Skip to main content

star wars - Was Obi-Wan Kenobi an alcoholic?


There are scenes in Star Wars that provide a certain subtext that suggests to me, that dear Old Ben may have had a drinking problem. Or, at the least, may have been a regular at the local bar.


First, in Attack of the Clones (quote source here):



Anakin Skywalker: I think he's a she... and I think she's a Changeling.



Obi-Wan Kenobi: In that case be extra careful. Go and find her.


[He heads towards the bar]


Anakin Skywalker: Where are you going, Master?


Obi-Wan Kenobi: For a drink.



Obi-Wan then proceeds to comfortably get a (presumably hard) beverage and use a Jedi mind-trick to make a dealer go away as if he's done this several times before.


He also gets a drink in Dex's diner.


In A New Hope, Obi-Wan has a suspicious knowledge of Mos Eisley and the local scene there. In addition, the first thing he does is immediately go to the bar. Of course, he tells Luke that it's to find a pilot to take them to Alderaan, but who says you can't knock out two birds with one stone?


Now, much of the above is fairly tongue-in-cheek, but here is the primary question:


Is there any canon evidence to suggest that Obi-Wan Kenobi may have had a drinking problem?



You may give your answer from Disney Canon or from Legends Canon, but please specify which in your answer.


EDIT NOTE: This question has been changed. The original wording of the question was: "Is there sufficient canon evidence to suggest that Obi-Wan Kenobi may have had a drinking problem?" (emphasis on the changed word)


EDIT 2: Someone in the comments suggested that perhaps none of the beverages Obi-Wan drank may have been alcoholic and requested evidence that the drinks were indeed alcoholic. The answer to this question confirms that at least one of them was.



Answer



There is no canon evidence to suggest that Obi-Wan has a "drinking problem". He does appear to consume alcoholic beverages on several occasions (in the Outlander Club and Dex's Diner in AotC, for example) but in each case he only appears to have a single drink and evidently does not become intoxicated, nor do we see him engaged in 'drink-seeking' behaviour in any of the films, comics, books or other canon properties.


You may also wish to note that as a Jedi Master, alcoholism would be a very serious failing, one that would instantly disqualify one from any consideration as a member of the Jedi Council.



For those who have passed that test, you will do well to remember that this [the third and final] pillar is Self-Discipline, not Combat. It is impossible to wield a lightsaber without first mastering the action of your physical self.


The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Do the Kwikspell courses work?

In Harry Potter we are introduced to Kwikspell course in The Chamber of Secrets (and never hear about it again). We see Filch taking courses, presumably by mail. The descriptions of Kwikspell make me think it is for people who are weak in magic (kind of like how Neville was supposed to be when he was younger), but had magic in them nonetheless. However, Ron's comments later in the chapter make it sound like it is mainly for Squibs to learn magic. However, it is strongly implied through out all the books that Squibs are essentially Muggles, and will never be able to do magic. How then is a Kwikspell course supposed to work? Do we have any information to know if it works at all? Is it a scam? An answer from any level of canon is welcome. Answer Kwikspell courses are (probably) useful to some wizards, but not to squibs. The Kwikspell course literature comes with two testimonials. Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes: ‘I had no memory for incantations and my potions were a family joke...

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.

languages - Do we ever see written English in the Star Wars films?

In Empire Strikes Back , we see a transcription of what R2's beeps and bloops mean, but it's not English (sorry for the low quality, it's from the 2004 DVDs): I'd assume it's what Basic looks like when written, but is there some point in the the Star Wars films we see written English instead? (This sort of spun off from a discussion in How do people understand astromech droids? .) Answer At one point there was English but it has been phased out in subsequent versions of the films. Chris Gould at DVD Active did a comparison of all versions of each of the Star Wars films, and in his comparison of Episode 4 , there are a couple of screenshots showing how the power gauge for the Death Star tractor beam was changed. I imagine there are probably more to be found in his other comparisons but I haven't got around to reading those yet.

Was the "pure soul" of Harry's what had really hurt Voldemort?

In the Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort possesses Harry, and it hurts. Greatly. I think that Dumbledore explained that it was because Voldemort's rotten soul was incapable of assimilating Harry's pure soul, that Voldemort didn't understand the love and friendship etc that Harry has in his heart. But, I think it was a lie. Remember that in Deathly Hallows, while looking for information regarding Horcruxes, it is discovered that it is in fact possible to merge a soul fragment back, but that the process was extremely painful. Now then, if Voldemort tried to possess Harry, and Harry had a fragment of Voldemort's soul, I think that it could have been the true cause of Voldemort's pain: the fact of having his soul so close of another fragment. I think that Dumbledore knew that fact, but had to lie to Harry because it was inappropriate to let him know that he had one of Voldemort's soul fragments at the moment. Is that right? Or was it truly the pure soul of Harry's...