Skip to main content

star wars - Why specifically was Obi-Wan Kenobi the "only hope" of Princess Leia?


I know that there is a sort of similar question about how Princess Leia knew about Obi-Wan here, but I'm curious as to why and how Princess Leia thought an aging Obi-Wan Kenobi would be of any help to the Rebellion worth risking herself and her crew in addition to the stolen Death Star plans (which apparently the Rebellion only had stored on R2-D2 physically, and no other copies)?


See here for the scene in question.


Things to consider:



  1. Obi-Wan as a resource to the Rebellion didn't even have his own ship or own resources to contribute (not even enough to pay for passage for a smuggler to transport him).

  2. Obi-Wan as a fighter did not do any extensive amount of fighting in A New Hope (he cut off a guy's arm in a bar, and sacrificed himself vs Darth Vader, that's it)

  3. Obi-Wan as a Jedi didn't have an apprentice yet, and was probably not going to have a shot at taking on Darth Vader or the Emperor.

  4. Princess Leia risked near everything just to visit in person the place where she thought Obi-Wan still lived (he could have been dead for years assuming that she said "years ago" in her message to Obi-Wan regarding how she knew of him). She risked herself, her ship, her crew, her cause (if she had been tortured into giving up the Rebellion) and the stolen plans themselves (next time stormtroopers, shoot down the empty escape pod, if for no other reason than to improve your atrocious aim and shooting during the original trilogy), just to see if Obi-Wan might be interested if still alive to maybe (somehow) help the Rebellion.



Possible answers I've considered (I'm curious for more though):



  1. Obi-Wan might have some sort of wisdom or knowledge about attacking the Death Star and he may have been able to analyze the stolen Death Star plans for weaknesses (but the Rebels did a good job of this anyway).

  2. Obi-Wan would have been exceptional at espionage and infiltration (took out the tractor beam on the Death Star, successfully avoided almost every stormtrooper he encountered, and Jedi mind tricked the ones he couldn't avoid -- think "these aren't the droids you're looking for"), although Obi-Wan's stealth would not have been needed inside the Death Star had Leia not gotten herself captured and in need of a rescue from the Death Star in the first place, which happened as a result of trying to visit Obi-Wan.




Comments

Post a Comment

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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.
Post a Comment
Read more

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.
Post a Comment
Read more

star wars - What "exactly" happens when someone turns to the Dark Side?

When I saw the original Star Wars saga as a kid, the concept of the Dark Side imprinted in me was quite simple. You did a bad thing, so you're a bad person so you go to the Dark Side and keep doing bad things. Now, obviously this doesn't hold true in reality. In my mind it is perfectly reasonable for Luke to kill the Emperor and Vader and then just flee the Death Star and rejoin the Alliance. After all they are at war, those are enemy officers that have captured him and are taunting him by threatening with death of all loved ones and the whole operation was intended to kill the Emperor anyway. The same would hold true for Anakin. He could have killed Mace Windu to save the Chancellor and Padme but that doesn't mean he's going to then go mad and kill all Jedis including children. It doesn't add up from a merely psychological point of view. He had a set of objectives and that made him want to keep the Chancellor alive (quite valid by the way, Mace Windu is quite clums...
Post a Comment
Read more