*Contains spoilers for Obi-Wan Kenobi Episodes 1 and 2.*
Obi-Wan has arrived! Obi-Wan Kenobi, the new Star Wars series on Disney+, is now streaming, with its first two episodes having dropped early on Thursday, May 26, 2022. There’s so much going on in this new show about the beloved Jedi master, but here’s one detail that sticks out in particular: Why does Obi-Wan call himself Ben?
Obi-Wan Kenobi tells the story of what happened to Obi-Wan in the years between the fall of the Jedi in Revenge of the Sith and Luke Skywalker’s coming of age in A New Hope. On the run from the Imperial Inquisitors, Obi-Wan has created a new life for himself on Tatooine, working in a meat-processing camp while he covertly keeps an eye on 10-year-old Luke. Obi-Wan wants to train Luke to be a Jedi, but Luke’s uncle Owen is against it. Meanwhile, Princess Leia is mysteriously kidnapped, and Obi-Wan learns that he’s the only one who can get her back.
Early in Episode 1, a young Jedi named Nari seeks out Obi-Wan. The Inquisitors have discovered Nari’s identity and are closing in on him, so Nari finds Obi-Wan and begs him to help him. Obi-Wan tries to brush him off, saying he’s got the wrong person. When Nari asks, “What are you doing here, Obi-Wan?” Obi-Wan replies, “My name is Ben.”
Ben is, of course, the name Obi-Wan goes by at the beginning of the original Star Wars film in 1977. When Luke finds “Old Ben Kenobi” and gives him Leia’s message, Ben becomes Obi-Wan again. Let’s take a look at the possible reasons why Obi-Wan goes by Ben!
Theory 1: to hide his identity
The simplest explanation is that Obi-Wan is using Ben as an alias, so that he can hide his identity from the Inquisitors and the rest of the Empire. Even if there are deeper reasons for the name, which we’ll get into in a minute, this is most likely a large part of the reason. There’s simply no reason why Obi-Wan would use his real name in his day-to-day life if he could help it. By going as Ben, Obi-Wan can live a quiet life without attracting any attention to himself.
There’s just one problem with this theory, though: Obi-Wan still uses his real surname. The Inquisitors use the name Kenobi right and left, blasting it to every bounty hunter in the galaxy, so it’s clear that anyone who knows his surname could easily connect him with the wanted Jedi (not to mention that sweet, sweet bounty). The fact that Luke knows his last name in A New Hope pokes further holes in this theory. It’s clear that Ben only works as an effective alias around people who are never going to learn his last name.
Plus, Ben doesn’t really sound dissimilar enough to Obi-Wan to really work as an effective alias. If he’s trying to hide his identity by changing his name, he’s not trying that hard.
Theory 2: a lost love
There’s another theory that goes a little deeper into Obi-Wan’s reasons for going by Ben. The novel Kenobi, part of the Star Wars Legends series, tells the story of Obi-Wan’s first days on Tatooine after the fall of the Republic. In the story, we learn that Obi-Wan took on the name Ben because it’s a nickname given to him by an old flame, the Duchess Satine Kryze. He takes on the name because it still has emotional resonance for him.
The one problem with this theory, though, is that Star Wars Legends is considered non-canonical in the cinematic Star Wars universe. It’s a cool origin story for the name, but it doesn’t have any weight to it for the purposes of the show, unless they decide to explicitly make it canon.
Theory 3: Ben is his birth name
This is a pure fan theory, so you’ll need to take it with a grain of salt the size of Crait. Like all formally trained Jedi of the Republic era, Obi-Wan was taken from his family for training at a young age. According to this theory, Ben is his birth name, and taking that name on again symbolizes his abandonment of the Jedi order in which he grew up.
Theories Aside, What Does the Alias Mean?
Whatever the official reason, you can’t deny that there’s a lot of symbolic value to Obi-Wan’s new name. When we revisit Obi-Wan ten years after the events of Revenge of the Sith, he’s been thoroughly beaten down, and he’s given up all hope of the Jedi ever coming back. When he tells Leia his name is Ben after rescuing her in Episode 2, she remarks that it’s not a Jedi name. “Well, that’s my name,” he replies. Choosing a decidedly un-Jedi-like name is Obi-Wan’s way of severing his ties to a past he doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to return to.
(featured image: Disney)
