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VADER: Obi-Wan is here. The Force is with him.

TARKIN: If you're right, he must not be allowed to escape.

VADER: Escape is not his plan. I must face him alone.

It seemed like Obi-Wan was trying to escape since he was deactivating the tractor beam for the very purpose of escaping the Death Star. So, how was escape not his plan? Or was this just Vader guessing wrong? If Vader isn't wrong, then why isn't escape Obi-Wan's plan?


NOTE: The question How does Vader know that escape is not Obi-Wan's plan? is related but doesn't address Kenobi's side of the issue, just Vader's (so it's not a duplicate).

RedCaio
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  • http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/55422/did-obi-wan-need-to-sacrifice-himself-to-vader?lq=1 – Wad Cheber May 25 '16 at 04:32
  • http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/13875/did-obi-wan-kenobi-ever-become-more-powerful – Wad Cheber May 25 '16 at 04:32
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    Deactivating the tractor beam would allow the Falcon to leave, but that doesn't mean Kenobi planned to be on it. His actions don't imply a plan to escape. – Tom Harrington May 25 '16 at 04:58
  • IIRC, out of universe, Obi-Wan only died so early because Alec Guiness didn't like him (and the banal movie itself). In earlier scripts, Obi-Wan was supposed to escape with the others. – Luaan May 26 '16 at 07:47

3 Answers3

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Obi-Wan seems to have realized that he was unlikely to escape soon after the Millennium Falcon was captured by the Death Star. When he split up from the rest of the group to deactivate the tractor beam, he had the following conversation with Luke:

Obi-Wan: I don't think you boys can help. I must go alone.

Han: Whatever you say. I've done more than I bargained for on this trip already.

Luke: I want to go with you.

Obi-Wan: Be patient, Luke. Stay and watch over the droids.

Luke: But he can...

Obi-Wan: They must be delivered safely or other star systems will suffer the same fate as Alderaan. Your destiny lies along a different path than mine. The Force will be with you...always!

Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope script from imsdb

This conversation occurred before Vader's conversation with Tarkin. There is evidence that Obi-Wan wasn't aware of Vader's presence yet, but he clearly had a sense that Luke's destiny would be different from his own. Obi-Wan probably insisted on disabling the tractor beam alone because he was the only one expendable:

  1. Luke is the new hope of the Jedi.
  2. Leia is an important leader of the Rebellion.
  3. The droids hold the vital Death Star plans and must escape with them.
  4. Han and Chewie are needed to pilot the Millennium Falcon.

Keeping in mind the fact that Obi-Wan is the only expendable one, I can think of at least two good reasons why Obi-Wan didn't plan to escape the Death Star himself:

  1. He needed to distract the stormtroopers guarding the Millennium Falcon and delay Vader so that Luke and the others could escape.
  2. He would become more powerful as a Force Ghost.

Regarding the delay/distraction, here's a screenshot (taken from this Youtube video) demonstrating what Obi-Wan accomplished by going alone and fighting Vader:

Obi-Wan vs. Vader

Vader was just outside the hangar where the Millennium Falcon was, so if he hadn't been delayed by Obi-Wan he would have been able to prevent everyone from escaping. Moreover, the screenshot also shows that the hangar was crawling with stormtroopers -- again, Luke and the others had no chance to reach the Falcon if not for the fact that the stormtroopers were distracted by the duel between Obi-Wan and Vader.

The quote you provide demonstrates that Vader knew of Obi-Wan's presence. Either Obi-Wan was unable to hide his Force presence from Vader (possibly because he wasn't aware of Vader's presence) or he chose to deliberately reveal himself to Vader. If the former, Vader could track Obi-Wan via the Force and therefore Obi-Wan had to stay away from Luke and the others so that they could escape. If the latter, it must have been to delay Vader and distract the stormtroopers. Even if Obi-Wan had been able to hide his Force presence, there's very little chance he and the others could have defeated the stormtroopers guarding the hangar before Vader and more stormtroopers arrived. Obi-Wan had to sacrifice himself as a distraction to allow the others to escape.

Obi-Wan was deactivating the tractor beam so that someone could escape in the Falcon, not necessarily himself.

By sacrificing himself, Obi-Wan also became a Force Ghost. Recall what he told Vader:

You can't win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope script from imsdb

As a Force Ghost, Obi-Wan could be a voice of guidance in Luke's head. Obi-Wan proved particularly effective as a Force Ghost later, when he advised Luke to use the Force rather than the targeting computer to destroy the Death Star. If Obi-Wan hadn't sacrificed himself he would not have been able to do that.

Null
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  • this question says Kenobi didn't sense Vader until he was around the next corner, so it doesn seem like he lured Vader away or anything. I get that, once Vader was between him and the Falcon, self-sacrifice was the best way to help the others. but Vader said much earlier that escape wasn't Kenobi's plan (ever) which just doesn't make sense. Right up until Vader and the troopers blocked him, Kenobi's plan was to escape. Am I wrong or missing something? – RedCaio May 25 '16 at 05:13
  • @RedCaio The accepted answer to that question does put a wrinkle in the idea that Obi-Wan intended to delay Vader, but it's still reasonable to say that he intended to distract the stormtroopers. There are quite a few stormtroopers on the Death Star, and even if Obi-Wan could kill them all he wouldn't be able to do it quickly enough to escape before more arrived. I think it's fair to say that Obi-Wan might have hoped to escape, but realized it was likely he'd have to sacrifice himself (whether Vader was present or not). – Null May 25 '16 at 05:19
  • Of course, if Vader can sense Obi-Wan’s presence through the Force and know that escape is not his plan, he should also be able to sense Luke’s presence and know that escape is his plan. So why did Vader allow himself to be distracted by Obi-Wan, rather than just go after Luke directly, then? (Or is this before Vader is aware of Luke’s identity and purpose/importance? It must be too long since I've watched the film; I don't remember the order of scenes.) – Janus Bahs Jacquet May 25 '16 at 06:15
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    @JanusBahsJacquet My interpretation is, Vader doesn't know Obi-Wan's plans because of the Force. Vader predicts Obi-Wan's plans because of the extreme level of familiarity he has with Obi-Wan, given that Anakin was Obi-Wan's apprentice. One might say that the two were like brothers. :) –  May 25 '16 at 09:22
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    @JanusBahsJacquet I agree with Mego's comment. Also, Obi-Wan was more of a threat than the untrained Luke. Finally, it seems to be easier to sense one's Force presence but harder to identify that person so Vader may have felt Luke's presence without realizing it was his son. – Null May 25 '16 at 14:15
  • @Mego and Null: Good points. Though I wonder if at least Palpatine mightn’t already at this point have known that Luke was eventually much more crucial than Obi-Wan. – Janus Bahs Jacquet May 25 '16 at 14:44
  • I'm curious what Obi-Wan was planning if he had defeated Vader and the Millennium Falcon safely escaped. As a rogue Jedi on the Death Star, he would have wrought havoc, especially if disguised in a stormtrooper uniform. Slay the crew members on the bridge, lock the door, and steer the Death Star into a moon? – RobertF May 25 '16 at 15:03
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    Let's not forget that A) Jedi (and presumably Sith also) have limited powers of precognition and B) Vader and Kenobi probably both felt that they had a score to settle. Kenobi's entire order was wiped out by Vader, and he was likely waiting to address that situation because he had to keep an eye on Luke. Now that Luke has new protectors (unwitting though they may be) and is reunited with his sister, and Kenobi is in the same place as Vader, it's as good a time as any for the showdown that has been on hold for 18 years or whatever. That's why they both knew there was no plan for escape. – Todd Wilcox May 25 '16 at 16:14
  • @JanusBahsJacquet Wasn't the plan to let them escape, so they could track them? –  May 25 '16 at 17:11
  • @Michael It's not clear when that plan was formed. Probably after the conversation between Vader and Tarkin in which Vader says, "escape is not his plan", and before the duel between Vader and Kenobi, since they had to have time to fix the tracking device to the ship. In fact, I would suspect that logically, Vader could not know that Tarkin intended to track the Falcon, since they hadn't talked between the two scenes I just mentioned. – Todd Wilcox May 25 '16 at 17:38
  • Great post. Also, consider that this is the moment Vader has been waiting 20 years for. Of course it would be an effective distraction! – Richard Venable May 25 '16 at 22:54
  • Another point about Leia not being expendable, she's not just a leader in the Rebellion, she is also the hope of the Jedi backup plan if Luke doesn't make it. – Richard Venable May 25 '16 at 22:57
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I don't doubt that Kenobi sensed Vader as they approached. Vader had no need to hide his presence at all; as far as he knew, there were no Jedi to hide from. As for Kenobi, most likely he was masking his presence at that point, not because he expected to run into Vader of the Emperor, but simply out of habit. He had been doing so for many, many years at this point. So now that he is aware of Vader, what does he do? From this point, everything hinges on the fact that Vader and Kenobi know each other VERY well, enough so that each can generally predict the others actions.

Once Kenobi feels Vader's presence he knows he needs to confront him, for personal and practical reasons. After the events on Mustafar, he bears the weight of his choice not to finish Vader off, and is still conflicted about it. Then on top of this, he has just felt the enormous disturbance in the Force caused by the destruction of Alderaan. Once he sees the Death Star and senses Vader's presence, he puts things together and realizes that his old apprentice has just snuffed out billions of lives somehow. With the weight of all those lives bearing down on him, he can't just run away and hide again. He must face Vader one last time.

He reasons that the tractor beam must be disabled to allow the Falcon to escape, and that a solo mission has the best likelihood of success. He knows that once he reveals himself, Vader will want to deal with him himself. Obi-wan is the last tie to Vader's previous life, and Vader will want to extinguish that tie personally.

He also reasons that his own presence will distract Vader from noting the new ripple in the Force that is Luke. If Vader were to realize that another Force-capable person was around, much less his own son, there would be no escape. Luke's best chance lay in Vader's attention being drawn elsewhere.

Knowing all this, Obi-wan stops hiding himself and allows Vader to sense his presence. It's not unreasonable to assume that once he does so, both parties are not only aware of each other, but aware of each others awareness (I know you know that I know!). It is unlikely that he has any illusions of the outcome of such a fight, but defeating Vader was never the point.

From Vader's side, once he recognized Obi-wan's presence, the process would have been simpler. As a Sith, revenge was right up his alley. Here was the man who maimed him and left him to die, and the last remaining tie to his old life (to his knowledge). He would NEED to unleash his anger at Obi-wan, in a way that simply having the ship blown out of space would not satisfy.

He knew Obi-wan well enough to know that the confrontation was coming. He knew Kenobi was there, he knew that Kenobi was aware of him, and most of all, knew Kenobi's mind well enough to predict that he would attempt to rectify his mistake at Mustafar. It's possible he may have also realized that Obi-wan had revealed himself deliberately, after many years of hiding. To Vader's mind, Kenobi was coming to finish things, and in a way, he was. Vader was unaware that the primary goal was misdirection, though.

I don't think anything after deactivating the tractor beam was a specific plan; Obi-wan's aim was to keep Vader distracted long enough for Luke and the others to GTFO. The fact that their battle took place in a spot that just happened to draw the attention of every stormtrooper guarding the Falcon was just a bonus.

tldr: Vader and Kenobi both realized the upcoming confrontation was inevitable. Vader knew his old master well enough to know that he would not try to avoid it.

Irishpanda
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  • I can account for right outside the hangar. If Obi-Wan wins the duel he draws all the stormtroopers onto him and either he defeats them and gets on the Falcon or he loses and the Falcon escapes before they can get back to guarding it. – Joshua Apr 07 '22 at 21:57
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I honestly think Obi-Wan just didn't care because he was going to become a force ghost anyway, so he just let himself die in front of Luke to give him a push in the right direction, give him motivation, a reason to become a Jedi, etc.

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    Welcome to SciFi.SE! Answers here generally get upvoted more if they contain something to back up what they are saying. Is there any canon that supports these points? –  May 25 '16 at 10:46