Moments later, Vader confronts him, and they engage in a lightsaber duel.

On board the Death Star, Obi-Wan ventures through and disables the tractor beam. They chase the TIE fighter to the Death Star, and subsequently get caught in the space station's tractor beam. The Falcon then encounters an Imperial TIE Fighter. He suddenly feels 'a great disturbance in the Force', and when the ship comes out of light speed, he and the others find that the Empire has destroyed Alderaan. During the mission, Obi-Wan begins instructing Luke in lightsaber combat. Obi-Wan and Luke make a deal to travel to Alderaan aboard Han's ship, the Millennium Falcon. They enter a local cantina and meet smugglers Han Solo ( Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca ( Peter Mayhew). Luke, at first, declines but after finding that his aunt Beru ( Shelagh Fraser) and uncle Owen ( Phil Brown) have been killed by Imperial stormtroopers, he decides to go with Obi-Wan to Alderaan and train as a Jedi.Īt the settlement of Mos Eisley, Obi-Wan uses the Force to trick Imperial troops into letting them through a military checkpoint. He gives Luke his father's lightsaber and asks him to accompany him to Alderaan and take up Jedi training. He explains that the Jedi were hunted down and exterminated by the Empire with help from his former apprentice, Darth Vader (portrayed by David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones), the apparent killer of Luke's father. Obi-Wan reveals to Luke his secret identity and explains that he is a Jedi, a member of an ancient group of Force-sensitive warriors. Leia asks him to deliver R2-D2 and the plans safely to her home planet of Alderaan in order to help the Rebel Alliance. At Obi-Wan's home, the now-found R2-D2 plays a recording of Princess Leia ( Carrie Fisher) saying that R2-D2 contains the plans for the Galactic Empire's superweapon, the Death Star. When Luke Skywalker ( Mark Hamill) and C-3PO ( Anthony Daniels) travel the desert in search of the lost R2-D2 ( Kenny Baker), Obi-Wan rescues them from a band of Tusken Raiders. Obi-Wan Kenobi is introduced in the original Star Wars film living as a 57-year old hermit under the name of Ben Kenobi on the planet Tatooine. Obi-Wan Kenobi's Jedi robes from Episode IV Lucas later reflected that he felt that 'It would be much more powerful, satisfying and interesting if Darth Vader were to kill him and he were to go on to a different form.' Appearances Skywalker saga Lucas originally planned for Obi-Wan to live through the original film, but found that the character had nothing to do during the culminating battle sequence. In an early draft of the original Star Wars film, Obi-Wan's first meeting with Luke Skywalker is lifted directly from The Hobbit, acknowledging Gandalf as a source of inspiration. The character is loosely inspired by General Makabe Rokurōta, a character from Akira Kurosawa's film The Hidden Fortress, played by Toshiro Mifune (whom franchise creator George Lucas had originally wanted to cast as Obi-Wan). Guinness won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in A New Hope, while McGregor was nominated for the same category 20 years later for his performance in The Phantom Menace.

McGregor's performance as the character in the prequels received praise as well, considered to be among the highlights of the trilogy. Guinness' performance as Obi-Wan in the original Star Wars (1977) earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, the only acting nomination for a Star Wars film. He is frequently featured as a main character in various other Star Wars media, including the television miniseries Obi-Wan Kenobi, in which McGregor reprised the role. The character briefly appears in the sequel trilogy as a disembodied voice, speaking to protagonist Rey. In the prequel trilogy, set two decades earlier, he is initially a Padawan (apprentice) to Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, and later mentor and friend of Luke's father Anakin, who falls to the dark side of the Force and becomes Vader. After sacrificing himself in a duel against Darth Vader, Obi-Wan guides Luke through the Force in his fight against the Galactic Empire. He is a mentor to Luke Skywalker, to whom he introduces the ways of the Jedi. In the original trilogy he is introduced as Ben Kenobi, an alias he uses whilst in hiding from the Empire. In the later-released prequel trilogy, a younger version of the character serves as one of the two main protagonists, alongside Anakin Skywalker, and is portrayed by Scottish actor Ewan McGregor. Within the original trilogy, Obi-Wan is a Jedi Master as a supporting character and is portrayed by English actor Alec Guinness. Obi-Wan Kenobi ( / ˈ oʊ b iː ˌ w ɑː n k ə ˈ n oʊ b iː/) is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise.

Star wars kenobi