No matter who you’ve spoken to about Obi-Wan Kenobi over the past few weeks, you’re bound to have heard that mystical word: canon. Since episode 1, the claim has been that Obi-Wan would break the Star Wars canon. In the series, the Jedi played by Ewan McGregor meets the younger versions of the characters Leia Organa and Darth Vader. With that he whirls – seemingly (!) – messed up the sacred Star Wars saga. The scenes caused astonishment, sometimes even annoyance among die-hard fans. I had my issues with Obi-Wan, too, but the canon discussion is just nonsense.
Let’s take a closer look and the two major canon allegations against the Obi-Wan series go through But before …
What is Star Wars canon anyway?
The Star Wars canon describes the current, accumulated knowledge of the world in which characters such as Han Solo, Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi move. He was Introduced by Star Wars creator George Lucas.
Obi-Wan Kenobi – S01 Trailer (German) HD
After Disney bought the brand, the canon fell in value, but it’s still a form of franchise law, something immobile that audience and authors agree on. For example, the Millennium Falcon is canon gray instead of red, and Chewbacca is shaggy and doesn’t wear a perm. Deviations are allowed, but if a Star Wars film changes something, it has to explain it logically based on existing knowledge.
Canon breaks in Obi-Wan series: What’s the deal?
Obi-Wan was inherently prone to deviate from the franchise bible. The Disney+ series plays right between the two old trilogies, it touches on the original Star Wars as well as the prequel Star Wars. We know what happens to the three main characters Obi-Wan, Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker and Leia Organa before and after the series. What they said, did and felt and what their motivations were. We are talking about sensitive knowledge that is sometimes decades old.
A clumsy series would have behaved here like a elephant in a china shop. But Obi-Wan is many things, but certainly not a clumsy series, at least not in canon terms.
Canon dispute 1: Obi-Wan and Darth Vader never met between Star Wars: Episode 3 and 4
The relationship between Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen) and Obi-Wan is central to the series. Since the two ex-boyfriends are not only angrily silent from afar, this fact alone is at first glance a breach of the canon.
Because when the Millennium Falcon lands on the Death Star in Star Wars (or Star Wars: Episode 4), Darth Vader says,
“I feel something, a presence, that I haven’t felt in a long time…”
By “presence” he means his former teacher Obi-Wan and is probably referring to theirs brutal separation in Revenge of the Sith. In the Obi-Wan series, however, the former Padawan master team then delivers several duels. So they met again from time to time.
Canon break yes or no? Vader doesn’t finish the sentence, so we don’t know how long it took him to feel Obi-Wan’s presence. It’s been about 9 years between the fight in the final Obi-Wan episode and the Death Star moment above. A long time. Since Vader leaves the period open, the series could act arbitrarily in the timeline.
This also applies to the next celebrity Blame on the relationship between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader to. In Episode 4, Sith and Jedi clash in the Death Star. With much pathos, Vader greets Obi-Wan: “Finally we meet again, the circle closes. When I left you, I was your student. Now I am the master.”
Canon break yes or no? no As Anakin/Vader Obi-Wan left, he was the student. Of “see” or “battle” is not mentioned in Episode 4. Obi-Wan director Deborah Chow and her team were also able to freely interpret the canon here.
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There are many allegations like this. And I honestly think they’re pretty petty. Apart from that, all examples leave the authors sufficient room for interpretation.
We come to …
Canon dispute 2: Leia and Obi-Wan did not know each other prior to Star Wars: Episode 4
Also in Star Wars: Episode 4, as a grown woman, Leia sends a call for help to Obi-Wan via R2-D2. In it, she only mentions the Jedi’s relationship with her father, with whom he fought in the clone wars. Not a word about their adventure together on the series.
Canon break yes or no? no Although the correction here seems quite effortful. But: In its final episode, the Star Wars series explains why Leia doesn’t treat her boyfriend like a stranger in the message. Obi-Wan warns Leia that if she ever needs his help again, she must be careful. “Nobody must know.” All Leia-related canon-breaking allegations that I am aware of relate to this formal message. The dialogue weakens them and also gives the call for help in episode 4 additional emotional emphasis.
At the beginning of Episode 4, why does Leia entrust the important mission to Obi-Wan in the first place? Precisely because the series establishes a strong bond of trust between the two.
Obi-Wan breaks the canon no more than any other Star Wars production
To be clear, there’s no denying that for a long time probably not Obi-Wan Vader meeting between Episode 3 and Episode 4. Also, in Star Wars: Episode 4, George Lucas didn’t realize that Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) and Obi-Wan had known each other before.
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The Obi-Wan series bends the canon in many placesto bring popular characters together sooner than we previously thought. But that in itself isn’t a “crime” – it’s just normal creative work that is simply necessary if you want to add something new to an old franchise full of mythology. If you do that, you will inevitably meander through a minefield. Obi-Wan is by no means alone in this. Looking back, we see that bending canon continuity is a well-kept Star Wars tradition.
And that Leia Darth Vader’s daughter By the way, he didn’t feel it in Episode 4 either.
These were all reasonable canon interpretations because they Star Wars mythology enriched and made important storylines possible. If you want an untouched Star Wars canon, you really can’t enjoy the Skywalker saga.
True, a cohesive, continuous franchise mythology is worth nothing if new writers carelessly disregard existing knowledge. But the Obi-Wan makers don’t do that at all. On the contrary. Obi-Wan is a prime example of how franchise contributions can reinterpret and even elevate the Star Wars canon.
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