Question about Episode III: ROTS (MAJOR SPOILER WARNING!!)

[Enraged_Ape]

I'm not kidding. If you haven't seen the movie, you don't want to be reading this.

Otherwise, feel free to scroll down.
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My wife and I want to know why Obi-Wan Kenobi, who is usually a straight-up guy, would let his "brother" barbecue on the side of a lava floe without putting him out of his misery. I mean, the kid is screaming in hellish agony, incandescing like a Yule log. And Obi-Wan just walks away.

What would it have taken for O-W to Jedi-bounce over, chop his friend's damn head off, and run away? Would a coup de grace have been to much to ask? He went to Mustafar to kill Anakin anyway!

It just didn't seem very Jedi-like to me. My wife was very upset with that scene. I tried to come up with an excuse for Obi-Wan's actions, but couldn't. She said, "I've got an excuse for you: bad writing."

[asthmaticeog]

1. Um, because if he did that

there'd be no villain for the movies that were already made decades ago?

[Enraged_Ape]

3. That's what I finally told my wife

Her response: :eyes:

[mikehiggins]

2. Two reasons

Actually, three.

First, Skywalker HAD to survive or else the original three movies make no sense.

Two, Kenobi obviously thought Skywalker was as good as dead anyway and wasn't feeling all that sympathetic to a guy who had murdered children as well as helped bring the downfall of the entire Jedi order and the Republic they were sworn to protect.

Three, Kenobi had told Yoda from the outset that he would NOT kill Skywalker. To him, in his Jedi point of view, letting him die was not the same as killing him.

That may seem odd but the whole Jedi thing was screwy from the outset. To me, the people who think Skywalker violated that prophecy everyone kept referring to miss the point. The Jedi WERE the problem, not the Sith. The Jedi were the support beneath a system that had clearly gotten too big and too unwieldy to survive. Not to mention their arrogance and their samauri like ability to just kill people who got in their way, no questions asked.

The universe doesn't throw dice. The force was out of balance because of the Jedi. Eliminating them, and then the Sith, makes things much nicer, IMHO. Of course, after Luke becomes a real Jedi the whole cycle would begin again, but that's life, right?

[Enraged_Ape]

5. Hmmmmm

Food for thought.

I just think it would have been better if they'd made it so Obi-Wan couldn't get to him for some reason. Or if Obi-Wan was actually really convinced that Anakin was actually dead. But the kid is screaming bloody murder, for crying out loud, and Obi-Wan just walks away.

I think the writing for this could have been a little more polished. But then the writing throughout the movie could have been more polished.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

4. Maybe Obi Wan held out some hope

The prophecy was that Anakin would be the one to bring the Force into balance. Obi-Wan might have still believed that one day Anakin would turn away from the Dark Side.

Whether or not Obi-Wan still hoped for this is unclear. But Anakin eventually did briefly become a Jedi at the end of his life, fulfilling the prophecy and thus bringing the Force into balance.

[VelmaD]

6. They make this clearer in the novelization

Obi-Wan could sense that Sidious was on the way and he didn't have time to rescue Anikin before Sidious got there. He HAD to survive first and foremost.

[Enraged_Ape]

7. I'm not talkin' rescue

I'm talkin' head-choppin'.

I agree with the novelization's take on the idea of rescue. Anakin was a bit far gone for that.

[VelmaD]

9. Even getting down that slope...

of loose rock Ani was on (either to kill him or rescue him) and getting back up would have taken time Obi-Wan didn't have.

I'm just relaying how they justify it in the book.

[ET Awful]

8. Maybe he was a tad pissed that said "brother" just finished killing

off a few dozen little kids and long-time friends.

I think maybe he just couldn't bear to do it.