Why does Owen despise and hate Kenobi so much?

Obi-Wan also kept a close watch on Luke, and even tried to give him his father's lightsaber years earlier, but was chased away by Owen. This, I'm sure, is where Owen gets his negative notions of Obi-Wan.
That, and as mentioned earlier, Owen was a very simple man, and wanted nothing to do with the drama that Obi-Wan would involve Luke in.

 

From the first time I saw ANH, I always believed that Owen did no like Obi-Wan and that Beru was a silent champion for Luke etc. It must have been a pretty difficult place for Owen to find himself with the son of Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker and is even more magnified by the fact that he actually had contact with Vader in AOTC.

 

The OT set up the Owen/Ben antagonism quite nicely: "That wizard's just a crazy old man"; "He has too much of his father in him" - "That's what I'm afraid of"; "He didn't hold with your father's ideals. Thought he should have stayed here and not gotten involved."; "He feared you might followl old Obi-Wan off on some damn-fool idealistic crusade like your father did".

Owen blames Obi-Wan for taking Anakin away from Tatooine, or at least for encouraging the side of him that wanted to be off among the stars. Of course, this implies rather more of a connection between Owen and Anakin than the day or so we saw in AotC, and it suggests that Anakin went off to war to fight for his ideals, rather than being dragged off on a rescue mission by Padmé without even saying goodbye.

Personally, I think this is one of the places where George tweaked the Prequel narrative to improve the flow, to make Anakin's angst more personal than principled, leading to a disjuncture with the OT. But that may just be me...

- The Imperial Ewok

 

Well it's not like Anakin would've stayed on Tatooine even if Obi-Wan weren't in trouble. Eventually he'd have to escort Padme back to Naboo, Coruscant, or wherever the heck she needs to be next.

 

My guess is that Owen was receptive to Obi Wan ealy on, but then got annoyed with Obi Wan mentioning that Luke should be a Jedi like Anakin and the like. The lines between Owen and Beru are key in that they could reveal that they know a bit more about Anakin than they let on, but haven't told Luke for obvious reasons.

Beru's line of "He has too much of his father in him." could mean that she sees his innate Force ability or Anakin's impulsivity, possibly both. Owen's response of "I know. That's what I'm afraid of." could imply that they know of Anakin's fate and why keeping Luke out in the sticks was better than sending him to the Academy.

This is possible as ROTS clearly showed Obi Wan leaving Luke with Beru. One could easily assume that Obi Wan could have taken a few moments to explain why he was leaving Luke with them, and why he'd be hanging out nearby to keep an eye on him. The time in between this and the start of ANH was probably time enough for Owen to see all the chaos caused by the Empire and Vader and to know that he didn't want Luke to have any part of it or even be tempted by getting in on the action, thus the putting off of sending Luke's application to the Academy and the hostility towards Ben. Of course Beru, being a bit more of an optimist than Owen, believes that Luke can do something about this and that he may have some sway over Anakin/Vader. But since Owen runs the farm, he has the final say over Luke's fate.

As I said, just a guess, but that's always been my take on it given the dialogue at the dinnertable.

 

I agree Kyle Katarn

There's a lot of (negative) events between ROTS and ANH that must have confinced Owen to keep Luke safe and away from all the action. Tatooine was a perfect hide out since its in the outer-rim.
(*Note) I've always wondered why Vader never went to Tatooine to "make sure" the Lars didn't know about Kenobi, or any Jedi (Luke), just in case. I guess Vader thought his offspring was dead and had better things to do, just curious.

back to the topic:
Obi Wan represented a connections to all the problems in the universe even if he wasn't at fault, just a mental reminder for Owen. He just simply doesn't want to rock the boat so to speak.
We can assume that Owen does very much care for Luke, since he's seen him grow and must have gotten emotionally attatched. Secretly I think he just wants to protect Luke in the only way he knows how.
IMHO

 

In the book Dark Lord, only a very few know that Darth Vader is Anakin Skywalker. Most believe Anakin was killed during the Jedi Purge.

In the book it says that Vader will never return to Tatooine or Naboo- too many painful memories. That's why Vader never went back there......

 

Yes, but that's assuming this bit of the EU goes along with the films. Traditionally, the EU is apocrhyphal at best. Even then, Obi Wan knows who Vader really is and seeing how he's putting Luke in Owen and Beru's care, it would only make sense that he would have told them this as well. Not just as why he's doing it, but also so that they can try and steer him away from becoming like Anakin. Thus the Lars' could be among those few people who know Vader's true identity. The fact that Vader had too many memories from Tatooine and that the Lars' are there makes it the perfect spot to hide both Luke and Ben was sorta implied in the PT and helps to ease along storytelling for the films and the licensed merch.

 

Thanks Ani_Lover for the comment, fits pretty well with the whole SW story even if its EU.

Makes the Lars place a perfect hideout.

 

I think Owen's distaste for Obi-Wan basically comes down to that he thinks Obi-Wan is likely to get Luke killed. If he knows Anakin is Vader, then he might well know Obi-Wan wants Luke to face him - and we know that isn't safe. If he doesn't know, then he knows the Empire doesn't like Jedi and Obi-Wan wants to train Luke as Jedi - and all those Jedi with a lifetime of training dind't fare too well, now did they? Honestly, I think Owen just wants to protect his child and keep him safe.

I do agree Owen is the insular, close-to-home, no-dreams-of-changing-the-galaxy type person, but I don't think that's what makes for the tense relationship between Owen and Obi-Wan.

 

Although we've already been told that the upcoming live-action series will not be dealing with major (or even semi-major) SW characters, what a great opportunity to do an episode that shows some situation that reinforces Owen's negative attitude towards Obi-Wan.

Maybe a day when Obi shows up at the Lars homestead to give little Luke his father's saber. Owen can then chase him off or threaten him. This could be a part of a larger story showing life on Tatooine for the Lars, young Luke and Obi-Wan pre-ANH. Maybe see Owen holding off a bunch of Tuskens with a single blaster, as Biggs mentioned in the ANH cut scene. Maybe even explore Obi-Wan's penchant for frequenting saloons full of rough customers. Doesn't fit into the claimed "bounty hunter" stories we're supposed to expect, but it could be a stand-alone episode, or something.

Probably won't happen. But it's not like GL and McCallum couldn't get McGregor, Edgerton, Piesse on board and find some kid to play little Luke. That would be cool.

 

I think Owen blames Kenobi for what happened to Anakin and doens't want same thng happen to Luke.

 

I was got that Owen was afraid of Luke turning to dark side like his father hence the, "that's what I'm afraid of." line.

 

I think it was mentioned somewhere in the EU, for what it's worth, that Obi-Wan got impatient with his exile and tried to give Luke his father's lightsabre at a very early age like 5 years old (consistant with the Jedi training younglings that young) and Owen freaked out and told him to never see Luke again.

I can see that, and from his short dialog in ANH, combined with his pacifism in ROTS, that he just wanted to keep his head down and not get involved, which is also why he kept him out of the academy. He was just trying to protect Luke from the world in the little cocoon on the Lars Homestead.