Obi-Wan Kenobi lived the life of a near perfect Jedi, and fought in the Clone Wars as one of the top Jedi Generals. But his biggest failure and deepest regret of course came from the failure of his apprentice, Anakin Skywalker. Despite loving Anakin like a brother, Kenobi couldn’t prevent him from falling into the dark life of Darth Vader. This failure went so far that it was even the cause of his own death aboard the first Death Star, sending Obi-Wan into the cosmic force. Because of this, the Jedi master was able to watch over Vader for his entire life, including his most important moment of throwing Darth Sidious into the reactor shaft to save Luke. So what were Obi-Wan’s thoughts as this happened? These are Obi-Wan’s thoughts when Vader killed Sidious and was redeemed!
In Return of the Jedi we see the final interaction between the Force Ghost of Obi-Wan and Luke on Dagobah following Yoda’s despite… Or so we thought. Despite not being physically present, Obi-Wan’s presence followed Luke throughout the rest of his journey, including his final encounter with the Emperor. Obi-Wan likely managed to learn of the Chain Worlds theorem from Qui-Gon Jinn once he transcended into the living force, allowing him to move through both space and time.
As Luke gave himself up to Darth Vader, Obi-Wan watched their walk down the hallway and he even watched the young Boy’s attempt to turn him back to the lightside. Seeing this, Obi-Wan was heartbroken and disgraught, once again filled with regret. He knew that Darth Vader’s line “Obi-Wan once thought as you did” was true at one point, but not anymore. Seeing Luke utterly fail to turn the Dark Lord back to the light confirmed what Obi-Wan had believed. There was no Anakin left under that mechanical suit, only Darth Vader. If Obi-Wan still had a body within the living force, you can almost guaranteethat a tear would be rolling down his cheek at this moment.
Moving on from this, as Luke showed himself to the Emperor and began the battle with his father, Obi-Wan began to beg Luke to kill Vader on the spot. Obi-Wan believed that Luke’s fear and attachment to his friends was causing him to stray dangerously close to the Dark Side, enough so that Kenobi was worried Luke would take things too far.
After Luke eventually came out on top from the battle with his Father, and Palpatine demanded that he take Vader’s position as the new Sith apprentice, Obi-Wan was shattered. He believed that moment that he had failed the Skywalker family once again, and that all hope was now lost. The final light in the Galaxy was about to go out and this time there was no one there to protect it. Even with Luke denying Palpatine’s request to join him, Obi-Wan believed he was defeated, with not a chance in the Galaxy that Luke would be able to resist what was coming next.
Next things got even Darker. Seeing Luke continue to refuse to join Palpatine, he believed that the young boy would be killed, while Vader continued to serve Sidious. Kenobi believed that the Darkness in Vader would again rise and that his nature was now totally defined by the dark side of the of force. Because of this, Obi-Wan thought Vader would just get back up and take whatever punishment was coming to him, as that was the way of the dark side. The strong subjugate the weak, but the weak still continue to follow.
But as this dread washed over Obi-Wan, something incredible happened. The Wise Master saw Luke being absolutely ravaged by the Force Lightning, but something within his ethereal being told him to keep his view squarely on Darth Vader. With his gaze locked on his former apprentice, Obi-Wan was stunned to see him lift Darth Sidious into the air, carry him across the room and then toss his body into the reactor shaft of the death star. Obi-Wan was in total shock as he saw Vader fall to the ground next to Luke, not believing that it actually happened. Kenobi was so sure that there was no good left in Anakin at all, and that his life was totally comprised of only hate, anger and regret, that this couldn’t be true. But the Master knew better than the question the force, especially given that he was now part of it and soon accepted this reality. He was relieved to know that Palpatine was dead… or so he thought at the time… Obviously he would later come back through cloning and dark science, but in this moment, Obi-Wan believed he weas gone for good.