How Reva's Redemption Bookends Obi-Wan's Journey

If there's anything we've learnt from Star Wars, it is that it's a saga about cycles. Putting aside the homeric epics and Greek myths, the circular events of Star Wars and the story of birth, death, rebirth (or the journey from good-to-bad-to-good again) are an intrinsic part of the mythological framework--the epic cycle--established by George Lucas. As Vader once said: "The circle is now complete!"

Anakin/Vader and Ben/Kylo are not the only heroes who experience considerable change, shattering their old identities only to reforge them again. Their transformations influence the transformations of others. In the case of Vader it was his son Luke. In the case of Kylo it was his enemy-to-lover Rey. In the case of this TV series, it is undoubtedly Reva, who helps Obi-Wan come to terms with many of his own faults in the Prequels--and overcome them.

Disney Plus' Obi-Wan-Kenobi is the latest addition to the story of Star Wars that has given us a whole new character, Reva, Third Sister and latest member of the deathly, spinny saber wielding Inquisitors (first introduced in the BRILLIANT four-season animated series Star Wars: Rebels). Reva's transformation over the course of Obi Wan Kenobi seems like a small cliffnote at the end of the more fan-appetising conflict (Vader vs Obi-Wan), but in fact it is a pivotal piece of the mythological framework. Without Reva, the series loses all thematic cohesion.

Obi-Wan Kenobi's main plot, the rescue of Leia Organa, was not just a narrative trick to come up with a reason why Obi-Wan would abandon his watch on Tatooine for a new, exciting adventure. Uprooting Obi-Wan from his watch (in which, these last 10 years, he has been forced to coldly, dispassionately view Luke from a distance) and getting the Jedi Master up-close and personal in an adventure involving saving the future of the Jedi (represented in The Path and Leia), is essential to his development. The whole experience is his kick up the backside. A reminder of what's important. A revitalization of his spirit. "You are the future!" Obi-Wan said to the refugees, and to Leia. Obi-Wan was ready to throw his life away for them. Almost desperate to.

By the time of A New Hope, Alec Guinness' Obi-Wan is a wise, centered and hopeful Jedi Master, a far cry from the disturbed, shaken portrayal Ewan McGregor gave us in the final moments of Revenge of the Sith. But Obi-Wan Kenobi did not shake off his old demons by sitting in a cave and looking through binoculars for 19 years, that would've just been bad character writing! No. He didn't shake the demons off. He sat with them. And they almost consumed him.

This is the Obi-Wan Kenobi we pick up with at the beginning of the series. A man that is holding on to hope--but only by a thread. A far cry from the cordial, friendly and relaxed portrayal Alec Guinness blessed us with! That was the kind of man who, in the deep, dangerous realm of the Jundland Wastes, happily uttered "Hello there!" as if he didn't have a care in the world. Such an attitude for Obi-Wan to take on, without the context Obi-Wan Kenobi has provided us, makes the old man seem almost detatched from reality. Why are you so relaxed? Luke is here! Train him! You've been waiting 19 years for this moment! The (seeming) inconsistencies get worse when we see Guinness' Obi-Wan confront Vader. "You can't win, Darth," he utters. Darth???? What's the matter with this jerk? He's talking to Anakin like he's just some other villain, no more meaningful to him than General Grievous! That is the boy you abandoned, Obi-Wan! Where's your remorse?

To me, though, these are not inconsistencies or plot holes. Such terms are thrown around too fast and loose in this fandom. And no, I don't think really Obi-Wan is a jerk. These are not examples of bad character writing--we were just missing some info. And now we have that info.

Partially that info arrived in Return of the Jedi with Obi-Wan's explanation that "the good man" who was Anakin Skywalker was destroyed when he "ceased to be" Anakin and became Darth Vader. "So what I told you was true, from a certain point of view!" Obi-Wan utters to a bewildered Luke. It sounded like a poor excuse, until now. Now we have the emotional context to fit with the factual context. Obi-Wan Kenobi re-contextualizes Obi-Wan's strangely relaxed, yet oddly detatched behaviour beautifully, and gives us a much-needed glimpse into Obi-Wan's psyche in his relationship with Anakin.

"You didn't kill Anakin Skywalker," Vader says, and after a long, dramatic pause: "I did." It has already gone down as one of the most iconic Star Wars moments--and since we have foresight, we know it is one of the most important. Entering the battle on that unnamed moon, Obi-Wan had the exact same mindset he had 10 years ago, even uttering the same line: "I will do what I must." Vader's response: "Then you will die," shows us that the cracked mask visual is not the only thing Obi-Wan Kenobi borrows from Star Wars: Rebels, as Vader repeats the same final words we know he will one day say to his apprentice Ahsoka.

Both Obi-Wan and Vader utter lines they have said before. I have to admit I cracked a smile at that. It's almost like they're Action Man dolls, squeeze them for an iconic line! But the artistic intent is undeniable, and the effect is there. Both men are locked in a cycle of violence against eachother. As pure as Obi-Wan's intentions are in saving The Path, he finds himself in the same place he was 10 years ago, looking down at the remains of his beloved apprentice. In that moment he realizes how, in all those years, he has stagnated, failed to grow. Failed to move on. And with all his guilt taken from him upon Vader's declaration that "I" killed Anakin Skywalker, he is finally able to put this feud behind him--and walk away. Ironically, that is exactly what he did at the end of their first fight--but the intention is different. The first time, Obi-Wan left Anakin to die. This time, he left him to live. Yet both have the same effect, such is the will of the force. Perhaps that is why he has such a relaxed attitude in A New Hope? Luke just needs to be a boy, after all. "The future will take care of itself." Sometimes, inaction is the far more meaningful action. There are other ways to fight.

By the end of the confrontation, Obi-Wan has no hope in turning Anakin back to the light, uttering the heart-crushing words "Goodbye, Darth," and turning away. But that is not the end of his journey. End the story there, and we risk leaving the audience to assume that Obi-Wan fell back into his depression. Fans are mixed on Obi-Wan's decision to not kill Vader then and there, but I believe it makes perfect sense. What reason has Obi-Wan to kill a man he does not even recognize? He has no business with Vader. Vader is a stranger to him--Anakin is already dead. And all the hope and strength imbued in Obi-Wan by The Path and by Leia over the course of his journey seems almost for naught... until Reva. Her act of mercy echoes Obi-Wan's act of mercy only minutes before, and it is the bookend to Obi-Wan's psychological journey over the 6 episodes.

Fatefully, Reva spares Luke Skywalker, just as Obi-Wan spares Anakin, allowing the two lead players in this epic mythological cycle the chance to one day meet eachother and redeem one another. Just as Bilbo's pity saved Gollum, making way for the final destruction of Sauron, the mercy of the Jedi saves the galaxy.

Reva, like Obi-Wan, was locked in a cycle of violence and misery, seeing herself in Luke and suddenly realising that she, the victim, was becoming the perpetrator. At last she sees that cycle drawing to completion--and makes the decision to break it, proving herself to be better than Vader. When Obi-Wan arrives to discover Reva's act of redemption, he looks upon her and sees that scared child from the temple. Finally Reva lets out all her pain and anguish, which for so long has risen out of her in the form of hatred. Obi-Wan speaks the words like he has finally discovered this truth for himself: "By showing mercy you have given them peace. You have honoured them." A tearful Reva asks, genuinely unsure: "Have I become him?" Remembering well the true face of Vader, the unending hatred and burning loathefulness, Obi-Wan looks into Reva's eyes and provides the answer we all want to give to her in that moment: "No. You have chosen not to." Obi-Wan also chose not to, and one day he will be very glad that he did. As Reva honoured the younglings, Obi-Wan Kenobi chose to honour the memory of Anakin Skywalker.