star wars - Why Was Obi Wan So Eager to Train Luke as a Jedi?

I saw the entire Star Wars series as it was released, starting back in 1977 when I had to ride my bike about 8 miles to the theater where it was showing in my city for the first showing on the first day it played there. After the release of Revenge of the Sith I watched the original trilogy again, on VHS. Then I set it aside. While I had it all on DVD, I wanted to wait until I had a HDTV to see it all on the big screen, but I never had time to watch all 6 episodes in a week or so, and kept putting it off.

So now that the blu-ray just came out, this week I've been watching the movies for the first time in about 8 years. I've been watching them in chronological order and it's interesting to see how that can affect how I see lots of little gestures and reactions, especially in the original trilogy.

This gives me an entirely different point of view. This time I'm watching as they meet Anakin and Qui-Gon believes he's the Chosen One, but Obi-Wan has doubts and is even hesitant when Qui-Gon, as he's dying, makes him promise to train Anakin. I also see the concern that Anakin, at about 9, is too old to be trained.

It means I also see, in sequence, all the pain, suffering, and death that Anakin causes when he goes over to the dark side.

So after witnessing all of that and having been in exile for about 19-20 years, Obi-Wan sees Luke, about 19 years old, even older than Anakin was when he started training, and almost from the start there's no hesitation. Without batting an eye, he says, "You must come with me to Aldaraan and learn the ways of the Force like your Father."

And this time, as I watch that scene, which was always exciting to me before, in my head, I start thinking, "Obi Wan, are you crazy?!? Do you remember what happened when you started his Father's training so late? And you think he has a lot of his Father in him?"

So why was Obi Wan so eager to train Luke instead of being wary that he didn't repeat the same mistake he made with Anakin? Why doesn't he give any consideration, like Yoda does later, to the dangers he could be creating by training Anakin/Vader's son?

Answer

I think he saw in Luke last chances. It was his last chance to try and make up for the failure of training Anakin. He saw in Luke the opportunity to find success where before he had failed. It was a means of redemption for himself as a Jedi and redemption for the line of Skywalker.

But I think the larger driving force was that he saw in Luke the last chance to restore the Jedi order to the galaxy and the only remaining chance to defeat the Emperor and Vader. While he knew of the existence of Leia, he did not maintain contact with Bail Organa and did not know whether or not she was alive or whether or not she had the force abilities that Luke did. He also did not know whether any other Jedi, even Yoda, remained yet alive.

While it kind of glossed over this in the movies, I think it can be inferred that the plan from the beginning was to train Luke to be a Jedi when he was old enough to try and defeat his father and the Emperor. ObiWan's line about the light saber that: "Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough, but your uncle wouldn't allow it." was likely another ObiWan skewed truth that would seem to indicate that he was watching Luke progress and develop and that he had wanted to train Luke.

It's impossible to say what might have transpired between ObiWan and Owen/Beru and what attempts ObiWan might have made to involve himself in Luke's life and how much Owen/Beru allowed it, and thus how much of that statement was based in truth. I'm not aware of any work that touches on it, though with so many Star Wars books it seems likely at least one of them might have.