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star wars - How was Obi-Wan Kenobi able to hide his light side presence from Vader and the Emperor?


I read long ago, I think it was in Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy, that Yoda was able to hide his presence from Vader and the Emperor because of that Dark Side cave on Dagobah.



I found this reference :



He made his dwelling near the Cave of Evil, which further negated his light side presence
Dagobah entry on Wookieepedia



That always bugged me since. How was Obi-Wan Kenobi able to hide his light side presence on Tatooine without using any subterfuge of this kind?
Or did he?



Answer



I can't recall ever seeing a reference to a strong dark side presence on Tatooine. In fact, I doubt there was one, as it would have been a poor environment to raise 'A New Hope' in.


I think it boils down to this: Obi-Wan is NOWHERE NEAR as powerful as Yoda. Yoda's power is such that he could be sensed from a considerable distance. Obi-Wan didn't ever have anywhere near that level of power.



Secondly, Vader was unlikely to ever come back to Tatooine. It held deep personal pain, and Darth Vader was continually trying to kill the little bit of Anakin left in him (as stated in several novels, including Shadows of the Empire and the ESB novelization). Visiting Tatooine would have worked against that goal.


Obi-Wan counted on this and his much weaker Force presence to mask him from Vader.


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