasters of the force (which is why Sidious was able to sense Anakin in danger)

while Yoda was able to sense Anakin.

Obi-Wan was 'just' a master.

There is a but here, which might go in TCW's favour.

Obi-Wan senses 'something elsewhere, elusive' but doesn't know what in TPM and Luke senses the future on Bespin.


So, it could be that since in TCW both Ahsoka and Maul weren't doing anything to distract themselves, so they were attuned to the living force at that moment. Obi-Wan was occupied on Utapau.

 

Obi-Wan was just full of himself.

 

Did Yoda sense Anakin's turn in the new TCW? I might be forgetting something, but in the movie, wasn't Yoda just sensing the deaths of all the Jedi during Order 66?

We do know he sensed Anakin's pain and suffering in AotC. He also sensed something when Anakin was freaking out after Padmé fell out of the gunship. And as he was leaving for Kashyyyk and discussing Anakin with Mace and Kenobi, he seemed to be sensing more trouble brewing with Anakin, especially after just having the discussion with him about his dreams.

 

Immediately after Anakin "pledges himself to your teachings" but before Order 66 is given, there is a cutaway to Yoda having a "shocked reaction".

 

I always assumed it was just because Obi-Wan was distracted by the battle.
His mind was "In the present" so he didn't think of reaching out and being aware of the goings on of the Cosmic Force.

I also recall it being stated by Filoni when Rebels came out that Ahsoka didn't know *what* happened to Anakin, just that it was bad. It's not until she senses Vader 16 years later that she makes the connection. Until then she just assumed he died with all the other Jedi. I would expect that would be Obi-Wan's mindset as well when given the chance to focus. At least until he see's the hologram of Vader attacking the Temple.

 

Ooh, yeah I must’ve gotten it mixed up. The reaction where it looks like he’s having a heart attack is due to Anakin’s turn. For some reason I thought it was during Order 66.

 

He's pretty shocked during Order 66 too, to be fair, even before his own clones turn on him. It's easy to conflate the two separate "shocked reactions".

 

Yoda was only watching a fight while Anakin turned/Order 66 happened. Obi-Wan was actively engaged with a fight when all of it happened.

 

Aah, gotcha.

• Yoda having a heart attack reaction is when Anakin turns.

• Yoda dropping his cane and collapsing is when Order 66 occurs.

 

I guess the question is, what was the level of specificity in what Yoda was sensing? Did he explicitly sense Anakin had turned to the dark side? Or was he getting a more general sense that some dark poodoo had just hit the fan for the Galaxy? And that Anakin may have had some involvement and/or was in great turmoil. I.e. the events that took place in Palpatine's office and the consequences there of sent off a seismic shockwave through the Force and Anakin's Force signature was entwined with it.

When Anakin killed the Sand People, Yoda didn't know exactly what happened, just that Anakin was in great pain. Also, he didn't know his own former Padawan Dooku had turned to the dark side until years later when he confronted him.

I suppose it's open to interpretation, and there's arguments to be made for both. For me, it seems when Yoda saw the dead Jedi in the temple killed by a lightsaber is when he started putting two and two together, based on his talk with Anakin earlier and what he sensed after Mace died.

 

This was how I thought it went down as well. There was no definite identification that Anakin had specifically turned, just an overall sensation felt by Yoda that something had happened. Even Obi Wan in the OT did not know specifically that it Alderaan had been destroyed. His feeling was vague.

 

Wasn't Palpatine using the Force to cloud the vision and judgement of the Jedi? Maybe that played a part in why Obi-Wan couldn't sense Anakin's turn.

 

Maybe its crazy but I always thought Yoda's hand on heart gesture was him sensing Mace Windu's death.
Maybe his feeling of betrayal, etc. as well. But it never really occurred to me that he was sensing Anakin's turn (Even though it happens right after it.)

 

Yoda senses Anakin falling for the Emperor - YouTube
Yoda staggers to a platform.

Beginning of The Great Jedi Purge - YouTube
Yoda drops his cane and clutches his heart.

My mistake.

 

If Yoda and Ahsoka felt it, then surely Obi Wan did as well. When Yoda feels it, it comes across to me as he senses a power shift -- at that point I'm not necessarily sure he knows it has anything to do with Anakin. All though he might have begun to come to that conclusion on his return to Coruscant. I'm not sure exactly when Yoda knew it was Anakin, or how Yoda knew for sure it was. It's possible Yoda saw the holos before Obi Wan, but I'm guessing Yoda eventually knows through the Force.

When Ahsoka feels it, it has the voices overheard -- but I'm not sure if that means Ahsoka is hearing it or if it's just there for the audience to know what she's feeling.

Either way, I'm sure Obi Wan felt the betrayal through the Force, he just may have not physically reacted to it like Yoda or Ahsoka did. It's possible he did and it just wasn't shown in the film.
Also if he did feel it, and had a looming idea it had something to do with Anakin, there's probably a sense of denial from Obi Wan about it.

 

Well who’s to say Ahsoka’s not more in tune with the Force than Obiwan.

But in ROTS it appears that Obiwan is in denial, needing to check the security footage to confirm what he already knows.

 

For one thing, he was very busy at the moment.

 

1. He was busy. Grievous had just been killed and the Battle of Utapau was still raging, though the clones were winning.
2. Obi-Wan is stronger than Ahsoka (obviously), but not as strong as Yoda. I think Ahsoka sensed Anakin because she was less distracted and more willing to be attached to others. In the case of Yoda, he was so powerful that attachment didn't matter for him to sense it.
3. Sidious could've specifically tried to keep Obi-Wan from sensing it.

 

I don't think long-distance FOrce sensing abilities are really supposed to be that precise. In ANH, when Alderaan is destroyed, Obi-Wan says,

He doesn't say "ZOMG Alderaan was just completely destroyed." He doesn't even say "A planet has been destroyed" or even "millions of people were just killed." He feels as if millions of people were just killed, and that "something terrible" has happened without feeling exactly what.

I think the same goes for Yoda during Order 66.

 

Was a tab busy when it went down.

 

Indeed, we even see it in Attack of the Clones when Yoda senses Anakin’s pain. He doesn’t go, ‘Anakin’s mom just died.’ Instead all he can sense is pain and death happening and it involves Anakin. For all he knows, Anakin and Padmé are under attack by space pirates, Padmé’s been shot and Anakin’s flying into a fit of panicked rage. Or Anakin’s been captured and is being tortured. Yoda has no clue what’s happening.

Basically, it’s a general sense of doom, nothing specific.

As for Obi-Wan? He was rather busy trying not to die, and how could he ever think that his own pupil, someone he raised since childhood on a promise to his dying master, someone he saw as a brother, would ever turn to the Dark Side? If he sensed something bad happening involving Anakin, it would’ve been more like, ‘oh dear, I hope my friend can get out of this ‘cause I can’t help him right now…’