Why didn't Obi-Wan refer to Darth Vader as Anakin during the Death Star duel?

Question

During their fight on the Death Star in A New Hope, Obi-Wan refers to Darth Vader as "Darth" a couple of times.

"Only a master of evil, Darth"

"You can't win Darth"

In their previous encounter on Mustafar, Obi-Wan repeatedly refers to him as "Anakin", even up to the very end. While it's been a number of years, and Obi-Wan seems to accept that the "Darth Vader" persona had murdered the "Anakin" one (at least, from a certain point of view), you'd think he would have at least taken a chance at reminding him who he was, given all the years Anakin has had to potentially cool down and see things rationally again (Ahsoka tries in Rebels, and does manage to break through for a moment). They were also alone, so it's not like he was doing so to keep the truth from Luke at that point.

Apart from the out-of-universe reasons for why he called him by the "Darth" title, I'm wondering if there's an in-universe reason for why he chose to honor him by calling him by his sith title at all, instead of his real name, with the chance hope of reaching through to him.

Answer 1

1. It's a fairly major plot point that he didn't want Luke to know that Vader was his father.

2. Based on ROTJ, Obi-Wan considered Anakin to be dead. This was likely to help him fight with everything he had and potentially kill an old friend. (ROTJ Screenplay)

   You father was seduced by the dark side of the Force. He ceased to be Anakin Skywalker and became Darth Vader. When that happened, the good man who was your father was destroyed. So what I have told you was true... from a certain point of view.

3. He's been holed up on a remote world for 20+ years, yet he clearly knows this about Vader (ROTJ Screenplay)

   I also thought he could be turned back to the good side. It couldn't be done. He is more machine now than man. Twisted and evil.

   This means he has to have gotten news while he was there (there was no way for him to know this at the end of ROTS). Imagine hearing reports over the years about the atrocities that Vader committed, and trying to reconcile this with the man you once considered a brother. Sooner or later, you stop trying to reconcile the two and start using the term everyone else does: Darth Vader

Answer 2

Consider the scene where Obi Wan "Ben" Kenobi tells Luke about the death of the latter one's father:

LUKE: How did my father die?

BEN: A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights. He betrayed and murdered your father. Now the Jedi are all but extinct. Vader was seduced by the dark side of the Force.

_{Taken from The Script of Episode IV on imsdb.com; kept source-formatting}

Ben seems to consider Luke's father, Anakin, to be dead. As in that the persona of Darth Vader has killed whatever made Anakin, Anakin. Thus he wouldn't refer to him as Anakin anymore, as there is no Anakin left.

Answer 3

Not a direct sci-fi response but I think it shows the core of human psychology that leads to OWK's behavior:

If you've ever watched a zombie movie/show, like The Walking Dead, you see two kinds of people emerge:

• Those who consider the zombie version of their loved one to still be their loved one.
• Those who don't consider them human anymore.

Usually, it's the second group that tends to survive because they are not emotionally invested. They will always refer to a zombie as "it", and have no issue with killing one that is attacking them (almost always regardless of who the zombie used to be).

The first group, however, tends to keep calling their now zombified loved one by their given name. They hesitate to kill them. Their instincts might even make them save the zombie from being killed by others. They cannot disconnect the zombie they now see from the loved one they used to be.

By calling Anakin "Darth", OWK puts himself in the second group. He refuses to acknowledge that this could still be Anakin. He is making the disconnect between Anakin and Darth. Because if he did not disconnect the two, he would currently be in combat with Anakin, which he might not be able to emotionally handle. It's either a case of him refusing to acknowledge Anakin on principle (because he thinks Darth is not Anakin, spiritually speaking), or because he simply can't bear being reminded of who Anakin used to be.

OWK was emotional at the end of episode III when he screamed at Anakin. Not just angry, but personally hurt by Anakin's betrayal. It's possible that he has simply shut out his emotions for Anakin because they could make him choose a friend over what is right (and he wishes to avoid that).
Like Gandalf intentionally staying away from The Ring because it might corrupt him, OWK might consider Anakin to be dead because he might otherwise carry Anakin around as a weakness.
E.g. what if Palpatine threatens to kill Anakin unless OWK does something for him? (at a later stage) He can't risk being put in such a situation. So he considered Anakin dead, to prevent himself from the emotional connection that could drive his actions (in the wrong way).

Answer 4

Even if the obvious out-of-universe reasons are responsible, it actually makes a lot of sense (if only by accident) if you consider Anakin never becoming a Jedi Master being a big plot point in the prequels.

Consider this line of dialogue...

Vader: When I left you, I was but the learner; now, I am the master.

Obi-Wan: Only a master of evil, Darth.

from the viewpoint that Anakin is still bitter about the Jedi never making him a Jedi Master back in the day, and Obi-Wan of course knows that. So using his Sith honorific here can simply be seen as a way to point it out (or rub it in, if you will), that no, Anakin has not become a "Master" (in the sense of Jedi Master), he's just someone who mastered the Dark Side (and has been mastered by it, in return). He has fallen, and Obi-Wan tries one last time to make that clear to him.

Answer 5

As it's usually the case in Star Wars, this has been retconned in the Obi Wan Kenobi series in Disney+

In their last duel, in the series finale, Obi Wan cuts Vader's mask in half and his left eye is visible. It goes back and ford between blue and Sith yellow while Obi Wan starts crying and apologizes to him...

OBI WAN: I'm sorry, Anakin. I'm sorry for all of it

ANAKIN: I'm not your failure, Obi Wan. You didn't kill Anakin Skywalker. I did.

(Anakin's eyes turn yellow. Vader is back)

VADER: Just like I'll destroy you!!

OBI WAN: Then my friend is really dead. Goodbye...Darth.

Obi Wan calling him Darth when they see each other again is consistent now. At this point, he really is convinced that Anakin is dead. This also fixes the decade-long debate of "from a certain point of view".

Answer 6

It's pretty simple as Obi-Wan doesn't consider Anakin to be alive anymore in the emotional way. For him Anakin was the student who wouldn't ever do things which Darth Vader has done.

Anakin was the person he trained while Darth Vader was the person who wanted power and was seduced by the dark force.

Answer 7

I am not sure about this, but I believe at the time when they shot those scenes, Vader may not have been considered by G. Lucas to be Luke's father yet. That was a plot device that developed over time and Vader and Anakin were merged later. Also, I think that maybe the word Darth was actually Darth Vaders true first name at that point in development. It was only later then changed to become a sith title. I could be wrong about all that. Take for example that Luke's name in some of the orginal shots was still Luke Starkiller, and they had to reshoot some scenes (like introducing himself to Leia at her holding cell on the Deathstar). I appreciate Curtis' comment, from what I understand Luke's green lightsaber was made green after the fact because they were having trouble getting it to show up against the blue sky around the sarlac pit. Meanhwhile an entire generation of fans were trying to figure out what that meant, and if it still represented a Jedi and true opponent of the Sith, and if there were other colors as well. Lucas played that one brilliantly, after realizing the fans loved it, he used the green sabers all through out the prequels, and even allowed Samuel L. Jackson to use the one and only purple saber, a condition of his contract that he insisted on.

Answer 8

Obi-Wan is not there to defeat Anakin, he is there to defeat the Vader aspect of Anakin's personality.

Consider that Obi-Wan's goal here is to goad Darth Vader into defeating him instead of coming in contact with Luke before Luke has obtained more Jedi training from Yoda.

And what better way to put your opponent into the mindset that they are in control of the situation than by pretending to be afraid, or making wild claims about becoming more powerful? Or cheekily referring to him by only using part of his name/title?

Obi-Wan needs to get Darth Vader off balance enough for Vader to attack him without thinking and defeat him - as a distraction for Luke to get away. Can you imagine what would have happened if Vader had time to think about the confrontation, and captured Obi-Wan instead? Vader could have used Obi-Wan as bait to reel Luke back in. Obi-Wan must of foreseen this and decided to take this seemingly futile path (but which led to eventual success).

By referring to Anakin as "Darth", and feebly claiming that he (Darth Vader) can't win, Obi-Wan places himself in a position as a-soon-to-be-be-defeated adversary. Perhaps Obi-Wan was bluffing about becoming "more powerful that you (Darth Vader) can ever imagine" (after all, all he becomes is a voice in Luke's head - right?)

But it's not until later that the audience and Vader realize that Obi-Wan wasn't talking about their confrontation (Darth Vader & Obi-Wan's final battle) when he was referring to Darth's (Vader's) ultimate lack of "win".

Obi-Wan's "win" is the ultimate reconciliation of Anakin and his son, Luke. Which has the side effect of re-balancing the force, (or do I have that the other way around?)

Darth Vader has to be taken out, so Obi-Wan sacrifices himself so that the confrontation between Luke and his father is delayed until later, after Luke has a more complete perspective of their actual relationship. Darth Vader isn't taken out by the lightsaber battle - he seemingly wins.

But the way Obi-Wan disappears upon his defeat plants a seed of doubt in Vader side of Anakin/Vader, which eventually grows to the point that Anakin is able to resist the Vader persona and confront the emperor at the crucial time.

Answer 9

WOW !! I had a film appreciation class like this once. A certain film had some parts in Color and some in Black and White. The class spent days hypothesizing about what meaning the author was trying to convey by using Black and White vs Color for different parts of the movie. It turned out that the budget was so low on the film that they used whatever media they could get for the lowest price and randomly used whatever they could find as they filmed it. The author didn't intend any meaning at all by the use of Color vs Black and White film.

Similarly, in this case, I think you're over thinking it. There was no meaning at all to Obi-Wan's omission of the name 'Anakin' when referring to Darth Vader.

The reason here is simple.

Episodes 1-3 hadn't been written when Episode 4 was filmed.

Anakin and his eventual transformation into Darth Vader didn't exist in George Lucas' mind yet. Darth Vader's past hadn't yet been considered as part of the plot.

So Lucas wouldn't have Obi-Wan refer to Darth as 'Anakin' because Darth Vader's childhood hadn't even been written yet...